Holidays to South Asia?(eg Thailand etc) Suggestions please? (£1000 Budget -3 weeks)

totallybored

My advice is fly to Bangkok and then get a cheap flight to Cambodia or Vietnam. We did this last summer and went to Cambodia. We spent about 3.5k for 2 of us so more than the OPs budget but this included premium economy flights, a suite in a 5 star hotel in Bangkok and very nice hotels around Cambodia that weren't always cheap. You can stay in lovely places in Cambodia for $60 a night.

NiftyDigits

totallybored wrote: »

My advice is fly to Bangkok and then get a cheap flight to Cambodia or Vietnam. We did this last summer and went to Cambodia. We spent about 3.5k for 2 of us so more than the OPs budget but this included premium economy flights, a suite in a 5 star hotel in Bangkok and very nice hotels around Cambodia that weren't always cheap. You can stay in lovely places in Cambodia for $60 a night.

I can understand why your username..... as it is certainly of little help to the OP. US$60 per night? Has your mind become unhinged?

NiftyDigits

slinga wrote: »

This is a helpful site to ask questions.
http://britishexpats.com/forum/far-east-asia-59/

No...it isn't. Lonely Planet and ThaiVisa forums would be more apt.
An Expat is not usually a tourist/traveller/backpacker.

NiftyDigits

slinga wrote: »

Great ticket price but 4 weeks in Thailand on a tight budget would be close to a nightmare for me, anyway. Regular visitor to Thailand before the Tsunami, haven't been since, not because of the Tsunami though.

OP doesn't give age so perhaps they are either in their teens or OAPs otherwise 4 weeks seems a longish time away.

Can't see OAPs doing 4 weeks at a budget in Thailand.

BTW I'm an OAP.

I mostly agree. It's most definitely for the healthy person, who doesn't expect mollycoddling. They may be sat on buses and trains for hours and will meet others doing the same. It can be done as long as they stay within budget. I've done two weeks cycling around Spain and Morocco on £200...including the flight.

This from Samui, March 2013:

The bungalows on that beach were £16 per night. Probably a max of ten people on the whole beach.

Alternatively, if you like a lot of people around, you can stay on Chaweng:

Again, same price available if you know where to look.

So you can have a great holiday if you plan it and stick to your budget.

slinga

NiftyDigits wrote: »

An Expat is not usually a tourist/traveller/backpacker.

You'd be surprised.

PompeyPete

Have a look at Bali. Me and the Mrs recently spent a month there, including a week in Java (Yogyakarta).

Here's a breakdown of our costs...

For 4 weeks accommodation I paid...

- Sanur (7 nights) Airbnb homestay - £96

- Ubud (Ayung Raka Resort) (7 nights) - £157

- Tuban (Manggar Hotel)(3 nights) - £57

- Yogyakarta (Favehotel) (7 nights) - £121 (booked with Air Asia as a flight/hotel package) between Bali - Yogyakarta). The flight element for 2 pax return was £98, so taotal for package was £219)

- Kuta (Swiss Belhotel Rainforest)(4 nights) - £87

Breakfast included for all, apart from Kuta.

Total for 28 nights accommodation: £518 (US$829). All the accommodation was very comfortable. Outside of Peak season there is a massive oversupply of mid-range accommodation, and bargains are easy to come by. So it would have been easy to spend less than we did.

Flights x 2 pax (return London Gatwick to Bali with Garuda) - £1,155 (US$1,848).

Flights x 2 pax (return Bali to Yogyakarta with Air Asia - £98 (US$157).

So total outlay for accommodation and flights was £1,771 (US$2,834).

In addition to the £1,771 there was our spending money. That came to just over £800, and we could easily have halved that amount by cutting down on alcohol.

littlereddevil

We are in Chiang Mai right now and it is extremely cheap. Very cheap flights from Bangkok too

totallybored

NiftyDigits wrote: »

I can understand why your username..... as it is certainly of little help to the OP. US$60 per night? Has your mind become unhinged?

Why was I of little help? There is no need to stay somewhere really grotty. $60 a night gets you a very nice hotel. 3 weeks at $60 a night is around £800 leaving £600 ish each for flights so doable on the 2k budget. Just because I didn't give the £5 a night option doesn't make my opinion any less valid.

NiftyDigits

totallybored wrote: »

Why was I of little help? There is no need to stay somewhere really grotty. $60 a night gets you a very nice hotel. 3 weeks at $60 a night is around £800 leaving £600 ish each for flights so doable on the 2k budget. Just because I didn't give the £5 a night option doesn't make my opinion any less valid.

Who gave a £5 per night option? Who suggested staying in grotty places?
Even assuming they had separate spending money, where would you recommend that they stay in Cambodia? How would they get to the places that you recommend? Oh yeah...you spent considerably more....so you don't need to think about such things.

I deliberately priced in their spending money into the £2000 so that they had a lot of headroom.

Yours assumes they'll have ample spending money, but you don't price in any domestic travel, you limit them to three weeks and in fact barely list any specifics at all.

dawyldthing

I did, but I wouldn't say they were grotty places. Some had a fan instead of air con, but they were perfectly reasonable for ultimately somewhere just to put your head on at night, whether you pay £5 a night or £500 a night really it's a bed and a pillow so you are fresh for the day ahead. I've never got paying more for a room to be honest as it's rare when you get home you go 'oh I've been to Thailand' for someone to go 'was the room nice'