One month in Bangkok: what it actually costs, where to stay and what we'd skip

Most Bangkok guides are written by someone who was there for four days. We were there for a month, in a normal apartment, doing normal things — laundry, groceries, the same coffee shop twice a day. That changes what you notice.

Below are the questions people actually type into Google about Bangkok, answered the way we'd answer them for a friend.

How many days do you need in Bangkok?

Three to four days covers the postcard version: the Grand Palace and Wat Pho in one morning, Wat Arun at sunset, a street food crawl through Chinatown, one rooftop bar, one wander around a neighbourhood.

Five days lets you add Ayutthaya or a floating market without rushing.

A month is a different thing entirely, and honestly a better one if you can swing it. After week one the temples are done and you start living somewhere: you find your BTS station, your 40-baht noodle place, the mall you use for air con rather than shopping. If you work remotely, Bangkok is one of the easiest cities in the world to just be in.

Our take: four days if it's a stopover, two weeks minimum if you want to like the place rather than survive it.

Is Bangkok safe?

Yes — including for two women travelling together. In a month we never once felt unsafe walking home at night, and that includes some very unglamorous streets at 1am.

What you actually need to watch for is not crime, it's nonsense:

• Anyone outside the Grand Palace telling you it's "closed today for a ceremony". It isn't. Walk past them.
• Tuk-tuk drivers offering a cheap all-day tour. It ends at a gem shop or a tailor.
• Tuk-tuks in general, price-wise. Agree the fare before you get in, or just use Grab.
• Crossing the road. Traffic is the genuine risk in Bangkok, not people.

Petty pickpocketing happens around Khao San Road and packed markets. Standard precautions, nothing dramatic.

What's the best area to stay in Bangkok?

The single most useful rule: stay within a five-minute walk of a BTS Skytrain or MRT station. Bangkok traffic will eat 45 minutes of your day otherwise, and it will do it in a taxi you paid for.

• Sukhumvit (Asok, Phrom Phong, Thong Lo) — best all-rounder. Good transport, endless food, malls, easy if it's your first time in Asia. Thong Lo is where the long-stay crowd ends up.
• Silom / Sathorn — business district by day, night markets and rooftops by night. Great transport, slightly more grown-up.
• Riverside (Charoen Krung) — the prettiest area, best for temples and the boat, weakest for Skytrain access.
• Khao San Road — cheap, loud, and a long way from a train. Fine for two nights when you're 22.
• Ari — where we'd go back to. Leafy, local, brilliant coffee, still on the BTS.

How much does Bangkok cost per day?

Real numbers, from a month of actually paying them:

• Street food meal — 50–70 baht
• Sit-down restaurant meal — 150–350 baht
• Coffee (proper, not 7-Eleven) — 80–120 baht
• BTS journey — 20–50 baht
• Grab across town — 100–200 baht
• Large beer at a normal bar — 90–150 baht
• Rooftop cocktail — 400–600 baht

Backpacking on hostels and street food, £25–35 a day is genuinely liveable. Mid-range with a decent apartment, air con and a few nice meals, budget £60–90 a day. The two things that blow the budget are rooftop bars and taxis in traffic — not food.

The accommodation line is the one that matters most, and it's the one we don't pay. We house and pet sit, so a month in Bangkok cost us roughly what a week would cost most people. That's the whole model, and we've written down exactly how it works in our free guide.

When should you visit?

November to February is the obvious answer: 25–32°C, dry, blue skies. March to May is brutal — 38–40°C and humid enough that you plan your day around air conditioning. June to October brings afternoon storms, but they pass in an hour and prices drop.

We were there outside the cool season and it was fine, mostly because a month means you can just not go outside between 1pm and 4pm.

Practical things nobody mentions until you need them

• Don't drink the tap water. Bottled is 10–15 baht everywhere. Restaurant ice is made from purified water and is fine.
• You probably don't need a visa. Most Western passports get 30–60 days visa-free, but you do need the Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) online before you fly. It's free and takes about three minutes. Check the official Thai site, not a lookalike charging you for it.
• Get a local SIM at the airport. Grab, Google Maps and Google Translate are the three apps that make Bangkok easy.
• Have your destination written in Thai or drop the pin in Grab. Plenty of taxi drivers don't read English addresses.
• Dress code at temples is enforced. Shoulders and knees covered, no exceptions, and the sarong rental outside costs more than the one you should have packed.

What we'd actually do again

• Yaowarat (Chinatown) after dark — the best eating in the city, no contest.
• Wat Pho over the Grand Palace if you only have time for one. Calmer, cheaper, and the reclining Buddha is the better sight.
• The Chao Phraya express boat — 15 baht, better views than any tour, and it doubles as transport.
• Ari and Ekkamai for coffee and food rather than another mall.
• A cooking class in week one, because it changes how you order for the rest of the trip.

What we'd skip

• Damnoen Saduak floating market. Two hours each way to be paddled past souvenir stalls. Amphawa on a weekend is far better if you want one.
• The Grand Palace at midday. Go at opening or don't go.
• Khao San Road as a base. Visit it once, sleep somewhere with a train station.
• Tiger and elephant attractions. Please don't.

The honest summary

Bangkok is not a city you tick off. It's hot, loud, chaotic for the first 48 hours, and then something clicks and it becomes one of the easiest places in the world to live cheaply and eat brilliantly. Give it longer than you think you need.

If the accommodation cost is what's stopping you staying a month somewhere, that's the exact problem house and pet sitting solves — and our free guide walks through how we get chosen for sits like the ones that made this month possible.