Many people want to travel to Southeast Asia but are held back by two things: time and money.
On the time front there isn’t much you can do. If you are traveling from the United States it’s going to take some time to get to your destination. Even traveling throughout Southeast Asia can be time-consuming. Due to flight delays it took my wife and me a full day to travel from Chiang Mai to Krabi.
On the money front there is a lot of options. You can travel during off-peak times, stay in hostels, and take advantage of travel rewards credit cards to save hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
My wife and I recently took a trip to Thailand and Vietnam. From the amazing limestone structures in Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, to the unforgettable experience at Blue Elephant Sanctuary in Chiang Mai, to the unbelievable Railay Beach in southern Thailand, it was an unforgettable trip.
The question most people are wondering is how much did it cost?
This is an important question. My wife and I like to travel, but we also like to save money. We have student loan debt but don’t let that hold us back from traveling both domestically in the United States or internationally (and if you have student loan debt I don’t think it should hold you back from traveling either).
In this post I’ll start by highlighting our itinerary, then go over the total cost of the trip, and finally go category-by-category of how much we spent and where we were able to save money.
11-Day Trip to Thailand and Vietnam: Itinerary
I know I call this an 11-Day Trip to Thailand and Vietnam, but there are more than 11 days on the itinerary. The reason why is because we spent an overnight day in Dallas-Fort Worth that doesn’t really count as 99% of people won’t take an extra day/night in the United States if their destination is Southeast Asia. Factoring that and travel to-from Southeast Asia into consideration, it’s closer to an 11-day trip than 14-day as shown below.
Day 1: Travel from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Dallas-Fort Worth; Concert at Toyota Music Factory
Day 2 – 3: Travel to Hanoi, Vietnam with short layover in Tokyo, Japan; Flight was delayed leaving Dallas-Fort Worth so we stayed overnight in Tokyo
Day 4: Explore Hanoi, Vietnam
Day 5: Full-Day Tour of Ha Long Bay
Day 6: Explore Hanoi in the morning, flights to Chiang Mai, Thailand in afternoon; Night Market Chiang Mai in evening
Day 7: Explore Chiang Mai, including Wat Chedi Luang Varavihara
Day 8: Full-Day Guided Hiking Tour with Happy Bird Tour
Day 9: Half-Day Excursion at Blue Elephant Sanctuary
Day 10: Travel to Krabi, then to Railay Beach (note: Railay Beach requires boat transport)
Day 11 – 12: Explore and relax at Railay Beach
Day 13: Travel from Krabi to Bangkok; Explore Bangkok in afternoon
Day 14: Travel from Bangkok to Minneapolis-St. Paul (36 hours of travel but due to time-zone change just one-day)
I won’t go into much detail around our itinerary in this post since I want to focus on costs. As we go through each spend category I will naturally share a little about the flights, accommodations, and excursions we went on, and my opinion of them.
Total Cost
Now let’s get to the actual cost of the trip. Below is every dollar we spent, broken out by spend category.
If we had no discounts, including miles and reimbursements from our credit card rewards, our trip would have cost $6,200. We ultimately saved over 40% off the sticker price and paid about $3,600 for the trip.
As I mentioned we did stay overnight in Dallas one night. This was necessary to save the ~$1,800+ on flights. I’ll go over why when we cover that category specifically. I thought it was worth showing the cost without that part of the trip, which you see at the bottom of the table. We went to a concert that cost about $150 for two tickets. We also spent about $100 on food and drinks that evening. We only spent $25 on the hotel that evening (compared to a list price of $160) thanks to hotels.com rewards.
But what you care about is the cost of traveling to Southeast Asia. Let’s go through each category, starting with the most expensive: flights.
Flights
Cost of Flights: $2,661 less $1,824 of savings for a total of $838
Where we saved the most money was on flights. Along with Accommodations, flights will be the most expensive part of most people’s trip to Thailand and Vietnam.
Flight #1: 2 Tickets America Airlines (and partner airlines) one-way from Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota to Hanoi, Vietnam
Flight #2: 2 Tickets America Airlines (and partner airlines) one-way from Bangkok, Thailand, to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
We booked both of these flights through American Airlines AAdvantage frequent flier program. Each of these flights were 75,000 American Airlines miles, plus taxes and fees. Those taxes and fees totaled $176 for both of these flights.
When it comes to rewards redemption each program is different. I love United Airlines rewards program because of the sheer number of options. Depending on the current offer you can typically get tens of thousands of miles as part of sign-up promotions if you don’t already have their credit card (learn about it here). You can also transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points 1:1 to the United Mileage Plus, meaning there is a good opportunity to collect a lot of points through sign-up bonuses (but also through ongoing spending). Here is our simple guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Airline credit cards are great opportunities to not only get a sign-up bonus that you can leverage for free flights, but also for ongoing rewards. For example most airline credit cards have free checked bags and priority boarding. You can browse airline credit cards here and see what the current offers are.
Based on flights at the time, we saved about $900 a per person on flights. If I was paying cash I likely would have paid for a round trip Qatar Airways flight, which was $1,000 before baggage and other fees.
Unfortunately AAdvantage has some pretty poor options, and it took me quite some time to find an ideal flight. We opted for a somewhat silly itinerary of staying overnight in Dallas one night because it allowed us to take Japan Airlines instead of some other American Airlines partner airlines that seemed to be lower quality.
Unfortunately our flight from Dallas to Tokyo was delayed so we got to Hanoi about 15 hours later than we wanted to. We were able to spend a night in Tokyo, but it was such a short stopover that we didn’t get to see any of Tokyo other than a bus ride to the hotel.
Flight #3: 2 Tickets AirAsia one-way direct from Hanoi, Vietnam to Chiang Mai, Thailand
Flight #4: 2 Tickets Thai Lion one-way from Chiang Mai, Thailand to Krabi, Thailand (with layover in Bangkok)
Flight #5: 2 Tickets AirAsia one-way direct from Krabi, Thailand, to Bangkok, Thailand
These remaining flights cost us $156, $349, and $157, respectively.
The $349 flights on Thai Lion was definitely the worst purchase. We tracked the prices for a while and finally booked. The tickets themselves were $264, but they hit us with an $85 baggage fee. The first flight was delayed as soon as we got to the airport and we spent the entire day traveling to Krabi.
Accommodations
Cost of Accommodations: $1,694 less $555 of savings for a total of $1,139
Accommodations were another area that we saved money. On this trip we got lucky and stayed at two amazing hotels, Hanoi E Central and the Le Meridian in Chiang Mai. Unfortunately the Railay Village Resort was one of the worst hotels we’ve stayed at, and it was directly after staying at the Le Meridian, which I can’t recommend enough.
Here’s the cost breakdown:
- 1 Night – Dallas, Texas – The Westin Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas – $160 less $135 from Hotels.com rewards for a total of $25
- 3 Nights – Hanoi, Vietnam – Hanoi E Central Hotel – $253 less $250 from Hotels.com gift cards we received through credit card rewards for a total of $3
- 4 Nights – Chiang Mai, Thailand – Le Meridien – $670 less $171 from Hotels.com rewards for a total of $499
- 3 Nights – Krabi, Thailand – Railay Village Resort – $541
- 1 Night – Bangkok, Thailand – Suvarnabhumi Ville Airport Hotel – $56
Similar to flights, you can save money on hotels through credit card rewards. Some credit cards offer travel reimbursements. For example the Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card has a bonus of 50,000 miles once you spend $3,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening (and 2X miles on every purchase, every day). This translates to $500 in travel. Meaning, if you have the 50,000 miles and book a hotel for $600, you will get a $500 reimbursement from your card and the cost will be just $100.
Excursions
Cost of Excursions: $573 less $221 of savings for a total of $352
Excursions were one area that we splurged on this trip. All three of the excursions we went on were highlights of our trip and were unique in their own way.
- JadeSails Full Day Cruise of Ha Long Bay – $198. This may seem a bit much for two tickets, but it was totally worth it. The nice thing about this cruise, which we booked through Expedia, was that they pick you up at 7 AM from Hanoi. This allows you to be on the boat and departing on your tour by 9:30 AM. Many of the other cruises I saw picked you up around 9:00 to 10:00, making the departure time around noon. This cruise also was on a very modern boat, had amazing food that catered to preferences, and an awesome tour guide. I wrote more about it, including pictures, in this guide to Hanoi.
- Full Day Guided Hike in Chiang Mai – Happy Bird Tour – $221 less $221 of savings for a total of $0. I cannot say enough good things about this full-day tour. We had a tour guide, a driver, and a photographer. We got a couple hundred photographs for our group of six people. On this hike you go to a Karen village for coffee and lunch, among other things, and it was just amazing. If anything the price should be higher.
One of the benefits of blogging is having the opportunity for referral, or affiliate income. It’s one reason I think there is so much upside to starting a blog. This was an airbnb experience, and we had enough referral credits to cover the entire thing. For example, if you click on this link and book an airbnb stay you get $40 off your first stay of $75 or more and $15 off your first experience of $50 or more. When this happens I receive a referral credit from airbnb as well.
- Blue Elephant Sanctuary 1/2 Day Excursion – Chiang Mai – $127. What else can I say? Getting to be up close to elephants was an amazing experience. Worth every dollar.
- Other Excursion Costs – $27. This was ticket costs, including the puppet water theater in Hanoi.
Food & Drinks
Cost of Food & Drinks: $541
If you cut out the Dallas overnight stop on our trip we spent just $406 on food and drinks throughout the trip. There were a few things that helped us keep this cost low. First, we had breakfast included at all three of the hotels we stayed at. They were really good breakfasts in Hanoi and Chiang Mai, too, so we didn’t feel a need to eat until lunch. Lunch was included at all three of our excursions as well.
One common misconception I hear is that the food and drinks are really cheap in Thailand. The problem with this is I think people picture paying $2 USD for a huge meal. In reality most meals are going to be in the $6 to $12 range, before tip. This is still inexpensive, but it’s not as cheap as some may imagine. It’s also worth pointing out drinks are typically around $4 USD, which again is cheap but may not feel cheap if you were expecting $1 USD drinks everywhere.
Transportation
Cost of Transportation: $240
Transportation across Thailand and Vietnam is affordable and easy if you know what you are doing. A couple things worth highlighting:
- Download the Grab App – Uber used to be in Southeast Asia but agreed to exit the market for a non-controlling interest in Grab. Grab is like Uber and makes getting around really easy (and affordable). You can also order food delivery from the app, which we did once in Chiang Mai. Keep in mind that you likely will need to pay in cash unless you have a local SIM card.
- Railay Beach – within Krabi – is only accessible by boat – With Krabi, and more specifically Railay Beach, being our last destination, we spent minimal time thinking about logistics. Unfortunately we didn’t realize Railay Beach isn’t accessible by land and you have to take a boat at some point. The hotel (Railay Village Resort) really fleeces you with this, charging $53 USD during the day or $67 USD at night. I negotiated our night transport down to $60 USD. The transportation was poorly coordinated (and it was a terrible hotel). After a long day of travel it was disappointing that the bellhops did not carry all our bags, despite the hotel manager saying they would.
On the way back we purchased tickets from a booth on the main (only) street in Railay for $27 USD total. When it was all said and done we paid $87 USD for airport transportation in Krabi. The lesson here being if you stay on Railay Beach factor in the boat transportation costs and coordinate well ahead of time to avoid stress.
Remaining Spend Categories
- WiFi $187 less savings of $18 for a total of $169. I gave a full review of Teppy pocket WiFi, which I recommend. A Teppy is essentially a small piece of hardware about the size of a phone that will give you access to WiFi wherever you travel.
- Tickets $159. All $159 of this spend was from two tickets we bought for an Incubus concert in Dallas the first night of the trip. I included the costs from Dallas because we wouldn’t have incurred any of these costs if it wasn’t for the flights we took, which allowed us to save nearly $2,000.
- Customs $90. This was entirely due to Vietnam Visa fees. I explain the full process in my Hanoi travel guide, but there is a couple things to keep in mind. You want to get a Visa-On-Arrival to make the process easier. Don’t forget to bring 2×2 pictures of yourself, printed out (we forgot – they will do it there but it will make the process longer). Finally you need some cash when you arrive, $25 USD per person.
- Souvenirs $58.. We bought a few elephants from the markets, a bag for my wife, and various other things. We collect Starbucks mugs when we travel so we got one from Thailand and one from Vietnam.
If you’re thinking of going to Southeast Asia: do it! It’s an amazing place to visit. We plan on going back within the next two years and Thailand is definitely on our list to revisit, and if we can fit it in, Vietnam as well.
As you can see from the costs, a trip to Thailand and Vietnam isn’t cheap. We would have spent over $6,000 if we didn’t travel hack or find additional savings. It may seem too good to be true, but if you pay off your credit card bill in full each month you could seriously benefit from travel hacking. We’ve saved thousands of dollars – over two thousand on this trip alone – through credit card rewards.
Here’s some additional posts you may be interested in checking out:
- Top Travel Rewards Credit Cards – This post is updated monthly with the best travel rewards credit cards. As I showed throughout this post, using credit card rewards saved us thousands on this trip alone.
- 10+ Things We Bought to Make International Travel Easier – We bought a number of products that made our trip to Southeast Asia easier and more comfortable. Browse this list and see what could make travel easier for you, too.
- Tips for Traveling to Hanoi Vietnam – Hanoi, Vietnam, will make a great addition to your Southeast Asia itinerary. I highly recommend going here for at least a couple days, and if you do you have to go on a Ha Long Bay tour (ideally a full-day tour).
- Chase Ultimate Rewards: Our Simple Guide to Maximizing Your Points – If you haven’t already opened up a Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card and started to take advantage of the Chase Ultimate Rewards program, I highly recommend you look into it.
- Teppy Pocket WiFi Review: Get WiFi When Traveling Internationally – Don’t be stuck without service while traveling Southeast Asia – or anywhere international, for that matter. Tep Wireless is a convenient option that I recommend.
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