As we come to the end of our 5 months in South East Asia how did our budget go? Were we able to keep to our daily budget of $120 AUD ($95 USD) per day throughout South East Asia for our family of six?
Here is a breakdown per country of what we spent and will give an overall indication of the best value for money countries to visit with kids.
Bali, Indonesia
We spent 21 days in Bali Indonesia. We spent a total of $1762 USD or $84 USD per day.
We first stayed in Legian for 7 nights, we then moved to Nusa Dua for 8 nights and finished our time in Sanur. Since we had family visiting and it was Christmas, some days we spent more than our budget allowed, but other days we had sponsored accommodation so we estimate that everything evened out in the end.
We loved our time in Bali and spent lot's of time at the beach and enjoying each other's company. Bali is like a second home to us so it was a comfortable transition to this new travelling lifestyle.
Singapore
We spent 5 nights in Singapore and spent $758 USD, or $152 USD a day, under our increased budget of $160 USD a day.
We were very busy in Singapore and had a jam packed 5 days planned. We did Singapore quickly as it is a very expensive city. We visited Universal Studios, Adventure Cover Waterpark, SEA Aquarium and Garden's By the Bay.
We had lot's of fun in Singapore and had no regrets with our itinerary.
We also found very affordable family accommodation, which is very unusual in Singapore. We paid $108 USD a night for a family room with a king bed and 2 singles at the Fragrance Pearl Hotel located in the Geylang District.
We were very happy with our choice of accommodation and it was very well connected to public transport.
Malaysia
We were in Malaysia for 10 nights. We spent a total of $740 USD or $74 USD per day.
Our first 4 nights were in Johor Bahru so we could visit Legoland, and the final 6 nights were in Kuala Lumpur at a Airbnb Apartment right in the heart of the city.
We loved Malaysia, it is a very affordable country and so modern. We enjoyed catching up on Movies at one of the many malls in the city and spent lot's of time at the KLCC playground and waterpark, which was conveniently located a short 15 minute walk from our accommodation.
Malaysia is a huge country and we only scratched the surface with these two places. We would love to go back and visit other cities including Penang, Langkawi, Kuching and Borneo.
Laos
We spent 22 days in Laos and spent a total of $1,658 USD or $75.40 USD per day.
We visited 3 different cities in Laos including Vientiane, Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang. Food, accommodations and activities were very cheap in Laos however we did spend a lot of money on transport. We opted to take private vehicles over public buses as our kids had been getting motion sickness quite frequently and we liked the idea of being able to stop when we needed to.
Laos is not as popular a tourist destination as some other places in Southeast Asia we had visited and we enjoyed how laid back and authentic the people were.
If we could do it again we would have stayed longer in Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang. There are so many things to do in these two cities and we could have experienced more if we had more time.
Thailand
We spent 23 days in Thailand and spent a total of $1915 USD or $83 USD per day.
We spent the first few day in Bangkok in an Airbnb apartment before moving to Koh Samui. We had a ball on Koh Samui with things like participating in a kickboxing camp at Juan Muay Thai as a family and spent our spare time at one of the many beautiful beaches on the island.
We have many fond memories of the friends we made and hope to return to the camp one day in the future. Thailand is a great country and the people are so friendly.
Cambodia
We spent 18 days in Cambodia and spent $1,729 USD or $96 USD a day.
This is the only country we have been over budget so far. Cambodia is not an overly expensive country; however, we found that using USD made us think things were cheaper than they really were. Our local currency is AUD and we just saw the dollar amount and thought AUD is close to that once converted. (It is but over several purchases those little differences all add up.)
We enjoyed our time at Angkor Wat in Siem Reap and Battambang, with these two cities being our favourite in Cambodia. We found Siem Reap and Battambang to be reasonably priced with Phom Penh quite a bit more expensive.
We had trouble finding good affordable food in Phom Penh. Usually I am game for street food but the street food in Cambodia is different and I was not keen so we ate in restaurants more often than not, which also increased our daily costs.
Activities were reasonable in Cambodia as was the transport with our bus trip from Battambang to Phom Penh only costing $7 USD per person. (6-hour journey.)
Vietnam
We spent 30 days in Vietnam and spent a total of $2,720 USD or $91 USD a day.
We started South Vietnam and made our way all the way north to Hanoi. Our biggest cost while in Vietnam was transport. We spent almost 25% of our total budget on transport. We mostly flew between places however we did take one overnight train from Nha Trang to Da Nang.
Another budget buster in Vietnam is the Visas. We paid $60 USD each for a visa and a couple of dollars each for a processing fee. Our total for Vietnam Visa's was $300 or 13.7% of our budget.
We found food and activities to be reasonably priced and this made up for the more expensive things like transport and visas. We loved our time in Vietnam it is an amazing country.
Other Countries
We revisited some countries while waiting for our cheap flights out to Europe on the 18th of May and these are the costs below.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
This is the Air Asia hub and we were able to get cheap flights out of Hanoi to KL so we decided to stay for 6 nights. We also celebrated a birthday in KL with our youngest son turning 4 years old.
We spent 6 nights in KL and spent $527 USD or $87 USD a night.
Northern Thailand: Chiang Mai
We spent two weeks in Chiang Mai and spent $1,086 USD or $77 USD a day.
Once we reached Chiang Mai we were suffering a bit of travel burnout. We took a lot of downtime in Chiang Mai to catch up on schoolwork and writing.
The weather was very hot too averaging around 104 Degrees Fahrenheit everyday so we tended go out in the mornings or early evenings and stay indoors during mid day. This meant we were spending less on activities and transport. Food is also very cheap in Thailand with fresh fruit smoothies only $.80 USD.
Southern Thailand: Pattaya and Bangkok
We are flying to Europe from Bangkok next week and we are spending a few nights in Pattaya before we go down. Cartoon Network Amazone in Bang Sray is hosting us and the kids are extremely excited about it.
I will use the total budget in anticipation for the last week in Thailand, even though we have never spent our whole budget per day except in Cambodia. This will allow me to give you a total overall budget for our whole trip in Southeast Asia.
Time spent in Southern Thailand: 7 days at a cost of $667 USD or $95 per day.
Grand Total Spent in South East Asia Over 22 (154 Days) Weeks
$13,563 USD or $17,078 AUD
$88 USD per day ($110 AUD) or
$14 USD a day per person ($17.60 AUD)
Wow! I can't believe we did it! The $120 AUD a day budget I pulled from somewhere on the Internet because it sounded like a good amount.
We managed to stay under our daily budget in nearly every country which really surprised me. I knew Southeast Asia was cheap but I do have (did have) a family of big eaters and wasn't really sure if we could do it.
So from our costing the cheapest country to visit in Southeast Asia is surprisingly Malaysia, followed closely by Laos and then Thailand. Take your family and go now, Southeast Asia is incredible!
For part one in this series, where the Morgans share their favorite experiences in SE Asia, click here.
