Thailand

Climate and cost by city

Sea off Phuket: warmest May at 31°C, coolest January at 29°C.

Sea off Krabi: warmest April at 32°C, coolest December at 29°C.

Sea off Koh Samui: warmest May at 32°C, coolest December at 28°C.

Average monthly temperature and rainfall from Open-Meteo ERA5 (2019-2023 mean, CC BY 4.0). Sea surface temperature from Open-Meteo Marine. Price level from the World Bank ICP survey, same-year pairing, omitted where the survey does not cover the country.

Cost of living and lifestyle

Day to day, Thailand costs about 31% of the US level, on a World Bank income of $26k per person (PPP, 2025).

That percentage is measured against your country, not against ours. It follows the country picker in the header, or your account if you are signed in. With neither, it falls back to the United States, which is the 100 of the World Bank index, and the sentence says so.

World Bank ICP price level (US=100) and GNI per capita PPP, CC BY 4.0. It is a national average: a capital runs above it and a small town below it.

Getting to Thailand

Its main airport has non-stop service to 114 airports in the OpenFlights route database.

Airports and non-stop routes from OpenFlights (Open Database License). Fares and flight times are cached one-way economy prices from Travelpayouts, the cheapest seen recently rather than a live quote or an average. They move; treat them as an order of magnitude.

What to see in Thailand

Ordered by how many people looked each place up over the last twelve months, so the list is measured interest and not our taste.

• 

  river

  Mekong River

  17,812 readers a month look it up

• 

  island

  Ko Samui

  13,784 readers a month look it up

• 

  archaeological site

  Grand Palace

  9,786 readers a month look it up

• 

  island

  Khao Phing Kan

  5,847 readers a month look it up

• 

  river

  Chao Phraya River

  5,211 readers a month look it up

• 

  statue

  Emerald Buddha

  4,340 readers a month look it up

• 

  island

  Ko Pha-ngan

  4,216 readers a month look it up

• UNESCO

  historical park of Thailand

  Ayutthaya Historical Park

  3,223 readers a month look it up

The practical basics

• Local time…Indochina Time, Asia/Bangkok
• CurrencyTHBISO 4217
• LanguagesThai
• PlugsA, B, C, O230/400 V 50 Hz
• UK travel adviceAdvises against travelFCDO, reviewed 2026-06-30
• Population71.6mWorld Bank

Currency codes ISO 4217; plugs and voltage from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); time zone and flag from the countries-states-cities database (ODbL 1.0); travel advice from the UK FCDO (Open Government Licence v3).

How many people visit

Thailand logged 39.9 million international arrivals in 2019, the last year the World Bank series covers.

World Bank indicator ST.INT.ARVL, international tourism arrivals, CC BY 4.0. Arrivals count trips, not people: the same visitor twice in a year counts twice.

Tax in Thailand, in one line

Personal income tax runs up to 35 per cent, but a new arrival who qualifies for the LTR visa (Work-from-Thailand) regime is taxed at 17 per cent. Capital gains: Taxed as ordinary assessable income at progressive PIT rates (up to 35%); gains on sale of SET-listed shares through the stock exchange are exempt.

Tax figures are compiled by us and are being re-verified against primary sources. General information, not tax advice.