It all depends. I've just come back...at the beach we were spending about £10 per person on lunch and evening meal (inc a soft drink and a beer) in an average tourist restaurant. The price can vary considerably depending on how posh the restaurant is. Evening buffet at the Dusit Laguna Hotel, Phuket was about 1100 Baht per person (approx £16) to give an example of a 4 star property.

Small beers in restaurant ranged between 50 to 80 baht. Large beer around 100 baht, although I did pay over 220 baht on one meal. Soft drinks in tourist restaurant 30 to 40 baht, fresh juices 60-80 baht

Tipping in restaurants is usually the small change you might have, some restaurants may have already included service.

If a taxi driver has given good service I might tip 40-100 baht depending on how long the journey has been. Taxi fares have increased quite a bit due to the Global increase in oil prices. A 20 minute journey was costing about 400 baht in the beach areas. Metered taxis in Bangkok are a lot cheaper.

I would say though that tipping is not a necessity you still seem to get good service without it.

Thank you sunbear, very informative and helps with planning cost's ahead, although we are not going until December have to start saving pennies in the Jar now!!!
Sharron

With regard to the beach/tourist restuarants...they may not look as posh as the hotel restaurants but the food is usually excellent...and you will often have the choice of Thai or western food. Street food from the hawkers is great as well and of course even cheaper.

Where are you headed to in Thailand.

As Sunbear said, often the food in the local restaurants are of as high a standard as in the hotels and a fraction of the price. We rarely eat in hotels!

Thank you. Am off tp Andaman Beach Resort in Krabi. Went to Goa last Christmas and although we were ai we ate out a lot as it is so cheap. We are b&b this time so need more of a budjet for food. Am excited already even though it's 9 months away!
Sharron

We ate on the beach at lunch times in Koh Samui .It cost us about £10 for 4 - we had 4 Thai dishes about 3 rices and 4 - 6 beers - we just shared the dishes as you got a taste of everything. Got through a good part of all the menus in 11 days. We often ate ate on the beach at night too as the food is so good but pushed the boat out with a glass or 5 of wine. We're going to Goa in Jan Shazzer and looking forward.

The Andaman...I answered some questions regarding the place for you in another thread...sorry did not pick up on your name. In that case I can give you some real world examples from the restaurant just outside the hotel..the Baan Thai (not much to look at but good food)...specialises in Thai/Chinese and Italian. One evening we had two pizzas and a beer and soft drink came to around 380 baht.

Another night starters of Tom Yam soup, three main dishes shared between us (thai) one of which was fish chosen by us, plus rice, excellent Ice cream to finish plus two beers and two softdrinks and water - 550 baht.

The taxi service that also does laundry just across the road and slightly down the hill seemed a bit cheaper than the other ones around, new car and steady driver. Airport run 600 baht, Ao Nang return 600 baht with driver waiting a couple of hours,as of March 2006.

We foundppattaya much cheaper than Koh Samui and Phuket meal for 2 with
beers £10 taxi fares 30 pence for 2 people in mid range resturant thai food is much cheaper but do not order too much to start with you can always order more can be very spicy best to ask for not spicy and work your way up the scale