Thailand: How to have a dirt-cheap holiday in the Land of Smiles

Veteran Thailand tourist Charmain Naidoo shares some insider secrets on making your money go even further in this famously affordable and beautiful country

Cheap travel on the South African rand is a bit of a misnomer. No matter where intrepid South Africans go, they have to pay through the nose for the basics when the rand is converted into the destination currency.

Just a decade ago holidays to that Southeast-Asian jewel, Thailand, used to be dirt-cheap and it was a perennial and popular family holiday destination. These days, the eroded rand and the healthier Thai Baht - the local currency - have made a holiday to the Land of Smiles affordable but sadly no longer cheap as chips.

Still, there are ways to make the rand stretch enough to enjoy your Thai holiday.

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WHEN TO GO:

This is probably the most important decision. If you go in the Thai winter (over Christmas and New Year), when the weather is merely hot as opposed to blistering, you will pay two to three times as much as you would in midsummer - June to August - which is also monsoon season.

Still, there are many things to do in the sweltering heat of midsummer. The scenery is still magnificent: the karsts - those limestone outcrops that rise out of the sea - glisten in the shimmering heat. You can spend long, languid, lazy days on the softest sands or wade through the bluest waters.

The secret to going to Thailand out of season is that there is an unhurried lethargy that induces instant relaxation. And you can haggle money-grabbing locals down to realistic prices. It's just too hot to argue for too long.

WHERE TO EAT:

You can eat on the streets, or sit down at bare melamine tables on fold-up plastic chairs at open-air markets and eat where the majority of Thais eat - if you're adventurous. I'm not. So I eat where the farang (foreigners) eat, along with Thais, it must be said, in little restaurants.

The trick is to eat Thai food - and why wouldn't you when you're in Thailand, after all? Order wine and you quadruple your bill. Drink local beer - Singha, Tiger or Chang - and eat local and your taste buds will be sated and your wallet happy.

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WHERE TO STAY:

Out of season, hotel prices drop by between 50% and 70%. If you are on a strict budget, and in one of Phuket's seaside villages, pick a hotel that is four or five streets back from the beach.

My favourite place in the world is Kata Beach with its pristine beaches and azure waters. If you choose smartly, you can find lovely, cheap hotels on the hillside overlooking the bay. Two purposes are served at once: the magnificent view, and the walk up the steep hill in the sauna-like heat means you can eat twice as many ice creams and drink more wine with dinner without worrying about calories.

GETTING AROUND:

Don't hire a motorbike unless you ride one at home. It might be a cheap form of transport but it's a dangerous option too. Take one of the ubiquitous tuk-tuks which, ever since the tourism authorities set new rules, have regulated fees so you know how much is owed before you climb aboard.

If you want to travel like the locals, catch a songthaew, a hop-on, hop-off covered bakkie with benches along the sides, for a few rands. Like our own taxis, you simply flag them down as they pass.

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WHAT TO DO:

If you're on the islands and having a beach holiday - as opposed to going hill trekking in Chiang Mai - have as many massages as you like. They're cheap.

If you're in Phuket, instead of going on expensive day trips to the islands off Phuket, go down to Rawai beach and pay a longtail boatman to take you out for the day.

Longtails are the classic boats of the region - sleek, narrow craft powered by old car engines driving propellers on long shafts - hence the name. You will see them pulled up on every beach in every bay with independent boatmen looking for customers.

A word of warning though: make sure the boat is seaworthy - no leaks or other glaring problems such as wonky propshafts and engines spewing oil - before you head out. And a boat that has lifejackets is always better than one that doesn't.

Take a towel to lie on at the beach instead of hiring an umbrella and a chair. On reflection, get the chair and the umbrella.

It's not so expensive and anyway the man who rents it to you will bring you - for very little money - an icy watermelon or lemon crush and brush sand off your chair after you've been for a dip in the glorious, lukewarm sea.