Is Koh Lipe More Expensive Than Other Thai Islands? | Thailand

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Koh Lipe is a small island located in the south of Thailand. It’s actually quicker to reach from Langkawi in Malaysia than what is it other Thai islands! It’s often said to be quite expensive in comparison to other islands, so here’s a breakdown of some of my expenses from my 4 night trip there to help give you a rough idea!

Koh Lipe Budget Breakdown

At A Glance

	Total spend	Per night
Travel Costs	£72.29 (approx ฿3086)	£18.07
Accommodation	£192.45 (4 nights solo occupancy)	£48.11
Food & Drink	฿1208 (approx £28.11)	£7.02
Spending Money	฿1377 (approx £34.43 PLUS pharmacy £10.31)	£11.18
TOTAL for 4 night	£279.28 (£346.89 with ferry)	£69.82

Travel Costs

💰Total: £72.29 (approx ฿3086)

Ferry

The first category is travel costs, which will obviously vary depending on where you are coming from. Like a mentioned above, I got the ferry from Langkawi in Malaysia to Koh Lipe. This is one of the quickest and easiest routes, as I could fly into Langkawi airport and then get a 90 minute ferry.

I booked my ferry tickets on 12Go with Bundhaya Speed Boat. A round trip cost me £67.61. It may have been a little expensive, but I was quite impressed with the boat. You often see nightmare videos of the crossing to Koh Lipe with everyone soaked to the bone, but at least coming from Malaysia it was a fully enclosed boat, which had seats more like a coach, and a toilet.

National Park Fee

Everyone staying on Koh Lipe must then pay the national park fee. This was ฿200. When coming from Malaysia, they do accept the equivalent in Ringgit. I had changed up some Baht before I arrived, so I was ready. There is an ATM at the immigration pier, which you could get access to BEFORE joining the passport collection line, however I think it was empty during my visit.

National Park fees aren’t unusual in Thailand. I had to pay them when I visited Koh Phi Phi and for the 4 islands tour from Koh Lanta too.

Accommodation

💰Total: £192.45 (4 nights solo occupancy, £48.11pn)

This category tends to be a bit higher for me, as I’m a solo traveller and I prefer to stay in private hotel rooms, rather than dorms.

It COULD be done cheaper than what I paid. Staying inland had cheaper options, including hostels. You could also stay in more rustic hut style rooms for cheaper (but the reviews of them being full of mosquitoes put me off a little bit).

I decided a non negotiable was accommodation with a beach front area. Considering I was going to Koh Lipe to relax, I wanted an area that was comfortable to sit (beach chairs) and umbrellas, or areas of shade. I visited during peak season when the temperatures were 38c, without shade I would have melted. Of course this comes with a price tag.

Lipe Garden Beach Resort

I stayed at the Lipe Garden Beach Resort on Pattaya Beach. I was happy with my choice. It was far enough down Pattaya Beach to be in a quieter area and I liked the swimming area directly in front of the accommodation.

Every day they gave me 2 free large bottles of water, great as a solo traveller as it meant that I didn’t really need to buy any more on top of these, as I could drink them both myself.

Another unexpected surprise was that breakfast was included within the room rate. Nothing at the time of booking mentioned this, so again that saved on another meal cost. Everyday you got one pre-made ‘set’, which included: fried egg, sausage, ham, fruit, rice, toast/bread, coffee/tea/hot chocolate and juice.

Most of the time there was a slight variation in the fruit or meat. On my last day I had to check out and go to the ferry, so I just asked for an egg and the bread to make a sandwich before they had plated it up. It was enough to keep me going until I had a late lunch/early dinner.

In comparison to other places in Thailand, it was around double what I had paid in Koh Lanta for a very similar product (bungalow, beachfront, breakfast included). In Ao Nang I paid the same as Koh Lanta, but my room was in a hotel block around a 15 minute walk from the beach (breakfast included).

Food & drink

💰Total: ฿1208 (approx £28.11 (฿300/£7 per day for dinner and snacks))

Koh Lipe doesn’t have a night market like other areas I had previously visited, so I ate mostly in budget friendly restaurants. I found that with the temperatures being so hot, I wasn’t overly fussed at wanting a large dinner.

Here’s a look at how much things cost at different places ate and drank at:

Walking Street	7Eleven	2L water = ฿28/64p Snacks x2 = ฿46/£1.05
	Papaya Mom	Spring rolls = ฿100/£2.29 Stir fry noodles = ฿120/£2.75 Smoothie ฿60/£1.37
	Tiger Restaurant	Pineapple fried rice & chicken = ฿100/£2.29 Juice = ฿80/£1.83
	Homemade Gelato	1 scoop = ฿50/£1.14
North Point Beach	Pop up bar at sunset	Chang beer = ฿120/£2.75
Pattaya Beach	Cafe Lipe	Coconut milk noodles ฿140/£3.20 Coconut smoothie ฿80/£1.83

I found the prices similar to when I ate at the beachfront restaurants along Klong Dao Beach on Koh Lanta.

The Chang beer at North Point was a little more expensive as it was from a pop up bar at sunset, which is very popular spot in the evenings. (I think it was operated by the hotel right on that beach too, which has a price tag that was out of my budget!).

Eating at the beachfront restaurant on Pattaya Beach was also a little more expensive, but then it was located right on the beach, rather than being tucked out the way along Walking Street.

There were also plenty of restaurants that were on the higher end, so you could have spent a lot more, but at least there were budget friendly options.

Spending Money & Misc

💰Total: ฿1377 (approx £34.43 PLUS pharmacy (paid on card) £10.31)

I spent a little bit more than planned on spending money and miscellaneous. BUT I was still within my budget. I had spent less on food (mostly due to breakfast being included), so I was like ‘YAY SHOPPING!’…which is rare for me, and ending up just spending my leftover baht on my last night! Travel maths, right?

For things to do, I mostly just relaxed, swam in the sea, went for walks around the island, watched the sunset and a couple of fire shows, which were all free.

Massage

60 Minute Thai Massage: ฿400/£9.30

I LOVE the traditional Thai massages and as Koh Lipe was my second visit to Thailand, I couldn’t wait to have one again! My accommodation had their own outdoor massage area. I got on well with the staff, and would stop and speak to them every time I walked by, so I chose here rather than the other locations on the island.

In comparison, Ao Nang had the cheapest massages, followed by Koh Lanta, and then Koh Lipe being the most expensive. I have no complaints though, I felt awesome afterwards and compared to the UK, where a 30 minute massage is x3 more expensive (£35), £9 for an hour is still a bit of a bargain!

Souvenirs

I found the CUTEST artistic souvenir shop called Seasick. I loved the designs and bought a few bits (keyring, magnetic bookmarks and a magnet) that came to a total of ฿327 (approx £7.60).

Next, I bought a sarong for ฿300 (£6.97). Again, I loved the design and since that trip, it’s what I travel with as a beach ‘towel’, instead of a microfibre towel that stays wet forever. So I’ve got the moneys worth from it.

The last thing I bought was a 5L dry bag. My Uniqlo bag was getting wet and gross every time I went to the beach and I saw the dry bags for sale and thought no, time to get one. Koh Lipe was probably not the best place to buy one in hindsight as they were quite expensive (฿350/£8.14).

In comparison, in Langkawi (Malaysia) they were half the price. HOWEVER, just like the sarong, it’s something that I’ve continued to use and travel with, I love it, and it’s coming with me again to the Philippines.

Pharmacy

Koh Lipe has a couple of pharmacies on the island. I spent £10.31 on 2 Snake Brand products (LOVE) and a pack of Ibuprofen. The Ibuprofen was EXPENSIVE. In 7Eleven paracetamol is cheap, however, I was in need of Ibuprofen and I couldn’t find any. The pharmacy charged approximately £5 for a bubble sheet which is crazy compared to the UK where they cost less than £1.

Final Words

My total spend for 4 nights as a solo traveller came to:

£279.28 (£346.89 with ferry)

This works out at £69.82 per day. Outside of the hotel expense, I spent around £20 a day on food, drink, spending money and things to do. If I was travelling with someone, I could have split the accommodation price between two.

So how does it compare to my previous Thailand trip?

• Transport – expensive to get to, but kind of expected considering the location.
• Accommodation – comparing side by side products, it did cost double compared to Krabi province.
• Food – considering I only ate in restaurants, it was similar priced to Koh Lanta.
• Spending money – souvenir prices were similar to other islands, massages however were more expensive.

I loved my time in Koh Lipe though, to me, it was worth the price and is my favourite place in Thailand. I don’t need to travel on a super strict budget, as I do all my travelling around a job, but if on a tight backpacker budget it may push the boat out.

I also liked the way it was a small island. I could walk everywhere without the need of a scooter (I don’t have my license) or using ride share etc, so this saved money too.

Another thing to add, I found that the WiFi on Koh Lipe wasn’t great. Although my accommodation had free WiFi, being in a bungalow, often the connection was spotty. When researching where to stay, this seemed to be a common trend with other hotels.

Because I was travelling around Malaysia too, I had got an Asia regional eSim rather than getting individual sim cards for both Malaysia and Thailand. I always use Airalo (you can get £2.50 off your first eSim with the code ‘KYLIE6856‘).

The phone signal/4G was generally pretty good and strong enough to do most things. I only lost a signal for around 10 minutes during the 90 minute ferry journey, but that’s to be expected because I was in the middle of the sea!