Is Pattaya really cheaper than Phuket ?

[Baron Samedi]

Food, drinks, motorbike rentals, accommodation...

You know... the basics.

Thx ????

[Maha Sarakham]

Yes

[PJ71]

yes

[pomchop]

a LOT

[Baron Samedi]

Thx

[Adumbration]

Yes.  Transport is a nightmare if you do not have your own vehicle.  You will be systematically raped.

[Baron Samedi]

22 minutes ago, Sticky Rice Balls said:

if you do go...dont wear a gold necklace----protip!

Not my style ????

[Skeptic7]

YES. By a moonshot.

[starky]

Im sure you have the picture by now but its heeeeeeeaps cheaper in patts. For everything!

[Peterw42]

Yes, more expensive. At least 10-20% across the board. If a coke is 20 baht in pattaya 7/11, it will be 22-25 in Phuket. All those little 10-20%s add up.

I didn't notice that much until I went there with Thai wife and she started pointing out the differences. 2 years later she still talks about MK "Gold" restaurant, which is basically MK restaurant with a premium price tag.

[Red Forever]

Everwhere is cheaper than rip off island Phuket.

A nasty, miserable place inhabited by self entitled, above the law crooks.

[Peterphuket]

Phuket is the most expansive place of LOS, for many years.

[Kenchamp]

8 hours ago, Adumbration said:

Yes.  Transport is a nightmare if you do not have your own vehicle.  You will be systematically raped.

And if you do rent or own a scooter you will also be "systematically raped" by the Phuket cops who set up checkpoints all over the place targeting farangs

[Andycoops]

Absolutely cheaper.

[Headgame]

This topic has been covered so many times. Yes, Phuket is more expensive than Patts so if budget is a critical issue then go to Patts. The majority of other comments are same old, same old negative <deleted>.

[Old Croc]

Phuket is a Province, not a town like Pattaya. It has many different areas to live or holiday in and prices vary. Dedicated tourist towns on popular beaches are expensive in the same way all major tourist destinations world wide are. Taxi transport in the Province is a major ripoff, however you are asking about bike hire which is not astronomically priced. Most expats live outside the tourist areas and pay similar prices to other major areas in Thailand.

 

Pattaya, a town, is cheap and taudrey, spawned as an R and R destination for troops from the Vietnam war. It doesn't have the natural beauty of the Island of Phuket and it's surrounding major tourist attractions.

If cheaper is your main consideration, Pattaya, the town, is the place for you, but do consider that all the nasty comments above emanate from the type of people who live there. 

[Chongalulu]

1 hour ago, Headgame said:

This topic has been covered so many times. Yes, Phuket is more expensive than Patts so if budget is a critical issue then go to Patts. The majority of other comments are same old, same old negative <deleted>.

Indeed,I’m not a budget traveller looking for 600 baht rooms. 2 months ago I got a huge 1 bed apartment on 16th floor overlooking Karon beach which for 1600 night (£40) is way better than what you could get in Europe. Many restaurants are very reasonably priced - again I’m not looking for 50 baht main courses. Also I went on speedboat tours to Similans and phi phi which I thought very reasonably priced. I drove down (1 overnight stop ).The fact is I wanted decent beaches (Pattaya has none) and snorkeling and being a non drinker I couldn’t comment on bar prices. Of course Phuket will be more expensive but in absolute terms it certainly isn’t. Fact is Pattaya has nothing of what I want and an Andaman sea island does - and I like the sights on them drive down . Diesel is 1/3rd the price of Europe. CONTEXT…,

[daveAustin]

Bkk aside, the south is generally more expensive than the rest of Thailand, tourist area of not. 

[Adumbration]

3 hours ago, Kenchamp said:

And if you do rent or own a scooter you will also be "systematically raped" by the Phuket cops who set up checkpoints all over the place targeting farangs

Not if you are wearing a helmet, have the correct licence for the vehicle you are driving, and you vehicle is insured.  But yes, make no mistake, the RTP in Phuket at the moment are like a pack of starving wolves.  The money to pay for the gik and her fortuna has to come from somewhere.

[ChaiyaTH]

Specific places being cheaper or more expensive is complete nonsense if you ask me. It just depends where you go, everywhere there are cheap places.

 

People always told me that many islands, Samui etc were so expensive too while I live here on the same cost as I do in Chiang Mai or Pattaya. Perhaps the only difference is that a place like Pattaya has more places stacked next to each other being cheap, but that is not needed in the first place.
 

Not to forget, Phuket would also offer you much more quality beaches, places to go, girls etc etc.

[Adumbration]

3 hours ago, Headgame said:

This topic has been covered so many times. Yes, Phuket is more expensive than Patts so if budget is a critical issue then go to Patts. The majority of other comments are same old, same old negative <deleted>.

Just because a comment is negative does not mean it is not true.  Are you a thai apologist also.  Or are you one of the wannabe big swinging D posters.  Oh Phuket is very expensive but that does not effect me because I am richer than you.

 

The true litmus test here is from the Thais themselves.  You will have to hold a gun the the head of most Thais to get them to go to Phuket.  I have lived here a very long time and have lots of well to do middle class Thai friends with professional careers.  A good while back I had a four story multi bed and bathroom property right in the very heart of Phuket town.  I invited all of my Thai friends to come and stay.  Not one of them took me up on the offer.  All of them said the same thing.  Too expensive.  While thinking about this issue the penny dropped for me.  A street food meal back then was circa 30-35 baht in Patts but 50-60 baht in Phuket.  At the time the AUD was above 30 baht.  So 60 was still almost free in my mind.  But then I thought about it carefully and it dawned on me that the price was at least 100% more expensive than anywhere else in Thailand.

 

Imagine if someone back in your own country invited you to come and visit them in their town.  But the cost of a basic meal was 100% more expensive than your home town.

[Sparktrader]

3 hours ago, Peterphuket said:

Phuket is the most expansive place of LOS, for many years.

I disagree. I found HH more expensive for rooms.

[Sparktrader]

https://www.booking.com/hotel/th/pineapple-guesthouse.en-gb.html

[KarenBravo]

This info may be out of date now.

 

The only thing I noticed that was cheaper in Phuket was rent for a house that had a small garden.

You can still get these for around 10k to 13k per month. Everything else was cheaper, especially restaurant food.

[Adumbration]

3 hours ago, Old Croc said:

Phuket is a Province, not a town like Pattaya. It has many different areas to live or holiday in and prices vary. Dedicated tourist towns on popular beaches are expensive in the same way all major tourist destinations world wide are. Taxi transport in the Province is a major ripoff, however you are asking about bike hire which is not astronomically priced. Most expats live outside the tourist areas and pay similar prices to other major areas in Thailand.

 

Pattaya, a town, is cheap and taudrey, spawned as an R and R destination for troops from the Vietnam war. It doesn't have the natural beauty of the Island of Phuket and it's surrounding major tourist attractions.

If cheaper is your main consideration, Pattaya, the town, is the place for you, but do consider that all the nasty comments above emanate from the type of people who live there. 

Phuket was once an ok place to be.  I had a penthouse in Patong, a very large property in Phuket town and a double house in a gated community in Chern Talay.  I have lived in Phuket.  

 

All of the coral gardens on the island are now completely destroyed.  The sea water around the Island has a thermo nuclear fecal coliform count.  Prior to Covid, and based on road deaths per capita, Thepkassatri Road (the main rood down the center of the island) was statisically the most dangerous place on earth. 

 

Phuket has become marginally more livable in the tourist vacuum that was created by covid.  The environment thereabouts (and particularly the marine enviroment) took a big collective sigh of relief.  The roads are a little less dangerous because the chinese tourist buses have gone and there are less cement trucks (I personally witnessed young pregnant woman get crushed by one of these, in front of her husband, many moons ago).

 

Phuket is no longer a natural beauty.  She has suffered from decades of violent gang rape and is now a battered and grotesque toothless hag.

[geisha]

Phuket is definitely prettier than Pattaya, let’s be honest, the hills the seaside and there are still cleaner beaches than Pattaya. Of course 20+ years ago it was better, everywhere was!  The real phuket people , not the taxi wolves and jet ski scammers, are as nice as all other Thai people. I lived 20 long winters in Phuket . Loved it. Discovered Pattaya out of curiosity, and found the weather suited me much better there . Also, many supermarkets all over Pattaya with great choice and clean. Then there is the lack of public transport on Phuket. In Pattaya, I could hop on a bus and be in my supermarket for 20 Baht.  It was eventually the cooler , drier. weather that made me move. 
ive just been to Phuket January and February. It was terribly hot and quite stormy. I won’t go back to live there. Instead I’ll take a weeks holiday there now and again. 
im not sure that Phuket is more expensive rent wise. It was cheaper because of Covid.  You have a larger choice of condos with pool in Pattaya. Buying ? Would never do it. I like to be free to move. 

[arithai12]

5 hours ago, nchuckle said:

Indeed,I’m not a budget traveller looking for 600 baht rooms. 2 months ago I got a huge 1 bed apartment on 16th floor overlooking Karon beach which for 1600 night (£40) is way better than what you could get in Europe. Many restaurants are very reasonably priced - again I’m not looking for 50 baht main courses. Also I went on speedboat tours to Similans and phi phi which I thought very reasonably priced. I drove down (1 overnight stop ).The fact is I wanted decent beaches (Pattaya has none) and snorkeling and being a non drinker I couldn’t comment on bar prices. Of course Phuket will be more expensive but in absolute terms it certainly isn’t. Fact is Pattaya has nothing of what I want and an Andaman sea island does - and I like the sights on them drive down . Diesel is 1/3rd the price of Europe. CONTEXT…,

well said. Still in the south, you could find much of what you seem to look for in Krabi/Lanta, at more reasonable rates than the main Phuket places.

[arithai12]

3 hours ago, Adumbration said:

Phuket was once an ok place to be.  I had a penthouse in Patong, a very large property in Phuket town and a double house in a gated community in Chern Talay.  I have lived in Phuket.  

 

All of the coral gardens on the island are now completely destroyed.  The sea water around the Island has a thermo nuclear fecal coliform count.  Prior to Covid, and based on road deaths per capita, Thepkassatri Road (the main rood down the center of the island) was statisically the most dangerous place on earth. 

 

Phuket has become marginally more livable in the tourist vacuum that was created by covid.  The environment thereabouts (and particularly the marine enviroment) took a big collective sigh of relief.  The roads are a little less dangerous because the chinese tourist buses have gone and there are less cement trucks (I personally witnessed young pregnant woman get crushed by one of these, in front of her husband, many moons ago).

 

Phuket is no longer a natural beauty.  She has suffered from decades of violent gang rape and is now a battered and grotesque toothless hag.

You are basically saying, with various rants some of which are unfounded, that Phuket was better in terms of natural beauty 20 years ago. Really? Who would have guessed.

[Sparktrader]

7 hours ago, Peterphuket said:

5 minutes ago, arithai12 said:

You are basically saying, with various rants some of which are unfounded, that Phuket was better in terms of natural beauty 20 years ago. Really? Who would have guessed.

 

Pattaya was ugly 20 years ago

[Headgame]

4 hours ago, Adumbration said:

Just because a comment is negative does not mean it is not true.  Are you a thai apologist also.  Or are you one of the wannabe big swinging D posters.  Oh Phuket is very expensive but that does not effect me because I am richer than you.

 

The true litmus test here is from the Thais themselves.  You will have to hold a gun the the head of most Thais to get them to go to Phuket.  I have lived here a very long time and have lots of well to do middle class Thai friends with professional careers.  A good while back I had a four story multi bed and bathroom property right in the very heart of Phuket town.  I invited all of my Thai friends to come and stay.  Not one of them took me up on the offer.  All of them said the same thing.  Too expensive.  While thinking about this issue the penny dropped for me.  A street food meal back then was circa 30-35 baht in Patts but 50-60 baht in Phuket.  At the time the AUD was above 30 baht.  So 60 was still almost free in my mind.  But then I thought about it carefully and it dawned on me that the price was at least 100% more expensive than anywhere else in Thailand.

 

Imagine if someone back in your own country invited you to come and visit them in their town.  But the cost of a basic meal was 100% more expensive than your home town.

OK, you don't know me but of course, you have an insulting opinion of me already formed. My point was simply, yes, Phuket is more expensive than the rest of Thailand. You've just confirmed that with your missive. Your only complaint seems to be the price and all your friends agree with you and nobody will go to Phuket because of the price. Other than price, I guess Phuket could be OK. And that was my point.