Budget/Backpacker Travel Guide: Songkhla
Experience authentic local culture on a shoestring budget with hostels, street food, and public transport
Daily Budget: 530-1,350 baht ($15-39) per day
Complete breakdown of costs for budget/backpacker travel in Songkhla
Accommodation
250-600 baht ($7-17) per night
Guesthouses cluster in the old town's tiled shophouse lanes. Basic fan or air-conditioned rooms. The occasional hostel dorm has appeared as backpacker interest in Songkhla slowly grows. Rooms stay simple but clean. Shared or en-suite bathrooms. The low hum of a ceiling fan.
Browse budget/backpacker accommodation →Food & Dining
150-350 baht ($4-10) per day
Songkhla's covered morning markets and evening street stalls are where budget travelers eat well. Rice porridge fragrant with ginger for breakfast. Cheap khao man gai or pad see ew for lunch. Rotating southern Thai curries for dinner eaten at plastic tables. The smell of shrimp paste and lemongrass drifts through the humid air.
Transportation
80-200 baht ($2-6) per day
Shared songthaews (covered pickup trucks) run along main routes for nominal fares. Motorcycle taxis wait at corners near the market. Much of old Songkhla is walkable if you are willing to sweat a little in the coastal heat.
Activities
50-200 baht ($1.40-5.70) per day
Songkhla's beaches cost nothing. The hilltop temples with their wide views across the lake cost nothing. The Portuguese-inflected shophouse streets of the heritage quarter cost nothing. The National Museum inside the old governor's palace charges a modest entrance fee.
Currency: ฿ Thai Baht
Money-Saving Tips
Eat breakfast at the covered morning market rather than your hotel. A bowl of jok with a soft egg and ginger steam rising from the bowl typically costs a fraction of any in-house option. You get a more honest taste of how Songkhla starts its day.
Use songthaews for all in-town movement rather than motorcycle taxis or Grab, which tend to run two to four times the price for the same route. The shared pickup routes cover central Songkhla and the main beach road reliably.
Walk the old town heritage streets and the beachfront cape rather than paying for tuk-tuks or taxis. The colonial shophouse quarter. The ochre-tinted Chinese merchant facades. The view from the southern headland. These are the best things in Songkhla. They cost nothing.
Book accommodation mid-week rather than on weekends, when Thai domestic visitors from nearby Hat Yai fill Songkhla's guesthouses and push rates up noticeably, at properties near Samila Beach.
Rent a bicycle for a day to loop from the old town through the cape and along the beachfront. It costs far less than equivalent taxi fares. You can stop whenever something grilling at a roadside cart catches your attention.
Eat your main restaurant meal at lunch rather than dinner. The same kitchen. The same southern Thai curry or grilled fish. Lunch sets at sit-down places in Songkhla typically run meaningfully cheaper than the evening menu.
Buy snacks and fresh fruit from the night market stalls rather than convenience stores, where packaged goods cost more for less food and none of the atmosphere.
Common Budget Mistakes to Avoid
Staying in Hat Yai and day-tripping to Songkhla rather than sleeping there is a mistake. Accommodation in Hat Yai is typically more expensive than equivalent options in Songkhla itself. Basing yourself in the larger city means missing the quieter evenings when the old town waterfront empties and the lake light softens.
Eating exclusively at the small cluster of tourist-facing restaurants near Samila Beach is a mistake. They carry a visible markup over the identical dishes served at local places two streets inland where the clientele is almost entirely Thai and the som tam is tangier.
Hiring private taxis for every trip without checking songthaew routes first is wasteful. The price gap across a full day of movement adds up to the cost of a decent dinner. The shared routes are comfortable enough for anything except late-night travel or journeys with heavy luggage.