Southeast Asia is still the easiest place in the world to travel well on very little money. Cheap food, cheap beds, short hops between countries, and a backpacker trail that has been worn smooth for decades. This guide is the version I wish someone had handed me before my first trip: what it actually costs, where to go, when, and how to turn a vague "a few months around Asia" into a plan you can book.
What it really costs
Forget the "$10 a day" stories. They exist, but they mean a fan room, street food three times a day, and no activities. A realistic mid-backpacker budget in 2026 is $35–55 a day per person, and here is roughly where it goes:
- Beds — $8–18 for a hostel dorm, $15–30 for a basic private double split two ways.
- Food — $8–15 a day if you eat where locals eat and treat sit-down Western meals as an occasional splurge.
- Transport — the sneaky one. Night buses and trains are cheap; the flights between countries and the "VIP minivan the guesthouse sells you" are not.
- Activities — diving, tours, motorbike rental, park fees. Budget these separately and per week, not per day.
The single biggest lever is transport. Book overland hops yourself instead of through your guesthouse and you routinely cut the price in half.
The classic route
Most first trips follow some version of the "banana pancake trail." A clean, logical loop that minimises backtracking:
- Thailand — fly into Bangkok, head north to Chiang Mai, then down to the islands. The easiest possible on-ramp.
- Laos — slow boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang. The trip's exhale.
- Vietnam — top to bottom or bottom to top. The Ha Giang loop in the north is the highlight of many people's entire trip.
- Cambodia — Angkor Wat, then the coast if you have time.
- Back through Thailand to fly out, or push on to Malaysia and Indonesia if you have longer.
You can do a satisfying version of this in six weeks and a thorough one in three months. If you only have two weeks, pick one country and go deep — racing four countries in a fortnight is how you end up remembering airports.
When to go
The region splits into two weather systems, so "the best time" depends on where you're standing.
- November to March is the sweet spot for most of the mainland — Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam are dry and cooler. It's also peak season, so book ahead over Christmas and New Year.
- April is brutally hot before the rains, but it's also Songkran — the Thai new year water fight, worth timing a trip around.
- May to October is the wet season on the mainland: cheaper, greener, quieter, and rarely a washout — rain often comes in short afternoon bursts. This is a great time to travel if you don't mind flexibility.
Indonesia and southern Malaysia run on a slightly different calendar, so if islands are your priority, plan the route around the sea, not the other way round.
How to not overpay
A few habits that quietly save hundreds of dollars:
- Walk in, don't pre-book everything. Outside peak dates, showing up and asking for a room is cheaper than booking apps and gives you room to negotiate for multi-night stays.
- Eat at the busy stall. Turnover means fresh food, and the busiest stall on the street is almost always both the cheapest and the best.
- Take the night bus or train for long hauls. You save a night's accommodation and a day of travel time at once.
- Get a local SIM at the airport, not roaming. Data is a couple of dollars and makes everything — maps, transport, translation — easier.
- Carry some cash. Card acceptance is patchy off the tourist track, and ATMs love to charge fees.
Turn it into an actual plan
The hardest part isn't the money — it's turning "Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, maybe Cambodia" into a route with the right number of days in each place, in an order that doesn't have you criss-crossing the map.
That's the whole reason we built farpacker. Tell it your rough route, how long you have, and what you're into — beaches, hiking, food, nightlife, working remotely — and it draws a day-by-day plan on a map, with the stops that fit and the ones that don't left off. Start from any of the country guides above, or just tell it where you're headed.
Happy trails.