–>Krabi Thailand Livability Factors
–>Krabi Thailand Cost of Living
–>Krabi Thailand Best Area to Stay, Best Tours, Cheapest Flights
–>Cheapest Scooter Rental
–>Railay Beach Tour
–>Krabi Town Walking Tour
–>Ao Nang Nightlife
–>Tiger Cave Tour
–>Krabi Digital Nomads
Best Retire Cheap in Paradise Locations in the World
This is Dan from Vagabond Buddha. This is my Krabi Thailand Retire Low Cost post.
I am presently touring around SE Asia looking for the best retire cheap in paradise locations.
I left the USA in 2007 and I have been to 65 countries so far. Other than visiting family, I move forward discovering the world. I don’t keep an empty bed waiting for me at home. I have a property manager in the USA that keeps my places rented out.
There are many people in the USA that lost part of their retirement nest egg in the 2008 market crash. Because the market took 8 years to fully recover, many people lost almost a decade of compounding on their investments.
That means there are people like me approaching their target retirement date that are not where they expected to be today. Others will be trying to retire on social security alone. Many more are living a working retirement.
But there is some good news. There are cheaper places to live in the world that provide the adventure you crave on the budget you can afford. Your retirement is sooner than you may realize if you listen to me.
Today, I am sharing a beautiful part of Thailand known as Krabi. But you can read my worldwide retire cheap in paradise reports at this link Retire Cheap Reports.
If you would like to learn how to live in a paradise location for possibly less money than you are spending at home, or the various ways people make money online, please grab a free copy of my EBook:
How to Fire Your Boss and Travel The World
Krabi Livability Factors
There are certain things I think about when I consider a place for cheap retirement. I call these my livability factors. I rank these factors high, medium, or low.
Then I assign and overall desirability score to a place.
Walkability: Medium. You will probably need a car or scooter to live here. The beach communities like Ao Nang or Railay, just don’t have everything you will need. You will need to make trips to Krabi to get supplies and to vary your entertainment. You could use the local buses (trucks with 8 seats in the rear bed) for about 100-150 Baht ($3 to $4 USD) each way. You also can find a used cheap scooter here for about $1550 new or $600 used. But riding a scooter is dangerous if you are not already highly skilled when you move here.
Internet: High. The Internet is not really an issue in Krabi.
Food: High. If you love Thai food you will love the quality and pricing here. Stay away from the restaurants in tourist areas. Just a block or two from the tourist areas you will find where the locals are eating for $2 to $3 per meal. If you want to eat western food here, expect to pay $7 to $12 USD per meal. Beer is $1.50 in 7-11 stores and $3 to $4 dollars in restaurants.
Weather: High. The average temperature year-round is about 80F/27C, with average highs of around 91F/32C and average lows of 72F/22C. The rainy season is May through November when at least some rain falls in 18 days of the month. The rain turns on and off like a faucet, so it rarely ruins an entire day.
Things to Do: High. If you enjoy the beach and water sports, you should be fine. If you are a cultural lover I would say medium or low.
Social Considerations: Medium. Many of the Thai people speak only ‘tourist services’ level English. To feel connected to locals here, you will probably need to learn some Thai. This area of Thailand seems less focused on sex tourism which is refreshing.
Expats: High. There are 13,000 members on this Ao Nang and Krabi Expats Facebook page. It averages 10 posts per day.
Real Estate: You can get a condo at the Krabi Marina starting at about 3 million baht which is around $100k USD. But I never recommend buying until you have lived somewhere at least 3 years.
Krabi Desirability Score: High. This would be a great place for people that are most comfortable in a smaller city at the beach (Ao Nang) or just 25 minutes away (Krabi Town). This would not be ideal for a city person.
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Krabi Cost of Living
|
Expense |
Cost |
Low |
Medium |
High |
| Airbnb/per month rate |
$25.00 |
0 |
14 |
30 |
| 1 Br Apt w/lease |
$12.00 |
0 |
12 |
0 |
| Hostel/per day |
$7.00 |
30 |
3 |
0 |
| High-End Restaurant |
$12.00 |
1 |
4 |
8 |
| Neighborhood Restaurant |
$3.00 |
30 |
44 |
48 |
| Food Cart |
$1.60 |
30 |
12 |
4 |
| Subway/Train/Metro |
$3 |
20 |
26 |
8 |
| Bus |
$3 |
20 |
10 |
0 |
| Taxi/Grab |
$10 |
6 |
10 |
20 |
|
Total |
Per Month |
$540.00 |
$922.20 |
$1,220.40 |
|
Total |
Per Day |
$18.00 |
$30.74 |
$40.68 |
This estimated cost of living is for one month, for one person as a temporary visitor. It only includes rent, 2 meals per day, and local transportation. I usually have oatmeal for breakfast in my room, so I don’t count that. For a full understanding of what it would cost you to live here, visit Numbeo.com Krabi and add any items you spend money on.
Never move anywhere until you have visited first personally to verify the living costs for your lifestyle and needs. I am not guaranteeing these prices. These are just my notes and estimates from the time of my visit and this post. Your costs will likely be drastically different depending on lifestyle and the time since this post.
The above numbers are for one person and do not include alcohol, tours, or extras. Here is a free report explaining, “How The Cost of Living Table Works.”
Please book using our links to recommended flights, tours, or accommodations. You will pay nothing extra, but we will earn a small commission. Your kindness will encourage us to keep making these travel guides and videos.
Best Area to Stay in Krabi
Here are my suggestions for each of my favorite three areas near.
Ao Nang Beach: We stayed in this studio condo for $17 USD per night for 8 days. With Airbnb fees and housekeeping it ended up being $20 per night. If you are new to Airbnb use this code http://www.airbnb.com/c/dbell50 at checkout to get a big discount.
Cheapest Flights to Krabi
We almost always get our cheapest flights on this Skyscanner. They have a web crawler that is constantly looking for the cheapest prices all over the world. As usual we found the cheapest flight to Krabi on Skyscanner.
Best Guided Tours of Krabi
There are two tour aggregators I recommend. But each tour company listed at each link is operated independently. So check both links and read the most recent reviews before making a final decision.
Cheapest Scooter Rental in Ao Nang Beach
We checked 20 scooter rental shops and this one was the best. I never leave my passport as a deposit. If the scooter is damaged or stolen, they could keep your passport until you pay more than the value of the used scooter. This guy rented me a scooter for 150 Baht for 8, total 1200 Baht ($37 USD) with only a picture of my passport and 5000 Baht deposit ($167 USD). His name is Kim and he is across the street from this Tesco Grocery Store. Keep your drivers license with you (any kind, any country) and wear a helmet to avoid police fines.
Railay Beach Tour (from Ao Nang)
Above is the video of our Railay Beach Tour. If it looks fun, just click ==>here<== or on the below map below to open Google Maps on your smartphone.
Tiger Cave Temple Tour
If the above video looks fun, jump on your scooter and ride up to see the Tiger Cave Temple.
Ao Nang Nightlife
Here are a few places that seem to be fun at night when we were in Ao Nang.
Krabi Town Tour
We stayed in Ao Nang, a beach about 25 minutes outside of Krabi Town. We decided to do a day-evening tour of Krabi Town. Above is the video of us taking the tour.
If the above video looks fun just click ==>here<== on your smartphone to take this self-guided tour yourself.
Wat Kaew: This is the largest Buddhist temple in Krabi town. It was founded in 1887 when 200 families settled here and built this temple. The art of this temple is beautiful and worth a visit. Plus it is peaceful to see the monks that wander around the large premises in their orange robes.
Story Wall: There is a story wall in front of the Krabi town city hall. The storyboards and accompanying writings teach you the history of the Krabi town area and its 3000-year-old history.
Krabi Riverside Walk and Park: Next, the above Google Map will take you along the Krabi river waterfront where you will see long boats that can take you to Ao Nang, Railay Beach, and other locations. This is a pleasant riverside park with food carts along the waterfront. If you walk south along the waterfront, you will see the marina where wealthy visitors and locals can dock their boats.
Krabi Night Market. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, there is an amazing night market that you must see. There are literally hundreds of different kinds of food from all over Thailand that you can try along with many souvenir shops.
Nightlife: The tours ends by taking you to two bars that have music and drinks until late in the evening.
Digital Nomads
Vagabond Buddha’s Kitchen: I was eating one meal per day and having protein shakes twice per day. I was cooking my one meal per day at home. So I don’t have a list of restaurants that I can recommend this time. We shopped at these three grocery stores Makro, Tesco, and Mothers.
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This is Dan of Vagabond Buddha. Thank you for stopping by. The world is your home. What time will you be home for dinner?