October 15, 2023: The above guest star provided more recent cost of living data for Hua Hin Vietnam. Although the data in the above video is more recent than the data in the below 2019 cost of living table, you won’t know you personal cost of living here until you do your in-person exploratory visit as we teach in our retire overseas course and eBooks.
August 26, 2019: This is Dan from Vagabond Buddha. This is my Retire Low-Cost Hua Hin Thailand Guide.
Hua Hin was popularized by the King of Thailand in the 1920s. Since then, it has remained popular with the Thai Royal Family, the wealthy, and regular families that live in Bangkok.
You can reach Hua Hin in a few hours from Bangkok by train, car, or bus–depending on traffic conditions.
There are also some expats that have decided to retire in Hua Hin. So, we have decided to add Hua Hin to our retirement exploration tour.
We are spending about 90 days in Thailand ranking our favorite retire cheap locations.
This is all part of a one year trip around SE Asia ranking the best places to retire cheap.
You can find our retire cheap reports all over the world here at Vagabond Buddha.
I left the United States in 2007 looking for my best retirement location. I have been to 65 countries so far.
In 2016, I started Vagabond Buddha to help people ravaged by the 2008 market crash salvage their retirement.
I hope to open the world up to you so your dreams of a magnificent retirement aren’t washed down the drain. I want you to find yourself alive in your own life living the dreams you may have thought past you buy when you watched your retirement dwindle in 2008.
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, grab a free copy of my EBook: How to Fire Your Boss and Travel The World
Hua Hin Livability Factors
There are certain things I look for when I arrive in a new place to see if it would make a great retire cheap in a paradise location. I rank each livability factor high, medium, and low.
Then I give the place n overall desirability score depending on the factors and my overall impressions.
Walkability: High. If you decide to live in the central part of Hua Hin, you can walk everywhere. Grab Car (Uber of SE Asia) is cheaper here than other parts of Thailand. Plus, you can rent a scooter for about 150 Baht a day ($5 USD) if you are comfortable bargaining.
Internet: High. The Internet is not really an issue in Hua Hin: 4.7 Mbps download, 4.6 Mbps upload speeds in our hotel room. If you need faster speeds that should be available in an Airbnb if it has its own router in your room/apartment.
Food: High. Everything is here, Thai, Western, Asian of all kinds. All price demographics are here also. You can pay 600 Baht ($20 USD per entree) in a 5-star tourist resort if you like. We have been eating at local restaurants with the Thai people for about 50 Baht per meal ($1.6 USD).
Weather: High. The average temperature year-round is about 82F/28C, with average highs of around 90F/32C and average lows of 76F/25C. The rainy season is May through October when at least some rain falls in 15 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, water sports, partying, and golf, you should be fine. If you are a cultural lover I would say medium or low.
Social Considerations: Medium. There are expats living here. But not as many as other areas of Thailand, such as Krabi, Phuket, Bangkok, Chaing Mai, etc. So the Thai people speak less English. They will help you but may struggle with more nuanced questions. So if you want to develop a real feeling for Thailand, and you retire in Hua Hin, you will need to learn some Thai to feel connected.
Expats: High. There is a Facebook Expats page with 6000 members and averaging 15 posts per day. That is a good sign and great resources for you to pose odd questions.
Real Estate: The rentals in this Facebook page run from about 15,000 to 30,000 Baht per month ($500 to 1000 USD per month). Those are western-style houses. You can get more local level accommodations for easily half that with a one year lease. But you will have to be on the ground here to find those deals. Just pick a neighborhood you like and look for the rent signs. You can buy a 1 bedroom condo here starting around 2 million baht ($60,000 USD). But I never recommend buying until you have lived somewhere at least 2-3 years.
Hua Hin Desirability Score: High. This place is great, especially if you are a kite-board-surfer or golfer.
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Hua Hin Cost of Living
|
Expense |
Cost |
Low |
Medium |
High |
| Airbnb/per month rate |
$25.00 |
0 |
14 |
30 |
| 1 Br Apt w/lease |
$17.00 |
0 |
12 |
0 |
| Hostel/per day |
$8.00 |
30 |
3 |
0 |
| High-End Restaurant |
$10.00 |
1 |
4 |
8 |
| Neighborhood Restaurant |
$3.00 |
30 |
44 |
48 |
| Food Cart |
$1.60 |
30 |
12 |
4 |
| Subway/Train/Metro |
$0.50 |
20 |
26 |
8 |
| Bus |
$0.50 |
20 |
10 |
0 |
| Taxi/Grab |
$2.00 |
6 |
10 |
20 |
|
Total |
Per Month |
$420.00 |
$807.20 |
$1,024.40 |
|
Total |
Per Day |
$14.00 |
$26.91 |
$34.15 |
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 (Hua Hin) 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 do not include alcohol, tours, or extras. For the free report, “How The Cost of Living Table Works,” click the link and scroll to the bottom of the page.
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 Hua Hin
If you love to be the walkable central area … like I do … stay in the area shown on this map. Click the map or ==>this link<==.
Here are my suggestions:
The Family Tree House: This is where we stayed. The room was nice and it had a great restaurant downstairs called Social Salad Restaurant. For the next 10 people, book using this link and get $20 off on your stay.
Hua Hin Beach Hostel: This hostel was $8 per night when we checked.
Bliss Guest House: This one looks great.
Normally we stay in Airbnb apartments. But we didn’t plan on staying long enough this time to stock the kitchen and cook. If we stayed longer, we would have stayed here. 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 Hua Hin
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 Hua Hin on Skyscanner.
Hua Hin by Bus, Train, Ferry, Taxi, or Songthaew
You can move around town using Grab car. But you can save even more money a Songthaew. That is like a shared local bus that travels along local routes that people jump on and off. Here are more details about local transportation.
Hua Hin Walking Tour
If the above video looks fun, click ==>this link<== or the below map to take the self-guided tour on your smartphone. Here are the stops on this walking tour.
Hua Hin Pier and Beach:
Jao Mae Tub Shrine: This Chinese temple is the oldest part of the city according to posters on the walls along the walkway into this temple. It was settled by Fisherman centuries ago. The city wants the land now apparently which has made these original people unhappy.
Wat Hua Hin: This is the most beautiful Buddhist temple in Hua Hin.
Hua Hin Train Station: This is a beautiful old train station.
Night Market: This night market has amazing cheap food and shopping.
Wat Khao Takiap Temple and Beach Tour
Here is how to take this self-guided tour. Catch one of the green minitrucks with aluminum shells here. Make sure you jump on a southbound truck. When you face the beach, south is to your right. Then click this ==>Google Map<==. Jump off the green truck when you get to the last stop, called Khao Takiap. Then follow the other tourists that walk up the hill to the monkey temple. The second stop on this Google Map is the Monkey Temple. When you are done, jump back on the green truck and ride it back towards Hua Hin. Then jump off at the third stop and walk toward the beach. When you are done with the beach, jump back on the green truck and go back to Hua Hin. If the above link doesn’t work you can click the following Google Map also.
Hua Hin Nightlife Tour
Above is a short video of Hua Hin Nightlife. To take this self-guided tour, just click ==>here<== or the below map and start walking. Just walk this path until you find your favorite music.
Living Cheap in Hua Hin: Food and Experiences
Here are a few of our favorite spots to eat cheap delicious food in Hua Hin.
Social Salad Restaurant $$ Has veggie and meat dishes.
Vagabond Buddha’s Kitchen: We didn’t have a kitchen during our stay in Hua Hin. We were eating out every meal. It was cheap and easy to find great food.
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