Budget Backpacking on Koh Lipe - How to Live Cheaply in Paradise
The islands of Thailand are not as cheap as once they were, yet they are still a firm favourite of the budget conscious backpacker. With their ‘island economies’ these beautiful destinations can easily empty the wallet of the unwary backpacker. We spent 10 days on the island paradise of Koh Lipe and these are our hints and tips of maximising your budget whilst staying on this tropical Thai island.
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. We will earn a small commission from any purchases made through these links.
Accommodation on Koh Lipe
Koh Lipe has quite a few hostels and guesthouses dotted throughout the island, with a mixture of private and dorm rooms available. If you’re solo travelling, check which dorm is best for your budget/needs as there are a variety of levels of luxury to choose from across the island.
For couples or those who don’t mind sharing a bed, then look into private rooms as these are frequently cheaper than buying two beds in a dorm room. When we stayed, two dorm beds in the Bloom Cafe and Hostel were more expensive than a double private room with en-suite bathroom next door in the Sang Chan Hostel.
A general tip here, which you probably already know, is that the prices will nearly always be better in person than booking online. There is lots of accommodation to choose from so you shouldn’t be left bedless for the night.
During our stay, we stayed at the Sang Chan Hostel, extending multiple times, which allowed us to get a slightly better rate, but at the expense of one night having to switch rooms to a couple of dorm beds as all the private rooms had sold out.
The Sang Chan Hostel private rooms were small but extremely comfortable, with a fan to keep cool. The dorm rooms had AC, fans, plug sockets above the beds and good sized storage lockers.
The private double room cost us 700 baht per night (£17.28 or $21.29). One dorm bed cost 300 baht per night (£7.40 or $9.12). You could have gone more budget friendly than we did, but Sang Chan was centrally located and just what we were looking for. You can book your stay at Sang Chan hostel here.
If you want to book your accommodation in advance (a very good idea during peak season), check out the handy map below:
Eating and drinking cheaply on Koh Lipe
Again, the island economy of Koh Lipe means that eating out costs more than on mainland Thailand. However, Koh Lipe has plenty of great budget options for those looking to reign in the spending.
Breakfast on Koh Lipe
Banana Roti
It’s not called the ‘banana pancake’ trail for nothing! This backpacker staple is available across the island from street carts to sit down restaurants. More expensive than on the mainland, expect to pay between 60 to 80 baht (£1.49/$1.79 or £1.98/$2.39).
Fried Chicken from Sippeenong (สิบพี่น้อง) - Map Link
In the Western eyes, this maybe a slightly unconventional breakfast, but Hat Yai had turned us onto fried chicken in the mornings.
On Walking Street near to the Pattaya Beach entrance, the Sippeenong restaurant serves an excellent fried chicken with sticky rice, sweet chilli sauce and deep fried shallots. It is an extremely filling breakfast and costs only 60 baht per plate (£1.49 or $1.79).
The Bakery
The Bakery caters for the sweet doughy fix that befalls all those who leave Europe after a while.
Sweet cinnamon whirls were our (very healthy) breakfast choice on more than one occasion. If you get a fresh batch they are chewy, sweet and delicious! One cinnamon whirl costs 35 baht (£0.87 or $1.04).
The bakery doesn’t have a Google Maps listing, but can be found on Walking Street close to the Pattaya Beach entrance.
Lunch and dinner on Koh Lipe
There is no shortage of restaurants on Koh Lipe and those not on a budget can indulge themselves with fresh lobsters and barbecued fish. As budget backpackers however, you’re not instantly relegated to the realms of pot noodles as the island has plenty to offer for those with tighter purse strings.
Wonton soup stall - outside Patt market (แพท มาร์เก็ต)
Outside the Patt Market and opposite the A Plus Centrale shopping centre, is a humble little stall selling wonton noodles. Served as either wonton noodle soup with char siu pork, or dry with the soup on the side, the wontons were silky, meaty and super satisfying.
The noodles were great with the perfect amount of bite and the soup was clear and light whilst still delivering depth and complexity.
This was one of the best value options on the island and we had dinner here several times. One plate of wonton noodles with pork and soup cost 80 baht (£1.98 or $2.39).
Noodle soup from Wangcha-Aon & Thai food (วังชะโอน แอนด์ ไทยฟู้ด)
Surprising no-one, a good budget option is a simple bowl of Thai noodle soup.
As we mentioned in our article on Koh Lipe, we found the best noodle soup to be from Wangcha-Aon. A steaming bowl of noodles comes with sliced beef, beef balls as well as meltingly tender braised beef. Topped with crunchy bean sprouts, coriander and white pepper, you can’t go wrong with choosing this noodle soup. Just make sure to fine tune the bowl to your individual tastes by adding sugar/vinegar/chilli from the table.
A bowl of beef noodle soup will cost 100 baht (£2.46 or $3.05).
Pad Thai, Pad Krapow and Fried Rice
Almost all the restaurants on the island will have a “fast food” or “one plate” menu. This is no McDonalds fare, but the familiar backpacking menu of Pad Thai, Pad Krapow and Fried Rice.
These one plate meals are usually much cheaper than ordering a plate and rice separately.
The island's economy seems to have dictated that these dishes all cost around the same at 70 to 80 baht a plate.(£1.73/$2.09 or £1.98/$2.38).
Streets eats - grilled meat and other delicacies
Served from grills at the front of the Walking Street restaurants and from little stalls to either side of the 7/11 (the one furthest away from Pattaya Beach), come sizzling meats and crunchy spring rolls. This is some of the cheapest food on the island and you could easily graze yourself happy here munching your way along. You can get juicy skewers of pork, barbecued chicken, imitation crab legs as well as coconut pancakes and spring rolls, Ranging from 10 to 50 baht (£0.25/$0.30 or £1.24/$1.49) these are a great budget option.
These grilled meat skewers are excellent portable snacks!
7/11 supermarkets
As a backpacker you will not need to be told this, but we’ll say it anyway. 7/11 does halfway decent cheap coffee, as well as the backpacker staple of super cheap toasties. We are not normally one to support the massive chains but sometimes a cheese toastie is a must! There are two 7/11 supermarkets on the island both located along Walking Street.
What to do on Koh Lipe on a budget
The beaches of Koh Lipe
You really don’t need to be told this, you’ve come all the way to Koh Lipe for a reason. The beaches are free and beautiful. A day spent soaking up the suns rays whilst listening to the gentle waves lap against the shoreline is the perfect, budget friendly way to spend a day.
The three main beaches you need to seek out are Pattaya Beach in the south, Sunrise Beach to the east and Sunset Beach on the west coast of the island. All these beaches have areas to swim in and plenty of areas to lounge around in the sand. Just bring a towel, swimwear and relax!
If you get peckish during your beach day, there are plenty of cafes, beach bars and restaurants all along the beach fronts, however to keep it cheap, we’d recommend packing a picnic from 7/11 or from one of the other street food stalls along Walking Street.
Read more about the beaches of Koh Lipe here.
Our favourite beach to relax on for the day was Sunrise Beach. Big enough so that you always had space to yourself with perfect clear water and designated swimming zones. As the day goes on, the palm trees further down the beach provide shade. Another unexpected bonus of this beach are its amazing doggy denizens. The dogs of Sunrise Beach are super laid back and very friendly. They’re also extremely happy to wear sunglasses and pose for photos!
Say cheese!
Sunset on Koh Lipe
Sunsets in Thailand can be absolutely spectacular, and Koh Lipe is no exception. Head to Sunset Beach and sit with the other travellers on the floating pier. Watching the sun dip down, with your feet in the water is a beautiful way to start an evening. We recommend picking up some beers to add to the chilled atmosphere.
Kayaking on Koh Lipe
Koh Lipe is a small island that can be circumnavigated by kayak without too much trouble. Kayak rentals are available on both Sunrise and Pattaya Beaches and cost 200 baht per hour for a two person kayak (£4.94 or $5.96). There are several beaches only accessible this way, and we recommend just heading out and having a lazy paddle around. For more information read our main Koh Lipe article here.
Snorkelling trips from Koh Lipe
Snorkelling off of Koh Lipe is an absolute must. Koh Lipe is set in the Tarutao National Park which is home to spectacular corals and a great variety of colourful fish.
There are loads of tour operators all along Walking Street offering different snorkelling itineraries. Make sure to shop around to get the best deal.
We booked ourselves onto a full day snorkelling trip with lunch, water, fruit and beach breaks all for 500 baht per person (£12.36 or $14.89). We booked our trip from Koh Lipe Star Travel which was located opposite the Pooh Bar.
Walking around the island
Another free things to do is just to walk around the island. Koh Lipe is not a large island and you could easily spend a day exploring the island by foot. Just head out in any direction and see what you find. As soon as you leave the busy alleys of Walking Street behind you’ll feel as though you have the island all to yourself.
We took a walk around the island almost daily and enjoyed just heading to one of the beaches and taking a random road to see where it would take us. During our time wandering the island we found a hidden temple, several abandoned resorts and even a route through the trees that led us to one of Koh Lipe’s “secret beaches”.
If you do not want to do a large walk of the island, then we’d recommend heading to Walking Street and walking the length of it as this is a great place to go window shopping. With lots of souvenirs, clothes and jewellery shops there’s plenty to browse. Just remember not to take the first price and negotiate with the shop keepers!
Drinking on Koh Lipe - nightlife on the island
As you may have seen on our article on our favourite bars of Koh Lipe most of the beer prices are very similar to each other at around 100 baht per small bottle (£2.46 or $3.05).
The cheapest bars we found were Pattaya Song on Pattaya Beach and the excellent Forget Me Not Bar off of Walking Street.
If bars are too pricey, then the true backpacking way to have a bevvie on the island is to buy bottles or cans from the street vendors (these were always cheaper) and make your way to a beach to chill out on!
Travelling to and from Koh Lipe
Koh Lipe is extremely well connected to the rest of Thailand. You can book a few different ways, but being a Thai island the costs are higher and the options more limited than you would get on the mainland.
Almost every other shop on the Walking Street can arrange speedboat transfers to pretty much any of the islands on the western coast of Thailand. Transfers are also available through to mainland cities, and even to Langkawi, Malaysia. Our advise would be to shop around and try and negotiate prices (this is easier if you’re booking for more than one person).
If you’re planning your trip in advance, or just like having everything arranged simply you can just use 12Go to book your tickets online.
Another option is to take the public ferry across to the Pak Bara pier on the mainland and arrange/hail onward transport from there. Mini buses run from here to Hat Yai and there will be plenty of opportunities to arrange onward travel from there. We can’t tell if this will be any cheaper than doing it through an agent on the island, but if you’re an expert negotiator it may be worth a try.
Final thoughts
Koh Lipe is a beautiful island and not as well known as Koh Samui, Koh Lanta or Koh Phi Phi. You can easily live thriftily without missing out here. It’s a tiny island that is totally walkable with loads to do, and lots of budget friendly options. If we’ve missed any good deals let us know in the comments!
We hope you enjoy your budget friendly trip to Koh Lipe!
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
Our other Koh Lipe articles:
If you want a guide to the island of Koh Lipe as a whole click here!
If you’re interested in having a drink on Koh Lipe, click here to read all about the bars on the island.
If you’ve found this blog helpful, entertaining or you just fancy supporting us please click the button below!
If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, why not save the pin below?
