Two nights in Bangkok — a private room, all meals, transport and sightseeing — fits comfortably under €200 without cutting anything out. Here is where it goes.
The breakdown
| Item | THB | ≈ € |
|---|---|---|
| Guesthouse, 2 nights | 1,400–1,800 | €36–46 |
| Airport rail link, return | 90 | €2.30 |
| Street food, 6 meals | 400–500 | €10–13 |
| Restaurant dinners x2 | 600–800 | €15–20 |
| BTS / MRT / boats, 2 days | 250 | €6 |
| Grand Palace | 500 | €13 |
| Wat Pho + Wat Arun | 300 | €8 |
| Thai massage, 1 hour | 300 | €8 |
| Drinks | 500 | €13 |
| Total | ~4,400 | ~€112 |
That leaves substantial room under €200 for a nicer hotel, a day trip, or a rooftop bar evening.
Where to stay
Near a BTS or MRT station — this matters more than the neighbourhood, because traffic makes taxis unpredictable and trains do not.
Sukhumvit's side sois, Silom and Ari all have good guesthouses at 700–900 THB a night for a private room with air conditioning.
The food, which is the point
40–80 baht for a full street dish — pad thai, boat noodles, som tam, grilled chicken with sticky rice.
This is not a compromise; the stalls with queues of Thai office workers at lunchtime are the recommendation.
Mall food courts — Terminal 21, EmQuartier — cost a little more, are air conditioned, and hold a lot of good Thai food. Usually a card system: load at a counter, spend at the stalls, refund the balance.
Avoid the tourist-area restaurants near Khao San and the hotel strips.
Transport
Airport Rail Link, 45 THB each way to Phaya Thai.
Chao Phraya express boat, 16–33 THB — transport and sightseeing at once.
BTS and MRT, 17–62 THB per journey, air conditioned, and they avoid the traffic.
Grab for the gaps. Metered taxis if the driver uses the meter.
The weekend shape
Saturday morning: Grand Palace at 8am opening, Wat Pho next door, Wat Arun by cross-river ferry. Dress code — shoulders and knees covered — enforced.
Saturday afternoon: river boat north or south, then a Thai massage at Wat Pho's school.
Saturday evening: Chinatown after dark for the street food.
Sunday: Chatuchak market in the morning, or Bang Krachao — the green island reached by a ten-minute boat, with bicycle hire at the landing.
Free or nearly
Lumphini Park, the markets, Chinatown, most temples beyond the main three, and walking anywhere.
Two cautions
The temple closed scam — someone says the Grand Palace is shut for a ceremony and offers a tuk-tuk itinerary ending at a gem shop. It is not shut.
Book tours locally, the day before, for roughly half the online price.