Get Around Thailand, Order Food & Save Money Without Leaving Your Hotel
After living in Thailand for 20 years, there are certain apps I use almost every single day.
And if you’re visiting Thailand, especially Chiang Mai, there are three apps I strongly recommend you download before you arrive:
Grab, Bolt and TUK.
These aren’t simply taxi apps. They can make travelling around Thailand easier, cheaper and considerably more convenient, while also giving you access to food delivery and other useful services without you even having to leave your hotel or Airbnb.
In fact, there are plenty of days when I simply can’t be bothered going out.
So I don’t.
I open an app, find something I fancy eating, check the special offers, place the order and wait for someone to bring it straight to my door.
And sometimes the deals are so good that ordering delivery can actually be surprisingly inexpensive.
🍔 Don’t Feel Like Going Out? Get It Delivered
Let’s start with one of my favourite uses for these apps: food delivery.
You’ve spent the day sightseeing.
You’ve been walking around temples.
You’ve been swimming.
You’ve had a few beers.
It’s raining.
It’s ridiculously hot.
Or maybe you’re simply sitting in your hotel room thinking:
“I’m not going anywhere tonight.”
No problem.
Open Grab, Bolt Food or TUK and start looking.
You’ll find everything from small local Thai restaurants and street-food sellers to pizza, burgers, Indian food, Japanese food, coffee shops and plenty of international options.
Grab officially offers food delivery, while Bolt offers Bolt Food and TUK provides food ordering and delivery services in its service areas.
💰 LOOK FOR THE SPECIAL OFFERS
Don’t simply choose the first restaurant you see.
Before ordering, look at the promotions.
This is one of the biggest tips I can give you.
Depending on the restaurant and current promotion, you may see offers such as:
🔥 2 FOR 1
Buy one meal and get another free.
💸 10% OFF
A smaller discount, but still worth having.
💸 15% OFF
Particularly useful on larger orders.
💸 20–30% OFF
Now we’re getting interesting.
🔥 BIG PROMOTIONS
Sometimes you will see much larger percentage discounts or special meal deals.
The exact offers change constantly, so I don’t recommend looking for one particular promotion.
Instead, open the apps and see what’s available today.
That’s the important thing.
A restaurant that is expensive one day can suddenly become a very good deal the next because of a promotion.
💡 Money-saving tip: Don’t just look at the percentage discount. Look at the final price you actually pay, including delivery charges and any minimum order requirements.
🧐 My Trick: Check More Than One App
This is something I do all the time.
If I want a particular type of food, I’ll check Grab and Bolt rather than automatically ordering from the first app I open.
Why?
Because prices, delivery fees and promotions can be different.
You might find the exact same restaurant offering:
20% off on one app
while another app might have:
2 meals for the price of 1.
It takes less than a minute to check.
That minute can save you quite a bit of money.
🚗 Getting Around Thailand Doesn’t Have To Be Expensive
The other reason I use these apps constantly is transportation.
You don’t necessarily need to rent a car.
You don’t necessarily need to rent a scooter.
And you certainly don’t need to stand on the side of the road trying to negotiate with a taxi or tuk-tuk driver every time you want to go somewhere.
Open the app.
Put in where you are.
Put in where you want to go.
And you’ll see the available ride options and price.
Grab’s ride services include options such as JustGrab, where an upfront fare is shown before booking. Bolt also provides upfront price estimates for rides in Thailand.
🛵 Cars, Motorbikes & Tuk-Tuks
Depending on where you are and what is available, these services can give you different transportation options.
Want a car?
Book a car.
Travelling alone and want something cheaper?
A motorbike option may be available.
Want the traditional Thai experience?
TUK offers tuk-tuk rides in Chiang Mai.
One of the great things about these apps is that they can take you from your hotel to a restaurant, from your Airbnb to a market, from one attraction to another or across town to meet friends.
You don’t need to know the local taxi prices.
The app gives you the price before you book, depending on the service and location.
📍 The Big Advantage: Convenience
One of the things I love about using ride-hailing apps in Thailand is how easy it is to get around.
You can be staying somewhere that isn’t particularly close to the main tourist area and still order a car or other available ride to come and get you.
Want to go to a restaurant on the other side of town?
Book it.
Want to visit a shopping centre?
Book it.
Want to go somewhere you’ve found on Google Maps?
Put the destination into the app.
Want to get back to your hotel after a few drinks?
Book a ride rather than driving yourself.
It’s this flexibility that makes these apps so useful.
💵 Why I Recommend Them To Visitors
I’ve lived in Thailand for 20 years, and these apps have become part of everyday life for me.
I’m not talking about something I tried once while on holiday.
I use services like these regularly.
And that’s why I recommend visitors install them.
Thailand can be incredibly inexpensive compared with many Western countries, but you can still waste money if you don’t know how things work.
These apps give you another way to control your spending.
You can see what a journey is going to cost.
You can compare prices.
You can search restaurants.
You can find promotions.
And you can order food without leaving your room.
🏨 Staying In A Hotel or Airbnb?
Here’s a situation that happens all the time.
You’ve arrived at your hotel.
You’re tired.
You’ve unpacked.
The last thing you want to do is get dressed, find a restaurant, travel there, eat and then travel back.
Don’t.
Open the food delivery app.
Find a restaurant.
Look at the promotions.
Order.
Then sit back and wait.
Your food can be delivered directly to your hotel or accommodation, although you may need to meet the driver at reception or another suitable pickup point.
🌧️ And Then There’s The Rain…
Thailand has a tropical climate.
Sometimes it rains.
And when it rains in Thailand, it can REALLY rain.
This is another time when delivery apps suddenly become your best friend.
Instead of getting soaked walking to a restaurant, you can order dinner from your room.
Just remember that heavy rain can also mean more demand and fewer drivers, so delivery times can increase.
📱 The Three Apps I’d Install
If you’re coming to Thailand, my advice is simple:
Install all three.
1. GRAB
Grab is the one I’d recommend everyone has installed.
It combines transportation with food delivery and other useful services, making it far more useful than simply booking a taxi.
Grab can be used for:
- 🚗 Rides
- 🍔 Food delivery
- 🛒 Groceries and shopping
- 📦 Express deliveries
- 💳 Cashless payments and other services
2. BOLT
Bolt is another excellent option for getting around.
I recommend having both Grab and Bolt because you can compare the price before booking.
Sometimes Grab will be cheaper.
Sometimes Bolt will be cheaper.
Why pay more when it takes 30 seconds to check?
Bolt also offers Bolt Food in locations where the service is available.
Bolt can be used for:
- 🚗 Ride-hailing
- 🍔 Food delivery where available
- 📦 Delivery services where available
- 🛒 Other services depending on your location
3. TUK
If you’re staying in Chiang Mai, I’d also consider installing TUK.
TUK combines food ordering, rides and other local services, and its platform specifically lists Chiang Mai as one of its service areas.
TUK can be used for:
- 🛺 Tuk-tuk rides
- 🚗 Rides
- 🍔 Food
- 🛒 Local services
- 📍 Local businesses
⭐ My Recommendation: Install All Three
If you’re coming to Thailand, I wouldn’t choose just one.
Install all three.
- GRAB — Rides, food delivery, groceries and more.
- BOLT — Excellent for comparing ride prices and food delivery where available.
- TUK — Particularly useful in Chiang Mai for rides, tuk-tuks, food and local services.
You don’t have to use all three every day.
The point is to have the choice.
💡 The Money-Saving Strategy
For transportation:
1. Open Grab
Check the price.
2. Open Bolt
Check the price.
3. Compare
If one is considerably cheaper, use that one.
For food:
1. Decide what you want to eat.
2. Search the apps.
3. Look for promotions.
4. Check the delivery fee.
5. Look for 2-for-1 or percentage discounts.
6. Compare the final price.
Don’t be fooled by a big “50% OFF” banner if the original price is inflated or the delivery charges wipe out the saving.
Look at what you actually pay at checkout.
That’s the number that matters.
🇹🇭 One Of My Best Thailand Travel Tips
There are hundreds of things people tell you to download before coming to Thailand.
Some you’ll use once.
Some you’ll never open.
Grab, Bolt and TUK are different.
These are apps that can genuinely become part of your everyday life while you’re here.
Use them to get around.
Use them when it’s raining.
Use them when you’re tired.
Use them when you can’t find a taxi.
And most importantly…
Use them to hunt for the deals.
Because those 10%, 15%, 20%, 30% and occasional bigger promotions can add up to some serious savings over a holiday.
After 20 years in Thailand, these are services I use myself, and I wouldn’t want to be without them.
Download them before you arrive, get them set up and have them ready.
You’ll probably find yourself using them far more than you expected.
🚨 One Final Tip
Don’t wait until you need the app to install it.
Download them before you arrive.
Set up your account.
Add your payment method if you want to use one.
Familiarise yourself with how they work.
Then, when you’re standing outside your hotel in Thailand wondering how you’re going to get across town, or sitting in your room wondering what you’re going to eat…
You’re already ready to go.
And that’s exactly how I use them every day.