WELCOME TO THE FORUM. Travel within Thailand is easy and relatively cheap. There is plenty of accomadation options within your budget but for us to recommend something we need to know a little bit about your preferences. Do you want to be right on the beach or will a short walk be fine. Do you want to be right in the middle of the action...nightlife,shopping etc or do you prefer somewhere quiet. Do you want a resort with plenty of organised activities and restaraunts so you dont need to leave or do you just want a comfortable bed as you want to use it as a base to explore. The first thing I would do is settle on which beach in the area's that you want to go to and then start looking at accomadation. Also, bear in mind that Jan is high season in most parts of Thailand, so accomadation costs are much higher than in the shoulder and low seasons.

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I love Thailand this much