Hua Hin, Thailand — for Australians 55+

A season in Hua Hin, with a ready-made group of Australian friends.

SawasdeeLife brings together a small group of 6–10 Australians to share a season in Hua Hin — your own place, a friendly community close by, and people to enjoy it all with. You get the sun, the savings, and the lifestyle upgrade, and we make sure you're never doing it alone.

Join the Founding Cohort

Only 10 founding places.

See the Programs
A group of Australian friends enjoying breakfast together with ocean views in Hua Hin.
How it works

The cohort model: you never arrive alone

Most Australians who'd love to spend a season overseas never do it — because going alone feels daunting, and going with one other person doesn't fix the loneliness either. SawasdeeLife solves this by moving you with a small group, on the same dates, into the same area.

1

Join a cohort

You're matched into a group of 6–10 Australians travelling on the same program and departure date.

2

Bangkok Welcome Tour

Four fun, fully-included days in Bangkok turn strangers into friends before Hua Hin life even begins.

3

Settle in together

Your whole cohort moves into the same neighbourhood in Hua Hin, with our local team alongside you.

4

Live your season

Enjoy Hua Hin with your new community — coffee mornings, beach walks, markets, golf — and real local support whenever you need it.

Programs

Three ways to spend a season in Hua Hin

All prices are AUD, per person, single occupancy — your own room, no single supplement.

Founding Cohort · 10 places

Try Hua Hin

AUD $3,500

3 months Departs January 2027

Our first-ever cohort. Three months in Hua Hin's best season — with the people who'll define what SawasdeeLife becomes.

Reserve with an AUD $500 deposit — fully transferable if plans change.

Join the Founding Cohort →

Escape Australian Winter

AUD $3,500

3 months Departs June 2027

Three months of Hua Hin sunshine while Australia is in the grip of winter. Pack a suitcase, join your cohort, come home with a tan and a new set of friends.

Reserve with an AUD $500 deposit — fully transferable if plans change.

Learn more →

Seasonal

AUD $5,800

6 months Departs November 2027

Six months in Hua Hin from November to April — settling into a furnished condo with your cohort and making it genuinely your home away from home.

Reserve with an AUD $500 deposit — fully transferable if plans change.

Learn more →
How booking works

Reserve with a fully transferable deposit

Joining the waitlist costs nothing. Here's what happens once you're ready to reserve your place.

1

Apply

Tell us which cohort you want to join — no payment yet, we'll have a chat first.

2

Transferable deposit

Secure your place with an AUD $500 deposit. Fully transferable — if plans change before the cohort is confirmed, it moves to the next available cohort.

3

Cohort confirmed

If the cohort reaches 6 or more people 42 days before departure, it's confirmed and preparations begin — visas, flights, and your Bangkok Welcome Tour. If not, your deposit transfers or is refunded in full.

4

Staged balance

50% of the balance is due 60 days before departure; the remaining 50% is due at confirmation (42 days). Then all that's left is to pack.

New friends sharing dinner on a Chao Phraya river cruise in Bangkok, with Wat Arun behind them.
Every program starts here

The Bangkok Welcome Tour

Four days, all meals included, your own hotel room. The Grand Palace, a relaxed day trip to Ayutthaya, ICONSIAM, and a dinner cruise down the Chao Phraya River on your final night in Bangkok.

It's a genuine holiday — and by the time your group boards the private minivan to Hua Hin, you won't be travelling with strangers. You'll be travelling with friends.

Explore the Welcome Tour
Why Hua Hin

A relaxed beach town, three hours from Bangkok

Hua Hin has been a favourite escape for generations — once the royal family's own seaside retreat, now home to a large, welcoming community of Australian, British, and European expats.

Affordable, comfortable living

With the Australian dollar going further in Thailand, your everyday costs — dining out, groceries, transport, healthcare — stretch much further than at home.

An established expat community

Beach clubs, golf courses, markets, cafés and a long-standing community of English-speaking residents make it easy to feel at home from day one.

Healthcare you can rely on

Bangkok Hospital Hua Hin provides excellent first-line care, with transfer to Bangkok available for complex cases. Medical evacuation cover is included in the required travel insurance.

Meet the founder

Built by someone who knows both worlds

SawasdeeLife was founded by Vanisa Bulpakdi, a Thai-Australian dual citizen and native Thai speaker who has spent years managing groups of foreigners living and travelling in Thailand.

Vanisa created SawasdeeLife because she kept meeting Australians who loved the idea of spending part of the year in Thailand — but who never went, because they didn't want to do it alone, and didn't know who to trust to help them get there.

Read Vanisa's story
Vanisa Bulpakdi, founder of SawasdeeLife
Founding Cohort

Be among the first — January to March 2027

SawasdeeLife's founding cohort runs 3 months in Hua Hin during January to March — one of Hua Hin's best stretches of weather — for AUD $3,500 per person, single occupancy. It opens with the 4-day Bangkok Welcome Tour, just like every SawasdeeLife program. Founding members get priority access, first pick of dates, and a direct line to Vanisa and the local team while we get the community started.

Join the Founding Cohort

Only 10 founding places.