How much alcohol and tobacco can I bring in?
Short answer
Two hundred cigarettes or 250 grams of tobacco, and under one litre of alcohol. Personal effects are duty-free up to 20,000 baht. Anything above that goes into the box customs puts before the channels — the word the department uses for the alternative is prosecution.
The numbers customs works from
Personal effects come in duty-free on three conditions: they are for your own personal or professional use, the quantity is reasonable, and they are not on the restricted or prohibited list. The ceiling on their total value is 20,000 baht.
Tobacco and alcohol sit outside that and have their own low limits: no more than 200 cigarettes, or 250 grams of smoking tobacco or cigars, or 250 grams of tobacco products by combined weight. Alcohol is capped at under one litre.
Two channels, and walking is choosing
Past the baggage hall there are two ways out. Green is "nothing to declare"; red is "goods to declare", where you hand a customs form to an officer.
Walking into the green channel is itself the statement that you are inside the allowance. Officers do stop people in it — the tourism authority says plainly that bags are occasionally searched — so it is a declaration rather than a shortcut.
The box that comes before both
If you are over the limit, the Customs Department provides a box to drop the excess into before you reach either channel. Its own guidance is to use it, and the outcome it describes the box as helping travellers avoid is prosecution.
This is the part most arriving passengers do not know exists. It is the difference between losing a carton of cigarettes and having a problem at the airport.
Two things that catch people out
Plants and animals, and anything made from them, may be restricted or subject to quarantine. The tourism authority does not offer a rule of thumb here; it points at the Plant Quarantine and Animal Quarantine offices, which is a sign the answer depends on the item.
On the way home there is nothing to set cash aside for: international departure tax is already inside the price of an air ticket bought from an airline or agent.
Good to know
- 200 cigarettes or 250 g of tobacco; alcohol under 1 litre
- Personal effects duty-free up to 20,000 baht
- Over the limit? The amnesty box sits before the green and red channels
- Departure tax is already inside the airfare
