Thailand Itinerary

Hi there,

Me and my girlfriend will be in Thailand at around October 2009 and are looking for tips on places to go to experience the country! Recommended places so far:

Flying into Bangkok
Ayuthaya
Kanchanaburi
Trat / Ko Chang
Ko Kut
Ko Samui
Ko Panghan
Chiang Mai
Flying out of Singapore

Comments? Further suggestions? Advice?

Thanks!!

Quoting fretblaze

Hi there,

Me and my girlfriend will be in Thailand at around October 2009 and are looking for tips on places to go to experience the country! Recommended places so far:

Flying into Bangkok
Ayuthaya
Kanchanaburi
Trat / Ko Chang
Ko Kut
Ko Samui
Ko Panghan
Chiang Mai
Flying out of Singapore

Comments? Further suggestions? Advice?

Thanks!!

How long is your trip? If you only have a short while for your trip you don't want to waste a lot of time in airports and on long bus rides. I just returned from Thailand last week. I had to fly out of Singapore to get home because the airport was closed. Took a train from Bangkok to Hat Yai and from there to Penang/Butterworth by taxi and from there by train to Singapore via KL. (My airline paid for my flight from Singapore because of the civil disturbance in Bangkok.)

Thailand will be much cheaper than Singapore if you are on a budget.

If your trip is short you might want to consider fewer "beach type" places and concentrate on Chiang Mai and Bangkok a little more. Thailand may look small on the map but getting to Trat and Chiang Mai from Bangkok is not that fast by bus or train.

When I book flights to Asia it is usually cheaper for me to fly in and out of the same city. Maybe you have a special deal that allows you to land at Bangkok and fly back home from Singapore without paying a lot extra.

Fortunately you have a long time to sort things out. Trat is way on one side of Thailand and Chiang Mai way at the top.
See map.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Thailand&utm_campaign=en&utm_medium=ha&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-sk-gm&utm_term=thailand%20map

From Bangkok you have many choices to get to Singapore, flying is the easiest. However, there are bus/van rides you can get from travel agencies. There are long distance buses. There is the train. For the train I prefer the sleeper car for long distance travel - but you have to book the bunk a few days ahead of time. Same for Chiang Mai - book the train ahead of time, sleeper car is best and it will save you paying for another night in a hotel in Bangkok.

Good luck.

We're only going for 4-6 weeks. It is part of a round the world trip we will be flying into Bangkok from Mumbai and from Singapore to Perth.

Thanks for the comments, keep em coming!

If you can afford to spend a little more, then you should fly. Flights from Bangkok to Trat, are about 50 to 100 US each way, about the same for Bangkok to Chang Mai.

Recommend Ko Chang, if you want a quiet couple days get away wouldn't stay any longer than a week, its only a small island that you can drive around in half a day. White sands resort is good and cheap, has the best beach without the crowds, but is still close to the main drag. There's also heaps of other islands to visit plus there's Ban bang bao, a little fishing village with a great sea food at the southern end of the island. Word of warning though, the roads are very steep and heaps people leave the island after mope-head accidents, with there Ko Chang tattoo.

As for Chang Mai, best thing you could do, if you have the funds is hire a car (about 15-20US a day) and travel around the surrounding area's it's beautiful country and the roads are generally good. Head up to Chang Rai and drive the Golden triangle route, so much to see and do, you need a least a week, but even a month isn't long enough!

No matter what places you choose to take in you're going to have a great time.

I did 4 weeks in Thailand a couple of years ago and took in quite a few places, my advice would be:
Bangkok spend as little time there as possible,
Ko Phanghan, beautiful beaches,
Ko Samui, very touristy and busy, if you like that sort of thing!
Ko Phi Phi - go if you get the time - it's beautiful
Phuket, again beautiful beaches,
Karbi, ditto.
Chaing Mai - amazing city. Go elephant treking in the jungle.

I agree with the other poster - the country looks small on the map but that's only compared to the rest of asia. It takes 14 hours or so to get from Bangkok down the south to get to the islands.
Also, I would suggest you not setting yourselves a very strict timeframe - you'll fall in love with a particular place and want to spend the extra days. We did this with Phi Phi.

Thai people will do anything for you and therefore the transport is very easy to arrange leaving plenty of opportunity to alter your route as you go along.

Good luck!

Hi, if your flying in to Bangkok, depending on your allotted time then you have to decide whether you want to travel north ie Chiang Mai. If so, overnight train (sleeping bunk in middle of carriage) each way. Visted Chiang Mai twice thorougly enjoyed. Day trip elephant safari (several operators shop around when you get there) and Golden Triangle day tour excellent. South of BKK fly to Koh Samui stay at Chaweng Beach (more touristy) or Lamai Beach. Koh Phangan is accesssible from Chaweng (check a map). My two visits to KS I didn't get to Koh Phangan unfortunately. Phuket is interesting to visit and its surrounding beaches to explore. I flew out of there to Singapore last year.