4 weeks in Thailand, travelling alone - any advice?

Hi,

I am planning a trip to Thailand for 4 weeks in August. I will be travelling alone. I’m male and 22 years old, but I haven't travelled alone before, I went to Oz last year with 2 mates, but they can't come this year. What's it like travelling alone....is it easy to meet people, I’m pretty confident and socialable, but I do have that ‘sh*t I am on my own’ feeling about going.

Also, where are the must see places, I am flying in and out of Bangkok, and love beeches, partying and doing lots of activities! Anyone got any suggestions of an itinerary? I am planning taking it as it comes, with a rough idea of where I want to go.

Thanks very much!

In Bangkok,you can visit Grand Palace,Wat Arun,Wat Phra Kaew,Wat Pho,Jatujak Weekend Market,Suan Lum Night Baazar,Erawan Shrine,Jim Thompson House Museum,Lumpini and Ratchadamnoen Stadium for Muay Thai.

You can also visit ancient capital of Thailand,Ayuttaya.
Kanchanaburi is famous with its Bridge on the River Kwai.
In Ratchaburi,you can visit Damnoen Saduak or The Floating Market.

For beaches,of cause you can go to Pattaya. If you dont like that sin city, you can travel down south into Phetchaburi Province to HuaHin which is also a famous beach area which is quite near to Bkk. Koh Chang is famous among Bkkians for their weekend breaks.Journey takes about 5-6 hours from Bkk to Koh Chang.

If not,then you can travel further down to Suratthani Province for Koh Samui ,Koh Tao and Koh Phangan. Or Koh Phuket,Koh Phiphi,Koh Lanta and Krabi at the Andaman side.

Well,dont worry when you are travelling in Thailand alone. You will see and learn more things about the local cultures and there are always activities for you to do. You will not get bored!!!

Have a good trip!!

Hey, there are a number of posts with this exact question if you read down the page a bit. Look for answers by me to see exactly what I would answer for this question.
Basically what they will say is that travelling alone is no problem, you'll meet people, trust me. There are more foreign travellers in Thailand than you ever thought possible and many of them are solo and looking for people to hang out with. Start your trip on Koa San Road in Bangkok and from there you'll never be alone.

As for where to go, the standard first time month trip is Bangkok - North (Chaing Mai) - Islands. For the Islands, I would say head to Koh Phagnan which is the backpacker party center of the Islands. From there you can easily get to other Islands if you prefer. Opospa suggests Pattaya, but I've never heard anything but trash talk about the place, saying it's the seediest and grossest place in the country. I think you will be much happier on the Islands in the South.

mate , Ive just come back from my 5th trip tp Thailand , 3 by myself and believe me its the easist place in the world to travel. 2 nights in bkk will be heaps for ya , catch a plane from bkk to Ko Samui about 120 kiwi and spend 5 days there , hire a scooter if ya able and shoot around the island...then fly down to Phuket..about same price..and aim for Patong Beach..it rocks and they even have an Aussie bar on Bangla Rd which is full of Ockers ! Good place to stay there is Patong Beach Lodge 17 kiwi a night gets you a double bed air con breakfast evry morn and use of pool. ( look it up on the net ) You can easily spend a month in Patong..its me fav. place.

You will have a blast mate..dont get stressed over anything...no one else there does !!

Johno

hey johno,

so patong beach and koh samui are you fav places i know what you get upto in thailand then!! ha ha soz couldn't let that one slip.

basically they are the places full of thai women after your money not the best places in thailand to go i must say. id recomend a diving course great way to meet people and have some good nights out after. And the cheapest place in the world to do it on Koh Tao.

good luck and good luck at the sti clinic when you get home johno

Hey there! All these answers are great, this is exactly the topic I was gonna start cos Im planning a trip to Thailand for next year, so this is really cool. I wanted to ask you all something though - dunno if you've ever heard of this Real Gap Experience thing, but it's basically this organisation that plans really cool trips to pretty much everywhere, and Im sort of planning to join their Thai thing for next year, which should be 4 weeks, but Im planning to be 2 more weeks on my own as well. Do you reckon I should go the first 2 weeks on my own, or the last 2 weeks before going back home? Been wondering about this cos I dunno if it should be cool for me to get to see places on my own first, or start with this group and then go on my own. So yeah, basically that's it. Thanx to all, cheers!

Traveling by yourself is the best way . You will meet so many people , am in Thailand at the moment i was only ment to be here for 2 weeks but have spent nearly a month here . Am traveling by my self aswell and this is my first time alone . Dont worry you will see when you get here (its dead easy)
Ive got 4 weeks left and am gutted about going back already
Cambodia nxt and then Vietnam

Thanks for all your help guys! Quick question - I get to BKK on the 25th July, so am thinking of spending a couple of days in BKK then heading to Koh Phangan for the FMP on the 31st July, thinking of booking the Coconut Beach Bungalows for a few nights - has anyone stayed there? Any other suggestions?

I am then wanting to travel round the south visiting some of the different islands for 3 weeks ish, then I want to go up to Chiang Mai for the last week of so before heading back to BKK, does this sound like a good plan? what’s the best way to get up to Chiang Mai from the south?

Thanks Simon

Freesurfer - . I don't know anything about Cocunut Beach Bungalows in particular, but if you are arriving in Had Rin in the days before the FMP, then it is definetly wise to book ahead. Things get pretty filled up in the week before.
For your itinerary in the last bit of your trip, I would say take a little more time in the North and a little less time on the Islands. The beaches are great and all, but after 3 weeks of drinking and sunbathing, you may realise that you've missed out on a whole lot that Thailand has to offer. Chiang Mai itself is worth a few days, you'll want to spent 3 days doing a hill-tribe/jungle trek, and it's worth checking out Pai for a couple days (just as relaxing as a beach). On the way down, Soukathai is definelty worth a stop for a day to get a bit of history, as is Ayathaya (though you probably don't need to see both on the same trip). Kanchanaburi to the west of Bangkok is also worth checking out for a couple days. So basically, I think that if you are coming to Thailand to experience the country, spending 3/4 of your time on the beach is missing out on a whole lot.

Laura - As far as what will be easier, it won't make a difference if you are on your own before or after you organized trip, because Thailand is very easy to travel in. If you can travel in Latin America and Spain then you can travel in Thailand just as easily. But I would suggest travelling solo after your trip for the sole reason that after spending 4 weeks in the country you'll have a better idea of what you didn't get a chance to see yet and what you want to check out on your own. Also, if you choose to go solo first you'll not want to go places because you might end up doing it when on tour, and also after two weeks you'll realise how easy Thailand is and you'll probably feel you dont need to go on the organized trip anymore.

Fortunately, I was able to live in Thailand for less than 3 yrs and visited some interesting places in the country. You can browse this link for various attractions which will suit your interest - LINK REMOVED
Good luck!

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