Let’s plan your trip to Thailand! Fantastic food, cultural, historical, and archeological sights, wildlife, beaches, and of course, close proximity to the very different but right next door adventures in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Thai hospitality is unmatched, with friendly, kind, helpful people eager to help you explore and understand their country- the only one in Southeast Asia never colonized.
This article will help you plan your trip to Thailand, but it will not go over the beaches in southern Thailand. While my husband Victor and I spent a month traveling all over Thailand, we had recently been to Indonesia and experienced incredible snorkeling there. From the research we did, it sounded like the snorkeling wouldn’t be as good in Thailand, so we decided to spend all our time away from the southern beaches. Partying isn’t our scene. So if you want the best beaches in Thailand, this isn’t the article for you.
However, if you want archeological sights, cultural landmarks, excellent food, seeing wildlife, and having the occasional affordable massage and mani/pedi, this is the right place for you! If you want me to plan and organize your trip for you- and all you need to do is click on the links- check out my Thailand itinerary here!
If you have more time and want to explore more of Southeast Asia, check out my 6 week Southeast Asia itinerary here!
Table of Contents
When to go on your trip to Thailand
November through February is the dry, cooler season, so that is ideal. While Christmas and New Years will be more expensive and more crowded, they’ll also have lots of special events. If you don’t mind the crowds, it is a lovely time to be there. We saw thousands of paper lanterns lit up with candles for New Year’s Eve in Chiang Mai!
You do not want to be in Northern Thailand in February and March, when the slash-and-burn agriculture in the region makes for horrible air quality. January should still be good, and it was for us. Rain can make some of these trips impossible. Brief daily showers start sometime in April, and the intense rain is generally July- October/November.
If you do go during any holiday period, such as the lantern festival in northern Thailand in November, Christmas and New Years, or Lunar New Year- book as far in advance as you can for your trip to Thailand! If you’re going in the off season, you can be much more spontaneous.
How long to spend on your trip to Thailand
Thailand has so much to offer, so it really depends on what your priorities are. The more time you can spend, the better. If you have just 1-4 days, stay in Bangkok. If you have at least 5 days, ideally at least 7, go to Bangkok and Chiang Mai. If you have more than 1 week for your trip to Thailand, then you have some choices to make:
- For wildlife, add Khao Yai National Park
- If you like beaches and partying, go to the south, like Phuket
- For archeology, go to Ayutthaya and Sukhothai
- For unusual temples, go to Chiang Rai
- Bangkok and Chiang Mai have lots of potential day trips available, as well as having many, many things to do- so spend as much time in both of those as possible.
If you have two weeks in Thailand and like having home bases, stay one week in Bangkok and one week from Chiangmai- you can see a huge variety from those two places.
If you have three weeks and don’t mind spending just 2-3 nights in each place, you can go to all of the above at a reasonable pace.
What you need to plan ahead of time for a trip to Thailand
If it’s over Christmas and New Year’s, or even more so, over Lunar New Year, book your accommodation and any other activities you really want to do ahead of time.
Bangkok: Required on the shortest trip to Thailand
Why go: If you’re going to Thailand, you’re going to fly in or out of Bangkok, one of the biggest cities and international airports in the region. It’s a fascinating, thriving city, with excellent, clean, and safe public transport, and modern and safe infrastructure. It’s much less overwhelming than HCMC or Hanoi because of its public transport, fewer scooters, far less honking, and easier to navigate sidewalks (no scooters on the sidewalks!). There are also many major cultural sites to see within the city center, so it’s well worth your time!
Where to sleep: We stayed at Ago Hotel Chinatown, which was clean, quiet, and had a good included breakfast. It was near many forms of public transit.
What to do:
- The Grand Palace: The #1 tourist attraction, the one must-see sight. This is the royal palace complex, and Thailand is still a monarchy. It’s enormous, with dozens of incredibly ornate, intricately decorated temples. A free dance performance nearby was included in our ticket- go if it still is!
- See more gorgeous temples here (biggest solid gold Buddha) and/or here (across from the Grand Palace). If you’re in the mood, you can rent traditional Thai outfits across the street from this one and do quite the photo shoot, as you’ll see many other (mostly Thai) visitors doing!
- Go to the top of this temple for views of the whole city.
- Get a wonderful and affordable massage at the Asia Herb Association.
- Check out the unbelievably enormous, overwhelming and fascinating weekend market at Chatuchat Saturday or Sunday. Eat street food there.
- Go to Jim Thompson‘s house to learn about this American living in Thailand and see his collection of traditional Thai elements from across the country (reserve an English tour a day or two in advance).
- Go on a bike tour with this (Dutch!) company: Co van Kessel. We did the boat and bicycle combination tour, and it was a fun and different view of Bangkok that we really enjoyed. Everyone else doing the tour was Dutch!
- Ask at your hotel if there are any festivals going on while you’re there. For us, there was a huge street food fair when we were there that we went to and ate tons of fabulous local food at…maybe you’ll get lucky too!
- Consider whether you want to see the backpacking hangout street with all the very touristy shops and street food vendors…definitely calmer during daytime than at night: Khaosan Road.
- Take a ferry to get from A to B at some point- great view of the city and convenient and fun public transport! The metro is very fast and clean. Use the public transport when possible- and the Grab ride-hailing app when needed.
- Go on a food tour, like Bangkok Food Tours, or eat along the river with a lovely view, like at Rongros.
Khao Yai National Park
Why go: We had such an incredible experience the three days we spent here. We stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast, Chomklong Experience, and they found us a professional guide, Tata, for two full days of national park touring- riding around in the back of a pickup truck, looking for wildlife, hiking to find wildlife, seeing waterfalls and viewpoints, and spending lots and lots of time with wild animals!
Tata spoke excellent English, was fantastic at finding animals, and was even a knowledgeable photographer.
The visitor’s center looked just like one in the US, with detailed explanations of the flora, fauna and geology, the roads were smooth, there was an elephant ranger on hand whenever anyone spotted an elephant to make sure people stayed far enough away- it was such a professionally run park, an enormous area (about the size of the Netherlands!) protecting a huge variety of important wildlife.
Where to sleep: We stayed at Chomklong Experience and LOVED it! Beautiful room, delicious breakfast, quiet, beautiful scenery, and very helpful and competent hosts. They also recommended our guide, Tata, who was fantastic. He posted his photos of the safaris we did with him here, so you can get the idea, and his Whatsapp is +66 90 045 3563.
What to do:
- See animals! We did two full-day safaris, so we got to see lots of viewpoints, waterfalls, and wildlife. Depending on your interests and time, your hosts can also arrange half-day safaris.
- Some examples of animals we got to see: elephants, gibbons, giant squirrels, lizards, snakes, geckos, macaques, and tons of beautiful birds including kingfishers!
- We also did the night safari, where we got to see elephants again as porcupines, a civet (cat-related), jackals, and two different species of deer
- From our hotel, we could walk to the local night market, which is where we got food for dinner (and snacks for during the day) both evenings.
Ayutthaya
Why go: Ayutthaya was the Thai capital from the 1300s to the 1700s, but in the 1700s, it was sacked and abandoned. It’s a relaxing, peaceful place to bike around archeological ruins…but they are not at all in as impressive a state as the temples around Angkor Wat (Cambodia) or the well-maintained, still in use temples of Bangkok. It’s on the way north, if you’re continuing up to Sukhothai, Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai- but you could skip this and fly from Bangkok to Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai if you’re short on time. With plenty of time, it’s a lovely stopover away from the bigger cities.
Where to sleep: You’ll want someplace that has bikes to borrow, as the archeological ruins are spread over a vast area, or you could walk around them and see a smaller number. Some of them you can reach by boat tour. We stayed at Pan Din Boutique, which included bikes, a nice breakfast, and a quiet location.
What to do:
- Bike around the archeological sites. You’ll need more imagination than the ones around Angkor Wat, and they don’t have all the gold and other bling they would have had in their heyday, like the ones in Bangkok. One temple here alone had 140 kg of gold melted down and stolen by the invading army in the 1700s! It’s fun seeing the archeological sites surrounded by scenes of modern life: children playing, the night market and carnival, modern buildings, etc. Just wandering around the ruins is peaceful and lovely.
- Go to the Night Market. Every late afternoon/evening, an enormous night market takes place with carnival rides and all sorts of food for sale. Walk around and try some new things!
- If you like photo shoots, rent some traditional Thai outfits to take photos in front of the prettiest temples. You’ll see locals doing this all over! Lots of fun to observe or participate in!
- Take a boat ride to other temples if extra time, or walk/bike farther afield to more temples. That’s the activity here!
Sukhothai
Why go: Sukhothai was the Thai kingdom’s capital before Ayutthaya, from the 10th century (Khmer) to the 12th (Thai). It has beautiful archeological ruins, though still not as impressive as those around Angkor Wat. Nevertheless, it’s a giant, impressive complex that is completely closed to cars and scooters, so it’s a wonderfully peaceful place to walk or bike around. It’s also halfway between Bangkok and Chiang Mai/Chiang Rai (via on time, safe, clean, and affordable buses). If you have time on your trip to Thailand, it’s a nice stopover in between. If short on time, fly from Bangkok to Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai instead.
Where to sleep: We loved our hotel, Thai Thai Sukhothai. It was so affordable ($32 a night as of September 2024), but so beautiful, with delicious breakfast, lovely facilities- including a pool- and good bikes for us to rent. Very helpful staff too! Gorgeous quiet location a short bike ride away from everything.
What to do: Really the activity here is biking around the archeological site. It’s enormous, so I’d really recommend renting a bike. It’s a flat, safe, peaceful area to bike around.
Chiang Mai: Include even on a short trip to Thailand
Why go: Chiang Mai is the second-biggest city in Thailand, and the capital of the northern region. With fantastic food, a wide variety of things to do, a significant airport, and good connections to the rest of northern Thailand, Chiang Mai should be in your trip to Thailand if you time for anything beyond Bangkok.
Where to sleep: We stayed at Canary House Rachawong, which was a short walk to the old town, clean, quiet, with helpful staff and facilities to make our own breakfasts. We spent two weeks there, as we also were visiting friends, and they made us feel at home.
What to do:
- Visit various temples all over Chiang Mai: There are gorgeous temples everywhere, from within the historic city center to up above the city surrounded by forest.
- Go to the night market: Enormous (2 km!) night market with all sorts of food and good quality artisan crafts- this is a must-see! Come hungry and hopefully with space in your suitcase!
- Sunday walking street is also lots of fun- so much to eat and see here!
- Eat fantastic vegan food and cakes! We loved Asa Vegan and Goodsouls Kitchen– we went back multiple times to both of them for their great Thai and Western vegan food! We also loved sitting outside in the lovely garden cafes at Love at First Bite and Fern Forest Cafe.
- Go on some day trips: We went to the highest mountain in Thailand, and had a lovely hike in the cloud forest there…but we had zero views because it was completely fogged in. But there are many tour companies to take you all over northern Thailand, so depending on your time and interest, Chiang Mai is a great jumping-off point for the rest of northern Thailand!
- We were in Chiang Mai for New Year’s Eve, and we watched thousands of candle-lit paper lanterns released over the river…it was magical! You could also see this during the Lantern Festival in November!
- Take an art class! While we were there for two weeks, Victor took 5 one-on-one classes with a local artist, and he got to learn so much and make such beautiful artwork! If you have time on your trip to Thailand to get to take art classes, cooking classes, Thai boxing classes, or any other interest of yours- Chiang Mai is a great place to slow down and do that!
- If you want a massage, manicure/pedicure, laundry, or other services done, there will be dozens of great options here- so relax, eat well, walk around the historic city center, and enjoy!
Chiang Rai
Why go: Chiang Rai, connected by easy buses to Chiang Mai and with its own airport connecting to Bangkok, is efficient to get to even if you only have a few days on your trip to Thailand to explore the northern area. Since it’s three hours from Chiang Mai, I’d recommend at least one or two nights here. With striking modern white and black temples in a very different style than the other temples you’ll have seen, it’s definitely worth the time if you can spend a few extra days in Thailand.
Where to sleep: We stayed at Baan Jaru, which had lovely, quiet rooms, good breakfast, easy walking distance to the main sites, delicious restaurants nearby, and helpful, knowledgeable hosts.
What to do:
- White temple: Gorgeous temple unlike all the others you’ve seen
- Black temple: Dark temple, also unique, not pretty but fascinating…
- Blue temple: Memorably distinctive as well!
- We got to the white temple with a cycling tour, which we enjoyed: Chiang Rai Bicycle Tour, which included rubber plantations and the countryside as well
- You can also do many, many day trips and excursions of all sorts from Chiang Rai. We also went on a full day tour that included a royal palace, beautiful gardens, and the border with Burma. It’s another great jumping off point to explore northern Thailand.
- There’s more delicious food! Our favorite was Barrab, with local specialties.
- We happened to be there during the Chiang Rai flower festival, which was lovely and delicious, with a night market and beautiful flower designs! We heard about it from our helpful hosts, so always ask your hosts for any local events going on! It’s normally at the end of December and the first two weeks of January. Here’s a guide to it from this blog.
Last tips for your trip to Thailand!
- Try all the local foods! Go to night markets everywhere you can, step out of your comfort zone, and taste it all. There’s so much wonderful food here, and almost all of it is freshly made, cheap, and delicious! Go on a food tour if you’re nervous- or just make sure it’s cooked at high temperatures right in front of you!
- Be as friendly and helpful as your hosts. It is considered rude to get angry. So if things don’t go the way you expect, stay calm and polite. They will try to resolve it, and it is a very well-functioning country. It will be okay!
- Planes, buses, taxis, and excursions all work very well. For your trip to Thailand, you can use whichever combination makes sense for your time and budget. They’re all safe!
- Have a wonderful time! If you have extra time, fly from Bangkok to Siem Reap to see the incredible temples of Angkor Wat, or take the slow boat or fly from Chiang Rai or Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang to get a beautiful taste of Laos!
- Remember to check Thailand itinerary here to have all of these tips made into a ready-to-use two week plan!
- If you have more time and want to explore more of Southeast Asia, check out my 6 week Southeast Asia itinerary here!
