Where to go in Thailand on 16 day holiday

gazzer

Myself and my partner have decided to go to Thailand in late Sept as a birthday present to myself (the big 40 )

Anyway a few months back I got a great deal on a hotel in Koh Samui. 8 nights for €100 instead of €350 (it was a misprint on the website but they honoured the deal). The hotel is between Chaweng and Lamai) and that put the idea in our heads to go to Thailand. So so far I only have the 8 nights booked in Koh Samui.

Our plan was to do the following

Sept 24th Arrive in Bangkok and spend 2 nights there
Sept 26th Arrive in Koh Samui and spend 8 nights there (hotel already paid for)
Oct 3rd Fly to Bangkok and straight on to Chiang Mai and spend 5 nights there
Oct 8th Fly back to Bangkok and then home.

To be honest money is a bit tight so I havnt booked flights yet. We are going to be in London on Sept 22nd for a concert so the plan was to fly to Bangkok from London on the 23rd. Im definately going to book the flights this month.

Am I spreading myself too thin by wanting to fit 3 different places in? Should I just do Koh Samui and Bangkok?

We are reckoning €1500 for flights to Bangkok and onto Koh Samui (Thai Airways are doing a free interal flight) and then use the train to get to and back from Chaing Mai.

We will have about €1800 left then for spending money and 7 nights accomodation (2 in Bangkok and 5 in Chaing Mai).

Our other option would be to just fly into Bangkok on the Sat 24th, Koh Samui on Monday 26th and than after the 8 days there we could just fly home.

How much spending money would you reckon I would need for day to day expenses? We are not big drinkers but definately love our food.

Id appreciate any advice.

Thanks.

lubie76

Would defo get back to Bangkok and get the overnight sleeper train to Chiangmai for a cultural city experience. You can fly back to Bangkok intl airport if u want to save time on way back home and internal flights are very cheap in Thailand if u book in advance. Chiangmai is lovely city that is well worth seeing and while I haven't been to koh samui ( the only major island we didn't make it to due to bad rain) I have heard it's lovely but pretty standard holiday resort.

You can also get the day train to Chiangmai and stop off at any of the little towns along the way. That's the real Thailand where you see the locals going about their daily business. I wouldn't worry about spending money as it's very cheap in Thailand especially when u factor in the 8 nights you have already paid for. Food and drink is so cheap ( and yummy!) once you keep away from the tourist traps especially in Bangkok.

TomBeckett

1800 euro for 8 nights:D:D Happy days you wont spend the half of it....
well you shouldnt:p
To be honest koh samui is lovely but it has changed alot in the last 4 years Rayong, Phi Phi, koh chang. and jomtien beach in Pattaya would be my choice.... Enjoy!!

Royal Irish

Your planned holiday seems very good regarding time spent in places. I was on Koh Samui years ago and its good. I stayed in a resort near Chaweng beach and there is some good beach bars there at night. But I wouldnt be a big fan of the beaches on Koh Samui compared to other islands.

My favorite island would have to be Koh Chang as its easy to get to from Bangkok and the beaches are great. But you are actually better off going down south in September to the likes of Samui and Phuket cause you will have less chance of rain. Dont forget September is the rainy season in Thailand.

I would avoid getting trains or buses while on a 16 night stay. Yeah if you are there for a month or so and are on a tight budget no problem, but internal flights are dirt cheap in Thailand and Nok Air that fly out of the old Don Mueng airport offer some great deals on internal flights. Your only there for 16 nights so why waste your valuable time stuck on a bus for hours.

One tip for a place to go incase you decide against going to Chang Mai, is Hua Hin which is about 40 or 50 euro in a taxi from Bangkok or about 200baht by bus. Its a great spot and very laid back.

Stinicker

I did something similar in February but over 21 days instead. This was my itenerary.

Flew from London to Bangkok via Abu Dhabi with Etihad.

Spent 5 nights in Bangkok

Spent 3 nights in Pattaya

returned to Bangkok and took the overnight train up north to Chiang Mai in 2nd class

Spent 5 nights in Chiang Mai including one overnight in the Jungle as part of a trek.

Flew back to Bangkok and then took the overnight train + bus + ferry combo ticket to Ko Samui

Spent 4 nights on Samui before flying back to Bangkok for the final two nights.

I enjoyed Chiang Mai the most and the trekking was great fun! Bangkok is cool but very congested and polluted, the temples and markets there were brilliant. Pattaya is full of Russians and old men with hookers.

The overnight train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai or vice versa is well worth doing however the overnight train to Surat Thani for Samui is very hacking as you have to change to a bus at like 4am.

My advice would be take the overnight train to Chiang Mai from Bangkok and then afterwards fly direct to Samui from Chiang Mai with Bangkok airways and book a final flight back to Bangkok on your second last day and finish the trip in Bangkok.

Look up Ko Phi Phi and Krabi as alternates to Samui as I was underwhelmed by Samui myself.

I really loved Thailand when I was there and can't wait to go back!

beagle001

Your trip sounds fine for the 16 days and definitely not doing too much.
I would without question fly to Samui,the bus boat combo is not pleasant at all and can be tolerated if you have months to spend in Thailand.
Fly up to Chiang mai also,those 16 days will go very fast and you will be thankfull of having the extra time to spend looking around on your feet rather than being on a sleeper train.
I would suggest taking a day trip to koh phangnan while you are in Samui but you will definitely not be bored on Samui,weather is fine for that time of year on Samui and Chiang mai begins to dry up around mid Sept.
You might want to extend your time in Chaing Mai by one day and do a 3 day round trip to Pai,beautiful mountainous scenery on the way there and you can still combine your days treking if you are in to that.
Enjoy

careca11

gazzer wrote: »

Myself and my partner have decided to go to Thailand in late Sept as a birthday present to myself (the big 40 )

Anyway a few months back I got a great deal on a hotel in Koh Samui. 8 nights for €100 instead of €350 (it was a misprint on the website but they honoured the deal). The hotel is between Chaweng and Lamai) and that put the idea in our heads to go to Thailand. So so far I only have the 8 nights booked in Koh Samui.

Our plan was to do the following

Sept 24th Arrive in Bangkok and spend 2 nights there
Sept 26th Arrive in Koh Samui and spend 8 nights there (hotel already paid for)
Oct 3rd Fly to Bangkok and straight on to Chiang Mai and spend 5 nights there
Oct 8th Fly back to Bangkok and then home.

To be honest money is a bit tight so I havnt booked flights yet. We are going to be in London on Sept 22nd for a concert so the plan was to fly to Bangkok from London on the 23rd. Im definately going to book the flights this month.

Am I spreading myself too thin by wanting to fit 3 different places in? Should I just do Koh Samui and Bangkok?

We are reckoning €1500 for flights to Bangkok and onto Koh Samui (Thai Airways are doing a free interal flight) and then use the train to get to and back from Chaing Mai.

We will have about €1800 left then for spending money and 7 nights accomodation (2 in Bangkok and 5 in Chaing Mai).

Our other option would be to just fly into Bangkok on the Sat 24th, Koh Samui on Monday 26th and than after the 8 days there we could just fly home.

How much spending money would you reckon I would need for day to day expenses? We are not big drinkers but definately love our food.

Id appreciate any advice.

Thanks.

€1800 would be plenty , food is really cheap in thailiand €25 would see 2 dinner's and a bottle of wine
have to say Koh Samui is one of my fav spots in the whole of the world (its airport is an open-air one) , i didn't really like Bangkok so much

beagle001

careca11 wrote: »

gazzer wrote: »

Myself and my partner have decided to go to Thailand in late Sept as a birthday present to myself (the big 40 )

Anyway a few months back I got a great deal on a hotel in Koh Samui. 8 nights for €100 instead of €350 (it was a misprint on the website but they honoured the deal). The hotel is between Chaweng and Lamai) and that put the idea in our heads to go to Thailand. So so far I only have the 8 nights booked in Koh Samui.

Our plan was to do the following

Sept 24th Arrive in Bangkok and spend 2 nights there
Sept 26th Arrive in Koh Samui and spend 8 nights there (hotel already paid for)
Oct 3rd Fly to Bangkok and straight on to Chiang Mai and spend 5 nights there
Oct 8th Fly back to Bangkok and then home.

To be honest money is a bit tight so I havnt booked flights yet. We are going to be in London on Sept 22nd for a concert so the plan was to fly to Bangkok from London on the 23rd. Im definately going to book the flights this month.

Am I spreading myself too thin by wanting to fit 3 different places in? Should I just do Koh Samui and Bangkok?

We are reckoning €1500 for flights to Bangkok and onto Koh Samui (Thai Airways are doing a free interal flight) and then use the train to get to and back from Chaing Mai.

We will have about €1800 left then for spending money and 7 nights accomodation (2 in Bangkok and 5 in Chaing Mai).

Our other option would be to just fly into Bangkok on the Sat 24th, Koh Samui on Monday 26th and than after the 8 days there we could just fly home.

How much spending money would you reckon I would need for day to day expenses? We are not big drinkers but definately love our food.

Id appreciate any advice.

Thanks.

€1800 would be plenty , food is really cheap in thailiand €25 would see 2 dinner's and a bottle of wine
have to say Koh Samui is one of my fav spots in the whole of the world (its airport is an open-air one) , i didn't really like Bangkok so much

Eat the street food in Thailand,it's by far the best value and tastiest.
Follow the locals and you won't go wrong,I rarely eat in a thai restaurant and never a western one when over there.
Chiang Mai has great markets as does Samui where you can try many foods.

gazzer

Thanks everybody for the replies I really appreciate it.

I have been doing a bit more research on prices of internal flights etc and found out that Bangkok Airways do a discovery pass which you cant buy on their website but you can by emailing them or by going to a travel agent.

Basically you buy a number of coupons (min of 3) to use for internal flights in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. You pay a set amount for each coupon depending on the destination.

For flights from Bangkok - Koh Samui - Chiang Mai - Bangkok it will cost €201 (incl tax, insurance etc).

I mised out on booking the cheap flights with Thai Airways but Ethiad are doing a return flight to Bangkok for €525. There is a stop over in Abu Dhabi though. If I want to fly direct the cheapest is €630 with Eva so I might go with them to save time.

All the flights should cost less than €850 if I go with Eva and the Discovery Pass, the cost will be €726 with the Ethiad option.

So I think what we are going to do now is:

Spend the first night in Bangkok
Then spend 8 nights in Koh Samui (even though we have accomodation booked already we might go to Koh Phangan for a night or two)
Back to Bangkok for 3 nights
Then spend 5 nights in Chiang Mai
Then back to Bangkok and fly from there to London.

Thanks again for all your help.

beagle001

They are great prices on the flights,I would book them asap if I were you.

gustafo

525 euro with edihad wow that's for nothing, is that flying from dublin ? what website did you see those fares ?

westernventure

yes i would also love to know where you can get flight's to bkk for 525 with etihad ?

i'v looked on there website and your prices don't match up with the prices there,

etihad is a great airline and i would be totally surprised if you could get flight's that cheap with them.

gazzer

Sorry. Should have said yesterday. We are going to be flying from London as we are going there for two nights prior to Thailand. I got that fare from ebookers. Checked it again this morning though and it is now available €565.

Edit. Just checked another site
http://www.momondo.com/Cheap_Flights.aspx?search=true&O=LON&D=BKK&DD=23-09-2011&RD=10-10-2011 and can get it for €526

unklerosco

Damn.. It's tempting to book those flights. Myself and the missus are looking to head to aisa the exact same time.. Same theory as urself (its my Bday on the 22nd!)

Has anyone any tips for any tours to do? I'd like to spend some time seeing the sights and the last half of the trip turning into a sloth on a beach...

agimcgale

Looking at this myself at the minute, anyone know how long before you travel you need to get the jabs ?

Stinicker

agimcgale wrote: »

Looking at this myself at the minute, anyone know how long before you travel you need to get the jabs ?

Six months for Hepatitis B, the rest of them are shorter schedules.

LJD10

gazzer wrote: »

Our plan was to do the following

Sept 24th Arrive in Bangkok and spend 2 nights there
Sept 26th Arrive in Koh Samui and spend 8 nights there (hotel already paid for)
Oct 3rd Fly to Bangkok and straight on to Chiang Mai and spend 5 nights there
Oct 8th Fly back to Bangkok and then home.

To be honest money is a bit tight so I havnt booked flights yet. We are going to be in London on Sept 22nd for a concert so the plan was to fly to Bangkok from London on the 23rd. Im definately going to book the flights this month.

Am I spreading myself too thin by wanting to fit 3 different places in? Should I just do Koh Samui and Bangkok?

We are reckoning €1500 for flights to Bangkok and onto Koh Samui (Thai Airways are doing a free interal flight) and then use the train to get to and back from Chaing Mai.

We will have about €1800 left then for spending money and 7 nights accomodation (2 in Bangkok and 5 in Chaing Mai).

Our other option would be to just fly into Bangkok on the Sat 24th, Koh Samui on Monday 26th and than after the 8 days there we could just fly home.

How much spending money would you reckon I would need for day to day expenses? We are not big drinkers but definately love our food.

Id appreciate any advice.

Thanks.

Just wondering what your reasons are for spending 5 nights in Chang Mai. It is nice to see the cultural side of Thailand and definitley recommend it but with only 16 days I am not sure I would recommend 5 nights in Chang Mai. I spent 2 months in Thailand a few years ago and spent nearly a week in Chang Mai but it was only as a base for jungle treks , trips to the golden triangle and going across the boarder into Burma/Myanmar. There isn't a lot to see or do in Chang Mai itself for 5 days unless you are into spending it going to see temples and old ruins. If you get the over night trains or buses you will be knackered so I would look out for a cheap flight.

If I had 16 days in Thailand I would do the following:

1-2 nights bangkok on arrival. There is LOADs to do and see here. Its a crazy brilliant city...but not for everyone

7 nights Ko Samuai

1 night in ko tao (if you are into diving) - this is only a short boat ride from Ko Samui.

2-3 nights in either Ko lanta or Ko Phangnan - Ko Phangnan is a lovely island to go to when the full moon party is NOT on. Not many people bother visiting the far side of the island and only see hadrin beach which is a dump. But the far side is lovely and very quiet. I stayed in these beautiful huts on top of a cliff overlooking the beach. It was paradise.

3 nights Chang mai - but only if doing a jungle trek. Id defo recommend the jungle trek its such an amazing experience. I did a 4 day though one which was a bit much at the time but they do 1 and 2 night ones also.

If you dont do chang mai and weather permitting you could always go to the opposite coast and visit Krabi and Phi Phi these are fab places too.

Have your last night back in bangkok to chill out and do a bit of shopping before the flight home.

Enjoy...I'm well jel

ecranley

4-6 Weeks, you should just need Hep A, Typhoid and Tetanus.