Thailand - Where to go/What to do

Diddlydoubt

Going to Thailand in January. Fly into Bangkok on 15th. Plan on staying in Thailand until 31st January then flying on to Melbourne.

Where would people recommend to go to in terms of the Islands etc?

What are the must see places to go to?

How much would you reckon would be needed in spending money for say the 16 days? we intend to live in relative comfort, not spending a fortune but staying in decent places if possible.

Is 16 days enough to see a fair bit of the country?


Myself and girlfriend going so if you could keep that in mind with replies that would be great.

CLARiiON

The islands are absolutely gorgeous, but [in my opinion, with the exception of Phi Phi] are very similar.
The islands I'd recommend would be Phi Phi, Koh Lanta (very quiet), Ko Somui, Koh Phangan (full moon).
I loved Thailand, but felt the North was better and a lot different than anywhere I'd been before. The islands could well be anywhere.
Tripadviser is very good for pointing out the best places to go and see.
It's a great country, no doubt you'll have a mighty time!
Enjoy

Diddlydoubt

CLARiiON wrote: »

The islands are absolutely gorgeous, but [in my opinion, with the exception of Phi Phi] are very similar.
The islands I'd recommend would be Phi Phi, Koh Lanta (very quiet), Ko Somui, Koh Phangan (full moon).
I loved Thailand, but felt the North was better and a lot different than anywhere I'd been before. The islands could well be anywhere.
Tripadviser is very good for pointing out the best places to go and see.
It's a great country, no doubt you'll have a mighty time!
Enjoy

thanks for the reply.

How long would you recommend to spend in each of the different islands?

we would like to get to a few different places in our 16 days.

what would a typical route look like from bangkok through the various islands, say spending 2 days per place?

Lingua Franca

I'd also recommend the north, it was my favourite part of Thailand. Ayutthaya was a highlight, as was Kanchanaburi (Bridge on the River Kwai) and the surrounding areas. We skipped Chang Mai in favour of spending more time on Koh Samui with a relative, that was huge mistake on our part. Koh Samui, as mentioned in another thread, is like Tenerife except with Thai people and Thai food. I'd suggest skipping it but you go there to get to Koh Phanang and also Ang Thong national park, which is truly awesome.

Just a couple of days in any one place should be enough.

I can't advise on anything else though, we went about the whole trip the wrong way.

Tefral

Here is a full breakdown of what I did.. Id go back in the morning

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=79617719&postcount=84

Diddlydoubt

cronin_j wrote: »

Here is a full breakdown of what I did.. Id go back in the morning

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=79617719&postcount=84

thats brilliant thanks for that.

So you recommend Ko Phi Phi then as a must see and do?

I was thinking maybe spend 1 night in Bnagkok and then move on. Where do people generally move to next after Bangkok?

I intend to go to Ko Phi Phi for a few days, Ko Phangan for the full moon party and maybe Ko Samui too.

Any other recommended islands to visit along the way?

CLARiiON

Diddlydoubt wrote: »

thats brilliant thanks for that.


I was thinking maybe spend 1 night in Bnagkok and then move on. Where do people generally move to next after Bangkok?

Mad, nearly everyone I speak to says get in and out of Bangkok as quick as you can.
Why?
I spent 2 days initially but loved the place, and at the end of the holiday we made time to spend another 2 days there.
just felt the place was like nothing I'd seen before ... great buzz about the place. My point, don't be too quick to get outta there!

Diddlydoubt

CLARiiON wrote: »

Mad, nearly everyone I speak to says get in and out of Bangkok as quick as you can.
Why?
I spent 2 days initially but loved the place, and at the end of the holiday we made time to spend another 2 days there.
just felt the place was like nothing I'd seen before ... great buzz about the place. My point, don't be too quick to get outta there!

to be honest the reason is because of the feedback i have seen and read from other people.

also another contributing factor is that we are moving on to melbourne at the end of january, so i will obviosuly be spending plenty of time in built up city in australia and would much prefer to go to the islands where it is totally unique compared to any place i will have been before.

in other words while every big city is different, the islands are something i may only experience once so would rather spend more time there than in bangkok.

is that a reasonable assessment?

Lingua Franca

We managed to collide our two night stay in Bangkok with Bhudda day (actually 2 days) where no booze is allowed sold anywhere in the city at all. Total buzzkill!

CLARiiON

Diddlydoubt wrote: »

to be honest the reason is because of the feedback i have seen and read from other people.

also another contributing factor is that we are moving on to melbourne at the end of january, so i will obviosuly be spending plenty of time in built up city in australia and would much prefer to go to the islands where it is totally unique compared to any place i will have been before.

in other words while every big city is different, the islands are something i may only experience once so would rather spend more time there than in bangkok.

is that a reasonable assessment?

haha..sounds like you know what youre doing regarding Bangkok so.

For me I spent a few days in Bangkok, then got the train up to Chiang Mai [14hrs, [flights are available, and cheap]
In Chiang Mai I did a trek and if youre going for 16days, it could be well worth a think. You get to see a piece of Thailand that is authentic. The south could be anywhere [imo]
The Trek we did allowed us to see the Karen [Long neck] tribe, trek through the jungle, elephant rides, white water rafting, bamboo rafting, meeting/drinking/eating with locals.
After that we drove up to the place called Pai - real bohemian, laid back kinda place.
If youre thinking about headin south only, the link above supplied by cronin_j is very good and well detailed.
hope this helps!

DenMan

Enjoy your time OP. I'm moving there next Spring to teach. Never in Thailand before. Really looking forward to it. Have a great time!

athtrasna

I love Bangkok, on our last trip we did 5 days Bangkok, 5 days Hua Hin (about 90 mins by road from Bangkok, it's the royal resort, the queen visited our hotel when we were there) and 5 in Chiang Mai. Loved it all. Hua Hin was our relaxation phase as we did loads of stuff in the other cities.

Had previously done Bangkok and Pattaya. I do NOT recommend Pattaya, the sleaziest place I have ever been.

Depending on your time in Bangkok there's so much to do. I highly recommend the DK Eyewitness Guide Books as the best out there, really helpful. If you are spending several days there I would recommend a trip to the aquarium, not something synonymous with Thailand but it's stunning! Worth doing when you've had your fill of temples and palaces

The Clown Man

Lingua Franca wrote: »

Koh Samui, as mentioned in another thread, is like Tenerife except with Thai people and Thai food.

I hate seeing this. I was in Koh Samui in 2001 and it was not like this at all. The place was a paradise at the time and the food was out of this world. I don't want to go back and spoil the amazing impression I got of it.

It makes me so bloody sad.

Diddlydoubt

Thanks for all the replies so far.

So many different views that it is hard to know what to do .

Is Bangkok the best place for shopping etc? If we are flying out of Bangkok to Oz, we might be better leaving doing any shopping until we go back there for our flight on to oz, so as not to be carrying the stuff around with us for 2 weeks would we?

As we will be going on to Oz after Thailand, we are going to have suitcases and stuff with us on our way over. How will this impact as we travel around or are there relatively good security in place in the country that our belongings wont be stolen?

I am getting a better picture now of where to go. Bangkok for a couple of nights either when we land and maybe before we fly out to oz, ko phi phi, ko phangan, possibly ko samui, possibly up north.

any other islands recommended like Phuket or Ko Chang etc?

Lingua Franca

Diddlydoubt wrote: »

Is Bangkok the best place for shopping etc? If we are flying out of Bangkok to Oz, we might be better leaving doing any shopping until we go back there for our flight on to oz, so as not to be carrying the stuff around with us for 2 weeks would we?

As we will be going on to Oz after Thailand, we are going to have suitcases and stuff with us on our way over. How will this impact as we travel around or are there relatively good security in place in the country that our belongings wont be stolen?

A word of warning: when we returned from Bangkok customs were stopping people and searching bags.

Because of the aforementioned Buddha day, we'd picked up two dodgy dvds in a market and watched them in the hotel room at night. When leaving the hotel room I absent-mindedly threw them into my case instead of throwing them away. I'd also picked up a fake bag and a couple of t shirts.

When they searched my case they found the dvds. They took everything out of my case, inspected it and took anything they considered counterfeit aside to check it out, even a cheap but genuine pair of trainers I'd picked up in Tesco Lotus for a hill walking trip, and clothes I already owned. They eventually let me go with a severe ticking off, and that was only because I had so few counterfeit items. They said if I'd had any more that I'd have been looking at a fine.

Much like customs know to check people arriving in from Amsterdam for drugs, they know to check arrivals from Thailand for counterfeit goods. If you're going to be passing through a lot of customs, don't be carrying a bunch of counterfeit goods.

Whilst travelling you'll be given a key for all your rooms. Always use a safe to store your passports and extra cash. Just be sensible and you'll be fine. It's not awful for crime but I wouldn't take a chance either.

So many different views that it is hard to know what to do

Well, it's a massive country with loads to see and do! One itinerary will never fit all.

But you can see that Bangkok, whether people liked it or not (I didn't) is a must-see. It's just up to you how much of it you can stand. It's unanimous that the north of Thailand is amazing and unmissable. I hear wonderful things about Chang Mai in the north but we never went. The islands are also something you have to experience but some of them are better than others. You can figure out which ones will suit you and your gf from other people's accounts os their experiences.

Pattaya is generally accepted to be the sleaziest place in Thailand and best avoided by anyone who isn't a sex tourist or heavily into drugs.

The best way to experience Thailand is to arrive there with minimal plans and a open mind and take it from there. Buy a guidebook, prebook a night or two in Bangkok (because you can get amazing deals online, we ended our trip with 2 nights in a 4* hotel suite for about 40 euro a night) and then you can pick up and head wherever the mood takes you. Travel, even internal flights, and accomodation are so cheap and plentiful and travel agents so common that you don't have to worry about pre booking.

Our trip was very badly planned but we know where we went wrong.

We arrived early in the am so we booked a hotel near the airport for a few hours kip, before picking up a hire car from the airport and driving to Ayuthayya for 2 nights. Then we went to Kanchanaburi for 2 nights before driving down the length of Thailand, stopping overnight at the narrowest part of the country in the deadest city I've ever been in. It was off season, true, but the massive hotel we chose was totally deserted, all of the entertainment rooms and the pool were shut and all of the local restaurants were closed. Dinner that night was chocolate and crisps from the 7-11.

We drove south to Koh Samui, dropping the car off at the docks, and then spent about eight days on this island staying with the relative we'd gone to visit. This is why our holiday was heavily weighted in that one spot, and it was a huge mistake. After 2 days we'd seen everything that there was to see there and we really should have travelled around more.

Then we flew from the most beautiful airport to Bangkok for 2 nights in the lap of luxury before flying home - only to discover that all the bars were shut and even our own hotel wouldn't sell us booze, unless we wanted to drink the minibar.

Where we went wrong: hiring a car, weighting the holiday for far too long in one place, not checking for public holidays before booking the last few nights.

The Davestator

Diddlydoubt wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies so far.

So many different views that it is hard to know what to do .

Is Bangkok the best place for shopping etc? If we are flying out of Bangkok to Oz, we might be better leaving doing any shopping until we go back there for our flight on to oz, so as not to be carrying the stuff around with us for 2 weeks would we?

As we will be going on to Oz after Thailand, we are going to have suitcases and stuff with us on our way over. How will this impact as we travel around or are there relatively good security in place in the country that our belongings wont be stolen?

I am getting a better picture now of where to go. Bangkok for a couple of nights either when we land and maybe before we fly out to oz, ko phi phi, ko phangan, possibly ko samui, possibly up north.

any other islands recommended like Phuket or Ko Chang etc?

Back from Thailand a week now. Bangkok is the worst place for shopping I've ever been. No difference in price to home and most of it looked fake. We did 3 nights Bangkok, 4 nights Chiang mai (elephants, tigers etc) and 5 nights ko shumi. I thought it was perfect. Fishermans village in ko shumi is nice and less commercial than chaweng

geecee

Lingua Franca wrote: »

Pattaya is generally accepted to be the sleaziest place in Thailand and best avoided by anyone who isn't a sex tourist or heavily into drugs.

Another huge generalisation about pattaya from someone that has never been there...

From my experience Pattaya is NOT the kind of place you would want to go if you are into drugs.

Police there regularly raid the night clubs and bars, they also have checkpoints setup most nights around the city where they perform pee tests to check for drug usage.

Foreigners are checked for drug usage same as the locals and a failed test means being banged up until moe conclusive (blood) tests are completed.

Yes pattaya is sleazy... but at the same time it is also quite a big city and has some very upmarket resorts and shopping centres there... it is also one of the easiest towns to get around with its songtaew taxi system

Lingua Franca

geecee wrote: »

Another huge generalisation about pattaya from someone that has never been there...

Yeah, sorry for hurting your feelers. I'm sure it's lovely, really.

geecee

Lingua Franca wrote: »

Yeah, sorry for hurting your feelers. I'm sure it's lovely, really.

You are not hurting any of my feelings...

It just annoys me when people slag off a place or pass on 4th hand truths as facts without actually ever having visited a place.

Pattaya may not be paradise - but its population to 300,000 people, ofwhoapprox 100,000 are ex-patriates, so i'm sure they don't appreciate your assertation that they must be heavily into drugs to be there!

Lingua Franca

I note you're not upset about the sex tourist allegations. Which is merely second hand observation. From sex tourists.

You admitted yourself it is sleazy, if I was wrong about the drugs then I apologise but you do seem terribly tetchy about my advice.

Still, I'm sure it's lovely. Got any advice for the OP?

Diddlydoubt

Have many of you guys flown internally within Thailand?

I fly into Bangkok and I have been looking around at places to go to then,plan to stay a night or 2 in Bangkok at the start and maybe the same at the end before flying on to Melbourne.

I was looking at Chang Mai and it looks class but it seems as if we would lose a few nights travelling up and down to it on overnight trains. Would anybody recommend flying up to chang mai or alternatively travelling overnight up there from Bangkok and then flying from up there down towards the islands?

Definitely going to go to Ko Phi Phi for 3 or 4 nights and also to Ko Phangan for the full moon party. Would 1 night in Ko Phangan suffice at the full moon party or is there much else to do/see here? In 2 minds about Ko Samui also so would maybe 2 nights be enough here?

Any other islands around there people recommend? What about Ang Thong national park,is it worth a visit? Or is it worth going to Kanchanaburi or Ayutthaya whilst we are up in Bangkok? What about Phucket or Ko Tao/ko Lanta/Ko Chang, anything worthwhile going to see there?

Possibility of spending maybe 3 weeks in Thailand now so a bit more flexible about where we can go and how long we spend everywhere.

Would rather spend more time in somewhere really nice like Ko Phi Phi and miss out on somewhere less nice than go everywhere and not enjoy some places as much so maybe a "less is more" approach may be best?

Tipperary animal lover

Hi, fly use Bangkok airways fly Bangkok-Chiang mai-Phuket or samui, which ever suits, don't forget thailands islands are very commercialised phi phi islands are lovely but very busy gone are the days of having parts of the beach to yourself.....book your flights as soon as to get a decent price!

Diddlydoubt

Here is a copy of an itinery i have had personalised.

What would people who have been to Thailand before make of this travel plan and do you think the price reflects value for money?

Lingua Franca

That's an excellent itinerary and yeah, it's pretty good value for money.

geecee

It seems myself and Lingua Franca are never going to agree on this thread!

I agree that its an excellent itinerary.... however i think you are trying to fit way too much into too small a time

Jan 16-Feb 4th is only 19 days and i think that this itinerary is over loaded with destinations for such a short trip

Also i disagree that its a fair price
£1588 per person is €1950 per person in euro...

Considering that this price does not include flights to/from Thailand and there will presumably be 2 of you sharing... i think this is a very expensive itinerary

Remember that Thailand does not charge per person rates. they charge per room.

Most of the rooms mentioned are their "comfortable" rooms... expect to pay no more than 700-1000B per night per room for a hotel of this quality in Thailand (thats under €25)

Also there are only 3 flights on this trip Chiang Mai - Ko Samui,Samui - Phuket and Phuket - Bkk. These flights should account for no more than €400 per person of the costs... the rest is by local transport which costs peanuts...

if you don't have time to arrange your own trip... i would say this trip is ok. But for me it needs a location cull and could probably be self booked for half the price (and twice the adventure!)

Sorry Lingua... i am not trying to pickany fights... but you did ask me if i have any advice for the OP!

Lingua Franca

Ah, I didn't realise that the flights to Thailand weren't included. In that case it is pretty expensive. You could do it yourself and at your own pace for much, much less and not a terrible amount of effort.

And geecee, the reason we are differing is down to me omitting one tiny detail in an effort to be helpful... I absolutely hated Thailand and wouldn't go back if you paid me.

Diddlydoubt

Yeah to be honest I put everything that i thought might be worth doing down just to get an idea of what sort of price i would get quoted back.

i know it seems to be a lot packed in to it and i will be looking to remove some of the stuff from it.

in all likelihood we will only get about 16 days in Thailand before we fly on to Melbourne and besides the price quoted is a good bit outside our budget.

it was more to get an idea of what sort of a travel plan we could draw up and what route we could take, and also to see what sort of price we would get quoted.

In terms of what what to cut out, I dont think we will bother with the temples & tuk-tuks/the river & the railway and possibly even leave out chiang mai too. phi phi sounds amazing and id prefer to maybe spend the extra few days there than to be racing around trying to fit everything in.

What from the itinerary would you guys recommend removing or what would be must-dos?

Lingua Franca

Ayutthaya isn't very far from Bangkok and is really interesting, like a kind of Angkor Wat in a city. Even though it is temples, I would recommend that, even just for one night. You can hire you own tuk tuk.

I liked the river/railways in Kanchanaburi but then I like World War history.

Ang Thong is unmissable, in my opinion. This means a trip to Ko Samui or Panang. Time it right and you can make the full moon party on Panang. That will mean being on Panang for the night of the 26th of January.

I've not been to Chang Mai and that's my one regret. I wish we'd made the effort.


To be honest, almost anywhere you go you will be able to go on a day safari if you want to chill with elephants, or hire a tuk tuk by yourself to see temples. For example, we took a day trip on Ko Samui that started out with taking us to see some famous rock formations, then a temple with a dead monk in a glass case on display, then swimming in a waterfall, then we got to ride on elephants and see a crocodile show and cuddle some monkeys and baby tigers, then zipping through a jungle in a jeep up to a restaurant on a hilltop. All in one day. You wouldn't have to miss anything like that by not following that itinerary.

Don't be afraid to show up anywhere in Thailand without a hotel booking. There's plenty of dirt cheap accomodation. We got a beautiful cottage with a veranda on stilts out over the river Kwai for 8 euro a night.

Thailand has good tourist infrastructure, rock bottom pricing and plenty to see and do. All I can say is you'll definitely want to see Bangkok, at least one spot in the jungles of the North, and a few of the islands.

Diddlydoubt

Judging by the price of onward flights to Melbourne from Bangkok, we are looking at flying out of Bangkok on Sunday 03/02/2013 as this date is the cheapest for getting a direct flight to Melbourne.

This would give us 19 days in Thailand as we arrive in Bangkok on 15/01/2013.

In terms of what type of budget would be required per person for 19 days what would be considered to be a reasonable budget?

I have spoken to friends who went to Thailand before and all they had booked prior to going was 2 nights in Bangkok and they booked the rest as they went along.

I can see the merit in this approach but I was looking at it from the perspective of if we had a rough idea of our travel plans for when we arrive in Thailand and if we booked some accomodation for certain places before we go that we would not be eating into our spending money whilst we are there. On the otherhand I am sort of wary of booking accomodation now from Ireland and maybe paying more from here than we would pay when we are actually over there in Thailand.

Did many of you book your accomodation in advance or did you just wing it when you got there and book things as you were going along?

I have a rough idea of where we will be at certain parts of our trip, for example, i know we will be in Bangkok for the 15th and 16th January, Phangan on 25th - 28th January, Phi Phi at some stage and also Bangkok on 2nd February. So i am wondering whether we should book some accomodation now whilst we are in Ireland and then when we are there we arent eating into our spending money.

Lingua Franca

We only booked a hotel on arrival, to get a few hours kip after landing (it was early in the morning in Thailand but we were hiring a car and correctly assumed we'd need some sleep before driving off) and a luxury hotel in Bangkok for the last two nights. The luxury hotel was a great deal for what it was, 45 euro a night for a frickin awesome suite, it was a briliant deal from a website than we'd have gotten it anywhere else, and was a great way to end the trip. But it was also about 4x what we paid for any other accommodation.

Unless you want the lap of luxury at every turn, you're honestly best just bringing that money with you and winging it. It's really not a big deal, winging it in Thailand.

Ok, I googled a wee bit for you. If you go to hotels.com and search for ko phanang on your given dates, there's a room for 68 euro in a 3 star spa resort. That kind of thing might be worth going for.

Maybe book some nights and wing others?

Diddlydoubt

Yeah i think booking some night for when we know where we will definitely be and then winging it might be the best option as if we book everyhting in advance it means we are very much tied down to that sort of itinerary.

Might look at booking a couple of nights in Bangkok on arrival and prior to departing for Oz, a couple in Ko Phangan around the time of the full moon party and then maybe a couple of nights in Ko Phi Phi too.

Thinking of maybe leaving out going to Chiang Mai now and just going to the Islands after the river and the railway trip outside Bangkok as I am not sure we will have the budget for doing it all.