Thailand

Travel Guide to Thailand

MAIN REGIONS VISITED ON THIS ITINERARY:

Bangkok
Chiang Mai
Andaman Sea (Krabi and Koh Phi Phi)

The country is located in Southeast Asia sharing borders with Cambodia,Laos, and Myanmar.

This itinerary starts in Bangkok (which is where most international travelers arrive in the country), heads up north to Chiang Mai, and then even further south to the Thai Islands on the west coast in the Andaman Sea. We chose to fly from region to region, as this saved us lots of time considering we only had a short two weeks in Thailand. The country is large but not too large, making it possible to visit three (if not four) areas during your two weeks.

WHEN TO VISIT THAILAND:

Before planning a trip to Thailand, it’s important to understand its weather patterns. Thailand experiences two distinct seasons, the dry season (December to May) and the rainy season (May to November).

If you’re looking for comfortable temperatures and little to no rain, I highly suggest you visit during the dry season, which is actually Thailand’s winter. Don’t be put o by “winter”, as the temperatures are still in the 80s almost every day!

Although this seems ridiculously uncomplicated, when planning a trip to southern Thailand and the islands, di erent islands are best weather wise at di erent times. The islands on this itinerary (Krabi and Koh Phi Phi) are located in the Andaman Sea, with the optimum visiting time during December and January.

Note that the popular islands of Phuket and Koh Lanta are also located in this area. Thailand’s eastern side, with island in the Gulf of Thailand, including Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, and Koh Tao, are best visited from the end of January until mid March. However, although dry season is known to be obviously dry, short and torrential bursts of rain are possible, as with any tropical destination.

WHAT TO BRING TO THAILAND:

Because of its hot, sticky climate, you’ll want light, airy clothing
Appropriate clothing for temples: Long pants, shoulder covered shirts, shawls
Comfy footwear- you’ll be walking ALOT!
Sandals/bathing suits for the islands
Personal WiFi Hot Spot Device

FLY TO THAILAND!

Fly into Bangkok! You’ll find most international flights to Thailand will fly to Bangkok, which is perfect as it’s the first stop on our two week Thailand itinerary! The flight is long from most parts of the world (18 hours from West Coast USA, and 10-14ish hours from Europe) without many inexpensive direct flights, but I promise you, a trip to Thailand is well worth it!

BANGKOK // RELAX AND SHOP

We didn’t fly into Bangkok from Taipei until 2am, and didn’t get to our hotel until 4am, so we didn’t do all too much our first day in Bangkok. We slept in until around 10, relaxed at the (super awesome) infinity pool of our hotel (AVANI Riverside- highly recommended), then did some shopping at Siam Center and happy hour at Red Sky Bar.