Originally Posted by
ringingup
We're going to Thailand in February for 16 nights. I've been before, but it's my partner's first time.
We're flying into BKK and out of KUL on a late night flight.
Current thinking is:
- 4 nights in Bangkok, which means effectively 3 days. I feel that anything less would make it quite rushed. Staying at the Standard at a great discount.
- 1 night in Ayutthaya at Sala - I've heard great things.
This sounds good. Sala is a great choice and I am glad you are choosing to stay the night there—I think too many people try to do Ayutthaya in a "quick" day-trip, which never ends up being "quick" and also limits visiting the ruins to peak mid-day heat whereas you will now have options closer to dusk or dawn as well.
Originally Posted by
ringingup
My only doubt about the destinations above is that it'll be a very seaside focussed holiday, perhaps without enough of a balance of other sides of Thailand.
No intention of spending the last night in Kuala Lumpur. The flight is so late, so we can fly during the day and make the most of Thailand.
Unfortunately the other parts of Thailand other than Khao Yai are not as pleasant in February so I think you have made the right choices. You can save the north for different trip i.e. during the monsoon when the South is a tropical storm nightmare.
You are probably right about skipping KL—it is (in my absolutely non-nationalistic opinion) a worse version of Bangkok and much more complicated to navigate for a tourist. The place to go to in Malaysia is Penang (which is kind of like a Phuket without good beaches but thankfully not overflowing with a certain type of tourist), but that would be too complex a schlepp I think to add to your itinerary.
Originally Posted by
SKT-DK
I would definitely advocate in favour of Krabi, as it is stunningly beautiful (you can find my warmest recommendations for the resort called Rayavadee on several threads here), and much so over Phuket. I would actually suggest skipping Phuket altogether, as it definitely is not what it used to be (crime is up, full of the undesirable kind of tourists these days).
I have in fact never been to Krabi, but I concur that it is probably the better option here. The good time to visit Phuket was three years ago during the covid-era "sandbox," but now over-tourism has fully returned especially with the overflow of the Pattaya crowd from a certain country shunned by half of the world yet welcomed with open arms by this government.