Thailand - what time and is it safe?
 

We are considering a trip to Thailand and I am wondering what time of the year would be best to minimize heat and humidity and stress? Also, there was some unrest reported in the news last year - has this settled down and is Thailand safe to visit?

In the Bangkok area I would strongly suggest December and January as months to visit.
I have found visiting Thailand to be safer than most places I have visited. It is not a rich society in monetary terms but very happy perhaps based on their Buddist philosophy. Of course...go into the wrong neighborhood at a bad time and one risks trouble like in any country.

Heat and humidity are at their lowest during the high travel season, roughly Nov-Feb, after this the temps pick up. This year the low temps lingered longer, in other years the onset can be Jan. But you get the drift. Stress? There's no stress here.

Things are settled now. There will be an election this summer so activity will start anew.

Even when things were happening one year ago in Bangkok Thailand was still safe to visit.

Can you mention one of those areas? They do exist but you would need to seek them out. It is highly unlikely a tourist will wander into one by chance...

I would normally agree with this statement, but after the 20+ people who were killed last year in April/May, I'd say that such a blanket statement is a bit much.

I was in the middle of things, as my hotels were initially the Grand Hyatt and IC. I had to walk through the demonstrators hauling luggage, since they had the roads closed off. I had the "joy" of listening to their 24 hour a day rants from my hotel rooms.

I arrived yesterday, and saw a number of red shirt protesters around my hotel (Erawan Shrine area), so things aren't perfect.

I agree with the Dec/Jan dates.

As for safety, it's pretty safe. Just don't go looking for trouble. Also, be very wary of anyone offering you unsolicited help or advice. Check out the scams thread.

I said Thailand was safe. I'm well aware of what has happened in Bangkok, and what will likely happen come May/June. A time, incidentally, when I will likely be in Chiang Mai, quite the hotbed of sua daeng activity.

Their headquarters are on the northwest corner across from the block containing Wat Phra Singh FWIW.

Please follow this in the Thailand forum.

l'etoile
sr. moderator

IMO you may be overreacting a bit. I was there during the protests last Spring. Generally, Thais are a warm and gentle people. When I walked through the occupied areas last year everyone with whom I spoke inquired after my comfort and safety, expressing no concern for their own. Here they were, hundreds of miles from home, living on mats on the hot pavement, and they were offering me their own cool water, their own food. Outside of the occupied areas, there were many well armed troops. Again, all were friendly. I never felt unsafe, never felt that I was in danger.

Go to Bangkok, you'll be fine. If there's trouble, it will most likely be confined to a well defined geographical area, and is unlikely to be spontaneous and sudden. You'll likely have plenty of warning. What's more, Thais mostly understand what tourism means to their economy, and the last thing that any side wants is dead falangs.

I was also in Bangkok last spring during the protests and agree 100% with this well-written reply.

lolz. :o :p :eek: ;)

Satanic Merlin, as a two week tourist the most stressful things are : figuring out your itinerary/plan of attack, the language barrier, and difficulty finding some places

Finding some places can indeed be difficult.

You left out one other hassle: the singha/chang hangover. That's why I drink Leo. :D

I never said don't go to Bangkok. I have been back to Bangkok twice since the Red Shirt Riots of last year.

I am saying that people need to not think that Thailand is all sawadee and sunshine. I lived for almost two weeks at ground zero. I had to make my way through the crowds, walk through the urine soaked sidewalks, and get used to the 24 hour rant on the loudspeakers. I had surgery during that time, and having to walk the last 500 meters, when they wouldn't let taxis in was certainly a pain for me.

It was intolerable at the Hyatt, and they were right to close. The IC staff handled the situation very nicely, and I was sad to see them close. Noise level was acceptable, if you had a room facing away from the ruckus.

And innocent people were killed. Snipers, and some RPG attacks, are ones that I recall during the 3 weeks I was in BKK.

but there are hundreds of nice hotels in Bangkok. One could easily move away from any trouble spots and find perfectly wonderful accommodations.

I would be more worried about visiting places in the far south where the random bombings keep happening as they have been for a very long time.

I was in Bangkok a couple of years ago when the airport was closed and it was the nicest weather in Bangkok (late Nov, early Dec). Very moderate temps and low humidity. This year I have shifted my trip to mid-Nov to mid-Dec to get some of that nice weather again. But it is still the tropics after all.

I would suggest the lessons to take from this is

1) get away from trouble spots ASAP when in a foreign nation. I imagine the next time you run into something similar, you'd move hotels on day 1 instead of day 14.

2) pay someone to transfer your luggage instead of hauling it yourself. It's Thailand - manpower isn't expensive especially compared to the pain/risk.