10-day Thailand Itinerary for first timer
 

I'm starting to plan a trip for my wife and I to Thailand in March and wanted to get some feedback of my proposed itinerary. This will be our first time in SE Asia.

We only have 10-12 days, and it will be during one of our few breaks from work, so I want to dedicate close to half of it to pure relaxation at a nice resort. The other half I'm very open to be jampacked and experience Thai culture. I understand we won't be able to see much in the timeframe we have, so I need guidance to focus on some highlights

My initial plan is:

Days 1-2 Chiang Mai (flights are not booked yet, plan to arrive midday)
- aclimate to Thai culture in a smaller city
- visit Elephant camp and possibly other outdoor-ish activities
Days 3-6 Bangkok (plan to fly)
- soak in all the markets etc.
- lots of other touristy activities TBD
Days 6-10 Ko Samui (plan to fly)
- relax on the beach at Le Meridien and maybe one or two activities
Day 11 - Plan to depart late night

Is there another city you would recommend visiting instead of Chiang Mai? I'm also open to other resort options besides Ko Samui, but my priority is a high end resort that is a good value using SPG or Marriott points. The Le Meridien seemed to be a sweet spot.

As far as activities and what we are looking for.. in theory I would love to be adventurous, go hiking in some remote villages, experience Thailand like a local, etc. but in reality every time I have bought my wife to a non-western country we have had bad experiences and she gets very uncomfortable, particularly with sanitation issues or when there are excessive/high-pressure hawkers. Ideally, we would like to do something maybe slightly adventurous but be able to retreat to a higher end/relaxing hotel at the end of the day and for some meals (if she was uncomfortable with the food sanitation of local restaurants).

I hope I didn't offend with the last paragraph, but being slightly OCD, it is just the reality of how we feel sometimes when experiencing other cultures in settings we are not accustomed to. Despite being uncomfortable, we want to get out there and experience as much as we can, while still enjoying ourselves.

Any suggestions for activities (keeping the above in mind) would also be appreciated!

Thai people are usually courteous and a firm but polite no (mai ow kap for men or kah for women) usually works.

A busy schedule but a great country to try and get the most out of. Instead of Chiang Mai you could look at Chiang Rai which is a little smaller and close to the Golden Triangle.

When in BKK make sure you do the Temple Tour. We always did it independently as Taxi's are cheap and plentiful. Start at the Grand Palace (Wat Prah Gel), then Wat Poh (Maybe for a massage) then head Wat Arun to the reclining Budha and lastly over to Wat Arun on the other side of the river.

There is a great entertainment area on the river called Asiatic. It has restaurants, bars and a night market. A nice place to wander around for an evening.

http://www.thaiasiatique.com/index.php/en

A final suggestion may be to take your Wife on a dinner cruise up the Chao Prahya river. I would recommend the Shagri La cruise personally.

Hope that gives you some food for thought.

March is generally hot and dry in Thailand, so be prepared--temperatures in the 90's and over 100 (F) are typical. You also need to know that in north Thailand (including Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai) it's the burning season, when farmers burn off their fields and turn the entire area of the country into an extremely air-polluted, smoky, hazy mess. You might want to rethink this part of your trip.

Bangkok and a beach resort are in, and for the third location maybe keep to something further south such as Sukhothai/Si Satchanalai area for a couple of days (can fly to/from BKK). Or, do a triangle ex-Bangkok to Kanchanaburi and Ayutthaya areas--which could be done overland and arranged for you by a local agent (it can be done independently but you don't sound all that adventurous and with your short time frame, need efficiencies). I'm not fond of Ko Samui at all and find it a crashing bore of a place after about 2 days. By Thailand standards, beaches are so-so. You might want to check out Le Meridien Khao Lak which is lovely (closest airport: Phuket HKT). I think I'd choose that over the LM further south on Phuket. The Marriott at Phuket is pretty isolated though close to HKT itself. Out of any of these places, you'd have a chance to lay about on a beach, or visit Phang-nga bay with the karst scenery, or Khao Sok National Park for some jungle. The wider variety of stuff to do when you're sick of the beach/pool usually tips me to the west coast vs the east coast, as long as the weather season is favorable (which in March, either coast is fine).

Actually, the more I think about only 10-12 days for this trip, the more I'd say keep 5-6 days at the beach resort, 4 in Bangkok, and a daytrip or overnight to Ayutthaya, and call it a day. Keep it as simple as possible.

LM Khao Lak is leaving SPG by that time I believe. Could look at JW Marriott KL

Thanks for the tips so far. I actually planned on Chiang Rai originally but was advised against it be some people, because they though it was more of a base for further away activities and did not make sense for 2 nights.

I had not looked into Southern Thailand at all, except for beaches. I'll do more research on some of those places you recommended. I definitely don't mind squeezing in an extra city for a quick trip, as long as I can end relaxing at a beach.

Is Phuket really nicer then Ko Samui.. the impression I got was the area was very overrun. If the resort is very nice I could deal with a not as amazing beach. It seems like most of the higher end SPGs are in Ko Samui. Vana Belle or W retreat would also be options, but I'm guessing the beach is similar and the LM seems closer in line with what we were looking for. I'll check out the JW Phuket, but they won't treat me as nice as SPG :D

RE: time of year.. the other option is is June - August, but from what I read so far I thought March would be ideal.

CM is a great place to start. I know it's not one of the places you listed, but we like staying here http://m.siripanna.com/default-en.html

When we go to Bangkok always spend a few days with our guide friend Tong. Www.tourwithtong.com it might be nice for your wife to have someone like tong with a nice car and driver take you to do some of the more adventurous things. We really like going to Kanchanaburi (sp). The elephant camp we went to there was well run. Another positive of having a local with you is that they can run interference for you so the hawkers don't bother your wife as much. Compared to many other places we have been, Thais are not too bad at this.

It's always a controversial thing, but you go to tiger temple or tiger kingdom.

You are sure to use the squatty potties wile you are there. Have your wife bring a small pack of wet wipes :)

I would rate Koh Samui far higher than Phuket. Def go in March as Weather in June to Aug very unpredictable

Krabi Province is a much superior Thai beach experience to Phuket or Koh Samui, IMO.

There are some great resorts in Krabi, Ao Nang and Railay Beach.

The scenery blows Phuket and Samui away:
Ao Nang
Railay Beach

Phuket is enjoying an influx of Chinese tourists in addition to the always sizable numbers of Russian visitors. Samui is trending similarly, although it's still predominantly German, UK and Thai visitors.

Duplicate

Itinerary looks good. My only concern that has not been addressed are the long haul flights. It takes a day to get there and a day to get back, but you state you have 10-12 days and you list 11 days of activity. I assume you're coming from Boston? You will have several flight routings possible to Chiang Mai, but the Ko Samui part will be different. I don't know what flight times are like out of Samui airport, but if you're flying out of Samui at late night, then you will most likely be spending the night in that city you will be arriving to. You might end up booking multiple air tickets as well (example : Silk Air flight to Singapore, then Singapore to Boston on some other airline).

So perhaps you should do some research on the long hauls, or at least tell us about what you were thinking.

Krabi looks nice, but I'm really trying to do this on points (preferably SPG) and the Sheraton Krabi just does not look nearly as nice as some of the Koh Samui options. Of course a fancy hotel in a horrible location won't be that great, so please chime in if you think we'll be a happier at the Sheraton Krabi or a starwood in a different city. Marriott could be an option too.


Sorry.. I have 10-12 days in Thailand not including travel time. I'm also planning to use miles for the flights so I'm still working on the exact options. I'm leaving either from PHL or NYC. The redeyes to/from Europe seem to work best to connect from the east coast and are in line with that itinerary. My plan is:

Day -2: US - Europe redeye (connection)
Day -1: Europe - BKK redeye (stopover)
Day 1-3: BKK-CNX r/t (purchased separately)
Day 6: BKK-USM (destination)
Day 11: USM - BKK - Europe redeye (connection)
Day 12: Europe - US

The only issue is that the evening TG Koh Samui flight disappeared for the date I was looking, so I might have to spend an extra day in BKK on the way home now.

So I was able snag CX NYC-HKG-BKK and back, which will allow an extra day and some time in HKG due to the awesome scheduling of these flights. jiejie, thanks for the warning about the pollution.. I think I'm going to heed your advice. I see you are based in PEK.. how would compare it to CNX in March? I was in Beijing for a few days last year and enjoyed, but could not be outside for more then 5 hours at a time and spent most of the day in the hotel.

So my new plan is
Day 1: Arrive HKG early AM, spend the day, fly to BKK in afternoon
Days 2 - 6: Bangkok? day in Ayutthaya? Would like to add a side trip to visit an elephant camp, possibly hiking or other excursion outside a city
Day 7: Fly to USM in the morning
Day 12: Depart USM-BKK early morning, then BKK - HKG - NYC

I may have pushed the not-adventurous card too far. We are accustomed to and used to public transportation, particularly if trains have reserved seats or a hotel / travel agent can assist.

Elephant Camp - We definitely want to do an elephant related activity... preferably somewhere that uses our money to actually helps the elephants. What would be a good location / camp to visit?

Other cities /activities - Ayutthaya looked interesting. Are there other parks or excisions that are worthwhile to visit near BKK. Would it be worth flying to another city? Since I have not been to SE Asia before, I would love to see some areas of the country with unique scenery and do some hiking if the weather / bugs arent too horrible (or perhaps a guided tour)? Perhaps we can combine this with the elephant excursion.

USM Flights - Does anyone have any idea how reliable the Bangkok Airways flights are from USM - BKK. We will have to purchase this segment, then fly BKK-HKG-NYC on a separate ticket at 13:10. How much time do you think is reasonable to allow for this connection? I will definitely be purchasing travel insurance though, as i know there is always a chance of disaster with scenarios like this.

Thanks!

Sorry to keep piling on more questions...

Based on the feedback I'm now considering doing either
1) 5 nights at W Retreat Ko Samui

2) 2 nights at Sheraton Krabi + 3 nights at JW Marriott KL (possibly via Phi Phi)

Obviously the W is going to be the nicer hotel, but how do the beaches and locale compare of those options? I'm also hoping there are towns nearby to all of them with good non-touristy restaurants.

Here is a very useful article about how to plan your Thailand holiday. Living in Thailand I always recommend this to my friends who come to visit. Lots of good information here.

As far as the burning of the fields go it is not as bad as years previous as new laws about burning have been enforced.

I have been living in Chiang Mai since 1989 so if you have any questions please let me know.

Have fun,
Randy

The place you are looking for is Elephant Nature Park - Volunteering. Volunteering in Thailand for helping animals from elephants to astray dogs left in Temples seems to be on the rise, according to the October/2013 Thai magazine edition - pages 40-43. The suggested park comes from Thai magazine.

Other "friendly" places that let tourists ride elephants mean that they had to "break" the elephant since a baby and separate them from their mothers, till they no long recognize their own, according to the info on the magazine. These "tamed" elephants have suffered brutally to learn it this way.

Cheers