Help with Thailand plan
 

Hi guys, I am arriving in BKK in 7 days and have no concrete plan, I'd like to spend 1 or 2 months there, exiting to Cambodia for visa purposes and of course, touring it. I hear so many different things and not sure how to plan according to the weather, rainy seasons and direction. I don't ride a motto bike so transportation needs to be factored in.
My main interests are:
25% exploring big cities and major sites
35% doing local things that I can't back home, attend yoga retreats, workshops, yoga places, ideal place would be similar to Ubud
40% complete relax on the beach somewhere quiet not too touristy but not dead
Since #2 is maybe existing somewhere and I have no leads, exploring would take that percentage. Hope that makes sense.
Suggestions so far are BKK 7 days, Chiang Mai another 7? and some island, but not sure what plan. Open to ideas. Budget is moderate, no hostel style, but no fancy hotel either. Time is not an issue. Steady wi fi is a must. Thanks in advance!

Good news is that there is plenty of accomodation in low to moderate price range. And all places where I stayed have workable WiFi.

After my first few trips to Thailand I went through a phase where I would just look for a hotel when I showed up, but finally gave it up not due to lack of places but because I didn't want to go searching in the Asian heat.

I will make an additional comment on yoga. While retreats may cost more in N. America, you don't have to come to Thailand to partake. Heck, just got back from Peru, there were literally dozens of retreats there ...

Hmmm, interesting "dilemma" ...

Bangkok - stay in a few different areas, see how it grabs you (or not). Silom, MBK area, Sukhumvit. I've never been to Khao San Rd, and don't intend to. But maybe it's your thing. I am sure someone there knows about yoga. ;)

Take the overnight train to Chiang Mai (ideally first class - it's cheap, and not really "first class"). Otherwise fly. It's too far for bus.

Maybe work your way down south. Stop before the provinces adjacent to Malaysia - read up on why you probably shouldn't go there.

eg take the train or bus to Hua Hin. Hang out there for a while. Then maybe one or more of Samui, Phuket (avoid Patong), Krabi.

Or since you need to get to Cambodia, maybe head east instead. Koh Chang ?

Have booking.com on your phone. It will figure out your location and tell you what hotels are around. Book as you go. Use Tripit to remind you where you're going next.

The rainy season usually isn't bad at all in the June/July timeframe (mostly single late-afternoon downpours), BUT it can be more pronounced on the Andaman coast and in the north and northeast, where humidity can also be high.

The interests given sound very Chiang Mai-ish, and it's pretty cheap to stay there and there are trekking opportunities if you're into that. I did a pretty good one back in 1996 from Lek guesthouse, I think it was, to the Karen villages near the Burmese border. CM is a favorite for language courses, cooking, etc. (dunno about yoga but would think it's bound to be there. Hotels can be excellent value and I usually go for faded 3-starts and try for the $30-ish range, with aircon, of course.

Beach-chasing gets progressively harder because they can't stop overdeveloping (even national parks aren't safe from that). Airlines like Nok Air and Air Asia have plane/ferry packages to islands in Trang province, though that's the Andaman. The old standards of Phuket, Krabi and Samui have gotten awfully crowded. Ko Pha-Ngan could be an alternate base on the gulf side. Ko Chang is built up but not quite as bad as the big 3, and there are islands in that vicinity with less development. Ko Samet used to be a good choice but IMO is overdeveloped now.

Thanks guy, my planning is not really good distance wise. I just booked Phuket flight as it was cheaper from BKK and have to plan from there. Not sure on the area, found a nice hotel 1km from patong beach but not sure if it would be crazy. Suggestions for quieter areas and plan from Phuket?
Chiang Mai is def on the list and looking at the map its close to Myanmar, I don't know much where should I go and what should I do?
If I do 7-10 days in Phuket before Chiang Mai anything on the way or return to BKK?
I also don't like to move every day/2/3 days as it gets too much from me and I am not a backpacker.
Every time I exit Thailand I get new 30 days, correct? Would that be an issue or not? Thank you!

Sorry, I'm having a bit of trouble mentally processing your posts.

I haven't been to Phuket in over a decade but Karon and Kata were nice quiet areas in 2003.

You mention Myanmar in regards to Chiang Mai. You can fly over to Mandalay, spend a day there, then take a bus down to Bagan and spend a couple days there. From there you have two options, go back to Mandalay so you can fly back to Thailand OR continue down Myanmar. Inle lake, Yangon, then fly back to Thailand from there. Yangon has several international connections so you could also continue to another country. Also you will need to purchase and acquire a visa for Myanmar.


I don't really understand this question. You just fly from Phuket to Chiang Mai.

Could be an issue. Ask over on Thaivisa.

Yes, as I understand it, every time you enter by air you get 30 days, but by land I believe it is 10 days only. :)

Well, Phuket IMO has really gotten ruined, having seen it in 1995, 2004 and 2015. Crowds are lower in the summer but you can get more of a monsoon and the boat tours might not operate. Patong is built up enough that you can get something quite some distance from the beach if you're not careful...other beaches are quieter but it's hard to see the value added vs. other possibilities. Do be aware that transport on Phuket is highly dysfunctional, with cheap bus routes radiating out from Phuket town by day but the baht bus mafia wanting ridiculous amounts for special rides after 6 p.m. Some people rent cars (there's traffic and you have to have parking), but location can matter.

With Chiang Mai it's a must to go see Wat Doi Suthep. The night bazaar is a bit overhyped but not unpleasant, especially compared to the weekend market in Bangkok. There are touristy daytours with the hilltribes...the better treks would be multi-day and take you off the beaten path but can be physically taxing. The whole area is quite a bit tamer and more developed than 30-40 years ago (for something more like what Thailand used to be, try Laos).

There's been a crackdown on "back to back" 30-day entries...*maybe* you'll get a reasonable person in immigration who flips through pages and doesn't see other Thailand stamps and decides you don't fit the profile, but OTOH consistency is not their strong suit.

I have no experience with this at all, but it was my understanding that "back-to-back" meant the people that did same day turnarounds. It was my understanding that if you left the country for a week or two then came back, there would be no problems.

This is my understanding as a US American that comes to Thailand as a true tourist. Again, I have no actual knowledge of the actual experience.

I haven't stayed long enough to need to do a visa run but I always choose to spend the majority of my time in Bangkok for work trips in the region and I've had no trouble getting a new visa each time I've left Thailand for a couple of days.

aren't land border crossings 14 or 15 days now? and airports 30 days?

This whole concept of wanting to spend 2 months but not having done any planning 7 days out is totally foreign to me. :-)

For a more local feel in Bangkok you might want to stay on the other side of the river from the main tourist areas. I saw a couple of nice looking Airbnbs over there near BTS stations so getting around is still easy.

Thailand is actually a pretty big place. You might consider visiting Isaan - several medium sized towns/cities over there. But if you're on your own without much working Thai language it might be a little tougher than the big cities. Also places in the center like Sukhothai and even Phitsanulok can be nice. All of my travels around to those parts of the country have been with a guide and driver so that's probably not what you're looking for.

There are several large national parks with a variety of scenery mainly in the northern central part of the country.

We all have different styles :)

I recently arrived back from my one month trip to central Europe and the only thing I had booked was a hotel for that night :p

But I've been to central Europe before and had an idea of what I wanted to see and wasn't asking for advice on which attractions to visit ;) @:-)

Not particularly a local thing, but a thing I really enjoyed recently was attending a cooking class. I went to Chef LeeZ (chefleez.com) cooking school and had a great time. My class was only four students and it was a lot of fun to learn Thai cooking. Small class size allowed for intimate instruction from the Chef.

Sort of. The official policy is that they don't want people staying here long term on a series of back-to-back 30 day entry permits. There was some talk a while back of a maximum number of such entries you could have in a calendar year; but I don't know if anything was ever officially implemented. Regardless, it depends to some extent on the individual immigration officer.


As the holder of a U.S. passport, you're most likely entering the country on a 30 day entry permit, not a visa (unless you obtained the visa at a Thai Embassy or Consulate outside Thailand).


There's also a cooking school called Blue Elephant, which my then g/f attended for a day when she visited me a number of years ago. What she particularly liked about it was that they went to an open air market to buy the ingredients first, so she was able to have that experience, too.