Travel Thailand - The Shortest Itinerary & Travel Tips

THAILAND

Do not miss:

1) Bangkok and surrounds (Ayutthaya, Damnoen Saduak Floating Market)
2) Northern Thailand (Chiang Mai and night market, Chiang Rai and Golden Triangle, Long Neck Hill tribes near Mae Hong Son, Elephant riding at Pai, 2 day / 1 night rafting at Pai River)

General notes from own experience:
If you ask me I say that it is not worth to drive through all the Thailand as again you will spend valuable time for covering miles instead of good sightseeing.

Islands are worth to stay there and relax but if you are on sightseeing trip I recommend you to forget about islands.

The most recommended way is to arrive to Bangkok sightseeing around Bangkok train or filight to Chiang Mai for sightseeing in Northern Thailand

Recommended itinerary:

DAY 1
Arrive BKK. I recommend you Bayoke Suite or Bayoke Sky hotel. Bayoke suites has only 2 room suites and costs 25-35 usd in average including breakfast for 2 pax. Location is central. Bayoke Sky is nearby hotel the newer one and one of the highest in Asia.

You definitely do not need car in BKK. Take a tuktuk to move around.

Visit Royal Palace. There are headphones with commentary on many languages (including Russian).

After the sunset take a boat to go to canals. It is important to take it in dark time:
1) all the temples are lighted and shine with gold
2) you do not see the rubbish in waters of the river and canals
3) people come back to their homes which form canals and you can see the real life. Unforgettable experience of Thai Venice. You sit in a boat wile people come out to the terraces to handle their home greenery grown right on the terraces. There are no waterfront walls in most of homes so you see what people do inside.

Boats depart from the river banks right near the Royal Palace. Cross the river and go into canals. Then they circle through the canals come into river back and return to the pier.


Day 2
Visit Damnoen Saduak Floating market. No need to comment. It is famous enough and must see.
Again no need to rent a car. We took a taxi for 20 USD for return full day excursion. Every Taxi driver has mate boatsman who take you for boat ride to the markets through the canals.

You can prolong the trip and go to the Kwai River Bridge in Kanchanaburi province after that. I did not visit Kanchanaburi being on tight budget and time.

If you want you can do it on rented car. But no sense to do that.

DAY 3

Visit Ayatthaya. It is the biggest complex of thai architecture. You may take a taxi there but its easier to take two stops by train or 40 minutes ride by bus. Most picvtures from Ayutthaya are the icons of Thailand. Sightseeing of Ayutthaya consists of two parts.

First take a boat to make a circle around the complex for good views of temples and mmonasteries from the water.

After that take tuktuk or similar transport for a 3 hour sightseeing around temples and other attractions.

There is a lot of information about Ayutthaya in Lonely Planet.

Evening
Take a night train to Chiang Mai. Or flight (about 1 hour)

DAY 4
Morning arrive Chiang Mai
Pick up a car
Visit market to buy fruites and food
Drive to Chiang Rai
Stop at roadside canteens for lunch.
Arrive to Golden Triangle
Take a boat ride on Mekong River to the island on Laos territory for souvenirs

Stay overnight in Chian Rai or somewhere else.

Day 5
Drive back to Chiang Mai
(If you feel good you may drive back to Chiang Mai same day 4.)

Overnight in Chiang Mai. Walk around the streets and feel the atmosphere of this colourfull city.

Drop off a car

Arrange program for next days. It is the easiest way to visit local tour agency or ask reception to arrange 2 day package for tomorrow and day after tomorrow. We paid about 150-200 USD per pax for everything.

Visit night markets

DAY 6
Pick up and go to Pai village on the way to Mae Hong Son. The road is very interesting. It goes up to the mountains and stunning landscapes era visible from many lookouts. We started at 5 am so we met sunrise on the way, then we faced strong fog, and finally drove up and saw temperate pine forests – something very unexpected in the land of jungles.

Elephant riding in Pai. Try to make sure that your riding includes swimming with the elephants otherwise it is not so interesting. 1 hour is enough. 2 hours is maximum.

Move further to the rafting starting point and after about 2 hour driving in direction to Mae Hong Son you arrive. Your rafting starts here. Rafting is soft. There are some fun rapids on day two, but this is not extreme white-water rafting. The main purpose of this is to dive into the depth of jungles. You stay overnight in Bamboo sheds swim in the river. The impressions are for the rest of the life – jungles, bamboo bushes along the river banks, waterfalls, rafting mates to chat in the evening etc.

Day 7
Rafting in the first half of the day.

Transport to Mae Hong Son.

Visit Long Necked Hilltribe village.

Return to Mae Hong Son and visit the temple and feed the fishes in the lake.

Flight back to Chiang Mai and then to Bangkok.

Overnight in BKK

DAY 8

Trnsfer or Take a driver with car to go to Cambodian Border. You may visit one of national parks on the way. I did not visit them so I cannot say anything about them. Our transfer cost was 70 USD