Planning a Trip to Thailand
[Updated 2019]
Getting ready, before going
Before travelling to Thailand you should check if you need vaccination, visa, to be careful with some zones, important phone numbers, etc. Maybe your country has a website with that information, it is usually the website of your country’s embassy in Thailand.
Other important thing to know about is the monsoon season and which areas are best to visit depending of the weather. Thailand is a large country and every coast has his own climate. In Thailand: Weather & when to go – SelectiveAsia it’s explained when and which areas are more appropriate to go depending on weather/month. Besides, you may keep the celebrations of Thailand in mind to plan the trip.
A big question is the transport, How do I arrive to that place and how much is it? You don’t worry, get moving in Thailand is easy. There are many options to get around Thailand: airplane, bus, vans, even train. You can get anywhere easily and prices are not exorbitant with some exceptions.
For this trip it could be very useful that you install an offline maps’ mobile application. There are many of them, for example these: MAPS.ME, OsmAnd. Both are free and you can download the map of Thailand and add spots on it. Also, you can import your own gpx or kml file. Obviously, you should have internet connection to download the maps.
Finally, the language. This country is very used to tourism. In hotels, restaurants and transport stations people have a basic level of english at least. However, if you go to a not touristic place better make a note with the address and name of that place in case you need to ask someone.
Things to do in Thailand
Thailand, a country with incredible temples, white sand beaches, lush forests, people always smiling and a gastronomy which won’t leave you indifferent. As you can see, there are many things to enjoy the country.
I suggest you to visit, not only essential spots like the most of tourist places, but also special and unique locations. To find locations like those I recommend you a good guide, for example: Thailand Travel Guide – Lonely Planet.
Besides of the temples and the cities that can be visited, an interesting activity is to explore some national parks. In the next links you can find out what to do in each park:
National Parks of Thailand – Booking and Information
National Parks of Thailand – Information
Another very important thing is doing responsible tourism. In these web links The dark side of animal tourism in Thailand – Telegraph and Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand you can read about bad practices of the tourism with animals. You should know which activities or shows you must avoid. There are also some sanctuaries of elephants in Thailand where you can have fun and they won’t disappoint you.
Boon Lotts Elephant Sanctuary (BLES) (Sukhothai)
Elephant Refuge & Education Center (Phetchaburi)
Elephant’s World (Kanchanaburi)
Elephant Nature Park (Chiang Mai)
If you like cooking I have one more activity for you: thai cooking classes.
? Other interesting links to plan your tailored trip to Thailand are:
Official Website of Tourism in Thailand
Unesco – World Heritage List in Thailand
Thai Food – Wikipedia
My Route – two weeks in Thailand
From March 18th to April 3rd 2016, if I remove the flights we had 14 useful days. The sunrise and the nightfall were at 6.30 AM/PM. We visited these places:
- Bangkok
Mae Klong and Amphawa markets – Floating Markets – Bangkok
Ayutthaya – Historic City of Ayutthaya - Sukhothai – Sukhothai Historical Park | The Dawn of Happiness
- Koh Samui – Snorkel in Koh Tao.
- Mu Ko Ang Thong National Park – Spend a few days on a deserted island! – Ko Wua Talap
- Khao Sok – Khao Sok National Park | Get deep into the jungle!
- Railay – 2 days in Railay | Climbing and beautiful beaches
You can see the complete itinerary in the post: Itinerary 2 weeks in Thailand.
These were the places which I chose for my adventure of almost 14 days. You can see each part of my itinerary with more details in next posts I will publish soon. I missed a visit to the north area of Thailand, essential places like Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai are pending for us. If you can, visit them!
My itinerary on Google Maps
On this map, you can check the accommodations we chose, a few restaurants and the cities where we went, transports between cities, etc.