Thailand 1st time

[colin86]

Looking at going to Thailand next year with the wife both in early 30s. Where is best to go there . Going to do Bangkok for few days then open to options?? When would you say best time is to visit thinking end of March to start of April or maybe October??

Thanks

[dsl2]

If I can tag onto this thread i'd be very interested in any recommendations for high end beach front hotels with top dining options / fantastic beach & excellent service if anyone has personal experiences please.

[HTP99]

colin86 said:

Looking at going to Thailand next year with the wife both in early 30s. Where is best to go there . Going to do Bangkok for few days then open to options?? When would you say best time is to visit thinking end of March to start of April or maybe October??

Thanks

What do you want to do, city, beach etc?

Whatever you are looking to do, do you want something organised or did you want to fend for yourselves?

Edited by HTP99 on Saturday 17th November 16:28

[Bustlepuncher]

Best time to visit Thailand is from November to the end of February. Prices will reflect this as it is the cool season. April will be humid and you will possibly have rain. October less likely to be too humid but rain also likely. I have been both months previously and still had a great time, but of your choices would choose October. I was there last November for a month and weather was great.

[Blown2CV]

it's an awesome place.

cool and hot season is more accurately described as "30-odd very nice, just what you wanted it to be" or "40-odd, 90% humidity and daily massive fking thunderstorms and overflowing sewer rivers in the streets".

Bangkok, don't spend too much time there... it's OK and a good hub point but you need to get out and either up north or down south really. Don't just go straight for the most easily accessible islands e.g. ko samui because they're a very different experience to the less accessible and some people come home thinking they've seen it all when in fact they just hung out at a posh hotel and that was it.

Chiang mai is brilliant.

Never ride elephants, you're supporting very very unethical industry. Go to a sanctuary, but do your research there too as some are not genuine.

Every island has a different character, wise to do some research there! Some are very rough and ready, some very polished and touristy, lots in between.

Get a shack on the beach, but maybe alternate between places like that and somewhere nicer! It's easy to find really awesome places for not much money. One of our honeymoon rooms had a swimming pool inside it!

Weird st happens all the time, be prepared to laugh or maybe be a bit scared, but you'll be fine. People fueling up boats fully open sloshing around, whilst smoking... stuff like that.

Think twice about hiring a moped even though it might seem a good idea. Crash it and your travel insurance might tell you to fk off, and the hire co might also tell you you owe them big time too. It's usually easy to get local transport anyhow.

Take a backpack, not a suitcase - you will be thankful when jumping on and off boats and carrying the F-ing thing over your head or whatever! Maybe walking down a jetty AKA wooden plank.

street food - best thing is to be adventurous here. I've never been ill and it's the best way to eat. My mate got married in thailand and got a street trader to cater his wedding, and it was fantastic.

[bmwmike]

Street food. Right thats exactly what lonely planet used to say - street food fine, no problems. Well obviously I was unlucky but I had the worst fking food poisoning ever literally both ends and I was flying to Perth the next day via Singapore. Made the flights but don't know how I did it.

Either way thailand is brilliant not been for 10 years and would go back when I get the chance.

We even had a free ride in Bangkok from a kindly suited gent who's brother had a suit sale on! Long story but we ended up taking them for a ride. Didn't cost us a penny.

Fabulous place. Realise my post doesn't help you but enjoy anyway.

[XJSJohn]

The Thais have 4 seasons, winter (1 week in Jan or feb when it does get cold, winds from china), then Summer, Super summer, and in July or August, Super Super Summer where it can hit 40c in Bangers.

You are close to the two monsoon change times with your dates so early in the year, Samui for scuba diving / snorkling, end of year for beach chilling, Phuket Krabi, end of year for Scuba Diving / Snorkling, beginning of year for beach chilling.

Phuket - a bit of everything, plus islands
Krabi - More chilled plus islands
Samui - bit of everything + lots of scuba diving an full moon parties - bit of a bad reputation due to the Mafia Family that run the place, dont get too friendly with the locals)
Pattaya - Party / Sleasy
Hua Hin - Chilled, few too many Coffin Dodgers
Chaing Mai - great sightseeing, outdoor activities, temples etc
Chaing Rai - Smaller version of Chaing Mai
Nong Kai - Sleepy backpacker town on the border with Laos, 2nd friendship bridge land crossing over the Mekong to Laos and Vientien for a few days too.



Depending on how long you are there, and how confident a driver you are, rent a car and drive a bit.

ETA - you dont need to book stuff in advance either, i have done many trips driving around Thailand just booking each day as i go on apps like Hotels.com or Travelokka. You can get very good 3 / 4 star local hotels for GBP30 - 50 a night.
realistically its a 2 day drive from BKK to Phuket / Krabi and a long 1 day drive to Chaing Mai, so better to use internal flights to get to those places. If you are into your bikes, Chaing Mai is great for renting a big bike too.

Eat local food - Street food is usually OK, especially if busy. I have had my worst bouts of the sts from eating western food there, but drink bottled water / bottled beer (i stick to San Miguel / Leo, you will figure the one that works best for you). If you arent so brave on the spicy stuff just say "Pet Nit Noi" - (Spicy little bit), otherwise just keep putting the fires out with the beer

Edited by XJSJohn on Sunday 18th November 02:50

[smack]

XJSJohn said:

Depending on how long you are there, and how confident a driver you are, rent a car and drive a bit.

And expect the unexpected, like no warning of the fast lane blocked on a bend of the highway with a digger clearing out drains!

Expect the Thais to try and scam you out of extra money for overpriced satnav, or upgrades. One trip I had an argument with the staff at Avis that with my status I got a car with Satnav, which they were trying to charge me for a Garmin unit. I wasn't going anywhere in a hurry, just landed first thing in the morning from the UK. In the end they gave in, downgraded me to the most beaten up car they had, and gave me the Satnav. I stupidly drove that car into Central Bangkok as I saw my 5 star hotel I was staying at had free valet parking - to there shock when I rolled up with this POS Toyota. My blood pressure was rather high when I tried to drive to the airport in morning rush hour, and I am amazed no one banged into me with a sea of mopeds swamping me on the road!

[HTP99]

I'm a confident driver, have no issues with driving in London, I would never drive a car in a city in Thailand.

[kiethton]

Ride a pushbike/motorbike into London everyday and left Bangkok on Wednesday (now in Koh Samui) have hired a scooter here but in Bangkok wouldn’t take anything but a taxi

[colin86]

We would like somewhere that we could access a lot a different islands . Would like to do elephant sanctuary. See other islands and a wee of relaxing too . Going to have a good look at stuff today . Would like to go to a place that isn’t just tourist like

[XJSJohn]

HTP99 said:

I'm a confident driver, have no issues with driving in London, I would never drive a car in a city in Thailand.

It’s not that bad, I used to commute every day in central Bangkok, and do an average of about 30’000km a year for nearly 4 years with never a problem (unlike a certain other PH’er who had issues with BBQ’s that mysteriously untied themselves from teh flatbed of his pickup, and telegraph poles that jumped out infront of him.

The Highways are fine as Long as you have your wits about you and you don’t go road raging, the roads themselves are surprisingly good condition, just be aware that undertaking is normal, as is overloaded lorries u-turning.

As for sat-nav, doesn’t everyone have a GPS and Google maps on their phones these days anyway?

[XJSJohn]

colin86 said:

We would like somewhere that we could access a lot a different islands . Would like to do elephant sanctuary. See other islands and a wee of relaxing too . Going to have a good look at stuff today . Would like to go to a place that isn’t just tourist like

Lots of Islands - probably looking at basing yourself out of Krabi. Easiest access to all the islands in Pang Nga bay

[kiethton]

XJSJohn said:

Lots of Islands - probably looking at basing yourself out of Krabi. Easiest access to all the islands in Pang Nga bay

If second this but maybe look to stay around Ao Nang, we preferred it to krabbi itself and still have any transport to Railay/Phi Phi and other islands and even an hour or so to Phuket in a taxi so got that too

[XJSJohn]

kiethton said:

XJSJohn said:

Lots of Islands - probably looking at basing yourself out of Krabi. Easiest access to all the islands in Pang Nga bay

If second this but maybe look to stay around Ao Nang, we preferred it to krabbi itself and still have any transport to Railay/Phi Phi and other islands and even an hour or so to Phuket in a taxi so got that too

Sorry yes, should have clarified. Keithton is right, Krabi town is a bit of a dump. The Krabi that most tourists refer to and which is the nice bit is Ao nang a few km to the west of Krabi Town.

Ohh remember - if you are planning on renting scooters

1 - make sure you have a valid license to ride a 125 scooter
2 - make sure you have the International Licence bit of paper too (think you get from the post office)
3 - always wear a crash helmet.

1 and 3 - if you don’t have these, your travel insurance will not cover you for any accidents.
2 - will protect your wallet (a bit) from Thai police with their hands out - usual on the spot “fines” are THB 200 - 300. Have a “bike wallet” ready with your license and some small money so that they don’t see your extra cash / bank cards and suggest a trip to the ATM

[captain_cynic]

Bustlepuncher said:

Best time to visit Thailand is from November to the end of February. Prices will reflect this as it is the cool season. April will be humid and you will possibly have rain. October less likely to be too humid but rain also likely. I have been both months previously and still had a great time, but of your choices would choose October. I was there last November for a month and weather was great.

However for the budget conscious traveller, October can be good. You still get the low season pricing but have a good chance of clear, sunny days and wont have the oppressive humidity of summer. If it does rain it will completely bucket down for 15 mins to an hour but that'll be it. Just keep in mind that the country is monsoonal, so if it rains it pours.

[HTP99]

captain_cynic said:

Bustlepuncher said:

Best time to visit Thailand is from November to the end of February. Prices will reflect this as it is the cool season. April will be humid and you will possibly have rain. October less likely to be too humid but rain also likely. I have been both months previously and still had a great time, but of your choices would choose October. I was there last November for a month and weather was great.

However for the budget conscious traveller, October can be good. You still get the low season pricing but have a good chance of clear, sunny days and wont have the oppressive humidity of summer. If it does rain it will completely bucket down for 15 mins to an hour but that'll be it. Just keep in mind that the country is monsoonal, so if it rains it pours.

Last year we were in Thailand from the beginning of October for 12 days; it rained heavily once in an evening, there was the odd time where it spat for a few minutes but that was it, this year we went from mid October till the end and it rained pretty heavily quite a few times both during the day and at night.

[rich85uk]

How long you going for? Koh Tao was my favourite place in Thailand for the general holiday experience, the island is tiny so you can reach any view point or beach in 30 minutes on a moped, most of the beaches and island itself are very quiet as you can only get to it by boat and only a few run each day so its a completely different experience to Samui or Phuket. Saying that the main town Sairee has the biggest beach and has quite a lively nightlife scene with quite a few beach bars etc but with a chilled out/hippy vibe.

5 days is plenty though so you could spend another 5 days on the nearby Koh Phangan, it is often overlooked because of the famous full moon parties (which are good fun if thats your thing) but the island has plenty of great beaches with much more hotels, places to eat, better roads etc and theres a few temples and a waterfall. Even though we stayed during the peak of the busy season (NYE full moon party) we were able to hop on a moped and find plenty of quiet beaches, similar to Tao where out of the main areas its very quiet just on a bigger island

Ao Nang is nice enough with a good beach and the fantastic railay beach nearby but it felt similar to a large Spanish resort, full of souvenir shops, restaurants, McDonald's, tall hotels etc all in a row for about half a mile. Better suited to families, Malaysians and Singaporeans wanting a quick easy weekend break. Location is perfect for getting to other islands though

[chip*]

Couple of feedbacks from me:

Chiang Mai - great resort for outdoor activities. We booked onto several MTB day trips to the nearby mountains and nearby towns (one specificially for downhills which was pretty exhilarating) + Flight of the Gibbons. We stayed over New Year so was fortunate to witness the lantern release, and gorge ourselves at the various food stalls inside the Tha Phae gate. We never visited the so-called elephant sanctuaries as we were dubious of their true intention. Our favourite Thai resort to date, and we would come back again when our girl is a little older.

Koh Tao - we chose the quieter East Coast for some quality chill out time. Stayed at Montalay Bay which has a decent reef nearby for snorkelling. We basically snorkelled, ate, slept, snorkelled some more, ate some more, slept some more... Repeat! East cost is chilled, but you can get taxis / pick up trucks to take you to the west coast e.g. Sairee, if you fancy the touristy bar scene. if you are more adventurous, scuba diving is reputed to be excellent in KT.

Ao Nang - Pretty characterless resort with never ending souvenir shops and bars (as above, feels like a cheap Spanish resort).
We thought we would visit Phi Phi and the surrounding island etc.. for a spot of snorkelling, so we booked one of the smaller speed boat to avoid the masses. We were seriously disappointed with 1) poor reef management i.e 30+ other tour boats at the same sites so you have 100's of people in the water 2) coral reef damage was obvious due to point 1). 3) Volume and quality of fish you see was severely lacking. We are no experts but just casual snorkellers, but it was obvious that these snorkelling sites has been sadly over commercialised

Koh Samui - we visited Chaweng nearly 2 decades ago (clearly remember the resort was celebrating the opening of the first Macdonald on the island!) First impression was the beautiful airport which was literally a runway and a tiny shack. I am sure Chaweng has expanded since our visit, but I remember heading out of resort to find near deserted beaches to spend the day.

Edited by chip* on Wednesday 21st November 22:01

Edited by chip* on Wednesday 21st November 22:03

[XJSJohn]

chip* said:

coral reef damage was obvious due to point 1). 3) Volume and quality of fish you see was severely lacking. We are no experts but just casual snorkellers, but it was obvious that these snorkelling sites has been sadly over commercialised

Sadly this is teh case throughout SE Asia, if the tourists didn't get the reefs, then the illegal fishing will have done (either dynamite or cyanide), then there is the fishing fleets themselves that basically scoop everything up to turn into surimi.

If you are a little adventurous and want some good reefs you need to explore further offshore into the old national parks.

One of the best is Koh Rok Nok which is far enough offshore to keep the hoards away. Some of the dive shops in Krabi organise snorkling trips there.

https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attraction_Review-g...