Bangkok in two days. Then pick a coast.
Which longtail day out of Krabi actually stops long enough to snorkel. Whether the Andaman or the Gulf is dry the week you land. Reviews of every tour you can book in Thailand.
Three days most first trips are built on
01The market morningDamnoen Saduak Market and Maeklong Railway MarketBoats selling mangoes at Damnoen Saduak, then a town that folds its awnings back for the train.
02The kitchen dayHalf-Day Thai Cooking Class at Organic Farm in Chiang MaiPick the herbs on the farm, pound the curry paste, eat what you cooked. The most booked class in Chiang Mai.
03The boat dayPremium 4-Island Day Trip by Longtail Boat with LunchFour islands out of Ao Nang by longtail, and the sandbar that surfaces at low tide.
Bangkok first. Then the north, or whichever coast is dry.
A capital you can eat your way across, a northern city built around temples and elephant camps, and two island coasts that take turns being in season. Six bases, and the best day out from each.
The southern day out comes in four shapes.
Almost every good day below Bangkok starts at a pier. Four kinds of boat day, what it costs to board each one, and which coast it leaves from.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · Phi Phi Islands Speedboat Day Tour
Phi Phi and Maya BaySpeedboat out, the lagoon, lunch on a beach.
The four-island longtailChicken Island, Tup, Poda, and the sandbar at low tide.
Phang Nga BaySea caves by canoe, then the limestone needle.
Reef daysShallow coral, a ladder off the back, fins included.
That is 229 boat days in one list →
Bangkok gives you a week of city in two days.
The Grand Palace before nine, a canal boat through Thonburi in the afternoon, a night market that only makes sense from the back of a tuk-tuk. These three carry more travellers than anything else in the capital.
Thailand’s most booked days out.
Every Thai tour on the site →These fill their seats faster than anything else in Thailand. What each one costs, how long it runs, and why it keeps selling.
1
Damnoen Saduak Market and Maeklong Railway Market
Visit Maeklong’s train market and Damnoen Saduak by boat on a practical Bangkok day trip with guides, transport, food tips, and free time.
From · $25
Read our review →2
Half-Day Thai Cooking Class at Organic Farm in Chiang Mai
from $29
3
The Old Siam: Damnoen Saduak and Maeklong Railway Market
from $32
4
Ayutthaya Temples Guided Tour with Lunch
from $28
5
Train Market & Floating Market with Boat Ride
from $25
6
Elephant Sanctuary, Waterfall & Bamboo Rafting
from $60
7
Doi Inthanon National Park Eco-Friendly Tour
from $46
8
Ayutthaya & Ayothaya Floating Market Day Trip
from $48
Learn the four flavours, then go find them on a street.
Sour, sweet, salty, hot. A morning class gets you the balance and sends you home with the recipes. An evening on a plastic stool in Chinatown shows you what it is supposed to taste like.
Chiang Mai is the half of Thailand that is not a beach.
Temples on the mountain above the city, a waterfall you can climb up barefoot, and elephant camps that stopped offering rides. The White Temple at Chiang Rai is a long day out and still the most booked thing in the north.
- 1Half-Day Thai Cooking Class at Organic Farm in Chiang Maifrom $29
- 2Elephant Sanctuary, Waterfall & Bamboo Raftingfrom $60
- 3Doi Inthanon National Park Eco-Friendly Tourfrom $46
Maya Bay is the photograph. The water around it is the day.
Boats leave Phuket and Krabi for the same limestone on different clocks. Go early for the lagoon before the fleet arrives, or late for the light and an empty deck on the way back.
Every Phi Phi day trip →
What a day out in Thailand actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what you pay for it. Most of the country’s best days sit in the middle band, and a good number come in under the price of the taxi to the airport.
Temple mornings, market walks, a cooking class, the short longtail hops.
The full-day standards: island boats, Ayutthaya, elephant camps, Doi Inthanon.
Private guides, small-group speedboats and the once-a-trip splurges.
Three things that only happen in Thailand.
Beaches and night markets run the length of the region. A market that packs itself away eight times a day for a train, a stadium that has staged the same fights since 1945, and a boat with a truck engine on a pole do not.
The Maeklong Railway Market
The line to Maeklong runs straight through the middle of a working market. Eight times a day a horn sounds up the track, the traders haul their awnings back and slide the fruit trays clear of the rails, and a train passes close enough to touch. Then everything goes back exactly where it was. It has worked this way since the branch opened in 1905.
- 1Damnoen Saduak Market and Maeklong Railway Market★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 26,723 reviews
- 2The Old Siam: Damnoen Saduak and Maeklong Railway Market★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 10,992 reviews
- 3Train Market & Floating Market with Boat Ride★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 9,547 reviews
Rajadamnern Stadium
Rajadamnern opened in 1945 and has run top-tier Muay Thai ever since. The card builds through the evening, smallest fighters first, and the band in the corner plays the sarama live so the tempo follows the round. Bets travel across the standing tier by hand signal. Ringside seats cost the most and see the least; the second level is where you want to be.
- 1Muay Thai Boxing Tickets at Rajadamnern Stadium★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 4,740 reviews
- 2Patong Boxing Stadium Muay Thai Match Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 2,203 reviews
- 3Phetch Buncha Boxing Stadium Muay Thai Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 789 reviews
The longtail boat
A Thai longtail is a narrow hull with a car or truck engine bolted to a pivot, driving a propeller on a shaft several feet long. The driver steers by swinging the whole engine across the stern. It is loud, draws almost no water, and it is the reason a boat can land on a beach that has no pier. The ribbons on the bow are an offering to the river spirit.
- 1Bangkok Canal Tour: 2-Hour Longtail Boat Ride★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 5,909 reviews
- 2Premium 4-Island Day Trip by Longtail Boat with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 4,812 reviews
- 3Longtail Boat Canal Cruise★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 4,076 reviews
Four Thai bookings that will not wait.
Most of this country can be arranged over breakfast the day before. These four run on boat timetables, national-park closures and fight nights that take no interest in when your flight lands.
- 01Phi Phi Islands and Maya Bay Day Trip with LunchMaya Bay closes to boats through the monsoon months and caps numbers when it is open. The early departures go first.
- 02Wow Andaman Snorkeling Trip to Similan IslandsThe Similan islands shut completely from mid-May to mid-October. Inside the season the speedboats fill weeks ahead.
- 03Muay Thai Boxing Tickets at Rajadamnern StadiumThe stadiums run on fixed fight nights. Turn up on the wrong evening and the place is dark.
- 04Grand Palace, Wat Pho, and Wat Arun Guided TourThe palace closes for royal ceremonies at short notice and enforces the dress code at the gate. Morning slots are the only cool ones.
The two coasts take turns. Book the dry one.
The Andaman side runs wet from roughly May to October, and the Gulf side flips to wet from about October into December. In practice one coast is usually working. When the sky closes in anyway, Thailand is unusually good indoors: a kitchen, a covered market hall, a massage school, a shophouse street with arcades to walk under.
By place: the capital, the north, both coasts
By kind of day: boat, temple, kitchen or ring
Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Chiang Mai, then south to the water.
AyutthayaThe newest Thai tour reviews.
More recent write-ups →
Baiyoke Sky Dinner Experience with Observation Deck Access
Read our review →
Bangkok to Ayutthaya Lopburi Monkey Temple, Largest Buddha Tour
Read our review →
Living Green Elephant Sanctuary Tour from Bangkok and Pattaya
Read our review →
Ethical Elephant Watching Tour From Bangkok & Pattaya
Read our review →
Living Green Elephant Sanctuary Experience near Bangkok & Pattaya
Read our review →
PRIVATE Floating Market + DRAGON Temple + DO like a Local
Read our review →
Don Mueang Guided VIP Fast Track Immigration Service
Read our review →
King Power MahaNakhon SkyWalk at Bangkok Admission Ticket
Read our review →
Khlong Lat Mayom & Taling Chan Local Floating Markets Tour (SHA Plus)
Read our review →
