noopurk20

Hi All

My husband and I are planning a 9 day trip to Thailand starting 19th Nov 2016. We'll be arriving and departing from Bangkok. Need some help on our itinerary.

We are thinking of spending 2 days in Bangkok, 2 days in Chiang Mai, 4 days in Phuket & Krabi, and last day again in Bangkok. Is this doable? Also, will the weather be okay for the destinations on our list?

What is the best way to travel between locations? Can you recommend some local low-cost airlines?

We are not into partying so we'll be avoiding such areas. We would love to do some snorkelling / diving if possible.

Thankyou.

Kathie

How many nights do you have in Thailand? Note that 8 nights never yields 9 days, if you have 8 nights you'll have 7 full days in Thailand. And if you are flying from North America or Europe, you'll lose a day in transit.

For the time you have, you are trying to visit too many places. I'd recommend you cut one destination - Chiang Mai is what I would cut - and opt for just Bangkok and Phuket. Within Thailand there are several budget airlines, notably Air Asia and Nok Air. (When you make air reservations within Thailand, take note of which Bangkok Airport you will fly in/out of.)

Where are you flying from? What time does your flight get into Bangkok? If your flight gets in at a reasonable hour, I'd suggest you immediately fly to Phuket, as it will eliminate one change of locations. Spend, say 4 nights in Phuket, then fly bank to Bangkok for 4 nights.

noopurk20

Thankyou. We are coming from Bangalore, India and its a 3.5 hour flight reaching Bangkok early morning. So not much of a jet lag!

Where do you suggest we stay? Phuket or Krabi? Or divide between two?

Kathie

Great! That means you won't lose a day flying. Since you have eight nights in Thailand, you will have 7 full days. But each time you change location in Thailand, you lose half a day. So anything you do that cuts down on location changes buys you time.

I suggest that you fly onward to Phuket immediately upon arrival in Bangkok. Then spend your beach time at Krabi OR Phuket. Next fly to Bangkok for a few days there.

Enjoy Thailand!

Cyansiam

You will be flying into Suvarnabhumi Airport so only Thai or Bangkok Airways fly down to Phuket from there. The budget airlines fly out of Don Muang which will mean you have to transfer over. Not sure if Thai fly from Bangalore, if they do then this will make it very easier to book the one ticket all the way through saving time on connections with a stop off in BKK on the way back.

noopurk20

Thankyou! Will plan to directly go to Krabi/Phuket and spend time in Bangkok at the end.

How easy/convenient is it to change airports? We do have Thai air from Bangalore, but we were planning to take Air Asia to Phuket cos its cheaper.

Also, where would you suggest we stay? Phuket or Krabi? Can we stay in one of these and do day trip to the other?

Kathie

Changing airports is not difficult, though it adds time to your connection. Allow at least an hour to get from one airport to the other, plus time for checking in.

You can find great places to stay in both Phuket and Krabi. And you can certainly do a day trip from one to the other.

Cyansiam

As Kathie says fairly easy to change from one airport to the other, just leave plenty of time especially as many Thais may still be travelling to Bangkok over the next few months mostly through Don Muang so probably extra security and longer queues.

Check on what you have to pay for your luggage with Air Asia as it can increase the price if you have a lot so sometimes not much difference to fly Thai. Also check Thai Smile as this is the budget section of Thai.

I personally prefer Phuket to Krabi but depends what you want to do. Travel time by minivan is around 2.5 hours if they do not drive like idiots. If you want to visit one place for a day trip then better to stay in Phuket one day would not be enough time to see everything.

noopurk20

Thankyou. We've finally booked our tickets on Thai airways, we land in phuket on 26th Nov, spend 5 nights in phuket & krabi, and last 2 days at bangkok from where we have our return flight on 3rd Dec.

Also, the minivan from phuket to krabi - is there any cutoff time in evening? I also explored option of using ferry, but I didn't get any ferry in evening, most were morning or afternoon. We plan to do a Phi Phi tour on 29th and will be back to phuket by 4pm. Does it make sense to move to krabi same evening and stay 2 nights there or stay 29th in phuket and travel to krabi the 30th morning (this gives us only 1 day in krabi as we have our bangkok flight on 1st morning)

Thankyou for all the tips, it really helps.