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Travel to Thailand - Open to suggestions

Travel to Thailand - Open to suggestions

Old Aug 29th, 2014, 09:48 AM
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Travel to Thailand - Open to suggestions

Hello everyone,

I would really appreciate any comment or suggestion about the planning for my trip to Thailandia in November. It's the first time that we visit Asia and we are very exiting with the travel. I will go with my girlfriend 16 days, including flights. We already have the international flights from Spain to Bangkok (800€, around 1000$ each), but anything else booked yet so we are open to any suggestion.

We would like to see Bangkok, Angkor Wat, Chiang Mai, and some islands in the south. Our budget it's around 2000€ each ( 2600$)

The planning (that I hope to improve with your comments!) it's the following:

Day 1 – Flying
Day 2 – Arrive at Bangkok at 18.05
Day 3 – Day in Bangkok
Day 4 – Day in Bangkok ( maybe visit Ayutthaya? or better remain in BKK?)
Day 5 – Fly to Siem Reap. Arrive at 11.30 and visit to Angkor Wat
Day 6 – Day in Angkor Wat
Day 7 – Fly to Chiang Mai. Arrive at 17.00
Day 8 – Chiang Mai, visit the city and temples
Day 9 – Trekking of 2 days, 1 night
Day 10 – Continuing the treeking. Afternoon in Chiang Mai
Day 11 – Fly to Kravi or Phuket (it depends on the price of the flights). Travel to Ko Lanta
Day 12 – Ko Lanta.
Day 13 - Ko Lanta.
Day – Ko Lanta
Day 15 - Fly to Bangkok, arrive there around 14.00. Afternoon in Bangkok until 22.00 (our flight departs at 01.05)
Day 16 – Fly back home (with a 9 hours scale in Dubai and fast visit)

Our main doubts are the following:

1. First of all ... what do you thing of this planning in general? Could it be ok?

2. I know that we would need more time in Angkor Wat, at least 3 days, but, will we have enought time to have a general impresion about it? Does it worth it to go there only for 1 and a half day?

3. Does the 2 days treeking in Chiang Mai worth it? Or would it better to sacrify it and spend one more day in Angkor?

4. In the south I’m thinking on Ko Lanta, but I’m not sure, do you think it’s a good option? We would like some relax and also to make some excursions, snorkel, etc.

5. Which excursions would you recomend there?

A lot of things .. Sorry if this post it's too long or my english it's no perfect ... Any suggestions will be wellcome!

Kind Regards from Spain!!!
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Old Aug 29th, 2014, 09:57 AM
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A few comments:

I think you are trying to do too much and won't enjoy it.

I wouldn't go to Ayutthaya as you don't even have enough time to see the major places in Bangkok.

The trip to Angkor is expensive - flights are pricey - so to go for a day and a half makes no sense, especially on your budget. If you cut Angkor, you'll have enough time in Bangkok to visit Ayutthaya. OR - my recommendation - cut Chiang Mai completely and add the time to Siem Reap and Bangkok. With 16 days including travel time, three locations is just right. Otherwise, you'll spend too much go your time in transit.

Ko Lanta will be nice and relaxing. If you want an excursion, book it once you get there.

Your english is just fine. Much better than my Spanish!
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Old Aug 29th, 2014, 10:31 AM
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Kathie gives good suggestions..

at Angkor you really need 3 FULL days, and then you won't see everything.

I found Ayutthaya totally boring and not worth the trip.

For trekking I would rather do that in Europe, Thailand is way too hot and honestly it is not that interesting. I am one who does not like chiang mai either.... time is much better spent in Bangkok---minimum of 5 days..

I never return to bkk the day of my important flight home---return at least one-2 days earlier..

if you go to Angkor I would move it to later in the trip to avoid jet lague and allow you to adjust to the heat and humidity more..

for hotels in bkk, stay on the river if possible and pick a hotel with a large pool ( anantara riverside, Sheraton, chatrium riverside, Hilton)...
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Old Sep 3rd, 2014, 12:42 AM
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Thank you both very much for your suggestions!!!

I took some of them and I made some arrangements to the planning. I will spend the second day in BKK instead of Ayutthaya and I will be 3 full days in Angkor. Regarding Chiang Mai, I cut one day (I won't do the 2 days trekking) but I would like to see the north of Thailand, I heard it's very nice ...

Kathi you are totally righ, I'm trying to do much, because I don't know if I will return to Thailand, so I would like to see and enjoy it as much as possible, but in a reasonable way of course.

For taking the flight to Chiang Mai I have 2 options, at 19.30 or at 21.30. I will arrive in BKK (same airport) at 18.05. Would it be too risky to take the 19.30 flight?

In order to be sure of taking the flight from Krabi to BKK I think that I will have to spend the last night in Ao Nang, I thing it's the best, isn't it? rhkkmk, I'm thinking on your suggestion about spending the last night in BKK, it would be safer, of course ...

This is the updated planning:

Day 1 – Flying
Day 2 – Arrive at BKK at 18.05. Fly to Chiang Mai at 19.30 or 21.30?
Day 3 – Chiang Mai
Day 4 – Chiang Mai
Day 5 – Morning in Chiang Mai. Fly to Seam Reap at 15.30 (arrive at 21.00)
Day 6 – Day in Angkor Wat
Day 7 – Day in Angkor Wat
Day 8 – Day in Angkor Wat. Fly to BKK at 21.20. Arrive at 22.50
Day 9 – BKK
Day 10 – BKK
Day 11 – Fly to Krabi at 11.45, maybe earlier at 07.30 or 08.25 (arrive at 13.05). Travel to Ko Lanta.
Day 12 – Ko Lanta.
Day 13 – Ko Lanta.
Day 14 – Ko Lanta. Ferry to Ao Nang
Day 15 – Fly to BKK at 09.20, arrive there at 10.35. Day in BKK until 22.00 (our flight departs at 01.05)
Day 16 – Fly back home (with a 9 hours scale in Dubai and fast visit)

Do you think this could be a bit better?

Thank you!!!!
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Old Sep 3rd, 2014, 03:37 AM
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Following the suggestion of moving Angkor to later in the trip to avoid jet lague and allow us to adjust to the heat and humidity more, I could also do:

Day 5 – Morning in Chiang Mai. Fly to BKK at 16.15 (earlier? later?)
Day 6 – BKK
Day 7 – BKK. Flight to Angkor at 19.50
Day 8 – Angkor
Day 9 – Angkor
Day 10 – Angkor. Flight to BKK at 21.45. Sleep near Don Muang
Day 11 – Fly to Krabi at 07.30 or 08.25. Travel to Ko Lanta.
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Old Sep 3rd, 2014, 06:49 AM
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Spending 3 days in Angkor Wat is fine. As long as you don't miss dropping by the top attractions here in Thailand then your itinerary is fine.
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Old Sep 3rd, 2014, 07:05 AM
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To be honest with you, I think you are still trying to do too much. You can't see it all in 16 days. You are moving around a lot, which makes it more expensive. Have you priced this itinerary? Is it do-able on your budget?

I've never understood why people who think they won't get back to a place insist they need to short-change every location so they can see more places they can't fully appreciate. Personally, I'd rather see a few places well than skim over many places, but that is a matter of personal preference.
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Old Sep 8th, 2014, 12:28 AM
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Thank you both. Yes, I have priced the itinerary, it's a bit more than 2000€ each, and the internal flights cost around 250€. Maybe finally we will spend a bit more than 2000€ but it's ok.

Yes Kathie, as you say is a matter of personal preference. I have a friend who in his honeymoon stayed the 10 full days in Venecia ... in the other hand, yesterday I saw an advertising here in spain offering a tour to Berlín, Praga and Budapest for 6 days, 1 day in each citie and then travel time ... for me this it’s cracy, but there are people for every kind of travel, depending on our preferences, limitations, ...

Anyway I will continuing thinking on my planning, I want to close it by the end of this week to book the flights and starting searching the hotels, but until then there is nothing sure ... I’m thinking as I wrote before in spending 3 nights at BKK, 3 or 4 at CM, 2 at Angkor (3 days), and 4 in Krabi, but this weekend I was also thinking on discarting CM and instead going 2 days/one night to the Kwai river in kachanabury and the Erawan National Park and more time in BKK ... I’m a bit confused
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Old Sep 8th, 2014, 07:14 AM
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I'd highly recommend that you spend more nights at Siem Reap. Two nights is never three days, you really need four nights or minimum 3 nights and early/late flights to get three days. Hotels in Siem Reap are good value for money, so more days there will end up costing you less.

If it were me, I'd discard Chiang Mai and I wouldn't even consider Kanchanburi. I'd spend more time in Siem Reap and Bangkok. But you have to decide what YOU want.
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Old Sep 8th, 2014, 10:06 AM
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Sircharles75 - "as you say it is a matter of personal preference"

We all have our likes and dislikes and we all love Thailand!

Looking at your itinerary I see no benefit to:

Day 10 – Angkor. Flight to BKK at 21.45. Sleep near Don Muang
Day 11 – Fly to Krabi at 07.30 or 08.25.

The other option seems much smoother. This is a lot of taxi fare and a one night stand.

For me personally. I would take a day from Angkor and add it to the end of the trip. For three reasons:

1. You have to really love seeing temples all day to spend three days in Angkor...you can see the most important in a day with a good guide. We were going to stay two days, but had had enough after the first day and changed our flight back to Bangkok. See our trip report at www.aroundtheworldin132days.blog.com
In the Archives Click on March then March 21-23 for our story of Angkor. We loved seeing the Temples and are so glad we went, but a day was enough for us...everyone is different. Be sure you read up on the temples before you go. This is not everyone's ideal vacation spot. There are lots of good trip reports here on Fodors.

2. What do you plan to do in Bangkok that last day? You arrive back at 10:35 and it will take an hour to get back to town. What are you doing with your luggage? You have to be back at the airport at 22:00. Ten hours seems like a long day with no place to stop and relax before heading into a long flight/layover home. To be young again!!!

3. If you add the third Angkor day back to Bangkok at the end of the trip, you can go into Bangkok get a hotel for the night and arrange a late check out with the hotel for the next day. Most will also store your luggage until your flight and let you use the facilities until you leave. So you can see more of Bangkok and have a nice dinner before heading back to airport, basically giving you the better part of four days two near the beginning and two at the end. You can easily fill your time in Bangkok..and do day trips to Ayutthaya and or Kwai river in kachanabury. We have done this as a day trip and really enjoyed it.
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Old Sep 8th, 2014, 12:33 PM
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Get a copy of Dawn Rooney's book, Angkor: A Guide to Cambodia's Wondrous Temples to help you decide your level of Interest. Dawn Rooney says it takes three full days just to see the "major" temples. We spent a week there and would have enjoyed even more time. cwn (above) was quite happy with a day. Do some research to decide how much time you want there.
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Old Sep 8th, 2014, 04:22 PM
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Kathie, Thanks for the name of the book, I couldn't remember. I read up on what there was to do and see and made a list of what I really wanted to see and was excited. I knew DH's eye's would roll back in his head by the end of the second day before we ever got there. I just hadn't planned on how good a guide Dara was and how miserable we would be with the humidity and mosquitoes!! And we live where both are bad all summer!

How long to stay in a given place is a very individual thing and only the travelers can decide what is best for them. For us, few or no night flights and a place to retreat to during the day especially in Asia are very important.

Reading other reports here on Fodors about places we are thinking about is so helpful! But also reading up on the site and getting an idea of what I really want to see at a given place before we ever leave home is very important also. With out an idea of what you want to see, it is hard to plan how long you need to stay.
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Old Sep 8th, 2014, 04:38 PM
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cwn: "With out an idea of what you want to see, it is hard to plan how long you need to stay."

So true. I think a traveler is always rewarded for good research.
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Old Sep 10th, 2014, 09:47 AM
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Intereseting points of view, thank you both!

As both agree, I have to spend more time researching about Angkor before taking the decision. I agree with you CWN, I added more days in Angkor following the advises and because everybody says that the minimun are 3 days, but actually I am afraid of getting tired of seeing temples too soon. Maybe it's because I have never been in a place like that (I've never seen this kind of ruins, in Europe we don't have that) and I can't imaging how fascinating it can be, or maybe is because my lack of knowledge about Cambodian history, but the true is that right now I think that with 1 - 1,5 days could be enought, but I will do more research before taking my decision.

Good advise CWN, I didn't realise that the last day we have a lot of hours before we arrive at home (and we are going to spend 9.30 hours in Dubai), so it's a very good idea to have a place to rest for a moment and have a shower before taking the plane. Maybe as you say adding a day in BKK instead of Angkor, or another solution could be to book the last day a cheap hotel in BKK to do it, even we won't spend the night.

The reason of:

Day 10 – Angkor. Flight to BKK at 21.45. Sleep near Don Muang
Day 11 – Fly to Krabi at 07.30 or 08.25.

It's because the timetable of the flights, and because the flights to and from Siem Reap goes trough BKK. The other solution would be taking a plane in the morning from Siem Reap and lose all the morning and part of the afternoon in the airports/planes. With this solution we don't lose neither the afternoon nor the morning.

CWN, when you says that "The other option seems much smoother" do you refer to my first post? Because I came back to that option, with the only difference of taking the flight from Siem Reap to Chiang Mai like the Day 10 - Day 11 for not losing one day travelling.

One question, do you know whether in Ko Lanta we could take some excursion to Phi Phi, Aon Thang, etc, or shall we go to Ao Nang to take this kind of excursions?

Thank you very much for your help!!!
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Old Sep 10th, 2014, 06:42 PM
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Sir Charles.

Thanks for the kind comments. I understand you are trying to save the day light hours for seeing the places and then travel at night...it is not a bad idea, just keep in mind that Thailand and Cambodia are very hot and humid compared to where you are coming from. You are moving around a lot and even the hour long flights eat up time with driving to and from the airport (traffic is terrible in Bangkok) and security check in. We live in a hot humid area in the US and even we were not prepared for how draining the weather was.

So if it were us, and I am sure we are much older than you, we would fly straight to Chaing Mia. Mainly because it doesn’t waste any more daylight time to the already 2 days of travel...Days 1 and 2. Plus that puts you at a place you want to see and gives a travel break.

Days 3, 4 - All day in CM

Day 5 - Morning in CM, afternoon travel CM to SR(15:00 - 22:00)

So 3 nights, 2 ½ days in CM plus ½ day/evening travel

Days 6, 7 and 8 - All day in SR (you can move day 8 to the beach or Bangkok if you decide 2 days are enough for you.

So 4 nights, 3 days in SR.

Day 9 - Morning travel SR to Karbi via BKK and on to Ko Lanta (Bangkok Air 9:50 - 14:05), late afternoon in Ko Lanta

Days 10, 11 &12 - All day in Ko Lanta

So 4 nights, 3½ days in Ko Lanta

Day 13 - Morning flight Karbi to Bangkok, afternoon in Bangkok.

Day 14 - All day in Bangkok.

Day 15 - All day until 22:00 in Bangkok. Late night flight to Dubia and home

So 2 nights, 2 ½ days all together in Bangkok

The above plan is one afternoon/evening flight (CM to SR), one morning flight and travel (SR to Karbi/ LK) and one short morning flight to Bangkok. This is 3 sets of flights and 4 hotel changes. It also gives you a hotel to rest in that last day in Bangkok since you are already there, with out another change. Ask for a late afternoon check out. If they won’t give it to you, bargain for a day rate. Most hotels at a minimum will store your luggage and let you use the pool etc.

Your original plan has 2 different half day flights (BKK to SR and SR to CM) and one almost full day of travel (CM to Karbi/KL) and the short flight back to Bangkok. This is 4 sets of flights with 4 hotels, but no place to rest the last day in Bangkok.

The next plan has a afternoon/evening flight (CM to SR), a night flight (SR to BKK) and a mid day flight/ travel (BKK to Karbi /KL) and the early morning flight Karbi to Bangkok. Still 4 flight sets with 4 hotels, but no place to rest the last day in Bangkok.

Then your change in that plan gives you an afternoon flight (CM to BKK), two night flights (BKK to SR and SR to BKK) and two morning flights (BKK to Karbi/LK and back...5 sets of flights. Now you have 5 hotels and still no place to rest the last day in Bangkok. This is why I thought this was the worst plan.

In our experience, the less time you spend moving around the better. You may have a reason to break up your time in Bangkok, but I wouldn’t. Make it your last stop and get a hotel on the river. The river is a great place to stay especially your first time in Bangkok. It makes seeing the main sites easy and fun with the river taxis, plus the location is relaxing!! There was an earlier thread about some moderately priced hotels on the river. Some others can help you with that. We like the Shangri-la. It is not inexpensive, but they sometimes have good specials for three nights.

I Googled Ko Lanta..it looks very nice. The site I looked at mentioned trips to Phi Phi, so it seems that is possible. We have not been to the islands yet. I am planning for that for our trip to Bangkok next spring.

One more thing, If you haven't done it, go to the Bangkok Airway site and price a multi stop trip from Bangkok-CM-SR-Karbi-Bangkok. I looked at their schedule and they do the route I used in my idea above. There are several times for all the flights also. They have very good prices on their multi stop routes, much better than pricing each separately. It is a nice modern airline. We have used them before and will be using them again on a multi stop route next spring.

Hoe this makes sense to you! Happy planning!
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Old Sep 10th, 2014, 07:01 PM
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In Siem Reap stay at the Sofitel.

Please, stay away from any Elephant Riding, trekking, shows All Elephants are highly abused.No laws
To protect them.
Elephant Nature Park is A great rescue sanctuary out of Chang Mai. Need to book in advance.
They have a office in a Chang Mai in the old city.
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Old Sep 12th, 2014, 08:45 AM
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Lot of information! Thank you very much!, I'm going to study the alternatives you propose and compare fares, timetables, etc.

I will be back in a couple of days hopefully with a definitly planining ...

Zoso, It is not my intention going to any elephants shows, but it's true that I would like to do a 2 days trekking. I don't know if it's possible to book a trekking without elephants because it seems that every agency offers the same "kit"...
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Old Sep 12th, 2014, 09:31 AM
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You can certainly trek without elephants - most treks are on foot, not on elephant. But do choose your trek carefully - what do you want to see/do/experience? Be aware that most treks to visit "hill tribes" are more "human zoo" than equal exchange. And the farther out you get, the more likely you are to be able to see less spoiled places.

In Siem Reap, the Sofitel would not be my choice. I'd prefer one of the many small, locally owned places. You want to do what you can to keep your dollars (and yes, most things in Siem Reap are priced in dollars) local.
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Old Sep 13th, 2014, 01:17 AM
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Visa on arrival at Siem Reap is easy. You should be given 3 forms on the aircraft. Here's the order you need them, once in the Arrivals Hall...

- Visa Application (don't forget a couple of photos, and have the right money ($30 from 1 Oct 14)
- Immigration Form
- Customs Form

US$ is the main currency in Cambodia. But you'll get change in Cambodian Riel. The Cambodian Riel only comes in notes, and they are usually in very good condition. Use them for tips or v.small purchases.

If you need to change money into US$, then the Canadia Banks in SR will give you the best Exchange Rate. Avoid using stand-alone ATMs.

Traffic in Siem Reap isn't too bad, and getting around on tuk tuk is easy enough. Use a tuk tuk for getting you to and around Angkor. Most hotels will have a few tuk tuk drivers 'assigned' to them. The routes around Angkor are fairly standard, but if you want to do a particular route then you'll need to discuss it with the driver beforehand, and perhaps you could bring your hotel reception into play.

Pub Street is a good place to chill after dark. The beer is cheap, the food is good, and there'll be plenty of like-minded people to swap information with.

For what it's worth I think you'll need a relaxing holiday in mind to get over all that you're trying to fit in.
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