14 days in Thailand (July 2015)
 

My husband, myself, 18 year old son and 8 year old daughter will arrive in Bangkok, Thailand for the first time on July 10, 2015. We have 14 days to tour Thailand. We would like to see some highlights but also not rush around. A day or two to relax in between touring here and there would be wonderful. We don't have to see the entire country.

For a country that can be so inexpensive, the tour package prices seem so expensive! Is this country easy enough to navigate and organize ourselves once we arrive or should we have everything booked ahead of time?

Any suggested itineraries would be appreciated.

Thank you.

book nothing ahead, unless you want to hire one of the preferred guides like tong.

much can be done on your own.

pick your hotels carefully---a/c and a swimming pool are essential: 2 I prefer are anantara riverside and chatrium riverside.

eating can be very reasonable and good.

get a good guide book.

if you want to go slow, I suggest you visit bkk first, then perhaps a beach location (I prefer khao lak or hua hin) and finish off back in bkk

Package tours are always expensive. And if you took one you would wonder why - the hotels are subpar and away from the places you want to see, you are transported by bus, etc. Absolutely no need for a tour. Choose two or a max of three places in Thailand that you want to see in two weeks.

What I would book ahead are your hotels - or at least your first hotel. As Bob (above) says, choose your hotels carefully. If you choose well, you can live in the lap of luxury for the price of a Holiday Inn in the US. As he says, air-conditioning and a nice swimming pool are necessities.

I never use guides in Thailand, but I do use a good guidebook and the Nancy Chandler maps (caution: not to scale, but they will orient you).

Bob ... could you please tell me more about the preferred guide like 'tong'?

Bob & Kathie ... would Bangkok, Chiang Mai and a beach location for families be too ambitious for a 2 week holiday?

Thanks,

Diane

How many nights do you have on the ground in Thailand? If you have 12 or more nights, you could do three locations, but if you are happy with two locations, you will have a more leisurely holiday.

I have 14 days on the ground in Thailand. I think we will do 3 locations ... definitely Bangkok and perhaps Chiang Mai then a beach location. Do you have a preferred beach area for a family Kathie?

In general, I prefer the beaches on the Andaman Sea, but in July, that area will be very rainy, averaging over 10 inches of rain in the month. Koh Samui, on the Gulf of Thailand is one option, but I might choose Hua Hin (about a 2.5 out drive from Bangkok). I like the Hyatt there and it has activities for children.

An air ticket in and out of Bangkok is quite reasonable. However, is it difficult and time consuming to fly into Bangkok and out of Phuket for example?

What I meant to say was ... is it difficult and time consuming to make our way back to Bangkok just to fly out of there.

No. While it is possible to fly from, say, Phuket to international destinations, usually a plane change is required somewhere - if not Bangkok, then Singapore, Hong Kong or KL - to get you to North America or Europe. I think Bangkok is usually easiest. Where are you coming from and going back to?

Plan so far ... fly into Bangkok (5 days) ... on to Koh Samui (5 days) then to Chiang Mai (5 days) ... fly home from here if price is right.

It's mixed.

Two of us to & from Brunei.

Two of us from Canada then to Brunei.

If you are all going to Brunei, it's worth checking on whether there are direct flights from Phuket to Brunei. I have to admit I've never had reason to check on that. But there are flights from Phuket to Singapore and to KL which would be reasonably efficient routes to Brunei. It seems to me that the options you want to check are
- flights from Phuket to Brunei
- flights from Phuket to Singapore (Singapore air, Silk Air, some of the budget airlines) then Singapore to Brunei
- flights from Phuket to KL (Malaysian Air, Air Asia) then to Brunei

Good luck!

i suggest you booked ahead of time so that you would not waste time when you're there. there's a lot of interesting places to go around thailand. you might want to check this resource --> http://www.bangkokexperiences.com/

Our family just returned from Thailand. It was our first visit. We found Bangkok easy to navigate, however, we did engage a guide from Your Thai Guide--our guide was Swai (wonderful man)-- to take us to the sights. One request was to use public transit to help us get familiar with the city. We chose a private guide because we knew nothing about the area or the sights and wanted to get the most our of our time. We loved Bangkok! After our other trips, we ended up in BKK for the last few days and were able to get around just fine since we had the benefit of help there the first few days. Enjoy planning your trip.

Stay on The river for your first few days in Bangkok. The Anatara is a great choice. on your return to Bangkok consider staying at the Westin Sukhumvit. it's a great hotel that has the Sky Train right our front and the MRT (subway) one block away and Terminal 21 mall next door (lots of restaurants and a grocery).