5 or 6 weeks in Hua Hin or where?
 

My wife and I want to get away from the bad weather at home in Canada during mid October and November. Somewhere we can swim in the ocean at least part of the time, eat Thai food, and generally just chill.

We are retired and have travelled a fair bit.

Thinking of Hua Hin (never been) or we could split the time between two places. Not sure there is enough to do in Chiang Mai for 2 or 3 weeks. We were last in the north 40 years ago. Been to Phuket and Ko Samui.

Everything is on the table, including other countries.

I would love to hear your suggestions!

I think Hua Hin is one of the blandest destinations in Thailand ... BUT... the surrounding countryside and the coast to the South is relatively undiscovered by mass tourism. Sam Roi Yot to the south is worth a visit - a National Park and a Bech resort town. Even further down the coast is Prachuap Kiri Khan which I think is one of the most beautiful coast towns that still retains "Thai-ness".
Inland is the Kaeng Krachan national park, the biggest in Thailand - taking a trip to the top is amazing - at the right time of year it is above the clouds and a favourite place for twitchers to watch migrating raptors. There is a Great Lake formed by a dam that has boat trips - e.g. the Temple on an island in the middle and caves to explore.
Just north of Hua hin is Petchaburi with a Sunday market famous for sweets, but it has a lot more than that.
Hua hin still has good Thai eateries. Whenever I have friends come to stay, I get to sample food at their resorts and in 20 years I can hardly remember any that were any good - in Hua Hin, you can walk into town or the markets and get good food there.

Chiang Mai - I love the North of Thailand but seldom stay in Chiang Mai itself, I prefer to tour around - there is so much wild country to drive through. Chiang Mai is the cultural capital of Northern Thailand and there is a lot to do - apart from Temples and river trips, there is the surrounding countryside.

alternatives - Koh Chang in the East of the gulf is OK to chill BUT the weather is very wet until the beginning on November.
Krabi and Koh Lanta are nice too but I wouldn't trust the weather until November.

PS - have you ever considered Laos - Vientiane or Luang Prabang are good starting places.

Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply, reminding me of Koh Chang. Very helpful!

Current thinking now is to spend some time in the north with some initial time change days in Chiang Mai, a bike tour to Chiang Rai, some chill time in Chiang Rai then head to Koh Chang at the start of November.

Perhaps I should have added that we will be without transport - we don’t drive in foreign countries and my wife is not comfortable on a motorbike.

I have read that Chiang Rai is flat and bike-able so seeing a bit of the local surrounds might be possible - car and driver if we want to see something further afield. It looks like we can find a place on Koh Chang where we can walk to good restaurants etc..

Can’t wait!

P.S. Yes, we have visited busy Vientiane, lovely LP and north up the Nam Ou.

Driving - I don't recommend any form of 2-wheeled transport in Thailand - vulnerable road users account for 80% of all road deaths
however on 4-wheels the tatisitcs but them as slightly safer than the USA.
My attitude to driving is that if you ae competent and con=mfortable, do it otherwise leave it to others.
My attitude to "others" is why leave the driving to people wo clearly aren't as good t it as me!

having said that, Chiang Rai and tit's hinterland are pretty flat." Further afield" gets holy and more interesting.

Have you ever been in Indochina? I think 5-6 weeks is enough for a combined trip to Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia. Now all 3 countries is reopened to international tourists after Covid. No more travelling restrictions. Vietnam also has many beautiful beaches.

Thanks all for the posts. We decided on the North for a bit, then a month on Koh Chang.

In all our travels we had never made it to Koh Chang, though we did stay on Koh Kood by accident once :-)

Wow! a whole month on Koh Chang?