6 Days in Thailand
 

My husband and I (in our late 50's) are spending 21 days in SE Asia -- 6 days in Thailand (the remaining time in Cambodia and Vietnam). We plan to spend 2 - 3 days in Bangkok and are very torn as to where to spend the rest of the time (3-4 days): the beach (e.g. Koh Samui), Chiang Mai or exploring a national park (e.g. Khao Yai and hopefully would see elephants in the wild). We are not big beach people but the water and scenery looks spectacular!

This is our first time to all of these countries. We will be traveling March 26 - April 16 arriving in Bangkok from San Francisco on March 28th.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

April is the absolute hottest month in Thailand. Can you change the dates of your trip? If not, make allowances for the heat (you would need to do some of that anyway).

You could go to Samui, as it's a good time of year weather-wise. If you want to go to Chiang Mai to see elephants in the wild - sorry, no wild elephants in Thailand. Let me recommend Sri Lanka for wild elephants - We saw a herd of 600. If you want a chance to interact with elephants in a humane way, I'd recommend the Elephant Nature Park. There are lots of "elephant camps" but few treat their elephants well. If they allow riding the elephants, don't go.

I found Ko Samui to be a bit of a dive (no pun intended). It is heavily geared to young party/backpacking types and is noisy with crowded bars everywhere. There are some nice beaches and a trip to nearby Anthong Marine park is worth it (info below), but overall I thought the place was pretty vulgar.
https://www.thetripgoeson.com/single...-Park-Thailand


If you are interested in nature and wildlife then I would highly recommend a trip to Kaeng Krachan National Park:
https://www.thetripgoeson.com/single...-National-Park

You are guaranteed to see some interesting wildlife there (I saw rare birds, butterflies, porcupines, monkeys, reptiles etc) and if you are lucky you can spot elephants and wild leopards.

Whatever you choose, have a fantastic trip in SE Asia!

Best wishes,
Steve

I would forget about the north of Thailand at that time of year. It is the height of the burning season and there is a high probality of very poor air quality and smoke everywhere. When we were there at that time of year in 2015,we "escaped" to the relatively pure air of Bangkok - something I never though I woud find myself saying!

Khao Yai we found to be a little disappointing and somewhat difficult to get to unless you have your own wheels. There are wild elephants there but probability of seeing any is very low.

Koh Samui is party island so unless that is what you are looking for, either choose your resort very carefully, or don’t bother.

I would spend around 4 days in Bangkok to cover te highlights of the city and then extend your time in Vietnam and Cambodia where there is more than enough to keep you busy.

Kanchanaburi, Bridge over the River Kwai, Hellfire Pass, and perhaps Sangkhlaburi and Three Pagoda Pass, or Ayutthaya the ancient capital of Siam.

https://www.seat61.com/Bridge-on-the-River-Kwai.htm

Close to Bangkok, and a beautiful part of Thailand. With a bit of planning very easy to organise independently.

there are about 2000 wild elephants in Thailand.
encopunterering wild elephants can be dangerous as a few motorists to Khao Yai national park will tell you.

if you want to see elephants inthe wild, you definitely need to organise a guide.
most national parks in thw Western Forest Complex have elephant. This is the wild forest that stretches along the border between Burma and Thailand.
there are slat licks in Khao Yai where you can spy on wild elephants

Purely a national park?, Huai Kha Khaeng is a wildlife sanctuary with a tiger population and a guide can take you to their wildlife watchtower - you might see elephant and some other large wildlife - v. unlikely to see a tiger.

Kaeng Krachan has some great resorts around the outside of the park. (check out the Boathouse - http://www.boathouseparadise.com

2 destinations I say is quite enough for 6 days.I'd do 2 nights in BKK leaving a day for travelling and getting into new hotel.
Samui is very developed these days, but you can do trips into the hills in the interior.
I'm most deffo not a beach person - I consider the majority of beaches - especially on islands to have been ruined by unregulated development.
assuming you are flying from bKK?
Koh Lanta, the Andaman, Krabi might provide what you are looking for.

Sangkhlaburi region, Kanchanaburi,on the Burmese border beyond Kanchanaburi (river Kwai) is really rural and beautiful There are national parks out there - Sai yok waterfalls are worth a visit and Philok, which is a hilltop village on the Burmese border with a military viewpoint about 10 km away with breathtaking view. this region is best if you hire a car - it's about 350 km from Bkk. There are train and buses to Kanchanaburi...after that you'll need a bus or rent a car.

I would stay right in Bangkok for the whole time and engage someone like Tourswithtong (google) to take me on a couple of excursions outside the city, including her new elephant reservation...

Khunwilko.....Ref your final paragraph. It's easy to get from Kanchanaburi to Sangkhlaburi by public bus. There's a few every day. From Sangkhlaburi to Three Pagoda Pass and the Burmese border there's plenty on songtheow that do the route.

A nice place to stay in Sangkhlaburi is P-Guesthouse, which overlooks the lake with great views.

Dear All,

Thank you for the wonderful tips! I will look at them!

Best,
Megan

Hi!! I was just in Thailand recently. I would recommend going to Bangkok for 4 days and then 3 days in Phuket. This is just a sample itinerary below:

Bangkok (4 days)

Day 1:

-Wat Pho
-Grand Palace
-Wat Arun
*Make sure that you are wearing a shirt and long pants because they are very very strict about what you are wearing. If you do not want to be stopped make sure that both you and your husband are wearing a t-shirt and long pants.*
*Make sure to go to these places in the morning because they close relatively early*

-Khao San Road
*This place is really great you can walk around the area and have dinner here and have drinks

Day 2:

-Take the train from Hualamphong to Ayutthaya
*Make sure to take an early morning train in order to get to Ayutthaya fairly early. The train does usually leave on time but on the way back from Ayutthaya to Bangkok the train was pretty late.*
*Get a Tuk tuk once you arrive in Ayutthaya. We saw people biking around but it was extremely hot that day and I felt very bad for the people who were on their bicycles going from place to place because some of the places are pretty far away from each other. If you go by Tuk Tuk you can easily get from place to place and pretty quickly as well.
*WARNING: Around 12 or 1pm the Tuk Tuk driver will ask you if you want to go somewhere to eat. Only it's a trap as once you order the waiter asked if we would like to pay for the driver's lunch as well.
*I arrived in Ayutthaya around 10:30 am and was driven around to approximately 5 different places and was done sight seeing by 2 pm. So i headed back to Bangkok around 2pm.

-Since you do get back early you could go to a night market

Day 3:

-Damnoen Saduak Floating Market: I didnt get the chance to do this as I was only in Bangkok for 3 days. This was my biggest regret as I only had two full days in Bangkok. This floating market is a bit far but I've been told it is really great and that you could spend about half a day there.

-Go back to bangkok and enjoy some really good chicken rice at Raan Kaithong Pratunam. THIS PLACE WAS SO GOOD. That's all I have to say about it.

-Go for a massage and relax

Day 4:

-Chatachuk Weekend Market
-Siam Square

Phuket:

Day 1:
-Go for an elephant ride. For the one that I went to the earliest was an 8 am hotel pick up and then come back to the hotel by 10.
-Patong Beach: If you are staying in Patong (which i highly recommend) the beach is very beautiful so it is a great place to relax.
-Go for drinks at the bars along Patong Beach Road.

Day 2:
-Phi Phi Islands: I went for the Sunrise tour which was really great. I was picked up at my hotel at 5 am and then left the Rassada Pier around 7am. There was a speedboat that took us from phuket to the phi phi islands. And by speedboat it only took about an hour. Our first stop was an hour at Maya Bay as it gets super crowded if you are not there early. Then we went to Loh Samah Bay for snorkeling. We had about 40 minutes to snorkel here. Then we stopped by the Viking cave just to look at it. You can't go in anymore. We then stopped at a private beach for lunch where they had a buffet style lunch which had a great view to a private beach. This place was spectacular. Then we went to monkey beach stopped by to give fruits to the monkeys. We then went near the bamboo beach to do a second round of snorkeling. Our last stop was Bamboo beach. We had an hour at Bamboo beach. Then we headed back around 3 pm. We arrive back at our hotel around 4:30 pm.

Day 3:
-Exlpore Phuket Town
-Go to a beach of your choice
-Simon Cabaret
*The Simon Cabaret was a really fun show. I really enjoyed it.*
*WARNING: all the main women line up outside for pictures after the show but they do charge for taking pictures with them so if you don't want to be charged then make sure that you don't take a picture with them. Other than that though it was a very enjoyable show*
*As for tickets, I went there around 30 minutes before the show started and they had great seats! We got the VIP tickets so we were 4 rows away from the stage. I believe the place seats 500 or 600 people...if I'm remembering correctly... Anyways, it seats a lot of people so you could go kind of last minute and still get seats.


Also, just to end this off the reason why I suggested staying in Bangkok longer is because I felt that in Phuket it was a lot harder to get from place to place as you would need to take a taxi for a lot of places. And the taxi/ Tuk Tuk does add up. So personally, for me Bangkok was just a lot more convenient plus it was cheaper to get from place to place.

Response to Kathie: In the Bangkok Post last week, there was a report of a Thai military officer being killed by a wild elephant as he tried to help villagers shoo a herd from their gardens. The man got caught in a stampede when other officers on the far side of the herd set off firecrackers. ZZ

Thanks, Zambesi, interesting info I din't know!

rule of thumb with elephants - if you can ride 'em, they are being abused.