I'm traveling to Thailand for the first time at the beginning of Feb. (we're two late 20's females) and would love some thoughts on my itinerary for the Southern Thailand portion of my trip... we'll be spending a night in Bangkok before heading up to Chiang Mai for a cpl of nights. We were originally planning on Angkor Wat as well, but when we finally started planning, we realized we were just going to be running on planes, trains, ferrys and whatnot for most of the trip...

As an alternative, decided to just take the last 9 nights of the trip and head South. Flying into Samui and out of Krabi so that we can have a taste of both coasts.

Looking to avoid the overdeveloped/Phuket scene and instead substitute w/a mix of nightlife - prob go to the half moon party in koh phangan on the 5th - undiscovered hideaways, and as much local culture as we can squeeze in....

Any thoughts, recommendations, tips are very much appreciated!

that area should not be confused with the real south of thailand which is not the best place to go.....the areas you mention are fine and very enjoyable..

lots of good hotels and restaurants....i personally would pick one area and stay there, but two would work as well...

NB - Samui is also massively overdeveloped!


In between Surat Thani (Samui) and the Andaman coast is Khao Sok National Prk - well worth a couple of nights if you're into jungle and lakes.

THe provinces South of there a blighted by a violent separatist movement, although how dangerous to foreigners etc. is debatable

Yes, Songkhla is an amazing little city. Pattalung looks fantastic as well. Maybe I'll get there this year. Why not go the other way - fly to Samui, got to Phangan for the full moon party, then take the ferry to Chumpon and go up the coast to Bangkok by road. There are a few nice places in Chumpon and Pranburi that might be worth a few nights.

Id say work your way from samui, to the full moon, then stop off at Koh Lanta and after that go to Phuket to finish it off.

Suksan