Help plan my 11 days trip to Thailand
 

Hi all,

I am planning my first trip to Thailand, it will be 11 full days.

I am somehow settled on the first couple of days and last 5 days, but the 4 days in the middle have 2 scenarios:
1) either I spend them all in the north first chiang Mai then to Mae Hong Son and Pai loop or
2) Spend 2 extra days in bangkok to do kanchanaburi or AyuthayaI as day trips then 2 days in chiang mai

Here are my initial thought, please take a look and share your thought

Day 1: Bangkok
Day 2: Bangkok
Day 3: fly to Chiang Mail
Day 4: Chiang Mail
Day 5: Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son and Pai loop
Day 6: Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son and Pai loop
Day 7: Early plane to phuket then ferry to koh phi phi (Base island)
Day 8: Koh phi phi
Day 9: Koh phi phi
Day 10: Railay beach in Krabi (hiking)
Day 11: Early plane to bangkok, spend last day
Day 12: Leave thailand

Thanks a lot

Way too many destinations for 12 days. Jet lag coming in, you need to account for that for the first day or so. Cut down the destinations to three at most and relax and enjoy your time, don't rush everywhere.i would suggest Bangkok and a beach destination.

Agree with the above comments. Also, you don't mention the time of year. Important, not only for the beach time but also because of the crop burning and resultant, often severe pollution in the north at certain times of the year, especially around the MHS loop.

The MHS loop is great but really needs 3-4 nts if you want to see stuff along the way. A night in Soppong , one in MHS and one in Mai Sariang would provide a nice pace. You could pick up and return your rental car from CM airport avoiding the horrendous traffic in the city.

Not a great fan of Phi Phi - too overrun with day trippers (but, to be fair it is many years since I was there.

With the time you have I would choose the north or the beach not both. You need to consider that you will lose a pretty much an entire day travelling from one place to another which will eat into your 11 days considerably.

In 11 days, you want three destinations at most. You have way too much moving around, which will eat up your time. Each time you change locations will eat up at least half a day and sometimes, most of the day. Choose one beach location, choose one location in the norther and spend some time in Bangkok. That is really the most you can do in 11 days. And no way will you have time for day trips from Bangkok unless you cut either the north or the beach.

Yes, do tell us when this trip will be,

Hi all sorry forgot to mention that my trip will start on November 30th to Dec 11 and I won't have jet lag since I will be coming from Japan, I will also arrive in Bangkok 6:00 am the first day so this is why I am counting the first day as a full day. As for flying for the other destinations, I will be talking 6:00 am flights to make the best use of all the days I will fly in.

I agree I felt that I am trying to fit too much, so may be the 4 days in the chiang mai area, I can stay 3 days in chiang mai and take only one day to see pai.

Thanks a lot for your replies and help

Guys I wanted to ask about Phang Nga Bay, is this only a daytrip or I can actually stay there? if there are no places to stay there then what's the most remote island?

Thanks a lot

Please stay away from Elephant trekking, shows so on. Such horrific abuse
Done to these animals.

I am pretty sure there a few places to stay in or around the bay but doubt that they are very good. Much better to do it as a boat /canoe trip from Phuketbor Khao Lak.

We used John Grey Sea canoe. Expensive, but very good. Well organised, good food, well equipped boat, good canoe guides. I believe they also do a starlight version of the standard tour which may involve camping overnight ( not sure about the last bit.

Zoso - I see no mention of elephants whatsoever from the OP so why are you raising this subject?

Mhs loop needs 5 days/4 nights minimum.

Kanchanaburi might be best on your time limits. Kanch is a great area with plenty to do.

@Packngo<<<Kanchanaburi might be best on your time limits. Kanch is a great area with plenty to do>>>

Agree, and very easy to do under your steam from Bangkok...

http://www.seat61.com/Bridge-on-the-...m#.V8QJwtQrJkg

...follow the suggestions in Seat61, and you'll have a great time.

Hey me again :) thanks all for your recommendations.

I will be staying for 4 days in the Krabi province, probably 2 nights in Phi Phi and 2 nights in Krabi. I am planning to spend a day in Krabi checking Railay beach and Phra Nang beach, then I want to spend one day on Phi Phi don, that will leave me with 2 days.

So I need your opinion on which trip to choose between those 3, touring the Phang Nga bay and kayaking in the hongs, or visiting maya bay or kayaking the hong islands near krabi

For kayaking has any of you visited both the hong island in Krabi and Phang Nga bay? which one is more scenic?

Thanks a lot

MaeHongSon needs 5 days? Well, maybe in a horse drawn buggy.

I doubt you will find anyone who has done all three for comparison purposes. As mentioned above, we used John Grey sea canoe who do a variety of trips to different locations so their website may be a good place to start. We found them to be pretty good, well organised, if a littl expensive.all those places will be scenic but Phang Nga will be the most crowded.

Despite the comment made above, you could easily spend 5 days or even longer travelling the MHS loop. We have done it in 4 days and have also take a week, stopping for hiking along the way.

If you want to actually SE and explore places then I would say that's a perfect amount of time. Mai Hong Sorn itself is worth a couple of days, Soppong and Mai Sariang at least a day apiece and maybe a day in the National park on the way back to CM. Personally I think Painhas got way to busy in recent years

Thanks a lot crellston for your reply.

I will be skipping the MHS Loop since there isn't enough time so I will only visit Chiang Mai then head to Khao Sok National park before going to the beach desitnation.

I kinda have limited time for Phang Nga bay so I was trying to find a tour that will only offer kayaking in the bay without all the other side trips like the james bond island and the village. If I took a taxi to the bay, are there guides there that I can hire?

Thanks

As far as I recall John Grey offers just boat trips around the bay with canoeing from the bigger boats at various places along the way. I don't remember stopping ta James Bond island at all. We went from Khao Lak after returning from Khao Sok NP but it would be easy just to turn up at the jetty in Phuket.

You need an operator with boats rather than just a guide most places in KL and Phuket will be overrun with operators offering trips to Phang Nga and everywhere else in the area. The hard part will be finding one that offers a good service at a reasonable price!