Greetings,

My wife and I will be in Thailand for 3 weeks in February. Below is our planned itinerary. Please advise on our proposed trip schedule - perhaps there is a better way to organize the order of destinations or maybe there are better transportation options. Perhaps it is worth it to rent a car in Ko Samui? Thanks!

Day 1-3: Bangkok
- landmarks
- cooking schools
- general sightseeing

Day 4: Leave to Chiang Mai on 6pm train, arrive next morning

Day 5-7: Chiang Mai
- landmarks
- cooking schools
- elephants rides
- trekking

Day 8: Leave Chiang Mai on 9:55am Bangkok Airways flight, arrive to Ko Samui 11:35am

Day 9-11: Ko Samui
- beaches
- national parks

Day 12: Leave Ko Samui to Krabi, via Surat Thani (ferry + bus)

Day 13: Leave Krabi on 10:00am ferry to Phi Phi

Day 14-16: Phi Phi

Day 16: Leave Phi Phi to Krabi

Day 17-18: Krabi

Day 18: Leave Krabi on 9:07pm train to Bangkok, arrive 8:45am next day

Day 19: Bangkok

Day 20: Fly out of Bangkok

You have a lot of destinations. By my reckoning there will be four full days of travel. That's 20% of your time in Thailand. That seems like a lot.

Andy is right, you are spending much of your time traveling. Do you really want to spend 20% of your vacation in transit?

At the very least, stick to one beach location.

Out of almost three weeks, you have three days in Bangkok and three in Chiang Mai, Your list of things to do in three days in each of the places are not realistic. You are only in CM for three days but you are going to trek? And a cooking school in either place will be at least a half a day. Do you want to visit an elephant conservation center near CM or are you content to ride an elephant wherever?

Pause and consider what you want to do/see experience on your trip. What is important to you?

I don't know where you are flying from, but if you are coming from North America or Europe, you'll have jetlag to contend with at the beginning of your trip and won't get as much done as you think you will.

my concern would center around the use of the trains....i would prefer to fly to gain as much time as possible for relaxing...

as others have pointed out, you need to allow time for adjustment from jet lague and the heat and humidity of thailand....this is not to be underestimated....imo, you need at least one full day for this after arrival in bangkok and thus you loose one full day there...otherwise i fear you risk not enjoying all there is to enjoy about bkk....imo, 5 days is a minimum for bkk....

why so many different beach areas??

i also fear that way too much time is spent on transportation and not nearly enough on viewing thailand...

Thanks to all those who replied. It appears that I am planning to visit too may places - a habit inspired by my European travel. Also, both of us enjoy active travel - hiking, walking a lot, things like that. Given all the feedback, I think I will limit my destinations to Bangkok, Chiang Mai and 1 beach area - probably Ko Samui, unless a different area is more recommended given the type of active travel we like.

In 3 weeks, you could certainly go to 4 locations (especially if you fly). Have you considered visiting either Angkor Wat or Luang Prabang (Laos)? Both are wonderful places to spend 3 or 4 days. You could easily do one of these and BKK, CM and a beach.

In February, Phuket and Krabi have great weather. Better than Ko Samui. Check weatherbase.com.

Also, the Bangkok Air Discovery Pass (the only carrier from BKK to Siem Reap or Luang Prabang). for a savings on air travel. It is a very good carrier.

A suggested plan is:

BKK-3 days
CM-4 days
LP-4 days
Krabi-6 days
BKK-3 days

In BKK there are a number of day trips that will get you outside the city, e.g., Ayutthaya.

good thinking....you will be much happier...

in samui we stayed at the peace resort, a family owned place right on the beach....take a look at it...its quite simple, with a nice pool right beside the beach...within an easy walk to the little town of bophut...a good and reasonable restaurant on site but many more in bophut....
best to get a beach front bungalow or the next group back from them (beach view) as the ones near the back of the property are not as nice... it is also about a 15 minute ride to charwaeng beach...

Has anyone had unpleasant experience with Baan Bophut hotel? www.baanbophut.com/rooms.php

Seems very reasonable at approx $100 USD/night. Others charge in excess of $200/night, which makes a difference for 8-day stay. Thanks.

rooms look very small as does the pool, but the price is right...

take a look at www.huahin.com.com and drop down samui and see prices there...

loooks like it is right on the main road where all the shops/restaurants are///perfect...

still try to look at peace resort also..

just looked at price of peace resort and their prices have gotten way toooooo high for what it is..