Thailand 10 day itinerary
 

Hi everyone! My husband, myself, my brother and his girlfriend (all in our late 20's) are traveling to Thailand December 30th-January 11th. We arrive December 30th around 10am in Bangkok and depart around 5pm on January 11th from Bangkok. So, without counting the 30th and the 11th since those are travel days, I'm counting 10 full days of travel. Since I haven't been able to find many 10 day itineraries or comparisons, I'm wondering if you more experienced Thailand travelers can give us some advice! So far, a rough itinerary idea would be Bangkok (Days 1-2), The Beaches? (Days 3-5), Phuket, Krabi, Ko Phi Phi, Chang Mai (Day 6-7), Lampang (Day trip from Chang Mai on Day 8), Chang Mai (Day 9), Bangkok (Day 10).

We would be so appreciative of any and all advice, recommendations (for activities, places to stay, transportation options*, food/restaurants/food tours) and the like. Thank you so much!!!!

Here is a different mock itinerary I came up with:
Arrive Bangkok December 30th morning (10:30am)- wander around, get some food, explore, sleep. Spend December 31st and January 1st exploring the city and seeing sights, leave to Chang Mai January 2nd morning on an hour and 10 min. long flight from BKK to CNX. Spend the rest of Jan. 2nd, Jan. 3rd, Jan. 4th in Chang Mai. On the evening of January 5th take a 2 hour flight from Chang Mai to Phuket and spend January 6th and 7th in Phuket- along with a speed boat trip to Koh Phi Phi on the 8th. On the 9th take a late afternoon flight (1:20min) back to Bangkok and have a nice meal and relax that night and the next morning until we head to the airport on the 10th for our 5:30 flight. It does sound like a lot of flights and I would love to not have to take any, but we also don't want to miss out on things we will likely not be back in a very long time to see. Open to any and all suggestions, I trust that you know much better than I, as this is my first time visiting! I appreciate the feedback about booking things asap, so I plan on booking places to stay and flights or any other transportation as soon as I nail down the itinerary!

Add more time in Bangkok and cut down or out completely Chang Mai.

If you click my name, you'll find a different take on Bangkok than MrsBillT's. We were not huge fans of Bangkok.

what are you interested in doing?

remember about jet lague if you are coming from the west---that means day 1 and 2 will be significantly diminished in your ability to move around... for that reason I would move the bulk of my time in bkk to the end of the trip.

I dislike CM... I have tried on 4 trips to appreciate it, but each time is a failure... what you can do there is easily accomplished in other places.

a couple of days at the beach hardly seems worth the effort. consider a nice hotel in bkk with a fab pool and skip the beach or add your CM days to beach time and some to bkk.

ideally I would do 5 days bkk and 5 days beach

It totally depends on your interests since we all don't have the same interests. I go to Thailand regularly, but might have different interests than what you have. I'm a big Bangkok person. As for the beach, I've never even gone south to the beaches as, although I love beach areas, I have beaches at my fingertips here in L.A. all year round.

For 10 days total, I'd choose TWO places total. Who wants to spend all of that time on and off planes, changing hotels, and waiting for the 2PM- 3PM check-in times at hotels? Plus, there can be plane delays and/or cancelations.

In your situation, I'd do 5 nights in Bangkok and 5 nights in either a beach area or up north in Chang Mai/Chang Rai area to get a taste of two different parts of Thailand and decide for yourself which you like or dislike.

When I first went to Thailand in the 1990s, I flews from Bali to Chang Mai which made my first Thai location Chang Mai. I have no regrets having experienced it although I haven't been back to CM as I spend my time in Bangkok. Last month, I returned from 6 weeks in S.E. Asia and spent 3 of them in Bangkok.

The weather will be good in Dec/Jan. I also go during the same time that you plan to be there and have already booked my flights for my return to S.E. Asia for the Dec 2016-Feb 2017 vacation.

Have a great trip whatever you decide to do.

Happy Travels!