Thailand and Malaysia
 

Hi,

We are planning a 15-16 days trip to Malaysia and Thailand in the beginning of December.

We are a married couple in our late 20s. We would like to spend maximum of our time in Thailand.

This is a tentative iternary:
4 Bangkok
2 Pattaya
4 Phuket (friend’s wedding in Phuket so this can’t change)
3 Kuala Lampur
2 Penang

What other place do you suggest in Malaysia or in Thailand?

Also, instead of Pattaya should we go to Chiang Mia for the sake of diversity…or will that entail too much of traveling?

Thanks so much!

My daughter loved Cameron highlands in Malayasia and some of the islands off Mal much better than KL.

I only went to KL, but found it the least interesting city of Penang, Bangkok, and KL

Are you intoo beaches, wildlife, culture or architechture. This would make a big difference in where youo would enjoy.

Hi

I suggest skipping Pattaya and give another day to Penang and another day to Phuket or perhaps to Malacca in Malaysia if you like history stuff.

If you're going to Phuket anyway, Pattaya does seem like a complete waste of time. Chiang Mai would be an interesting change, but for two nights it's probably not worth it.

Why are you going to KL? It's not without its charms, but it wouldn't be high up on my list of interesting places. I would prefer to spend more time in Penang. Also, you can fly to Penang from Phuket, so I would do Penang before ending in KL.

why do you want to go to pattaya....nothing much for a married couple there...?? i'd skip it, i'd also subtract one day from K/L and add the patt. days and this one day to 3 days in penang and maybe go over to langkawi for 1 or 2 of those nites.....there is a boat...

Based on the useful comments I received, below is the revised iterniary.

We prefer culture, architecture and good food…..

This is a tentative iterniary:
4 Bangkok
3 Chiang Mai
4 Phuket (friend’s wedding in Phuket so this can’t change)
3 Penang
2 Kuala Lumpur (depart for NY on the last day)

Any other suggestions?

That looks like a much better itinerary.

Thanks. Do you think the order of places to visit is fine. I just want to make sure that they all are conveniently lined up.

The order looks good to me. There are direct flights from Chiang Mai to Phuket, so you won't be wasting too much time traveling.

Living in Phuket, I am sure that you will like the beaches here and the variety of excellent places to eat , some of the Sino Portugese architecture in Phuket Town -culture you need to visit the temple at Wat Chalong and the giant (newly built Buddha)is good for the views

Penang is great for the Unesco Heritage "Georgetown" which has lots of charm and atmosphere and together with the hawkers foods and friendliness of the people there,makes for a very pleasant visit !

I would also recommend Georgetown in Penang, really liked the history and the people were very freindly. Tour the Blue Mansion (only 12myr each) think the tours are at 11am or 2pm, very interesting.
In Chiang Mai a really fun thing to do is a thai cookery class, we did ours with Chiang mai cookery school www.thaicookeryschool.com (at the owners house location) and it was one of the highlights of the trip.

take a look at clove hall as your hotel in penang....i will stay there next may...

a good hotel in K/L is the Imperial....its a starwoods...