Am in the process of planning our trip to Thailand later this year, and based on readings from this site and others, have thought of the following --- any suggestions would be great.

5 days Bangkok
5 days Chiang Mai
4 days Phuket

During our time in CM, we are thinking of venturing to the Golden Triangle -- how long does this take, and is it worth it? Also, are we spending too much time in CM? What are some of the must sees while there?

Thanks!

There are people on this board who love and those of us who don't. Since I'm in the don't love it category, 5 days would be way to much time there for me. I'd suggest a couple of days in CM, then go up to the Golden Triangle or perhaps the Fern Resort in Mae Hong Son. That will give you a nice sample of Northern Thailand.

I love Chiang Mai but for a first trip I would spend 2 or 3 days in Chiang Mai and the rest of the time in either the Chiang Rai area or the Mae Hong Son area depending on your interests. While you can go to Chiang Rai from CM on a long day trip it's not a good way to do it.

Unless you're a huge beach person I would also reduce your time in Phuket to 3 days and add a day in Bangkok.

Before answering your must sees, what are you interested in? What kinds of things do you want to experience?

for me 5 days in CM is way too long...it takes about 3 hours to CR by car from CM....golden traiangle is another one hour....anantara in chiang saen is a wonderful place there are a couple of cheaper places....3 days there would be nice....

is this your first trip....?? if so i would leave the trip as you outline it and shave one day from CM and add it to bkk....so i would have 3 days bkk at beginning, 4 CM, 4 phuket and then finish with 3 in bkk at the end....

Thanks to everyone for their feedback! Will respond to each:

Kathie - thanks for recommending MHS, I am now considering adding it to our itinerary, and reducing time in CM. How much is there to see in MHS? Is the Golden triangle simply a day trip?

Glorialf -- we've thought of 4 days in phuket to relax, soak up some sun and unwind --- which we think we'll want to do after a hectic trip over from North America, and the days in Bangkok. Re: our interests -- we love to explore cities/towns on our own, see how the locals live, and soak up the culture. We're also semi-adventurous, would love to do the Elephant trek somewhere up North, and anything else that is a must. Hope that clarifies a bit.. sorry I should have been more specific in my first posting.

rhkkmk -- yes this is our first trip to Thailand. Your suggestion to split BKK into 2 is great, but because of the Air pass rules, we have to do it all in one go. Do you feel there is enough in Bangkok for 6 full days? Are there many day trips we can look into from there?

Now have reduced time in CM to 3 nights --- is there anywhere close to CM we can carry the 2 days over to?

You could head north to the Golden Triangle area or to Mae Hong Son. Plan to spend two nights for whichever one you choose. Either would give you a very different experience than CM.