[Closed] What to see in Thailand

Are you able to get to the north? We absolutely loved Chiang Mai and the surrounding area

Chiang Mai is amazing, Bridge over the River Kwai, Devils Railway, we also did a 3 day trek to hill tribe villages, amazing people and scenery, visited an elephant sanctuary, took a bamboo boat trip down the river
Bangkok is fantastic with so much to see and do
Phuket we did a couple of boat trips to the Phi Phi islands which are unbelievable

Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael. Come on, tell me about the ladyboys.

Not a fan of Thailand in general (people great, tourists not so) but Chiang Mai is lovely, try to stay there for a bit.
Its got some ace riding as well with a few companies out there providing guiding services.

Something to do with ping pong balls I've heard is quite a spectacle.

Best touristy thing I did over there was a days cooking course. Really excellent. Can't remember the name of the place unfortunately but it was a cooking school near Koh Samui.

Pattaya! Go directly to Pattaya! 🙂

Wonderful place. Really liked the phi phi islands but they are getting a bit touristy. Still possible to find a quiet bit. We had a really good kayak through the mangroves near Krabi. There's quite a few interesting sites in that area. Hot springs, huge caves, temples, weird water features. Best done by hire car so you can avoid the coaches and head to some of the quiet or deserted places. Bangkok is great too (although not for everyone). Take a boat ride on the river then walk back through the markets, taking in a temple or two. I love a long walk like that but you can always jump in a tuk-tuk. Chiang Mai is good too. Great food, loads of temples, the zoo is good or you can head out and see some wildlife. You can also do uplifted downhill biking in the rainforest. Really enjoyed that. We went with X Biking.

Pattaya! Go directly to Pattaya!

Do not do this!!

Can only echo most of the above. Kanchanaburi is worth a trip and if you are out that way you should get up to the Devils Railway. If you like James Bond Ratchaburi is the place to go for the floating market. Koh Samet is a lovely little island and I quite liked Koh Chang once been shown the traditional bits.

Bangkok is another story but I absolutely loved it! Learning to say please, thank you and hello in Thai at the very least will get you off on the right foot, as will smiling and being decent. Sounds obvious but the Thai people are by and large lovely and really appreciate thick westerners making an effort.

Koh Samui is probably the weakest of the 3 places you mention. I would just sack it off unless there’s a particular reason for going (it’s fine, just not great compared to other parts of Thailand im(limited)e)

Koh Phi Phi is a good shout but it’s more than just a bit touristy it’s like the Asian Ibiza. But there are also plenty of quieter places on the island. We did a day's snorkeling boat trip which our kids really enjoyed on one of the numerous long-tail boats that took us to the many secluded coves around the island as well as to the beach location to the film The Beach (which they want about 20 pounds per person to step onto!) and ended on The Monkey Beach which does what it says on the tin. There are also lots of diving trips on offer if you are into it.

On Phuket we hired scooters to get around on which again our kids loved so we could visit a different beach each day and do other stuff like visit the big Buddha or watch the sunset on the southernmost tip of the island.

which they want about 20 pounds per person to step onto!

TBF the beach was getting completely ruined before they started doing that, I believe it now making a really impressive comeback

I thought Maya Beach (of The Beach fame) was closed until 2021...

I'm off back to Thailand for 3 weeks over Christmas and NY, can't wait!

Might we be, I had read about it bouncing back so figured Roter's info might have been more up to date

If you're going to Koh Samui I'd go a little further and visit koh Phangan and koh Tao.

Koh Tao has the most beautiful water, and the north is still quite unspoilt. Koh Phangan, where I lived for 10 years, is rapidly being 'developed' but still has some beautiful beaches. I particularly like Bottle Beach which is not yet linked to the road network and is best visited by long tail.
While you're there you should take a diving course and visit Sail Rock, which is the best dive site in the entire Gulf.

Yeah, Chiang Mai is pretty nice. Lots of temples to visit and the like but it came alive at night for me. Keep out of the main town and just head round the market squares near where you're staying. Loads of local pop-up bars & food places. Best Tom Yum Soup I had during 5 weeks in Thailand was cooked on a camping stove round the back of a local grocer stall in a marketplace carpark south of the main city.

For Koh Samui, the north end was really touristy when we were there. We hired a scooter and went exploring. This place is beautiful and does an evil papaya salad. When the owner stopped laughing at us she let us run down to her garden to pick bananas to get rid of the heat.

We also hired a boat somewhere near to here and went sea fishing then sunbathing on Ko Mat Sum island.

I lived in chiang mai until 4years ago so may be able to help if your headed that way.
I took my son to Phuket, and we took a boat on a 3or4 island day tour, with snorkelling and the emerald cave(??) and james bond island iirc which was pretty good

Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael. Come on, tell me about the ladyboys.

👍 🤣

Pattaya! Go directly to Pattaya!

👍 🤣

Keep out of the main town and just head round the market squares near where you’re staying. Loads of local pop-up bars & food places.

That reminds me, when in Bangkok head down to Sukhumvit Road, the Nana end after hours for some amazing street food. Sitting on plastic chairs on the curbside eating soup cooked on a camping stove is a memory that will happily stay with me for life. Great times.

If you like proper Thai food I’d really recommend a food tour. Had an amazing day of overeating with Chin at https://chilipastetour.com/about-2/about-us/

Saw bits of Bangkok that had eluded me in the past as well

Chiang Mai is a good shout, and you can get there by overnight train from Bangkok. If you're heading south, then you can island hop all the way to Malaysia. We learned to dive on Koh Lanta, I liked Koh Phi Phi too and it was pretty easy to escape the crowds.

and you can get there by overnight train from Bangkok

If it doesn’t fall off the tracks

Getting the ferries up and up and down the river in BKK is good fun, stop off at a few temples, see the city from a different view. We just jumped on one and got it to the last stop and grabbed one back. Food markets are great I’d definitely do a cooking course if I went back.

I thought Maya Beach (of The Beach fame) was closed until 2021…

I’m off back to Thailand for 3 weeks over Christmas and NY, can’t wait!

Just had a look on Google and you are right. I was in Thailand a year and a half ago and when we went into the cove where the Maya Beach is, it was just a mass of speedboats and people. It looked absolutely horrible.

Overnight train is a good idea - I always slept well on those. Even first class isn’t too expensive by European standards.
Night boats are great as well. They’re not exactly comfortable, but they’re cheap. It’s better if you sleep up on the deck rather than in the sweaty dorm.