Thailand Travel Forum

Hello dear VT members I am planning a trip to Thailand and would like to know :

- Best time of year to travel
- which islands to stay
- How long is enough to stay in Bangkok before going to the islands
- Where to shop
- activities, hotels, restaurants, etc

Thanks so much

Monica

Monica

Your questions are very open, but for weather the best months tend to be January through to the end of March. I like Phuket, some say it is too busy, Samui is another popular option, but the weather there in January to March can be worse than Phuket. One non-island option to consider is Krabi where there are hotels to suit all tastes and budgets, plus it is a good access points to the sights of Phang Nga bay. You can fly to Krabi from Bangkok.

Long enough in Bangkok? I can easily spend a week there, for others 4 hours is enough. I would say 3 - 5 days with the longer option to include a day trip to Autthaya.

See my Thai Pages for more tips.

Regards

John

Thailand has many Islands and as mention above Phuket and Koh Samui are the popular ones, they can be busy at peak season. But you don't have to stay at the main resorts areas both Phuket and Koh Samui have many beaches dotted aroound there islands which are much quiter. If these islands sound to busy try Koh Chang near the Cambodian border and another popular place but not as busy. Or there is Koh Samet about 3 hours from Bangkok on the way to Koh Chang where the whole island is one national park and has restrictions on building no higher than tree tops. The island have many beaches with the northern beaches being most popular but the further south you the beaches get much quiter but their is no shopping places to go to just the hotel or the odd bar & resturant here and their but is very nice place to chill Out. If you want to Party hard then Koh Phangan is the place home of the full moon party but again this island has some quite beache dotted around that are worth checking out.

This is just the begining, there are many more islands.

As for Bangkok 3-4 days would be enough to see the city, thats average for me and Bangkok is a very busy city.

Best time to, well I have been many times from March right upto mid July but July you do see a little more in the way of rain showers in the afternoon but only for 30 mins or so then the sun is out but this makes for some good sunsets.

Hope this helps.

As far as the north (Chiang Mai, Chiang Lai, ...), it's best to avoid the 'burning season' (1st of March through mid-April).

note: Songkran, the water festival is mid-April, and many believe it's the biggest and best.