First time to Thailand - recommendations/help?

ellen, I know that you posted a question on this Forum a couple years ago, asking about potential tour companies. I wonder if you then wound up taking a guided tour, but it appears that you’re planning on visiting Thailand on your own.

However, for what it’s worth, we just returned from a Vietnam and Cambodia trip. Vietnam was with Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT), which was 13 people (their maximum group size is 16), and Cambodia was a customized private tour for the two of us with Little Vietnam Tours. Little Vietnam was cheaper and also spent more time at Ankor Wat/Siem Reap than the OAT post-trip extension, per our individualized itinerary. It was our second trip with OAT, and first with Little Vietnam, and both offer Thailand trips. My first time in Asia, and my husband had only had two nights in Bangkok coming/going from a Nepal trip 27 years ago.

We just got a 360-page catalog of OAT trips for 2025. They have a new “Discover Thailand” trip in 2025; 16 days (including flying to/from Bangkok), for $4,395, including airfare from Los Angeles. One day visits an elephant care center near Chiang Mai, with a dinner at a local family’s home the night before. Their promotion is a $750 discount, per person, on any OAT trip booked by Jan. 31 (use code NEWYEAR25). That’s more days than you said you wanted, but again, for what it’s worth.

Little Vietnam worked with us to develop our itinerary, and I’m sure they could develop one with your timeframe and interests. For what it’s worth.

Answers to your earlier Tour Company posting mentioned that COVID caused some companies to not happily give cash refunds. OAT cheerfully gave credits for future trips, but wasn’t enthusiastic about cash refunds back then - it was a tough time for everybody, customers and businesses. After our Africa safari with OAT in 2022, we signed up for a Jordan/Egypt/Red Sea/Cyprus trip that was supposed to happen in December 2023. The Israel/Hamas/Houthi conflict cancelled that, and OAT did give us a cash refund, although it took them 6 weeks to issue it.

Bangkok is easy to DIY. Taxis and decent public transport. For day trips - We hired drivers to take us to Ayutthaya (ancient temple ruins and modern temples) and Kanchanaburi/River Kwai area (WWII, gorgeous scenery, museums). Our trip was pre-Covid - I would look at current Get Your Guide or TripAdvisor providers with reviews if you are interested in either spots as day trips. We were living in Asia at the time - spent about a week in Bangkok with the the day trips.

Chiang Mai was a separate trip, again from Asia (not my current Chicago base). 5 nights as I recall. We hired a driver/guide who took us to the temples, botanic gardens, markets, tea plantation, hiking, etc that we wanted to see. Several DIY walkable museums in city center. I was not interested in elephant sanctuaries, but they seem to have "cleaned up" some of these spots since my visit. At a quick glance, several emphasize "ethical" which was not the case when I traveled. It used to be that some sanctuaries offered pick-ups from central Chiang Mai locations - I saw some of those transport vehicles and would not have wanted to ride in them - open top, back of pick-up sort of vehicle, no restraints. I tend to the conservative with transport and will also not ride in tuk-tuks. Others may disagree. (Not looking for any arguments or discussions of transport. People can travel as they desire. Just giving you my bias.)

I've not traveled to the beaches - sorry can't help there.

Timing - I was warned about burning season for Chiang Mai - January thru April or so. Slash and burn clearing of fields which can produce poor air quality and haze. Bangkok - I was warned to avoid monsoon season - May - October, I wasn't interested in Songkran (Thai New Year Festival with water fights in April - changeable dates, I believe). Of necessity, we ended up in Bangkok in later April - about the hottest time of the year. It was hot - near 100 F. We were coming from another hot Asian climate so were OK with it - not the ideal if you can pick another time.

I really enjoyed my two trips. You've got me thinking of another!

I've been to Thailand many times, have family there, and have traveled domestically there over much of the country. It's not a small place, and it can take time (more than you might guess) to get around.

This is not the answer you want to hear, but I've got to be honest: personally, I would not recommend going to Thailand on such a short trip (10-12 days total trip time). Keep in mind that it can easily take 2 days to get to Thailand (depends a lot on where you are starting from and your flights), and another 2 days to get back. The international date line plays some tricks (you appear to get back home on the same day you depart Bangkok, sometimes within just a couple hours of your departure..) but no matter how you slice it, you're flying to (roughly) the opposite side of the planet, then flying back. That eats up some time. You're starting with "10-12 days" and you have 3 destinations...do the math. Ouch.

From Chicago, I would try hard to get a one-stop flight, with a connection in Tokyo (or possibly Taipei); it's still a long, long way to go, but you would need to find every way possible to reduce your travel time (ORD-TYO-BKK is not a cheap flight, but it's an efficient routing and Japanese airlines are lovely). Avoid additional stops en route. I hope you've done some long flights before (after this trip, the short hop to Europe will seem like nothing at all).

So my suggestion would be to either (preferably!) find some more days for your trip somehow; reduce the scope of it (flying around domestically will burn most of a day each time you go, that's another day used each way); or reconsider your plan. With your plan - at least 3 locations that are far from each other (Bangkok, Chiangmai, and some island) you are running short on usable time to be in any of them. Get out a calendar that you can write on (in pencil) and write out your days. It will be sobering.

Good/bad months...their "summer" (hottest weather) is our (North American) Spring. I would avoid March/April/May unless you really enjoy intense heat and humidity. This is of course relative, to me it's always hot in Thailand, but in April it's OMG hot. Depends on your tolerance for intense heat. Thai New Year (Songkran) is also in April and it's a very popular time for domestic tourism, so prices spike and availability disappears, another reason to avoid that month. Rainy season traditionally is around September, but recently may be extending from August through October (thanks to climate change). It's not raining all day long but when it does rain, it really comes down hard and there's often localized flooding.

Samui is OK but it's fairly touristy and not really the untouched, "pristine" tropical getaway that many people dream of. You can certainly snorkel there (as an avid snorkeler, I'd say that there's better snorkeling much closer to home, eg Mexico). That said, Samui is easy (and quick) to get to, and popular for reasons which are obvious. Personally, I prefer the southern islands on the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) side - they're not quite as developed as Samui (with the exception of Phuket, which I would avoid - it's Thailand's Cancun). The islands south of Phuket are lovely, many with jaw-dropping scenery and are much closer to the stuff of your fantasies. Takes more time getting to/from them though, and that's something you will be struggling with.

Hope some of that helps.

Agree with David’s comments above. After flying 20+ hours to get to Thailand from Los Angeles years ago, I was there for 3 weeks. I wouldn’t think of doing it for less than 3 weeks because it takes so long just to get there.