Thailand travel guide

There is no single best month, because Thailand runs on two monsoon systems in opposite directions. The Andaman coast — Phuket, Krabi, Phi Phi, the Similans — is at its best November to April: dry, calm, clearest water of the year. The Gulf coast — Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao — is at its best January to August, and its wettest months are October and November. Bangkok and the north are comfortable November to February, hot in March and May, and green from June. If you want a trip that includes both coasts, come in February or March, which are the only months where both are reliably good. If your dates are fixed, choose the coast that matches the date rather than the other way round. The single month to avoid in the north is March, when agricultural burning pushes air quality to levels that close schools.

Ten days is the shortest trip that covers the classic route — Bangkok, the north and one coast — without spending half of it in transit. Seven days means one region: either Bangkok plus a beach, or Bangkok plus the north. Anything less than seven and you are better off picking one place and staying there. Fourteen days lets you add Chiang Rai and a second beach properly. The arithmetic that matters is that every move between bases costs most of a day: a flight is two hours in the air and four hours door to door once you count the transfer, the airport and the check-in. Three bases in ten days is comfortable. Five is a tour of airports, and it is the most common mistake we are asked to fix.

Three numbers cover most of it. A private tour with your own guide, driver and hotels runs $230–260 per person per day, based on two sharing. A small-group departure with comparable hotels runs $140–170 per person per day. Day trips bought on their own run $45–128 per person, and airport transfers $22–38 per car. Those differences are almost entirely about two things: whether the vehicle and guide are yours alone, and how much of the trip is spent moving. A 10-day private trip typically lands around $2,480 per person (the full price list is here); the same route self-booked with mid-range hotels and locally bought day tours comes to roughly $1,400–1,600. Cheaper tours exist at half our price, and they usually pay for it with shared transport, hotel grade, and commission stops.

No, and the gap between street level and tourist level is unusually wide. A bowl of noodles from a stall is ฿50–70 (about $1.50–2), a sit-down meal for two in a mid-range Bangkok restaurant is ฿600–900, and a beer at a bar is ฿90–150. Hotels run $35–60 a night for a good three-star, $90–150 for a four-star with a pool, and $250 upwards for the resorts in high season. The two things that genuinely cost money are internal flights ($45–90) and boat days. A couple travelling for two weeks, eating where locals eat and staying in good three-star hotels, spends about $90–120 a day between them before tours — which is why the tour price, not the daily spend, is the number worth negotiating.

Andaman if you want scenery: the limestone karsts of Phang Nga and Krabi, Phi Phi, and the best island photography in the country. Gulf if you want a quieter island and shorter distances: Samui's beaches are walkable, Ang Thong is an hour away, and Koh Tao has the best diving in the Gulf. The Andaman has more infrastructure, more direct international flights and better hospitals. The Gulf has fewer people and a better pace. There is one decision rule that solves it: look at your dates first. November to April, the Andaman. January to August, the Gulf. October and May are the two months where either can go wrong, and we will tell you honestly which one is less likely to.

Both, if you have eight days or more, because they are genuinely different trips: Bangkok is a river city of temples and food, Chiang Mai is a mountain town of markets and villages. The flight is 75 minutes and about $45. What we cut is the overnight train, which sounds romantic and costs you a night's sleep before the day you most need to be awake. If you only have a week, Bangkok plus a beach beats Bangkok plus Chiang Mai plus a beach — the north deserves three nights minimum, and squeezing it into two means you see Doi Suthep and nothing else. Families with young children often do better with Bangkok and one coast, skipping the north entirely.

Yes, with ordinary city caution. Violent crime against visitors is rare; the realistic risks are traffic, rip-off taxis, dehydration and, on the coasts, the sea. Road accidents are the leading cause of death among travellers in Thailand, and scooters are the main culprit — we do not rent them to guests and we will say why if asked. The scams that still work are all about money, not safety: the tuk-tuk "gem exhibition" detour, the driver who says the Grand Palace is closed, and the unmetered taxi outside a tourist area quoting three times the fare. Political demonstrations in Bangkok happen and are best avoided rather than feared. For health, the genuine risk is dengue from daytime mosquitoes in cities, not malaria.

Most Western passports — UK, EU, US, Canada, Australia — enter Thailand visa-exempt for 30 days, not the 60 that every guide written before September 2026 still says. The 60-day scheme was revoked on 15 September 2026; the exemption now runs 30 days per entry with a cap of two entries per calendar year, extendable once inside the country for ฿1,900, which makes 60 days the practical maximum on one trip. Chinese passports still get 30 days under a separate bilateral agreement. Everyone else needs an e-visa (about $40, 5–10 working days), or falls into the visa-on-arrival list, which was cut from 31 countries to about four. Either way, every non-Thai arrival must also file a free TDAC within three days of landing. Our full entry guide covers the current rules nationality by nationality, and it is dated.

Less than you think, plus four specific things. The four: shoes you can slip off, because you take them off at every temple; a light long-sleeved layer, because temples require covered shoulders and knees and a sarong is refused at the Grand Palace; reef shoes if you are doing any boat day, because the sandbars are coral rubble; and rehydration sachets from any pharmacy, which fix a hot afternoon faster than water. Beyond that, thin cotton, one rain shell, and sunscreen you buy there rather than fly with. Laundry is $2–3 a kilo and same-day, which is why people who pack for four days are comfortable for two weeks. Bring a refillable bottle — every vehicle on our tours carries a water drum.

Street food is safe where there is high turnover: a queue is a good sign, a deserted stall is not, and food cooked to order in front of you is safer than a buffet that has been sitting. Ice in restaurants and from street stalls is almost always factory-made and fine; ice from a cooler in a market is less certain. Tap water is not drinkable anywhere in Thailand — bottled water is cheap and everywhere, and every vehicle on our tours carries a refillable drum. The realistic upset is a stomach that is not used to the chilli or the oil in the first 48 hours, not food poisoning. Pharmacies are excellent and will treat it for a few dollars, and they are on nearly every corner in the cities and resorts.