The other half has expressed an interest in going to Thailand. We're pretty active and like to be doing stuff/exploring rather than sitting around on the beach. We'd like somewhere with good Snorkelling and diving, walks etc. Probably looking at going early next year. So far I've looked at Ko Samui and Koh Tao (looks amazing but maybe little harder to get too). We'd probably want a package holiday as it's the first time we'll be going there. Any suggestions of tour operators to look at outside the main ones?
Thailand Resorts
- Thread starter neilw
- Start date
Soldato
We stayed at Tongsai Bay when on Koh Samui, a fantastic boutique resort. They are part of the Small Luxury Hotel community. Stayed at a few hotels listed on their site and they’ve always been fantastic.
Soldato
I've been twice. Both in Dec.
First time was 2013.
Did the usual Bangkok for 3 days then the remaining 11 on Koh Samui and Koh Tao.
Didn't like Koh Samui. It's beautiful but full of the nasty side of Thailand.
Koh Tao though was great, small and quite island very romantic.
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Second time I went was in 2015.
This time I did the opposite to last time:
Bangkok just for one night. Once you've done Bangkok once you don't want to do it again imo.
Flew to Chiang Mai in the north. LOVED this place. Your in the mountains. Fresh air, national parks, elephant sanctuaries.
Stayed for about 5 days and didn't get bored. Its small but pre book activities.
Then took a 3 day boat to Luang Prabang in Lao. This was great as well. Your on the boat for a while each day (cant remember how long) but you make friends with the people on the boat and end up making friendships.
Spent 5 days I think in Luang Prabang. Possibly too long as there wasn't that much to do here. I'd say you could stay 3 days but not more.
From here I flew to Siem Reap in Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. I think I was here for 5 days as well. Spent 3 days seeing as much of the temples in Siem Reap as I could. Possibly 5 days is too long. May 3 again is enough.
From here I flew back to Thailand to do 1 week at the beach. As I wanted to be close to Bangkok for my flight back home I decided to settle on Krabi for the week. Not bad, but perhaps with 1 week to spare for a beach holiday there might of been better places to go.
All in all that took me 4 weeks and I loved it. Chaing Mai is a must imo.
Air Asia does cheap internal flights. So flight to Chiang Mai was cheap and quick.
Depending on how much time you have I would honestly try and squeeze in Chiang Mai.
If you've got two weeks I would stay Bangkok maybe 2 days leave on the third, fly to Chiang Mai for maybe 4 days leave on the 5th then you fly south and spend the last week at the beach.
To get to Koh Tao I think you have to take a few boats. Off memory you have to fly from Bangkok to another airport in the south and then take two boats.
There might be a direct boat, but when I went it was Koh Samui then Koh Tao.
This is the national park in Chiang Mai.
But squeezing in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and a south island for beach you will basically have a nice contrast of what Thailand has to offer.
Busy and noisy Bangkok. Mountain fresh Chiang Mai and hot and sandy island in the south.
You might want to do some research on what island you want to go too. There maybe nicer places than Koh Tao. Its not that Koh Tao isnt nice it is, its just there might be nicer ones.
Phi Phi looks nice from pics.
First time was 2013.
Did the usual Bangkok for 3 days then the remaining 11 on Koh Samui and Koh Tao.
Didn't like Koh Samui. It's beautiful but full of the nasty side of Thailand.
Koh Tao though was great, small and quite island very romantic.
---
Second time I went was in 2015.
This time I did the opposite to last time:
Bangkok just for one night. Once you've done Bangkok once you don't want to do it again imo.
Flew to Chiang Mai in the north. LOVED this place. Your in the mountains. Fresh air, national parks, elephant sanctuaries.
Stayed for about 5 days and didn't get bored. Its small but pre book activities.
Then took a 3 day boat to Luang Prabang in Lao. This was great as well. Your on the boat for a while each day (cant remember how long) but you make friends with the people on the boat and end up making friendships.
Spent 5 days I think in Luang Prabang. Possibly too long as there wasn't that much to do here. I'd say you could stay 3 days but not more.
From here I flew to Siem Reap in Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. I think I was here for 5 days as well. Spent 3 days seeing as much of the temples in Siem Reap as I could. Possibly 5 days is too long. May 3 again is enough.
From here I flew back to Thailand to do 1 week at the beach. As I wanted to be close to Bangkok for my flight back home I decided to settle on Krabi for the week. Not bad, but perhaps with 1 week to spare for a beach holiday there might of been better places to go.
All in all that took me 4 weeks and I loved it. Chaing Mai is a must imo.
Air Asia does cheap internal flights. So flight to Chiang Mai was cheap and quick.
Depending on how much time you have I would honestly try and squeeze in Chiang Mai.
If you've got two weeks I would stay Bangkok maybe 2 days leave on the third, fly to Chiang Mai for maybe 4 days leave on the 5th then you fly south and spend the last week at the beach.
To get to Koh Tao I think you have to take a few boats. Off memory you have to fly from Bangkok to another airport in the south and then take two boats.
There might be a direct boat, but when I went it was Koh Samui then Koh Tao.
This is the national park in Chiang Mai.
But squeezing in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and a south island for beach you will basically have a nice contrast of what Thailand has to offer.
Busy and noisy Bangkok. Mountain fresh Chiang Mai and hot and sandy island in the south.
You might want to do some research on what island you want to go too. There maybe nicer places than Koh Tao. Its not that Koh Tao isnt nice it is, its just there might be nicer ones.
Phi Phi looks nice from pics.
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Soldato
Just to add, I wouldn't stay in a hotel. This part of the world is all about exploring and travel. You can get cheap and decent accommodation for around $15 a night. For me staying in a hotel is wasted as the whole point of traveling this far is to get out and explore.
I don't want to stay in one place and lay by a pool in a hotel. I could do that anywhere in Europe.
If you do go to Koh Tao try and book accommodation in advance as it is a small island with limited availability for places to stay.
Also no suitcase. Backpacks only imo. If your going to be moving around a lot and getting on boats etc you don't want to be lugging around a suitcase.
Also the time of year is important as well as it can drastically change the weather. I'd say Dec is a good time to go.
So as far as I remember to get to Koh Tao you will fly from Bangkok to Surat Thani and then get a boat (or two).
If you look at a map of Thailand you will see from Surat Thani you have a lot of options where to go for beach options.
I don't want to stay in one place and lay by a pool in a hotel. I could do that anywhere in Europe.
If you do go to Koh Tao try and book accommodation in advance as it is a small island with limited availability for places to stay.
Also no suitcase. Backpacks only imo. If your going to be moving around a lot and getting on boats etc you don't want to be lugging around a suitcase.
Also the time of year is important as well as it can drastically change the weather. I'd say Dec is a good time to go.
So as far as I remember to get to Koh Tao you will fly from Bangkok to Surat Thani and then get a boat (or two).
If you look at a map of Thailand you will see from Surat Thani you have a lot of options where to go for beach options.
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Thanks, I think we are going to look at DIY options now.
let me know if you need any help, I've been about 14 times
Commissario
And that’s just this year
Re: Bangkok, that depends what you're into I guess. I love it, but given the OP's preferred activities I'd agree it's probably not what they're looking for. If you're going to one of the Southern islands you don't even have to fly to BKK at all, you can go straight to Phuket, which probably makes more sense than a very brief stop in BKK.
Re: Chiang Mai, I first visited there in 2018 and I loved it. However, I was back in Dec last year and really didn't enjoy it at all. I think the legalisation of marijuana hasn't done it any favours - it's always had a lot of dipsh*t backpacker types, but now they're more obnoxious than ever. Walking around, I felt like I hardly saw any Thai faces at all.
And sadly, the "fresh air" part is a thing of the past as well, at least at some times of year. Chiang Mai has topped "most polluted city in the world" charts when the farmers are busy burning their fields in February and March (also a problem in the rest of the country, to be fair).
Soldato
I loved Chang Mai back in 2009 when I was travelling.
Soldato
It felt fresh when I went in Dec 2015. Also I was contrasting it to the smog of BKK.
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Thanks. I think I've found one of the local airlines that does a flight and ferry ticket from Bangkok to Chumphon then across to Koh Tao. All the hotels and flights seem very reasonably priced when booked direct.
Associate
Don't do this. just book your flights and then book hotels by themselves, its so so easy to get around in Thailand.
The point being that, for some parts of the year, including when the OP may well be planning to visit, the smog in Chiang Mai is significantly worse than BKK.
Soldato
I hated BKK on my second visit. Couldn't wait to get out.
Ladies of the night everywhere, rats running along the pylons and loads of cars and traffic.
When I landed in Chiang Mia (Dec 2015) I stepped off the plane and could breath. And was happy to see flowers growing on the side of the road.
It was a massive relief.
Ladies of the night everywhere, rats running along the pylons and loads of cars and traffic.
When I landed in Chiang Mia (Dec 2015) I stepped off the plane and could breath. And was happy to see flowers growing on the side of the road.
It was a massive relief.
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I am probably a bit late to this thread, but Khao Lak in Phang-nga (just north of Phuket) is a decent shout. I've been about 3-4 times.
There's hiking trails all across Phang-nga, and possibly the best snorkelling/diving in Thailand available in the Similan Islands in close proximity. Seems a good fit for you, based on your initial requirements of being active.
There's hiking trails all across Phang-nga, and possibly the best snorkelling/diving in Thailand available in the Similan Islands in close proximity. Seems a good fit for you, based on your initial requirements of being active.
Packages do help though.
The first time I went, we went to Phi Phi.
Virgin Holidays handled the lot.
On the last day, we awoke and got ready to go home. Flight showed 12:01 on the last day of the holiday. When we checked the paperwork to get flight information we were horrified to see 12:01am on the document... when everything else we have from Virgin was written using the 24hr clock. Also... Our last night was the night we just used and had paid for...
We had missed our flights, which had the potential to be a nightmare. However, called Virgin Holidays rep up at the desk. Explained the issue about the 24hr clock on paperwork, our 14 nights paid for having the last one the night just gone etc... and the flights seem to have been booked on the wrong day by the agent.
They agreed instantly, placed us on the next available flight which was the next day and got the Hotel to place us back in our room for the extra night.
All with zero additional cost to ourselves.
The above WOULD NOT have happened if we didn't use a package holiday. (the whole fixing the issue for free bit)
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One of the things I love about Thailand is the ease in which you can do everything and usually at a decent price
Booking a package trip is very limiting imo especially if you like to explore, you can book flights to Bangkok then maybe pre book a hotel for the first couple of days then just play it by ear. flights, hotels and excursions are very easy to book while you’re there and there’s some nice hotels at decent prices.
It’s really great having the freedom to move around at your own pace or to change plans on a whim.
Booking a package trip is very limiting imo especially if you like to explore, you can book flights to Bangkok then maybe pre book a hotel for the first couple of days then just play it by ear. flights, hotels and excursions are very easy to book while you’re there and there’s some nice hotels at decent prices.
It’s really great having the freedom to move around at your own pace or to change plans on a whim.
No they don't. If you had booked your flight yourself then I highly doubt you would have missed your flight as you would have known without a doubt what time it is.
Don't you mean:
The above WOULD NOT have happened if we didn't use a package holiday. (the whole
