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Ideas for your time in Thailand, with places to book them and a few Thai words for each. We recommend these; we don't run them. Check the details with the company before you book.
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Compare flights from wherever you are. Once you land, trains, buses and ferries go almost everywhere, and you can book those ahead too.
Where: Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK) for most long-haul flights, or Phuket and Chiang Mai to land closer to the beach or the mountains.
💡 Check the entry rules for your passport before you book. They change from time to time.
Hire a car or a motorbike and stop wherever you like: viewpoints, hot springs, night markets. Or let a bus do the driving.
Where: The Mae Hong Son Loop from Chiang Mai, through Pai, is famous for its curves. The coast road south of Bangkok and the quiet roads of Isan are easier going.
💡 You need an International Driving Permit as well as your licence, and a motorbike licence to ride one. Check your travel insurance covers it, and always wear a helmet.
Thailand is easy to cross without flying. A sleeper train is an adventure in itself, and a bus-and-boat ticket gets you to most islands in one booking.
Where: Overnight sleeper trains run from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and down to the south. Ferries link the mainland with Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao, Koh Chang and the Andaman islands.
💡 Book sleeper berths a few days ahead, especially at weekends and Thai holidays. Lower berths are a little wider.
Some of the best food in Thailand costs a few coins from a cart. Wander on your own, or join a guided food tour to try dishes you wouldn’t know to order.
Where: Yaowarat (Chinatown) in Bangkok, the Sunday Walking Street in Chiang Mai, and the night market in almost every Thai town.
💡 Pick the busy stalls: a queue of locals means fresh food. Say “mâi pèt” if you can’t take chilli.
Shop for ingredients at a local market, then cook four or five dishes, such as pad thai, green curry and tom yum, and eat everything you make.
Where: Chiang Mai is the cooking-class capital, often with a market visit and a farm kitchen. Bangkok, Sukhothai, Krabi and the islands have good ones too.
💡 Tell the school about allergies or a vegetarian diet when you book. Most will change the recipes for you.
See elephants in the wild, take a night safari with a ranger, or spend a day at an open zoo.
Where: Khao Yai, a few hours from Bangkok, has wild elephants, gibbons and hornbills. Kaeng Krachan is for birdwatchers. Khao Kheow Open Zoo and Chiang Mai Zoo suit families.
💡 If you meet wild elephants on a park road, stay in the car, keep your distance and let them pass. Never feed wild animals.
Walk with elephants through the forest, help prepare their food and watch them being elephants. A day most children never forget.
Where: Most are in the hills around Chiang Mai, with others near Phuket, Kanchanaburi and Koh Samui. Many look after elephants rescued from logging and tourist camps.
💡 Choose a sanctuary with no riding, no shows and no bathing with the elephants. If a place lets you ride or hold animals for photos, give it a miss.
A cool, easy day out with children on a hot afternoon: sharks, rays and turtles behind the glass, or slides and wave pools.
Where: SEA LIFE Bangkok Ocean World sits under a shopping centre in the middle of Bangkok. Phuket and Pattaya have big aquariums and water parks.
💡 Water parks get busy at weekends and in school holidays. Go on a weekday and bring a rash vest: the sun is strong even on cloudy days.
Half-day and full-day courses take complete beginners up their first routes, and experienced climbers can hire gear and a guide.
Where: Railay and Tonsai in Krabi, where limestone cliffs rise straight out of the sea. Crazy Horse Buttress near Chiang Mai is the north’s climbing spot.
💡 Go in the morning, before the rock gets hot, and check how old the bolts are on sea cliffs. Salt air wears them out.
Learn to dive from scratch, or swim over coral reefs with turtles and reef sharks. Snorkelling trips need no training at all.
Where: Koh Tao is one of the world’s busiest places to learn to dive. The Similan and Surin Islands are the famous liveaboard trips, open from mid-October to mid-May.
💡 Spearfishing is banned in Thailand’s marine national parks, where most of the coral is, so we don’t list it. Look, photograph, and leave the reef as you found it.
Charter a boat for deep-sea game fish, or join a relaxed longtail trip, and often eat what you catch.
Where: Day and night trips leave from Phuket, Krabi, Koh Samui and Pattaya. Night squid fishing, under bright lamps, is a Thai favourite.
💡 Ask what is included before you go: rods, bait, food, and whether you can keep the catch.
Fishing parks rent you everything, so you can turn up and fish. Most are catch and release.
Where: Fishing parks near Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket and Chiang Mai are stocked with big fish like the Mekong giant catfish. Rivers and reservoirs up north are wilder.
💡 Fishing parks set their own rules on hooks and keeping fish. Ask before you cast.
From an hour’s walk to a waterfall to several days in the hills, sleeping in village homestays.
Where: Doi Inthanon, Thailand’s highest mountain, has short nature trails. Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai run treks through hill-tribe villages, and Khao Sok has rainforest and a huge lake in the south.
💡 Some national park trails can only be walked with a local guide. Start early and carry more water than you think.
Ride in a 4x4 convoy on jungle tracks and river crossings, or join a guided dirt-bike tour if you already ride.
Where: The mountains around Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son and Chiang Rai have the best dirt tracks, up to hill-tribe villages and viewpoints. Khao Kho and the Isan hills are quieter.
💡 Go with a guide who knows the tracks: they turn to deep mud in the rainy season, roughly May to October.
Drive your own quad bike along jungle and farm tracks, often with a waterfall or viewpoint stop. No experience needed.
Where: ATV parks and jungle trails around Chiang Mai, Phuket, Krabi, Koh Samui and Pattaya. Most trips include a short practice lap first.
💡 Wear the helmet, check that the brakes work before you set off, and make sure your travel insurance covers quad bikes. Many policies don’t.
Commission-free: these link only to official pages.
From royal temples in Bangkok to the ruined capitals of Ayutthaya and Sukhothai, mountain temples in the north and the quiet forest monasteries of the northeast. Take it in pieces or as one long journey.
Where: Bangkok (Wat Pho, Wat Arun, the Emerald Buddha at Wat Phra Kaew) → Nakhon Pathom (Phra Pathom Chedi) → Ayutthaya → Sukhothai → Chiang Mai (Doi Suthep) → Chiang Rai (the White Temple) → Phimai → Ubon Ratchathani (Wat Nong Pah Pong, Ajahn Chah’s forest monastery) → Nakhon Si Thammarat (Wat Phra Mahathat).
💡 Cover your shoulders and knees, take your shoes off before a hall with Buddha images, and never point your feet at a Buddha image or a monk.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Getting to Thailand by Vyacheslav Argenberg (CC BY 4.0) · A temple route across Thailand by Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Rock climbing by Maria Ly (CC BY 2.0) · Scuba diving and snorkelling by Eli Duke (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Sea fishing by Radek Kucharski (CC BY 2.0) · Freshwater fishing by Takeaway (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Hiking and trekking by Douglas Perkins (CC BY 4.0) · Wildlife, zoos and national parks by Pailoolom (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Road trips by Christophe95 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Off-road expeditions by Maxim Cruiser (CC BY 3.0) · Quad biking by Maxim Cruiser (CC BY 3.0) · Trains, buses and island ferries by Fabio Achilli (CC BY 2.0) · Street food and night markets by David McKelvey (CC BY 2.0) · Thai cooking classes by Elmschrat (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Ethical elephant sanctuaries by Nina R (CC BY 2.0) · Aquariums and water parks by กสิณธร ราชโอรส (CC BY-SA 4.0)