Thailand

[JorisBonson]

DH and I hoping to go on a very belated honeymoon to Thailand in January for around 2 1/2 weeks (🤞🤞).

He's been but only to Phuket for a martial arts camp. I've never been and am overwhelmed by the choice!

What shall we do? We're both love to do cultural things - our most recent trip was to Japan and we just walked for hours and hours every day seeing temples and things you could only see in Japan. We're also massive foodies and will want to eat everything!

A few beach days would be great as well as somewhere for a bit of a night out (not clubbing!).

Would like to go to an elephant sanctuary but I'm very wary of finding a real ethical one. Don't want to touch them or ride on them or anything.

I'm not overly excited about Bangkok but understand we'll need to have a night there either side. If anyone could share their itinerary would be appreciated!

www.lonelyplanet.com/thailand/bangkok
It's a great place. So much to do and see. Lots of culture and temples to see. A few days in Bangkok is great and then a week on the beach.
We went bike riding with Co Van Kessel (guided tours by bike). Highly recommend.

www.covankessel.com/
This was a great trip too. I think Thailand ticks a lot of boxes. You just have to recognise the tourist rip offs.

Been to Thailand 3 times and its amazing. Don't write off Bangkok as its a superb town and has some incredible places. River tour is fantastic, the shopping malls are fab and the royal palace and temples are great.

We went to a quiet resort next to an Elephant Sanctuary about an hour out of Chiang Mai. You will have a fab time.

I would add Jim Thompson’s house to the list of things to do in Bangkok
From Bangkok it’s easy to visit Ayutthaya and Kanchanaburi (death railway) which has a great little museum.
I’ve been to Phuket a few times and like the north of the island.
Chiang Mai is also lovely: absolutely filled with temples. We stayed at the Rachamankha hotel which was within walking distance of temples etc but felt quite calm and relaxing in the hotel.
I recommend the Ariyasom villa in Bangkok: small hotel, lovely staff and walking distance to the sky train which is essential as Bangkok traffic is insane.

@ShanghaiDiva I didn't know about the death railway, that's definitely on the list, thank you (without sounding morbid!)

Chiang Mai is definitely up there too. Is it worth doing a week in the north and a week in the south?

Yes. In the North, Chang Mai, Chang Rai and Pai are all beautiful and worth a visit. In the south/Central area there's a great elephant sanctuary that is quite ethical, I'll link to it if I can remember what it's called! Some of the national parks and beaches down there are amazing as well, or use your second week for some island hopping, the Similans or the Koh Tao chain, for example.
Don't do to the actual south though, not much there and technically in a conflict.

Elephant Hills in Khao Sok is the place I've had recommended to me.

Bangkok is brilliant with so much to see and do. I second Jim Thompson's house too. We spent four days in Bangkok and could have honestly done a couple more. We then took an internal flight to Krabi and stayed at this hotel which was really lovely www.tubkaakresort.com/

Have a great time.

I’ve been a few times but the last time we went was a great itinerary. We did about 16/17 nights in total, including flights over there. We managed to arrange it on a year where Easter is late and so using both the Easter weekend and May bank holiday we had 18 days off using 9 days leave.

Bangkok - 1 night (palaces, Koh san road)
Night train to Chiang Mai (1st class so had our own cabin - not luxurious but a great experience)
Chiang Mai - 4 nights (rescue elephant sanctuary, temples, spa, cooking lessons)
Flew to Koh Samui then straight on a ferry to Koh Tao
Koh Tao (snorkelling, beach, boat trips) - 4 nights
Ferry to Koh samui
Koh samui - 4 nights (beach bars, markets, pool time, nice meals out)
Fly back to Bangkok for 1 night before flying home.

Khao Lak is lovely for honeymoon

@LilyE1234 thank you, great itinerary! Definitely want to get a cooking lesson in.

Thanks everyone so far, this is great. I really hope we can go.

Thanks @Ulelia, would much rather go somewhere on a recommendation, I'm very wary of the treatment of elephants in some places.

Seconding (or thirding?) jkk U.K. m Thompson’s house in Bangkok it’s fascinating and such a beautiful location. And but some silk with his designs while you’re there, or an elephant print.

So many typos, but I hope you get the gist.

Jim Thompson house has a lovely shop but it's not cheap. Try the factory outlet, it's all end of line stuff but you can get a real bargain. They have a department with fabric you can buy too.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiqm87mr-3wAhXOh1wKHaJDDKcQFjAAegQIFRAD&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tripadvisor.co.uk%2FAttractionReview-g293916-d622503-Reviews-JimmThompsonFactoryySoi933Outlet-Bangkok.html&usg=AOvVaw3RLIiRaG3Ii2oe1F0cxmX

Have you considered Vietnam? Personally, I much preferred it - less commercialised and seedy. Sure there's nice bits of Thailand but I've traveled a lot and have pretty diverse places I love but Thailand made me uncomfortable. Enjoy wherever you go :)

My link didn't work. The nearest BTS stop is On nut. It's on Trip advisor Jim Thompson factory outlet.

I felt the same way about Bangkok but I really enjoyed it. We got the day boat ticket where you can hop on and off all the main sites... Definitely worth doing.

We did two nights there and then went to Krabi for the remaining time. We visited Krabi Elephant Sanctuary which in hindsight isn’t really a sanctuary. Although they don’t let you ride the elephants, the elephants seem to have a routine. Try to find somewhere which doesn’t guarantee what the experience will be like - this means the elephants aren’t forced to do anything.

We did a 5 island boat tour which was super cheap but actually quite nice... just a nice way to see some of the small islands - it gets quite manic though! Make sure you take water shoes.

We went to Khao Sok National Park which is absolutely stunning - we were able to swim and then do a bit of hiking.

Visit the food markets as well.

I personally found doing just two cities/places enough as travelling gets exhausting.

We went to Thailand a few years ago and I’d love to go back. We did:
Bangkok - 2 nights
Chiangmai - went by sleeper train, stayed there for 4 nights and used it as the base for visiting an elephant sanctuary.
Koh Samui- we flew here from Chiangmai and stayed for 8 nights. We stayed in a quieter town called Lamai (?) on the east coast, it had a good no of shops/restaurants/bars, and we were able to take a shuttle up to the busier chaweng/fisherman’s village when we fancied.
Bangkok- 2 nights at the end.

It was all great, I loved it. We were there in rainy season, so saw lots of rain in Chiangmai, but luckily only one day of rain in koh samui. We were pleasantly surprised by Bangkok, had approached it as a quick stopover but loved the buzz of it. Traffic is horrendous so try to get a hotel close to the river and take water boats everywhere.
Like a pp said, Vietnam is also a good shout. It’s prob been my favourite trip to date. We flew into Hanoi, travelled down to Ho Chi Min City making various stops, and then crossed border into Cambodia to see Ankor Wat. Amazing! Gorgeous food. I can share my itinerary for that trip if you are interested.

Thailand is not open to tourists yet
When it does open there will be restrictions of what places you can visit
Need negative covid test & insurance
Possible quarantine
Things can change very quickly with covid

I don't think it will be the same as pre covid times

Love Thailand

@JorisBonson, you’re 100% right to be wary of some of the elephant sanctuaries. But on the flip side, it’s been an absolutely horrendous 14-15 months for sanctuaries in Thailand (and elsewhere) with difficulties in feeding the animals and paying vets bills - so do visit a genuinely ethical one, they need the money! My DH works in International animal welfare which has included both investigative work and visiting numerous sanctuaries in Thailand and they’ve needed a lot of propping up from Charities Here’s a list of ethical elephant sanctuaries in Thailand (and a few other countries) that World Animal Protection have put together: www.worldanimalprotection.org.uk/elephant-friendly-tourist-guide

PS - you have to scroll down the page to find the list!

There's so much to see in Bangkok - it's so full on! Been a while since I went to Thailand but so many temples to visit, floating market, Khao san rd for sheer weirdness.

We also went to chaing mai (was supposed to take the train on New Year's Day, but after nye in Bangkok we didn't make the train so had to get a fight. I loved chaing mai - so chilled and relaxed. We trekked up the mountains and stayed in a Karen village, which I'll never forget.

And for beach time we went to phi phi - hut on the beach in a resort, spent the week swimming, snorkelling and getting long tails or kayaking to some completely empty beaches. Magical.

@M00n0nastick628

Thailand is not open to tourists yet When it does open there will be restrictions of what places you can visit Need negative covid test & insurance Possible quarantine Things can change very quickly with covid

I don't think it will be the same as pre covid times

Love Thailand

I haven't even booked anything yet and won't until it's appropriate to do so. As I said in my OP, it's a hopeful honeymoon.

Thank you @SJaneS49, that's so helpful! DH went about a decade ago and was really upset at some of the things he saw.