Question about Thailand for those who know it well

[cheezncrackers]

We're thinking of going to Thailand at New Year. Our kids insist on being at home at Christmas, so the entire trip will only be 12 days in total, of which two will be travel days. This is the maximum we can do leaving on Boxing Day and returning in time for them to go back to school.

I've drawn up an itinerary which includes 3 nights in Chiang Mai, 4 nights in Koh Samui and 3 nights in Bangkok. We've never been to Thailand before and don't know if we'll ever go back, so I want us to get a nice taste of the place. However, given the short time we'll have there, would you recommend sticking to just two of our three destinations? Most of the reading I've done online recommends 5 nights in Koh Samui and around the same in Bangkok. Our kids don't like cultural stuff and won't care about visiting temples. They like nice hotels, shopping, animals and eating out. We will, of course, hit a few temples, but our focus will not be on high culture. TIA.

We did Thailand this Christmas/New Year - 3 nights in Bangkok, 3 nights in Chiang Mai, 3 nights in Khao Sok and then 4 nights in Phuket.

In Bangkok we stayed on the river (between the Sathorn and Asiatique which have already been mentioned). It was great fun watching all the river traffic.

Chiang Mai was beautiful and not at all smoggy..

After all the beautiful places we'd been to, Phuket (we were in Karon) was a bit of a culture shock - like any old tacky resort. It was also really really hot. We never bothered with the breach and just stayed by the hotel pool - we figured it wasn't going to beat the places we'd already been. So if I could change anything, I'd just book a nice hotel near the airport for the last few days of relaxing .

We flew back from Phuket to Manchester, worth doing to reduce travel time.

We had an amazing time overall, I'm envious that you've got it all to look forward to 😀

So jealous OP, we went this summer and loved it. 2 dc, 14 and 16 who love shopping. We had 2 nights in Bangkok but I wish we had had another night. We got the river boat down to Tha Chang Pier and looked at the temples. At the pier there were people offering trips to the floating markets, which we did and enjoyed. Probably a complete rip off though! We did more exploring then got a taxi to the MBK Centre. This was the highlight of the trip for the dc - they purchased quite a bit of fake gear and got really good at haggling! Although as ds is tall, none of the shoes they had were big enough. There was so much more to see, would have loved another day there.

I would then fly to Chiang Mai and then down to somewhere near Phuket airport.

As we were there in the summer, we stayed on Koh Samui for 5 nights which actually was probably a night too long.

We loved Phuket, I have a teenage DD who similar to your children and she loved it.
Koi Samui was like paradise, but might be quiet for teenagers.
I hate Bangkok but DD loved all the shopping!!

Do this. Not keen on Bangkok. But loved other areas of Thailand including Phuket & CM. CM was my favourite

I've been to Phuket/koh samui among others and love them all but my absolute favourite beach place in Thailand is Railay in Krabi. I've been to Bangkok on stopovers a few times but two nights is enough for me. I went to the floating markets many years ago and enjoyed it.

I've also been at Easter as well as Christmas and August. I found the temperature fine for them but a lot more rain in August.

We love Khao Lak. Around 90 mins drive from Phuket airport. The JW Marriott there is beautiful, it's the one place we'll go back to again and again

For the floating market have a look at https://www.khanom-travel.com/
we used them twice in BKK for a full day of sightseeing - you can use their excursion ideas and adapt to your own. The contact is called Gary Cato and they are private tours.

Ooh, I've been wanting to go to Railay forever. Do you have any tips on hotels/restaurants?

So many great tips - thank you!

Thanks @GreenGermany - I think we'll be fine with three nights in Bangkok. We like cities and we're not the kind of family that is out from dawn to late at night with no break, getting all hot and bothered. We go and do something in the morning, return to the hotel to chill out, swim, read, then go out again later in the day. So as long as the hotel is comfortable and has a decent breakfast, pool and gym, we'll be happy. I think if we do visit the floating markets a properly guided excursion is probably the way to do it, so thanks for the recommendation @Kapalika

I've been doing a bit of research about Khao Lak and I'll look at Railay too, as these both sound far more like the kind of place we'd enjoy. Phuket looks very built up with tacky, crowded resorts and that's not our scene at all (although our older DS will probably be 18 by the time we go and he may disagree 😆)

I'm glad that Chiang Mai isn't always smoggy in winter and hope that we'll be lucky. I can see us really enjoying it if the air is okay.

Second the Khanom travel recommendation, we used them for a Bangkok tour and we loved it. I reckon the amount we saved in food and transport costs with his local knowledge easily covered his guide frees

Railay is wonderful but gets very crowded. If you stay there you are a bit isolated as you can only get to it by boat. If you stayed at Krabi you could just get a boat out there for a few hours, which is all it takes to see all of it. Staying in Krabi opens up loads of excursions to you and there is wonderful karst scenery to see. I have stayed just outside Krabi on the beach. The hotel ran a bus service into the town.

May I butt-in and ask:

If anyone here has experience Koh Chang?

Where on Koh Samu’s would you be able to snorkel from the beach and see reefs/turtles etc?

Railay is wonderful but gets very crowded. If you stay there you are a bit isolated as you can only get to it by boat.

Ah - I don't think that would suit us then. What is Ao Nang like?

@mildlydispeptic I stay in the cheaper accommodation on Tonsai so not really! We love the no cars and relaxed vibe and haven't found it too crowded. We do excursions straight from there starting on a boat so haven't felt isolated - just in an amazing bubble!

I haven't been to any hotels in Ao Nang either - just been there to get boat to Railay/Tonsai and to visit the tailor.

Rock climbing there is super but still great if not a climber.

I went end of Jan and did BKK>Chang Mai> KS > phi phi > phuket. I think this was 18 ish days so if you're doing 2 fewer locations you'll be fine for 12 days. Samui did rain a tad overnight the first night or 2 but was beautiful weather after. But definitely could be wet in Dec.

We stayed at the Sala Samui which I adored and dream of going back to. I would actually try and stay at a sala in chang mai and phuket if I went again

Khao Lak is nice if you want a relaxed beach stay in a nice new resort. The resorts are lovely, but there’s not much else to do in that area. There are quite a few local shops, a little market and heaps of inexpensive restaurants outside the resorts. And we did an amazing cooking class there. It’s an easy 1 hr drive from Phuket.

Thanks @sunflowerdaisyrose and to @cheezncrackers for starting the thread! Really good intel!

There are still parts of Phuket that aren't sleazy or nasty, e.g. the Nai Harm/Rawai area. Ao Nang in Krabi is also nice too, although the beaches aren't as lovely as the islands. However it is really close to Railay for day trips. I live in Bangkok and I am one of those who despise Chatuchak! I find it too large to navigate, I can never find anything I want, and it's too hot. My top recommendations for Bangkok are a night river cruise, a rooftop bar for cocktails, and an evening wandering around the Sanam Chan area, or maybe Chinatown and Rambuttri Road.

@cheezncrackers what did you end up deciding? Any advice?!

We ended up deciding not to go Thailand, so I'm afraid I can't give you any advice. We'll go, one of these days ...