Best of Thailand - 14 days

Upon your arrival at Suvarnabhumi Airport, you will meet your guide and transfer to your hotel on the Chaophraya River.

After checking-in at the hotel, the rest of your day is free at leisure.

Meals: Nil

Accommodation: There are 3 hotel ranges for your selection, please scroll down.

After breakfast, the first stop is Wat Pho – Bangkok’s oldest and largest temple. As you arrive early you can listen to the morning chants of the monks. In this temple, a huge statue of reclining Buddha is enshrined.

Next, you will see the Grand Complex which also encompasses Wat Phra Kaeo, one of Thailand’s most revered shrines, housing the statue of Emerald Buddha made from jade.

As you stop for lunch at a local Thai Restaurant, you will have the opportunity to savor various aromatic and delectable Thai delicacies.

Then, you will board a long-tail boat as to see the by-gone lifestyle of Bangkok people and the city’s maze of canals and waterways.

Later on, let’s take a break to behold the beauty of Wat Arun, which was built to architecturally represent Mount Meru, the centre of the world in Buddhist cosmology.

In the afternoon, you will return to the hotel and take some time to relax and get ready for the night program.

In the evening, you will visit ‘Adhere 13 Blues Café, a Bangkok’s venue with great ambiance and a place to mingle with locals and foreigners alike. This café is one of the best places in town to have a cold beer or a glass of wine while listening to live jazz and blues. The house band plays BB King, Louis Armstrong and John Lee Hooker to the appreciative crowd.

After a couple of relaxing hours, you will be picked up and transfer back to the hotel.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation: There are 3 hotel ranges for your selection, please scroll down.

During the day, you are free to explore the city at leisure.

In the evening, you will meet your guide and be ready for a foodie walking tour in one of the oldest areas in the city, where the Chinese community has been residing for years.

The Chinatown market comes alive in the evening with a brilliant array of Thai and Chinese delicacies ranging from finger food, main courses to desserts. You can also find varieties of tropical fruits here.

Then, you can spend your time around the street stalls, trying appealing foods. This is a rare opportunity to test your taste buds and challenge yourself with new dishes that cannot be seen anywhere at home. One suggestion, let’s try some durian, the pungent smelling fruit with a creamy texture and questionably rich flavor. Once you finish, you may enter the nearby music bar to relax for a while.

Later, the driver will pick you up and drop you at the hotel.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Accommodation: There are 3 hotel ranges for your selection, please scroll down.

Today, you will join a Thai cooking class to create some real delicacies, and join hands to help the locals from the nearby slum areas.

In the morning, you will visit the largest wet market in Bangkok – Talad Klong Toey and select several fresh ingredients for your own menu. Then, you retunr to the kitchen where your instructor guide you how to prepare a delicious Thai meal. Once the cooking is complete, you will get a chance to sit down and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Your cooking instructors are the locals in surrounding areas with difficult situations. By joining the cooking class, you also join a hand in providing jobs and some additional income for them to support their families.

Afterwards, you will return to your hotel for leisure.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation: There are 3 hotel ranges for your selection, please scroll down.

Upon checking-out in the late morning, you will head toward the West and stop by Mae Klong to catch up with one of the most unique market in Southeast Asia – the railway market.

You will see vendors lining up and covering all rail tracks with their colorful goods and specialties. As soon as the train approaches, they ‘retract’ the stalls with lightning speed, right before it crosses by. Then, they just reassemble the whole market as if nothing has ever happened.

Everything here is fresh and market-oriented, thus, you may buy for yourself some treats with reasonable prices.

After the market visit, you will stop at a nearby local restaurant for a delicious local lunch.

Then, the trip continues as you drive up North and enjoy another interesting experience at a local village in Kanchanaburi.

First, you will pay a visit to the village shrine. Then, let’s spend some time at a fan palm orchard in the rice paddy field to observe how the locals collect the palm products. It would be a chance for you to try some best-in-the-world tropical fruits.

Afterwards, you will be able to observe the demonstration of a ritual to strengthen and comfort the spirit of the Rice Goddess as you may enhance personal understandings on how important the rice plantation has been in Thai farming society.

Later, you will return to the village along the dirt track cutting through the fields. You can observe some seasonal activities and pleasant sights of cattle, patches of lotus, sugar cane and corn farms. You may enjoy the making of sticky-rice crisps with the local villagers. Next, let’s take a glimpse at a cluster of Thai styled houses and earthen pots reflecting the local belief in their ancestral spirit.

For a short break during the visit, you may enjoy the coffee served with fan palm cake and visit the village weaving centre. Hand-woven clothes, bamboo handicrafts and sticky rice or palm clear whisky and wine are available for direct shopping from the local producers.

After the tour finishes in the early evening, you will head to the pier and board the boat to the floating hotel where you can rest and relax at leisure.

Dinner will be served at the hotel.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: There are 3 hotel ranges for your selection, please scroll down.

After breakfast, start your day with a visit to Hellfire Pass, the impressive Australian-built complex consisting of a memorial and a walking trail. This informative museum exhibits artifacts and true stories about the Thai-Burma Railway.

Next, let’s take a walk along the “Bamboo Path,” the same route that the POWs took to work and through a large bamboo grove, providing the most memorable views of Hellfire Pass and to hear the story of how its name was derived.

Then, you will stop at the gigantic Erawan Waterfall in Erawan National Park. You can walk all the way up to the top of the waterfall or have a swim in the crystal clear water at a random level of the falls presented with emerald green ponds. After spending a couple of hours here, you will leave by noon and head towards the famous historical city Ayutthaya.

Lunch will be served in a local restaurant as you savor the flavorful Thai cuisines.

If time permits, you can drop by the Bang Pa-In Palace, which was earlier used by the kings of Thailand as their summer residence.

You will arrive at Ayutthaya in the evening. After checking-in at the hotel, you can relax and enjoy the night in this historic city.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation: There are 3 hotel ranges for your selection, please scroll down.

After early morning breakfast, you will check-out and begin your day by cycling around the city.

The trip will take you to visit Diamond Fortress, one of the sixteen fortresses in the walls of Ayutthaya. Although the fort has been partially destroyed, it still conveys the ancient travellers’ first impressions of the Kingdom of Siam.

Later on, you may continue riding through local neighborhoods and pass by so-called “Roti Road”. Dozens of vendors offer colorful “Roti Sai Mai” bags, one of the most famous Thai desserts in Ayutthaya – threads of twirled palm sugar wrapped in round unleavened bread.

Then, you head to the renown Ayutthaya Historical Park, an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991, as you can see the ruins of the old temples here. Stop by the Wat Phra Sri Sanphet, one of the most important temples of Ayutthaya situated within the Royal Palace grounds.

The next stop is at Wat Mahathat, best known for its photogenic Buddha’s head entwined within the roots of a tree. It is one of the most recognizable images from Thailand and can be found on many post cards and travel books.

Once the tour finishes, your guide and driver will pick you up at the meeting point and enjoy some lunch time before heading toward Bueng Boraphet in Nakhon Sawan.

You will ride on a boat along the lake and observe the breath-taking scenery of Thailand’s nature. It is the largest freshwater swamp and lake in Central Thailand, boasting over 200 square kilometers of land. Almost 200 species of animals and plants have been found in the area, the rarest including the white-eyed river martin and the Siamese Tiger Fish. In March, fluttering grebes migrate to the lake, also home to Asian Open Bills and Pheasant-Winged Jacanas.

Later in the evening, you will be driven to Phisanulok where you can visit Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat before checking-in at the hotel.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation: There are 3 hotel ranges for your selection, please scroll down.

In the morning, you will depart for Chiang Mai, located five hours away. There will be several stopping points along the way for sightseeing. 

Firstly, you will pass by Si Satchanalai, a 12th-century Khmer outpost which was once a royal residence during the Sukhothai period, to visit the historical park highlights, including Wat Chedi Chet Thaeo, a mausoleum built to enshrine the remains of the ruling families, and Wat Chang Lom, one of the largest and best-preserved temples in the area.

Next, you will stop for a while at the town of Lampang, once an important centre in the international teak trade during the British Raj.

By noon, take some break time and enjoy a traditional Thai lunch in a local restaurant. Then, you can wander around the impressive, Wat Phra That Lampang Luang and Wat Phra Kaeo Don Tao, once housed the sacred Emerald Buddha statue.

At the end of the day, you will arrive in Chiang Mai and check-in to your hotel.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation: There are 3 hotel ranges for your selection, please scroll down.

Getting up early, head out with your guide to view and take part in the small ritual in the daily routine of the older Thai Kingdom.

You will observe locals ‘making merit’ by giving food items to the bare footed monks shrouded in orange colored clothing. Then, you take a short tour to the riverside Warorot market. It is mostly visited by locals but has a wide range of goods on sale of high quality and excellent bargains.

From the market, you head to Thapae Gate, one of the four original city gates, where you continue by “Samlor,” or rickshaw. You have the opportunity to stop at Wat Chiang Man, Wat Chedi Luang and Wat Phra Singh. The last temple is Wat Suandok, where you meet an English-speaking monk for a chat.

After returning to the hotel around noon, you are free to explore the city at leisure.

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation: There are 3 hotel ranges for your selection, please scroll down.

Note:

For the free time in the afternoon, you may continue visiting the famous Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, located at the summit of 1,676 meter-high Doi Suthep Mountain towering over the city.

To access the main temple, a Thai devotee would typically take the 300 step stairs leading to the temple but it can also be accessed by a cable tram, which is a more convenient option. The cool air and spectacular views is definitely worth your effort.

Today, you are free at leisure to explore the city and nearby markets.

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation: There are 3 hotel ranges for your selection, please scroll down.

Note:

For the free time today, you may head out to a spa for a soothing and relaxing massage.

In the evening, you are recommended to join the famous night bazaar of Chiang Mai. The place is a modern legacy of the original Yunnanese trading caravans that stopped here along the ancient trade route between Simao (in China) and Mawlamyaing (on Myanmar’s Gulf of Martaban coast).

Today, you will transfer to Chiang Mai Airport for a flight to Krabi in Southern Thailand. Upon arrival, you will transfer to the hotel.

The rest of the day is free for you to take-in the beauty of this city and its beaches at leisure.

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation: There are 3 hotel ranges for your selection, please scroll down.

In the morning, you will head to the Sea Kayak pier at Ao Thalane and transfer to Koh Hong by a long-tail boat.

From here, you will board the kayaks and enjoy exploring the fantastic area around Hong Island. You can swim, snorkel or feed the fish.

After lunch, the long-tail boat will take you for a cruise through the surrounding small island.

Then, you will arrive back at Ao Thalane and board kayaks to further explore the mangrove forest, limestone mountain, lagoons and canyon. Several species of Kingfishers, Little Herons and Crab Eating Macaques are usually seen in this area.

Later, you will be transfer back to the hotel.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation: There are 3 hotel ranges for your selection, please scroll down.

Today, you are free at leisure to relax on the pristine beaches of Krabi.

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation: There are 3 hotel ranges for your selection, please scroll down.

Note:

One suggestion for today’s free time is heading out to Railay and joining the cliff climbing at its famous Lime Stone. Or, you can simply swim in the natural emerald pool set in the middle of the Krabi Wilderness.

You will transfer to Krabi Airport for a flight back to Bangkok and onward to your next destination.

Meals: Breakfast