Thailand

Discover the wonders of Thailand with our complete travel guide! Learn about the weather and find out the best times to plan your visit. Get tips on transportation options and how to move around easily. Explore top cities and must-see destinations that will make your trip unforgettable. Enjoy recommendations for delicious local food and uncover hidden gems most tourists never find.

Weather and Best Time To Visit

For Bangkok and Central Thailand, November to February offers cooler, dry weather with temperatures around 26-32°C. Avoid April, the hottest month, when temperatures often exceed 35°C.

In Northern Thailand (Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai), November to February has cool temperatures (15-28°C) and little rainfall. These conditions are ideal for mountain trekking and outdoor activities.

The Gulf Coast (Koh Samui, Koh Phangan) is best visited from February to September which provides dry, sunny conditions. December to February has slightly cooler temperatures.

For the Andaman Coast (Phuket, Krabi, Phi Phi), November to April has dry weather and calm seas. May to October brings the monsoon season with heavy rains and rough waters.

Eastern Thailand (Pattaya, Koh Chang) is most pleasant from November to March, offering sunny days with moderate temperatures. September has the heaviest rainfall.

How to Get There

Across Thailand, airports serve as entry points to different regions of the country. Most international travelers arrive at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, which handles the majority of long-haul flights. Don Mueang International Airport, also in Bangkok, primarily serves domestic routes and regional flights within Asia.

If you're heading to southern Thailand's beaches, Phuket International Airport provides direct access to Phuket and surrounding coastal areas. For northern Thailand, Chiang Mai International Airport is the main gateway to the mountainous region and its cultural attractions.

Several smaller airports serve specific destinations throughout the country:

• Krabi International Airport and Hat Yai International Airport connect travelers to less-crowded southern regions
• Samui Airport offers direct flights to Koh Samui
• U-Tapao International Airport has expanded in recent years to accommodate increasing traffic to Pattaya and Thailand's eastern seaboard

Thailand's airport network ensures that most major tourist destinations are accessible by air, making it convenient to reach your preferred location.

How to Get Around

Thailand connects travelers through a network of practical transport options that suit many journeys. Buses and minivans link towns and cities across the country at prices that won't empty wallets. Trains roll between major destinations, giving passengers time to watch the countryside pass by their window. To reach islands like Koh Samui or Phuket, car and van ferries carry visitors from mainland ports across blue waters to sandy shores.

When time matters more than scenery, domestic flights shrink the journey between Bangkok and places like Chiang Mai or Phuket from hours to minutes. In cities, the three-wheeled tuk-tuks zip through narrow streets, offering not just transportation but a memory to take home. Bangkok locals navigate their daily commute on the elevated BTS Skytrain and underground MRT, avoiding the gridlock below.

Look for motorcycle taxi drivers in their bright vests standing at street corners, ready to weave through stopped traffic. In smaller towns and beach areas, converted pickup trucks called songthaews carry multiple passengers along set routes.

Island hoppers rely on companies like Lomprayah and Seatran Discovery, whose high-speed ferries connect dots across the Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea, turning a map of scattered islands into a connected journey.

Local Food Scene

You'll find that Thai cuisine tells a story with each bite. In Bangkok, locals queue for hours at Thip Samai, where the cooks flip Pad Thai in woks over blazing flames, the noodles dancing as they caramelize. When the summer heat becomes unbearable, nothing cools like the sharp tang of Tom Yum Goong, where fragrant lemongrass and lime cut through the richness of prawns. At small Isaan eateries, families gather around plates of Som Tam, pounding fresh papaya in giant mortars until it absorbs the perfect balance of fish sauce, lime, and chilies.

Food Markets & Street Food Havens

As evening falls on Yaowarat Road in Bangkok's Chinatown, food carts light up and the air fills with smoke from grilling seafood. In Chiang Mai Night Bazaar, cooks who learned recipes from their grandparents serve dishes unchanged for generations. At Phuket Weekend Night Market, fishermen's catches transform into meals within hours of leaving the sea.

Regional Specialties

The mountains of the North shape dishes like Khao Soi, where egg noodles swim in coconut curry topped with crispy noodle nests. In the Northeast, farmers celebrate harvests with plates of Larb, minced meat brightened with herbs from their gardens. Southern cooks in Krabi and Phuket blend Massaman curry with potatoes and peanuts, reflecting the region's historical trade connections.

Fine Dining Experiences

• Bangkok: Gaggan Anand, Le Normandie
• Phuket: Bampot Kitchen
• Chiang Mai: David's Kitchen
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Notable Restaurants

• Jay Fai (Bangkok) - The 70-year-old cook in goggles who earned a Michelin star making crab omelets over charcoal
• Bo.lan (Bangkok) - Where forgotten recipes return to tables using ingredients from small farms
• Blue Elephant (Phuket) - Housed in a colonial mansion where century-old recipes come to life

Hidden Gems to Visit

Ban Kru Thani Floating Market, Samut Songkhram
Morning fog lifts as wooden boats gently bump against each other on the canal. An elderly woman ladles steaming soup into a bowl, while another arranges mangoes and rambutans in neat piles. This is Ban Kru Thani, where locals have traded from boats for generations. Unlike its famous counterparts, you'll see few foreign faces here, just Thais going about their weekend shopping.

Come Saturday or Sunday between 6-10am, when the water traffic peaks and the aromas of grilling meat and fresh coffee fill the air. To get there:

• -Catch a minivan from Bangkok's Southern Bus Terminal (Sai Tai Mai) to Samut Songkhram (90 minutes)
• -Then hire a local songthaew for the final stretch
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Wat Ban Tham Dragon Temple, Kanchanaburi
Walking into the mouth of a dragon isn't something you do every day. At Wat Ban Tham, visitors climb through the serpent's body, up stone stairs that represent the path toward Buddhist wisdom. At the top, a quiet shrine rewards those who make the journey. The surrounding hills create a backdrop that changes with the seasons, lush green in rainy months, golden-brown when dry.

Early weekday mornings offer solitude and cooler air for the climb. From Bangkok:

• -Take the train from Thonburi Station to Kanchanaburi (3 hours)
• -Then hire a local taxi or motorbike to reach the temple grounds
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Phraya Nakhon Cave, Prachuap Khiri Khan
Around 10am, sunlight breaks through the cave ceiling, falling directly onto a small royal pavilion built inside this underground chamber. The light shifts minute by minute, creating different shadows and highlights on the ornate structure. Getting here requires effort, a boat ride followed by a climb up a forested hill, but the moment when you first see the illuminated pavilion makes everyone stop and stare.

Plan to arrive between 10am and noon for the best light show. To reach the cave:

• -Take a bus from Bangkok to Prachuap Khiri Khan
• -Continue by songthaew to Bang Pu beach
• -Hire a boat for the 30-minute crossing
• -Hike to the cave entrance

Scenic Routes

Thailand's landscapes tell stories through mountains, waters, and countryside scenes. As travelers move through the country, each route reveals something unexpected - a forgotten temple, a village market, or a view that stays in memory long after returning home.

• Sukhothai to Chiang Mai: The road connects ancient history to northern culture. Stone Buddhas and crumbling walls give way to rolling hills that grow taller as the journey progresses. From November through February, morning mists hang over rice fields while farmers work in golden light. Travelers who grab window seats on VIP buses see the countryside unfold like chapters in a book.

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• Bangkok to Ayutthaya: City apartment blocks and highways gradually thin out, replaced by flat farmland and eventually the silhouettes of prang towers. Between November and January, the cool air makes temple exploration comfortable. On trains, local families share food and conversation, offering glimpses into Thai daily life.

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• Chiang Mai to Pai: The 762 curves wind up, down and around mountains where hill tribe villages nestle between forest patches. During June through October, waterfalls appear along roadside cliffs. Minibuses navigate tight turns that reveal valleys below, often prompting travelers to ask drivers to slow down for photos.

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• Hua Hin to Bangkok: Salt fields glow white in the sun before giving way to towns, then suburbs, and finally the capital's towers. From December through March, clear skies highlight the contrast between beach life and city energy. Train passengers watch this transformation through open windows, sometimes catching the scent of food markets as they pass.

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• Krabi to Koh Lanta: Island-hopping by boat shows Thailand from its water perspective. Stone cliffs rise directly from blue-green water, their shapes reflected perfectly on calm days. Between November and April, seas remain gentle, and ferries pass fishing boats where crews wave to passengers who call back.

Events, Festivals and Local Markets

Walk among 15,000 stalls at Bangkok's Chatuchak Weekend Market, where vendors sell everything from hand-carved teak furniture to tiny sugar gliders. The market comes alive every Saturday and Sunday with locals bargaining, food carts steaming, and visitors discovering unexpected treasures in the maze-like aisles.

Look up during November in Chiang Mai to see the night transform during Yi Peng Festival. Thousands of paper lanterns rise into the darkness, carrying wishes upward as families gather below. The orange glow reflects in everyone's eyes as the lanterns climb higher and higher.

Get ready to get soaked during Songkran in Bangkok from April 13-15. This Thai New Year celebration turns the city into a massive water fight where no one stays dry. Children with water guns, grandmothers with buckets, and tourists with water bottles all join in the laughter and refreshing chaos.

Watch hundreds of small light-filled baskets float across the water during Loy Krathong in Sukhothai . Each November full moon, locals create these delicate floating offerings from banana leaves, flowers and candles. The water surfaces become moving tapestries of light as people release their troubles with each krathong.

Best Places to Visit

Koh Phi Phi

Limestone cliffs rise from the Andaman Sea like ancient guardians around Koh Phi Phi. The water shifts between blue and green depending on the sunlight, clear enough to see fish darting between coral twenty feet below. Since "The Beach" was filmed here, people from around the world have come to see if the reality matches the movie.

Between November and April, the rain stays away and the sea settles into a gentle calm. Snorkelers can see thirty feet ahead in the clear waters during these months.

Local fishermen transform into competitive racers during high season, powering their wooden longtail boats across the bay while spectators cheer from shore. As darkness falls, locals on the beach twist and toss flaming batons, creating circles and arcs of fire against the night sky.

Bangkok

Old temple spires stand in the shadows of glass skyscrapers in Bangkok. Morning brings orange-robed monks collecting alms while food vendors set up carts along streets that will fill with office workers by noon. The Grand Palace gleams gold in the sunlight, while around the corner at Wat Pho, a giant reclining Buddha stretches longer than a bus.

Plan a trip between November and February when the air cools down and rain clouds disappear. Walking through the city becomes pleasant rather than a test of endurance.

Fighters test their skills in the ring at Rajadamnern and Lumpinee stadiums, continuing traditions centuries old. Every weekend without fail, Chatuchak market fills with 15,000 stalls selling everything from hand-carved soap to puppies to vintage denim jackets.

Koh Phangan

The moon rises full and bright over Koh Phangan's Haad Rin beach once a month, illuminating thousands of dancers. But walk just a mile away and find empty stretches of sand bordered by palm trees. Inland, waterfalls cut through jungle where butterflies as big as your hand float between trees.

December through March offers blue skies and gentle seas - perfect conditions for exploring the coastline by kayak or boat-hopping to nearby islands.

As the sun touches the horizon at Zen Beach, dozens of people gather in rows, moving through yoga poses in unison. In makeshift outdoor rings, Muay Thai fighters test their skills while spectators sit on plastic chairs, calling encouragement. Every weekend in Thong Sala, local families set up tables covered with homemade clothes, carved wooden elephants, and steaming pots of curry.

Tips for Traveling in Thailand

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

• Most visitors get 30-day visa-on-arrival; 60-day tourist visas available pre-travel
• Passport valid 6+ months beyond stay required
• Proof of onward travel may be requested
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CULTURAL ETIQUETTE

• Remove shoes entering homes/temples
• Never touch someone's head or point feet at people/Buddha images
• Modest dress for temples (covered shoulders/knees)
• Royal family criticism illegal
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MONEY MATTERS

• Thai Baht (฿) currency; ATMs widely available
• Cards accepted in tourist areas; cash preferred elsewhere
• Bargaining expected in markets, not fixed-price stores
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HEALTH & SAFETY

• Emergency: 191 (police), 1669 (ambulance)
• Comprehensive travel insurance essential
• Recommended vaccines: Hepatitis A/B, typhoid
• Drink bottled water
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GETTING AROUND

• Grab app, metered taxis safest in cities
• Songthaews/tuk-tuks require negotiation
• BTS/MRT excellent in Bangkok
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