Women-only Thailand: Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Sukhothai and Chiang Mai

1. Day 1: Arrive in Bangkok

   Suvarnabhumi or Don Mueang airport to your hotel near the old city

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Bangkok
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK), or Don Mueang (DMK) if you arrive on a regional flight, and a driver meets you in the arrivals hall, holding a See Sight Tours sign with your name, for the ride into the city, usually 45 minutes to an hour depending on traffic. Flights from North America often land late at night or around dawn, and Bangkok is 12 hours ahead of eastern Canada in winter, so today asks nothing of you; if you land early, tell us your flight and we can book the room from the night before. Our hotel is in a walkable area near the old city and the river. Tonight is deliberately short and slow. At about 6:30 pm your See Sight Tours guide, a woman who travels with you to the last day, meets the group in the lobby for a half-hour briefing: temple dress, monks and shrines, room sharing and the cash worth carrying. Then an early welcome dinner of Thai dishes close to the hotel, at a women-run kitchen if we can confirm one with your dates, with everyone back by about 9 pm.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Suvarnabhumi (BKK) or Don Mueang (DMK) airport
   • Briefing on dress and conduct with your woman guide
   • Early welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the 6:30 pm briefing

2. Day 2: Grand Palace at opening, Chinatown at night

   The Grand Palace and Wat Pho, then Wat Pariwat and Chinatown

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Bangkok
   Day 2 details

   We walk to the Grand Palace for its 8:30 opening, dressed for its strict code (your guide checks everyone before we leave), ahead of most tour coaches, and go first to Wat Phra Kaew, the royal temple of the Emerald Buddha, while its courtyards are still quiet. Your guide reads the Ramakien murals that run around the cloister with you, then we cross to the palace halls. Wat Pho is ten minutes' walk south: its reclining Buddha is 46 m long, with mother-of-pearl inlay on the soles of the feet. Lunch is your choice near Tha Tien pier, and the hottest hours are free at the hotel. Late in the afternoon we drive about 20 minutes south along the river to Wat Pariwat, a working neighbourhood temple whose ordination hall is crowded with modern stucco figures, among them, famously, a small gilded David Beckham. As the light goes we walk into Yaowarat, Bangkok's Chinatown, for a street-food dinner: your guide orders, explains each dish and settles the bill.

   Included

   • The Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew at opening, with your guide
   • Wat Pho and the reclining Buddha
   • Wat Pariwat
   • Street-food dinner in Chinatown (Yaowarat) with your guide

   Optional experiences

   • A Thai massage at the hotel or near Wat Pho in the free midday

   Easier option: Skip Wat Pariwat and rest at the hotel until we meet for Chinatown.

   Free time: Lunch and the hottest hours free

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot in the morning, in heat. Shoulders and knees must be covered at the Grand Palace; no see-through tops or tight leggings.

   

3. Day 3: Floating market, then the River Kwai

   Bangkok to Damnoen Saduak floating market, then Kanchanaburi

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Kanchanaburi
   Day 3 details

   This is the trip's only 7 am departure: we leave Bangkok then to reach Damnoen Saduak, about 100 km south-west, at around 8:30, before the coach groups that fill its canals from mid-morning. It is a busy, visitor-facing market and we say so; early, from a paddle boat, it is still a lively hour of fruit, noodle boats and narrow waterways. From there it is about an hour and a quarter north-west to Kanchanaburi, where the Khwae Noi and Khwae Yai rivers meet. After lunch by the river we spend the afternoon on the history that made the town known abroad. The Kanchanaburi War Cemetery holds nearly 7,000 Allied prisoners of war who died building the Thailand–Burma Railway in 1942 and 1943. Beside it, the Thailand–Burma Railway Centre explains how the line was forced through and what it cost, including the far larger toll among conscripted Asian labourers. We give the museum time, not a quick pass, and walk onto the bridge at dusk.

   Included

   • Damnoen Saduak floating market by paddle boat
   • Lunch by the river in Kanchanaburi
   • Kanchanaburi War Cemetery with your guide
   • Thailand–Burma Railway Centre
   • The Bridge over the River Kwai at dusk

   Free time: Evening free by the river; the riverside restaurants are a short, well-lit walk from the hotel

   Activity: Today is the only 7 am departure, chosen to reach the market before the crowds. The other early slots are the optional 7:30 bridge walk on day 4, the 6:30 bike ride into Sukhothai park on day 6 and the 7:30 departure for Chiang Rai on day 9.

   

4. Day 4: The bridge early, Ayutthaya at sunset

   Kanchanaburi to Ayutthaya, then a boat around the old island

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Ayutthaya
   Day 4 details

   If you are up for it, walk the bridge with your guide at about 7:30, before the first tour groups, while the river is still and the curved steel spans are in soft light; the straight central spans replaced those bombed in 1945. After breakfast we drive about three hours east across the rice plains to Ayutthaya, capital of Siam from 1351 until the Burmese army sacked it in 1767, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991. Lunch on arrival is grilled river prawns, the town's speciality, then a rest through the heat. From about 3:30 your guide takes you through the ruins on the old island: Wat Mahathat, where a sandstone Buddha head sits wrapped in the roots of a fig tree, and the three chedis of Wat Phra Si Sanphet. As the sun drops we board a long-tail boat for a loop around the island, past riverside temples and the towers of Wat Chai Watthanaram against the evening sky.

   Included

   • Early walk on the Bridge over the River Kwai
   • Lunch in Ayutthaya
   • Wat Mahathat and Wat Phra Si Sanphet with your guide
   • Sunset long-tail boat around Ayutthaya island

   Easier option: Skip the early bridge walk and join the group at breakfast.

   Free time: Evening free; the night market is a short walk away

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot in the ruins, on flat paths and brick steps. At the Buddha head in the roots, everyone kneels or crouches for photos so no head is higher than the Buddha's.

   

5. Day 5: Wat Chai Watthanaram, then the train north

   Ayutthaya to Phitsanulok by train, then by road to Old Sukhothai

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sukhothai
   Day 5 details

   We are at Wat Chai Watthanaram when it opens at 8 am, with the great central prang and its ring of smaller towers almost to ourselves. King Prasat Thong began it in 1630 on the west bank of the Chao Phraya, in a style that looks back to Angkor, and your guide explains how the plan mirrors the Buddhist universe. We give it about an hour, because the train north leaves Ayutthaya station, a short drive away, at about 10 am. Rather than nearly five hours in a van, we take a daytime express train on the Northern Line to Phitsanulok, roughly 320 km in about three to three and a half hours, with rice fields, sugar cane and small station towns going past the window. Our vehicle drives up separately with your luggage. We arrive at about 1:15 pm and sit down to a late lunch in Phitsanulok, then it is about an hour by road to Old Sukhothai, where we stay a short ride from the gates of the historical park. The evening is free: try Sukhothai noodles at a stall near the hotel.

   Included

   • Wat Chai Watthanaram at opening, with your guide
   • Daytime express train from Ayutthaya to Phitsanulok, about 3 to 3.5 hours
   • Lunch in Phitsanulok
   • Transfer from Phitsanulok to Old Sukhothai, with your luggage carried in our vehicle

   Free time: Evening free in Old Sukhothai

   Activity: Lunch is late, at about 1:30 pm in Phitsanulok, so buy a snack at Ayutthaya station or keep one from breakfast. Thai trains often run late; lunch moves with the train, and nothing is booked in Sukhothai until the next morning. We confirm the train time when you book.

6. Day 6: Sukhothai at sunrise, then north to Chiang Mai

   Sukhothai Historical Park by bike, then Wat Phra That Lampang Luang and Chiang Mai

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Chiang Mai
   Day 6 details

   We ride into Sukhothai Historical Park at opening, around 6:30, on flat paths between lotus ponds, and give it about three hours, not the rushed two of a pass-through. Sukhothai was the first capital of a Thai kingdom in the 13th century, and the park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Your guide leads you to Wat Mahathat as the first light reaches the seated Buddhas among its columns, then Wat Sra Si on its island and, outside the walls, Wat Si Chum, where a seated Buddha about 15 m high fills a roofless hall and looks out through a narrow opening. Breakfast is back at the hotel, then comes the longest road day: about 320 km and close to five hours of driving, the one day over our 4-hour cap. There is no railway to Sukhothai and a flight would mean going back through Bangkok, so we split the drive with lunch in Lampang and an hour at Wat Phra That Lampang Luang, a walled Lanna temple whose open-sided wooden hall dates from the late 15th century; some northern temples restrict women from certain halls or shrines, and your guide points out any that apply. We reach Chiang Mai in the late afternoon.

   Included

   • Sukhothai Historical Park by bike at sunrise with your guide, bike hire included
   • Wat Mahathat, Wat Sra Si and Wat Si Chum
   • Lunch in Lampang
   • Wat Phra That Lampang Luang

   Easier option: Ride in the vehicle between the temples and walk the short distances inside each one.

   More active option: Add Wat Saphan Hin in the western zone, a hilltop temple reached by a stone path, with a standing Buddha looking back over the park.

   Free time: Evening free in Chiang Mai

   Activity: About 10 km of flat cycling at an easy pace. The drive, close to five hours with the Lampang Luang detour, is the one day over our 4-hour cap; the Lampang stops break it into two halves.

7. Day 7: A day with elephants, no riding

   Chiang Mai to an elephant sanctuary in the hills and back

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Chiang Mai
   Day 7 details

   About an hour and a quarter from the city, in the forested hills outside Chiang Mai, we spend the day at an elephant sanctuary chosen for how it treats its animals: no riding, no bathing with the elephants, no shows or painting, and elephants free to move away from people. We name it when we confirm your dates. Reviewers of other trips describe watching rescued elephants from a distant platform; here a small group walks out with a keeper and a sanctuary guide, close enough to watch how the herd feeds, plays and talks to each other, at the distance the keepers set. You help prepare their food, hear how each animal came to the sanctuary, and learn what the end of Thailand's logging trade meant for working elephants and the families who kept them. Lunch is on site. We are back in Chiang Mai by mid-afternoon, and the rest of the day is yours: a massage, a walk inside the old-city moat or, on a Sunday, the Walking Street market from Tha Phae Gate.

   Included

   • A day at an elephant sanctuary near Chiang Mai, with sanctuary guides
   • Helping prepare the elephants' food
   • Lunch at the sanctuary

   Optional experiences

   • A Thai massage in the old city, at a women-run massage centre your guide can suggest

   Easier option: Stay at the sanctuary's shaded viewpoint while the group walks out with the keepers.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: Easy walking on uneven, sometimes muddy ground for 2 to 3 hours; wear closed shoes and clothes you do not mind getting dirty.

8. Day 8: Cooking class, women weavers and Doi Suthep

   A Chiang Mai market and cooking school, a women's craft group, then Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Chiang Mai
   Day 8 details

   The morning starts at a fresh market with your cooking teacher, picking out herbs, chillies, galangal and the pastes you will pound later. We look for a school run by women and name it when we confirm your dates. The class covers the north as well as the familiar dishes: khao soi, the curry noodle soup of Chiang Mai, alongside a curry, a stir-fry and a salad, and what you cook is your lunch. In the early afternoon we drive out to a weaving or craft group run by local women on the edge of the city, confirmed with your dates, to watch the work, hear how the group started and what it pays its members, and buy only if you want to. Late in the afternoon we drive about 15 km up the mountain west of the city to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, at roughly 1,000 m. A staircase of about 300 steps, its balustrades shaped as naga serpents, climbs to a gilded chedi, with a lift alongside. We come down for a farewell dinner of northern Thai food: sai ua sausage, nam prik ong and sticky rice.

   Included

   • Market visit with your cooking teacher
   • Northern Thai cooking class, with the lunch you cook
   • Visit to a women's weaving or craft group near Chiang Mai, where we can confirm one
   • Wat Phra That Doi Suthep in the late afternoon, lift included
   • Farewell dinner of northern Thai food

   Easier option: Skip the craft visit and rest at the hotel until Doi Suthep, or take the lift up to the temple terrace.

   More active option: Climb the roughly 300 naga steps to the chedi.

   Free time: An hour free before Doi Suthep

9. Day 9: The White Temple and Chiang Rai

   Chiang Mai to Wat Rong Khun and Chiang Rai, then Chiang Rai airport

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   Day 9 details

   We leave Chiang Mai after breakfast, at about 7:30, and drive about three hours north-east through the hills to Chiang Rai, the stop travellers on other northern trips most often ask to add. Wat Rong Khun, the White Temple, is the work of the Chiang Rai artist Chalermchai Kositpipat, who began rebuilding it in 1997 and is still adding to it: a white, mirror-glass temple reached by a bridge over a pit of reaching hands, with murals inside that set Buddhist scenes beside figures from films and the news. Your guide explains the symbolism before we go in. After lunch in Chiang Rai, and the Blue Temple, Wat Rong Suea Ten, if time allows, we drive to Mae Fah Luang–Chiang Rai International Airport (CEI), arriving about 2:30 pm; with these short legs the day has about four hours on the road in all, and your guide sees you to check-in. Chiang Rai has direct flights to Bangkok to connect home; book one leaving after about 4:30 pm. If you need to fly from Chiang Mai instead, we drop you at Chiang Mai International Airport (CNX) in the morning.

   Included

   • Wat Rong Khun (the White Temple) with your guide
   • Lunch in Chiang Rai
   • Wat Rong Suea Ten (the Blue Temple), time allowing
   • Drop-off at Chiang Rai airport (CEI)

   Easier option: Skip the Chiang Rai day and take a morning drop at Chiang Mai airport (CNX).

   Activity: Book a Chiang Rai to Bangkok flight leaving after about 4:30 pm, and allow a long connection in Bangkok for your flight home.

Wildlife and weather: November to February is the cool, dry season and the best time for this route. March to May is hot, often above 35°C, and the north is often hazy from crop burning between February and April. June to October brings the rains, mostly as afternoon downpours, with green rice fields and fewer visitors.

• Bangkok2 nights
• Kanchanaburi1 night
• Ayutthaya1 night
• Sukhothai1 night
• Chiang Mai3 nights