Thailand: Bangkok, Chiang Mai and the Krabi Islands

1. Day 1: Arrive in Bangkok

   Suvarnabhumi Airport to your hotel by the Chao Phraya River

   • By boat
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Bangkok
   Day 1 details

   We meet you at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) and drive you to your hotel near the Chao Phraya River, your base for the next three nights. Depending on traffic the drive takes from 45 minutes to well over an hour. Rest, swim or wander the riverside lanes until the group gathers in the late afternoon. If you have landed in time, we board a river boat at about 5:30 pm and watch Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn, turn gold and then glow against the evening sky. The water is the best place to see it: its central prang is covered in fragments of Chinese porcelain that catch the last light. Tonight is a welcome dinner together, where your trip leader walks you through the days ahead and answers your questions.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)
   • Chao Phraya river boat to see Wat Arun at sunset
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the late afternoon

   

2. Day 2: Grand Palace, Wat Pho and the canals

   The Grand Palace at opening, Wat Pho, then a longtail boat through Thonburi

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Bangkok
   Day 2 details

   Breakfast early, because we are at the gates of the Grand Palace when they open at 8:30, ahead of the tour coaches. The palace has been the ceremonial seat of Thai kings since 1782, and inside its walls Wat Phra Kaew holds the Emerald Buddha, the most revered image in the country, a small figure carved from green stone. A short walk south, at Wat Pho, the Reclining Buddha stretches 46 metres, the soles of its feet inlaid with mother of pearl; the temple is also home to a famous school of traditional Thai massage. The middle of the day is yours to rest at the hotel. At about 3:30 a longtail boat takes us into the canals of Thonburi, past wooden stilt houses, small temples and orchid gardens. After dark your trip leader takes you through the stalls of Yaowarat, Bangkok's Chinatown, for a street food dinner.

   Included

   • Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew at opening
   • Wat Pho and the Reclining Buddha
   • Longtail boat through the Thonburi canals
   • Street food dinner in Yaowarat (Chinatown)

   Free time: Rest at the hotel in the middle of the day

   Activity: The Grand Palace has a strict dress code: shoulders covered and legs covered below the knee, no sleeveless tops or ripped trousers.

3. Day 3: Ayutthaya in the late light

   Bangkok to Ayutthaya and back, with the temples in the afternoon

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

   A slow morning: breakfast at your own pace and time by the pool while the day-trip coaches head north. We leave at about 11 am for Ayutthaya, about 80 km up the Chao Phraya, a drive of around an hour and a half. From 1351 until a Burmese army burned it in 1767, this island city was the capital of Siam, and its ruins are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After lunch near the river we walk Wat Mahathat, where a sandstone Buddha head sits wrapped in the roots of a fig tree (crouch so your head stays lower than the Buddha's when you photograph it), then the three tall chedis of Wat Phra Si Sanphet. By late afternoon most coaches have gone, and we end at Wat Chaiwatthanaram on the west bank, built in 1630 in a Khmer style, as the sun drops behind its brick prangs. We drive back to Bangkok after dark.

   Included

   • Wat Mahathat and the Buddha head in the tree roots
   • Wat Phra Si Sanphet
   • Wat Chaiwatthanaram at sunset
   • Lunch in Ayutthaya

   Free time: Free morning

   

4. Day 4: Fly north to Chiang Mai

   Bangkok to Chiang Mai by air, the old city, then Doi Suthep

   • By plane
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Chiang Mai
   Day 4 details

   After breakfast we drive to the airport for the flight north to Chiang Mai, about an hour and ten minutes. King Mangrai founded Chiang Mai in 1296 as the capital of the Lanna kingdom, and its old city is still a square ringed by a moat and stretches of brick wall. Lunch is khao soi, the curry noodle soup of the north. In the afternoon we walk to Wat Chedi Luang, a huge brick chedi partly brought down by an earthquake in the 16th century, which once housed the Emerald Buddha you saw in Bangkok, and to Wat Phra Singh with its carved Lanna wooden halls. Later we drive about 15 km up the mountain to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep and climb the naga staircase of more than 300 steps (or ride the funicular) to the golden chedi, with the city spread below in the softening light. Chiang Mai is home for four nights.

   Included

   • Domestic flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai
   • Khao soi lunch
   • Wat Chedi Luang
   • Wat Phra Singh
   • Wat Phra That Doi Suthep in the late afternoon

   Easier option: Ride the funicular up to Doi Suthep instead of the staircase

   

5. Day 5: Doi Inthanon at sunrise

   Chiang Mai to Thailand's highest mountain and back

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Chiang Mai
   Day 5 details

   An early start you will be glad of. We leave Chiang Mai before 5 am for Doi Inthanon, at 2,565 metres the highest mountain in Thailand, about two hours to the southwest, with a packed breakfast for the road. Bring a warm layer: at dawn in December and January it can be close to freezing up here. We watch first light from the terraces of the twin Royal Pagodas, built for the 60th birthdays of King Bhumibol in 1987 and Queen Sirikit in 1992, as cloud fills the valleys below. Then we walk the Kew Mae Pan nature trail, a loop of about 3 km through cloud forest and along an open grassy ridge, with a local guide as the national park requires. Lunch is in a Karen village known for its coffee and rice terraces, and we stop at the Wachirathan waterfall on the way down. You are back in Chiang Mai by mid-afternoon, with the rest of the day free.

   Included

   • Doi Inthanon National Park entry
   • Sunrise at the twin Royal Pagodas
   • Kew Mae Pan nature trail with a local guide
   • Lunch in a Karen village
   • Wachirathan waterfall

   Easier option: Stay at the pagoda gardens and viewpoints instead of walking the Kew Mae Pan trail

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: The Kew Mae Pan trail is about 3 km at over 2,000 metres, with uneven ground and steps. It opens from November to May; outside those months we walk the summit boardwalk instead.

   

6. Day 6: Elephants, with no riding

   A day at an elephant sanctuary in the hills outside Chiang Mai

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Chiang Mai
   Day 6 details

   Today is spent with elephants on their terms. We drive into the hills outside Chiang Mai to a sanctuary chosen against a written welfare standard: no riding, no bathing with the elephants, no shows or tricks, no hooks or chains used to control them, and a limit on how many visitors are with the herd at once. You watch the elephants feed, wander and wallow in the river at their own pace, help prepare their food, and hear from the keepers how each one came to the sanctuary, many of them from logging or trekking camps. Thailand banned commercial logging in 1989, which left thousands of working elephants and their mahouts without work. Lunch is at the sanctuary. We are back in Chiang Mai by mid-afternoon, and the evening is free for the Night Bazaar or, on a Sunday, the Walking Street market that fills Ratchadamnoen Road in the old city.

   Included

   • Day at an elephant sanctuary with no riding and no bathing
   • Lunch at the sanctuary

   Free time: Evening free

7. Day 7: Market and cooking class

   A morning at a fresh market and a cooking school, then a free afternoon

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Chiang Mai
   Day 7 details

   A morning in the kitchen. We start at a fresh market with a teacher from the cooking school, learning to choose lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, holy basil and the right chillies, and to tell the many kinds of rice and curry paste apart. Then, at a cooking school on a small farm outside the city, you make four or five dishes at your own station: a curry paste pounded by hand in a stone mortar, a curry, a stir-fry, a soup such as tom yum and a sweet like mango sticky rice. Lunch is what you cook, and you take the recipes home. The afternoon and evening are free. Book a Thai massage, browse the cafes and small galleries of the Nimmanhaemin neighbourhood, or sit out the heat by the pool. If the White Temple in Chiang Rai is on your list, tell us at booking: it is about three hours' drive each way, so we can arrange it as a private day trip in place of the class.

   Included

   • Fresh market visit with the cooking school
   • Thai cooking class with lunch

   Optional experiences

   • Private day trip to the White Temple (Wat Rong Khun) in Chiang Rai, in place of the cooking class

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

8. Day 8: South to Cheow Lan Lake

   Chiang Mai to Krabi by air, then by road and longtail boat into Khao Sok National Park

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Cheow Lan Lake
   Day 8 details

   An early flight takes you from Chiang Mai south to Krabi, about two hours direct, or via Bangkok when the season's schedule requires. From Krabi airport your vehicle drives about three hours north through rubber and oil palm country to the Ratchaprapha Dam, with lunch on the way. Here a longtail boat takes us out onto Cheow Lan Lake, the reservoir the dam created in the 1980s inside Khao Sok National Park, where limestone karsts rise straight out of green water and bare trees still stand in the flooded valleys. The crossing to our floating raft house takes around an hour. The rest of the afternoon is for swimming off the deck or paddling a kayak, and dinner is served on the raft as the light goes. Raft houses are simpler than city hotels, and some have power for only part of the day; we tell you what yours has when we confirm it.

   Included

   • Domestic flight from Chiang Mai to Krabi
   • Khao Sok National Park entry
   • Longtail boat across Cheow Lan Lake
   • Kayaks at the raft house

   Free time: Afternoon free on the raft

   

9. Day 9: A day on the lake

   Cheow Lan Lake: a jungle walk or cave, a free afternoon and a dusk boat ride

   • By boat
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Cheow Lan Lake
   Day 9 details

   Wake on the water. Sunrise is the time to be on the deck: mist often hangs between the karsts at first light, and the forest is loud with birds and the calls of gibbons. After breakfast a longtail takes us across the lake to a trail into the rainforest with a park ranger. In dry weather we walk to Nam Talu cave, wading along an underground stream with head torches; the rangers close it whenever rain could raise the water, and then we walk to the smaller Coral Cave instead. Back on the raft for lunch and a free afternoon to swim, kayak or read in a hammock. In the late afternoon we take a slow boat ride along the quiet arms of the lake, when hornbills, macaques and sometimes dusky langurs come to the edge of the forest. Dinner is on the raft again, under more stars than you will have seen in Bangkok.

   Included

   • Guided jungle walk with a park ranger
   • Nam Talu cave or Coral Cave
   • Late afternoon wildlife boat ride

   Easier option: Stay on the raft for the morning, or take the short Coral Cave walk instead of Nam Talu

   More active option: The Nam Talu cave walk, with wading in water up to the waist

   Free time: Afternoon free on the raft

   Activity: The Nam Talu walk takes a few hours, with river crossings, slippery rock and wading; bring shoes that can get wet.

10. Day 10: Dawn on the lake, then the Krabi coast

    Cheow Lan Lake to Ao Nang by longtail boat and road

    • Drive about 3 h
    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Ao Nang
    Day 10 details

    One more dawn on the lake, and the reason we stay two nights here rather than one: the mist, the still water and the karsts reflected in it are at their best in the first hour, before any day boats arrive from the pier. After breakfast the longtail carries us back to the dam, and we drive about three hours south to Ao Nang on the Krabi coast, your base for the last three nights. The afternoon is free. Ao Nang's beach faces west across the Andaman Sea to a scatter of limestone islands, with longtail boats pulled up on the sand to take you to Railay, about 15 minutes away by sea. Swim, rest, or watch the sun go down from the beach, which looks straight out to the islands. Dinner tonight is on your own; your trip leader has a list of seafood places along the front and a few quieter spots off the main road.

    Included

    • Longtail boat back to the Ratchaprapha Dam
    • Transfer to your hotel in Ao Nang

    Free time: Afternoon and evening free

    

11. Day 11: Phi Phi before the crowds

    Ao Nang to Ko Phi Phi Leh and Ko Phi Phi Don by private boat

    • By boat
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Ao Nang
    Day 11 details

    The islands are at their best early, so we start before everyone else. A speedboat chartered for our group alone leaves Ao Nang at about 7 am, and within an hour we are under the cliffs of Ko Phi Phi Leh. Maya Bay, made famous by the film The Beach, was closed from 2018 to 2022 to let its reef recover; boats now land at a jetty on the far side, a boardwalk leads to the sand, and swimming in the bay is not allowed. Arriving at the start of the day means far fewer people on the beach. Next is Pileh Lagoon, a near-enclosed bay of green water under sheer walls, and Viking Cave, seen from the boat. We snorkel at a reef your skipper picks for calm water and light crowds, have lunch on Ko Phi Phi Don, and are back on the mainland by mid-afternoon, before the afternoon wind lifts the sea.

    Included

    • Speedboat chartered for the group to the Phi Phi islands
    • Maya Bay at the start of the day
    • Pileh Lagoon and Viking Cave
    • Snorkelling, with masks and fins
    • Lunch on Ko Phi Phi Don
    • Phi Phi national park fee

    Free time: Late afternoon free

    Activity: Speedboats can be bumpy in open water and you board from the beach, often wading to the knee. The national park closes Maya Bay for part of each year, usually in August and September; this trip runs from November to February.

    

12. Day 12: Railay and the Krabi islands

    Phra Nang Cave Beach, Ko Poda and the Ko Tup sandbar by longtail, then a free afternoon

    • By boat
    • Breakfast and dinner
    • Stay in Ao Nang
    Day 12 details

    A last morning on the water, again ahead of the day trips. A longtail takes us at about 8 am to Phra Nang Cave Beach on the Railay peninsula, a curve of white sand under limestone cliffs, reached only by boat or on foot from Railay, with a small cave shrine at one end where fishermen leave offerings. From there we cross to Ko Poda and then to Ko Tup, where at low tide a sandbar joins it to Ko Kai, Chicken Island, and you can walk between them through ankle-deep water. We are back in Ao Nang by lunch, and the afternoon is free: a massage, a kayak through the mangroves, or the climb of more than 1,200 steps to the hilltop shrine at Tiger Cave Temple if you have the legs for it. In the evening we meet on the beach for the sunset, then sit down to a farewell dinner together.

    Included

    • Longtail boat to Phra Nang Cave Beach, Ko Poda and Ko Tup
    • Farewell dinner

    Optional experiences

    • Sea kayaking in the Ao Thalane mangroves
    • Tiger Cave Temple (Wat Tham Suea) hilltop climb

    Free time: Afternoon free

    

13. Day 13: Depart from Krabi

    Ao Nang to Krabi International Airport

    • Breakfast
    Day 13 details

    Breakfast, and a last swim if your flight allows. We drive you to Krabi International Airport (KBV), about 30 to 40 minutes from Ao Nang, at a time that suits your flight. Most flights home from Krabi connect through Bangkok, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur, so if you are booking your own, leave a comfortable gap between connections, and allow for check-in queues at Krabi in the busy winter months. If your flight leaves late in the day, ask us when you book about keeping your room longer or a place to leave your bags. Some guests stay on: Railay, Ko Lanta and the Phi Phi islands are all close by, and we can book extra nights for you on the coast or back in Bangkok before you fly.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Krabi International Airport (KBV)

Wildlife and weather: November to February is the season for this route: dry, sunny and warm, with cool mornings in Chiang Mai and near-freezing dawns on Doi Inthanon in December and January. The Andaman coast around Krabi and Phi Phi is calm from about November to April and rough from May to October. From roughly February to April, smoke from crop burning hangs over Chiang Mai, so we do not run the north in March and April. December and January are the busiest and most expensive months. Chiang Mai's Yi Peng lantern festival falls in November, on dates set by the lunar calendar.

• Bangkok3 nights
• Chiang Mai4 nights
• Cheow Lan Lake2 nights
• Ao Nang3 nights