Hi!

My boyfriend and I are spending nearly 6 weeks in Thailand from 30th July and I am currently planning a route! We've planned to head straight to Pattaya for a few days to relax at the start, then head to Chiang Mai.

From Chiang Mai is it worth heading east a little? Bearing in mind our short time there?

I would then like to travel south to spend the last week and a half or so. I have read the entire lonely planet guide and both costs look great! However, due to monsoon, much of the andaman coast looks closed - is this true? Is it still worth a visit to phuket? Is the weather better on the other coastline?

I would really appreciate any help anyone can give!!!

Also, any advice on backpacks??. Sizes, prices etc.

Thanks,

Jen

Good idea to head straight for Pattaya, it's close by and you can chill out and have some fun. There's not really much point heading East from CM. As for the South, yes, the other coastline is far better at that time of year, so head for Koh Samui, it's nice there in July & August. You can also island-hop from Samui to Koh Phangan & Koh Tao.

I would think that chang mai would be a better place to go to relax than pattaya if you need a rest go there first followed by pattaya as it is full on in pattaya,24 hrs per day if you want it to be lol and then maybe more relaxation later to wind down from pattaya.
Ted

It depends on what you want to see and do in Pattaya, but if you want to see the nightlife and sex shows, you should stay close to Pattaya itself. If you don't want that ïn your face" situation, then you'd be better to stay a bit further away and just go into Pattaya when you want to.
North Pattaya is a good option - there's good shopping and restaurants there and you can be in downtown Pattaya with a ten minute trip in a songtaew.
Or there's Jomtien - south off Pattaya. This is much quieter than Pattaya and has a better beach. It's a good place to chill out. .... lots of restaurants and bars in this area too - all about ten minutes by songtaew into Pattaya. There are plenty of nice hotels in this area and some right near/opposite the beach. In my opinion this is a MUCH better place to stay than Pattaya.

pattayah....poop hole...dont go there....why would you want to go to a place full of prostitutes...pattayah is to avoid...! i went there by mistake once....yuk !
but enjoy your holiday ! ;)

Do spend some time in chiang mai. some ideas- Thai elephant conservation centre in lampang. just google elephant camp lampang. There is a 3 day elephant camp which is fab. you get your own elephant (complete with mahout) for 3 days and it is really wonderful (also shorter and longer programmes). they can also arrange pick up from chiang mai Cooking school- 'a Lot of Thai', and endless excursion, trekking etc options.

Next time we will be visiting a new treetops adventure- flight of the gibbons (google again!) a jungle canopy adventure with zip lines for 2km. We did a similar thing in koh samui (see jungle canopy adventures samui) and loved it. The gibbon thing also advertises The Wet Gibbon, 2 days, which adds on white water rafting and a couple other options. We will be adding a homestay night via them as well. I'm keen to try the 2 day massage course in chiang mai, although my husband just says, why not just get them rather than learn how to do it...

we like to stay in the royal princess hotel, but have met others who love baan orapin guest house, which also looks great.

There are many opinions about samui, we like the baan samui on chaweng beach but others will advise about other options. Its all fun.

Hey me and my gf have just got back from 2 mnths in Thailand. Personally i found Pattaya a bit of a hell hole. If you are heading to Chang Mai i can recomend a place called Pai. U can get a mini bus (About three hours) for 180 Baht. I dont know if its your kinda place but i found it to be my Nirvana of all places. Everything is so cheap and lots of Thais with Dread locks and beards (An excelent hippie retreat). But whatever you do i hope you have a wicked time!!

If you are going to Pattaya first then you may as well do Koh Chang 3+ hours from Pat by mini bus and Koh Samet 2 hours from Pat by mini bus,before these two Islands are totally spoilt by tourism.(may be too late for Chang)

Koh Chang is great for elephants as it is Elephant Island.

Koh Larn is a good day trip from Pattaya,you can see it from the beach and last time I went was only 50bht.( not much to do though)

Pattaya is all in the eyes of the beholder! Tracey and I have been going there since 1990 but you do somtimes need an open mind to the sex trade and the amount of sex tourists.

Tracey loves Pattaya because they have some great cloths that you cant always find elswhere.( This is because pattaya girls are always dressed up)

Dont stay near "Walking Street" Its the main"Tourist" red light district and full of men thinking they are superman or gods gift to women because they have a 5 ft 40 kilo handbag superglued to them.

Why all the men walk around holding hands with Thai girls beats me?

A lot of men dont like holding hands,and have never done it at home! I know Thais like holding hands but I have even seen Bikies doing it in Thailand?

I grabbed Traceys hand in the street once and she shook me off like a leper

Pattaya is a great starting off point in Thailand,you have made a good choice but dont let your boyfriend out alone as it is totaly a "mans world".


Den

I am planning a family visit to thiland with my husband and two kids in august. I am very afraid of a rainy season at this time of the year not a great pleasure to fly from Russia for sitting in the hotel looking at the rain What would you guyes advice me?

As Den says Pattaya is all in the eye of the beholder. I went with my sisters and 2 kids aged 3 and 8 and we loved it!!!

It has so much to offer besides the sex industry....if you don't want to see this side stay away from Walking Street and problem solved. I thought Walking Strret was much better than Bangla Rd in Phuket and would chose Pattaya over Phuket any day unless you want the beaches and relaxatation.

Only thing I thought wasn't so great was the shopping. But as we were going to Bangkok again and had been to Phuket and Chiang Mai this wasn't really a problem

Do a bit of research and see what interests you. We stayed up near the dolphin roundabout and it was so easy to get into the main part of town and back again and all for 10bt....quite refreshing after Phuket.

cheers

Karin