Hi everyone,

My boyfriend and I are planning on travelling to thailand end of November this year. We were interested in going to bankok, shang mei and phuket.

We were looking into doing a tour because we really don't even know where to start. People I have spoken to say its not needed.

Any advice?

THANKKS

How long is your holiday? For Phuket you may want to fly because of the distance involved. Keep in mind that closer to December the hotels raise their prices even more and bookings are a little tighter.

Start in Bangkok for a few days and end your holiday in Bangkok again for another day or two. This way you can purchase flights, bus or train rides to Chiang Mai and Phuket if needed. But keep in mind you do not have to be at a beach to get nice warm weather because Thailand has summer time weather all year long.

Some places you can get to on your own. But in many cases using an organized tour makes things easier. In Thailand you can get tours through local travel agencies in Bangkok, Pattaya, Chiang Mai and Phuket. Find a tour one day and the tour company picks you up at your hotel the following morning. Some evening tours and dinner cruises can be booked in the morning for the same day. There are many travel agencies available.

If you are coming from a cold country your first hotel stop in Bangkok is an opportunity for you to store some of your winter items instead of carrying them all over Thailand. A final night or two in Bangkok will allow you to do some last minute shopping and maybe take in a dinner cruise. In any event you will be only a short taxi or train ride back to the airport instead of flying in at the last minute for a connection.

Bangkok has excellent rail service but not in the Khao San Road area! There are hotels and hostels in the Sukhumvit Road area and other areas of Bangkok that are reasonably priced. If you need a hotel recommendation always mention how much per night you want to spend on a room. Using the train for Chiang Mai is popular and maybe flying to Phuket from there next. But keep in mind that some discount airlines may have different weight allowances for bags.
Chiang Mai to Phuket Flights

A hotel in Bangkok near the Skytrain can be helpful. The Skytrain is an overhead rail service connecting many parts of Bangkok. No rail service after midnight. There is rail service from the airport to the city that is pretty cheap.

Rail system Bangkok:
UrbanRail.Net > Asia > Thailand > Bangkok Metro
Skytrain (BTS) - Bangkok hotels and travel guide to Bangkok, Thailand

If money is tight Phuket can be the most expensive place to visit in Thailand for hotels and even local transportation. Even Bangkok and Jomtien are cheaper for both. Hua Hin is not that far from Bangkok too.

You can visit a local library and check out some travel guides and read up on Thailand. When in doubt and you need a question answered quickly - use Google too! At least that way you will get some quick info.

Good luck.

Chiang Mai is lovely around November, and getting there is easy. I'd recommend taking the 7:35PM special express: book a second class air-con berth and head to the dining car for a nice bottle of Singha while you watch the countryside roll by. Lovely :)

Hello and welcome to the Travel Forum! First off, your trip sounds like an excellent first sampler for Thailand. November is good for weather, and you are visiting a nice mix of locations: an urban metropolis in Bangkok, a more sedate, traditional, cultural northern capital in Chiang Mai with easy access to jungle excursions and finally a taster of the southern islands in the form of Phuket.

Although such tours you speak of are a good fit for some tourists, such as those without a good command of English (such as, say, older Japanese tourists), I would advise against booking an all-encompassing tour as Thailand is such an easy place to travel in and I fear you could find it restrictive. Instead I would encourage you to read widely on your destinations (the archives here contain years of decent information, not all of it still relevant but a lot of things are timeless) and book a loose itinerary for you then to fill with your own activities. An arranged tour is likely to be much more expensive than booking things yourself.

Consider using a domestic budget airline such as Air Asia to fly yourself between your three destinations; if booked in advance, fares can be very competitive. This will maximise the time you have for your holidays. Alternatively, travelling overland can give you a different and very rewarding perspective of the country you are in, so you might consider taking the overnight sleeper train up to Chiang Mai which would save on a night's accommodation and is an experience in itself (mostly a good one, in my experience).

I would, however, definitely recommend individual tours once you are in your locations: for Phuket, you can arrange scuba diving or snorkelling with one of the many operators; in Chiang Mai, multiple travel agencies offer elephant trekking/rafting trips (shop around, as most agents offer pretty much the same package, and don't be afraid to haggle a little and play them off each other - politely and wisely!), and with Bangkok you can use meter taxis (*make sure the meter gets turned on in advance*) or where possible, the Sky Train or metro system to reach sights such as the Weekend Market and so on.

Part of the joy of travel for me is reading up on my destination in the months coming up to my trip, preparing myself for the culture and getting excited about all the things I plan to see. All-encompassing tours tend to deny you of some of that pleasure of looking forward to your holiday as you might not be so motivated to research if you know it's essentially all "on a plate" for you when you arrive.

Just my opinion - only you will know if a tour is right for you, but I would recommend you at least consider looking into things yourself at first, as you will be surprised at how easy it is to go your own way in Thailand.

Have a great trip and consider signing up as a member of the forum (it's free) so that we can get to know you by name!

Happy travels,
Steve

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