Thailand has been, without a doubt, my most asked about destination since I started to travel!!! With its white sandy beaches and crystal clear water it truely is paradise and everybody wants a slice! I have traveled to Thailand 4 times and each time I return it is a completely different experience to the last!! It truely is one of the most beautiful places I have been too and if you are thinking of going you are in for a treat!!
I will break this blog post up to keep it as simple as possible 🙂 Thailand can be a little tricky when planning, and with all of the different names it can be easy to get confused!
Bangkok
So, our first stop! Bangkok is in the Chao Phraya River delta in Thailands central plains, this is where you will fly into! It is fast, busy, over populated and can be a little daunting while adjusting to the cultural shock! Each time I stay in Bangkok i always try and stay at the “I-Residence hotel”. It has an incredible view with a roof top infinity pool, perfect for a 2 night stay
My recommendations are to stay for 2 nights max! Then head down towards the Islands or up north, depending on your plans!! While in Bangkok, visiting the temples around the city is an absolute MUST! You can book this tour with the receptionist at the I-Residence hotel.
Another Trip to do while staying in the busy city, is to visit the “Floating Markets”!! This was one of my favourite things about Bangkok!! Unfortunately myself and David didn’t have time on this trip but I have visited them in the past with my girlfriends Ali and Brenda, and we had such an incredible experience!
Tips for Bangkok:
- It is a very “fast” city and can be a bit of a culture shock so prepare yourself.
- Be careful on the Khao San road- especially girls, stay together, drink sensibly and make sure you only bring the essentials with you. and don’t bring too much cash with you.
- Do NOT go to a ping pong show (lol) although this sounds hilarious, but take my advice,… if you do not want to be scammed, robbed or have the mafia called on you, AVOID! (long story lol)…..
- Use the ATMs during the day.
- Stick together.
- Haggle-they see tourist coming from a mile away.
- Negotiate prices for tuk tuk’s BEFORE you start the journey, the driver can literally charge you anything he likes if you don’t.
Koh Samui
After Bangkok, most tourist usually head towards to islands! You will have two options on how to get there.
(a) An over night train:
While the over night train will save you on pennies, it takes almost 12 hours and trust me, its a bumpy ride!! Not only will you have to do the full train journey, but you will also need to get a bus and a boat after your 12 hour journey which, trust me, is NOT ideal when your exhausted lol!
(b) Fly:
Flying takes a little over an hour and you will land right into Koh Samui airport! I would strongly advise booking your flight a good bit in advance as they sell out quite quickly and you will be left with no other option but to get the train.
When myself and David stayed in Koh Samui we stayed at the Centara Grand Beach Resort, it was a good location, great food, amazing staff with an incredible view of the beach. If you are looking for something a little more crazy, with a party beach vibe, I have stayed at the Ark Bar Beach Resort before! It was insane, parties every night and the rooms were very affordable!
Koh Samui itself, is absolutely beautiful, we rented motorbikes and cruised around the Island. There are so many beautiful beaches to explore and enjoy!
http://www.centarahotelsresorts.com/centaragrand/csbr/
Koh Phangan.
To get to Koh Phangan you will need to travel by ferry, tickets for the ferries sell out pretty quick, especially around the time that the full moon party is scheduled. Be sure to book your ferry asap, and this can be done through any hotel or boutique on the side of the road in Koh Samui. There are HUNDREDS of placed to purchase tickets so please don’t stress.
Koh Phangan is considered the party island of Thailand. This is the island that holds the famous “full moon party” and in a nut shell, the FMP is basically a huge beach party, where everybody paints themselves head to toe in glow paint, drinks a lot of alcohol from buckets, watches fire shows, jumps through fire hoops, and dances the night away!
I have just popped in a link below for you to check the date for the next FMP.
http://fullmoonparty-thailand.com/schedules.html
If you don’t make it for the FMP don’t worry there are SO many parties throughout the month in Koh Phangan! There are “Half Moon Parties”, “Water fall parties”, and “Jungle Parties”! They are all awesome and I would highly recommend doing them if you get the chance!
When myself and David went to Koh Phangan we decided to take it easy! We stayed in an INCREDIBLE villa with a view to die for! It was called the “Salad Buri Resort & Spa”. It was the perfect location for a couple! We ate dinner on the beach each night, went on snorkel tours, rented a bike and explored the island! The staff were absolutely beautiful and could not do enough for us! Any time I ask David, “where was your fav hotel throughout our travels” he says “Sala Buri” 🙂 link below.
Koh Tao.
Koh Tao is the 3rd Island we visited on this side of Thailand. This island has a little bit more of a laid back vibe, which can be quite welcoming after partying hard on Koh Phangan. To get to Koh Tao from Koh Phangan is relatively easy. It requires another ferry that you can book anywhere in Koh Phangan, again, if your planning to travel to Koh Tao shortly after the FMP, book your tickets ASAP. It is common for everybody to just flee Koh Phangan once the FMP is over.
Koh Tao is considered the cheapest place in the world to get a diving licence, so I would strongly recommend spending at least 5-6 days here, if not longer! To get an open water diving licence, it takes almost 3 full days! It was by far the most amazing this I have ever done and something I am really proud of!
There are SO many dive shops on this island so don’t get stressed about booking one in advanced, literally every single corner you turn you will come across a new dive shop! I would highly recommend “Roctopus Dive”! They are so laid back, fun but competent at the same time, see link below.
Unfortunately I have tried to back track and find the exact hotel we stayed in but I can’t seem to find the email, or remember the name.
I have sourced this hotel however, which seems to be in an amazing location and have a beautiful view.
Try not get too bogged down in accommodation when it comes to Koh Tao, it is a really small island and its almost hard to book a bad location.
While your on this beautiful island, Make sure to go visit “Koh Nang Yuan”, it is a 15-20 min boat ride away from Koh Tao and is absolutely AMAZING! There a so many Thai people that will offer you a “taxi boat” so just book the boat with them! Just a few little tips, the taxi boat men will 100% try and rip you off so don’t forget to haggle! Try go really early in the morning at around 7am-8am, there are a huge amount of tourists that get dumped there everyday and it can be a little over crowded and ruin the experience for you! Also, be sure to climb up the view point and get some photos!!
Phi Phi
So from Koh Tao, you have a few options; You can go to Phuket, Krabi or Phi Phi.
Personally Phuket was the worst experience I have ever had in Thailand. It is corrupt, destroyed, over populated and reminds me of Bangkok…. I don’t really want to write I review on Phuket because out of the 4 times I have listed Thailand I have only listed once, and can honestly say I have avoided it since, at all cost.
The best route I have taken so far has been Koh Tao straight to Phi Phi. Krabi can be an option, however I like to leave Krabi until last, as it has an airport and I like to fly from Krabi to Bangkok to catch my next flight 🙂
Booking your trip from Koh Tao to Phi Phi, is easily done through any hotel on Koh Tao! You will be given a “joint ticket” which will consist of a boat, a bus and another boat,… it is a long day traveling but it is so worth it,… Phi Phi is just incredible!
You will have two options when it comes to picking your “joint ticket”.
- Night boat ticket- This will be your cheapest option but I will be completely honest, this boat was the WORST lol. The Thai people always try and tell you it has air con and comfortable beds, and EVERYBODY falls for it…. but when the boat arrives its more than likely got 2-3 broken fans on board, mattresses on the floor and 2 toilets for about a hundred people lol. I wouldn’t recommend it and avoid it at all cost, it takes twice the amount of time as the fast boat and it can be so over crowded and dirty.
- Fast boat ticket- This boat will only be about 10 euro more expensive but the fast boat is so much more clean, comfortable and safer, not to mention you will get to Phi Phi in no time!
Phi Phi itself is incredible!!!
I have visited 4 times and have had so many amazing days and nights on this island! There is so much to do here and I would highly recommend spending most of you time that you have in Thailand, here!
Things to do:
- Kayak to Monkey beach.
- Visit the view point for the most incredible views
- Get a long tail boat to Maya Bay (the beach) tip; go first thing in the morning to avoid tourists.
- Spend all day on the beach.
- Party all night (Beach parties every night in “Slinkys”)
- Thai boxing ? haha (seems to be a tradition here )
- Dive
- Visit Bamboo Island
- Pool parties
Accommodation:
- If you are looking to save pennies but still party all night and meet people, I would highly recommend this hotel. It is clean, has an excellent location and pool with an incredible view.
- However if you fancy “splashing the cash” and enjoying a luxury stay in Phi Phi, away from the madness, here are some of the hotels I have stayed at and absolutely loved!
Krabi
Again booking a boat to Krabi is really easy to do, via your hotel or a travel agent in Phi Phi.
Krabi is where I only ever spend 2-3 days max. There are so many activities you can book such as
- The james bond tour
- Island hopping
- white water rafting
- Jungle Trekking
Krabi also has an airport so if you have a flight to catch from Bangkok I would recommend booking a flight in advance.
Notes
- Do not drink tap water
- Avoid ICE as it is made from tap water
- Bring alcohol gel to use before meals
- Stock up on antiemetics.
- Avoid Elephant riding/trekking (cruelty, blog post coming soon)
- Avoid Tiger kingdom or any interactions with wild animals (cruelty, blog post coming soon)
- DO NOT STAND ON CORAL
- Most places offer laundry services so don’t worry about bringing a million different clothing items when travelling
- Bring DEET spray at least 50%, to avoid bites
- Bring antihistamines
- If you are travelling by bus, keep an eye on your bags, they have been known to be stolen from buses.
- Be extra careful in Bangkok.
- There are ATMs everywhere, try to avoid carrying wads of cash, instead budget and use the ATMs.
- Do not use ATMs that look tampered with, most likely they have been
- Use internet banking and never have more that 250euro in your current account incase you get scammed.
- Above all, have respect for the locals
- Please be mindful of how we affect the environment and clean up after yourself.
- When eating, try stick to the local food, the third time I visited Thailand and only ate Thai food and I completely avoided food poisoning! 🙂
So there you have it guys! My highly requested Thailand blog! (Please excuse the poor quality in some photos, this is a back dated blog and unfortunately I cleverly deleted the original photos!). I really hope it was helpful!! Let me know what you think and if you guys have any questions please comment below 🙂
Terrie x
