For many reasons, Thailand should be near the top of everyone’s list of places to visit in their lifetime. Geographically situated between India to its west and Cambodia and Vietnam to its East, Thailand is the perfect mix of Indian and Southeast Asian culture. Culturally, religiously, culinarily it is one of the most unique countries on Earth to visit.
Furthermore, since so much of their economy is based on tourism, they are a rare Asian country that is built around catering to tourism, which makes travel through the country relatively easy. Pretty much everyone in Thailand speaks English and the population is very welcoming of foreigners/tourists. Infrastructure, roads, trains, airports, hotels are all top notch.
Thailand has some of the best food on planet Earth. Like it’s culture and geography it is the perfect combination, nestled comfortably between Indian and Southeast Asian cuisine. The Thai people are traditionally very friendly, warm and welcoming to outsiders. The country, with its national motto of “mai pen rai,” which means “don’t worry” or “everything is ok,” has an overwhelmingly chill vibe. The cost to travel through the country is almost unbeatable. Food, hotels, experiences, clothing…everything is exceedingly cheap. With over 40,000 stunningly beautiful Buddhist temples, jaw dropping beaches and natural beauty, crystal clear waters, rocking nightlife, markets, exotic animal sanctuaries and dozens of yearly festivals, you will never be at a loss for things to do.
While visiting Thailand there are a few places that you’ll undoubtedly want to add to your itinerary. Almost certainly you’ll fly into and out of the capital, Bangkok. Make sure to dedicate at least 3 days of your trip just to Bangkok, which is one of the coolest cities on the planet. In the North the cities of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai are the most popular stops for tourists and have a very unique culture compared to the south of Thailand. The southern peninsula of the country which extends down to Malaysia is where you’ll find the stunning beaches, with Koh Samui island in the Gulf of Thailand in the East and Phuket (pronounced poo-ket) in the Andaman Sea to the west.
We visited Bangkok and Phuket during our trip, but unfortunately had to cut our trip short and did not make it up to Chiang Mai as we had originally planned. We’ll include the research we did for our trip north here, but just be informed we didn’t actually get to do that part of the trip. Koh Sumoi looks to be an incredible place to go, but we neither researched it nor went there. Below you can click on the photos to view complete write-ups on Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket.
