Deep Thailand in 21 days: the country a third week reaches
Two weeks in Thailand gives you Bangkok, the north and a beach. The third week is where the country stops being a highlights route: the war railway west of Bangkok, the first capital at dawn, the hills beyond Chiang Mai, and a rainforest lake with no road to it.
- Duration
- 21 days
- Pace
- Moderate
- Hotel changes
- 8
- Best months
- Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb
- From
- $3,570 per person
Twenty-one days, eight hotel changes, three internal flights and a week at the end where nothing is scheduled at all. It is the longest Thailand itinerary we build and the one we would take ourselves.
We run it from November to February, when the north is clear, the Andaman coast is dry and the burning season has not started.
Who it suits: travellers with a real three weeks, second visitors, and anyone who has done the fourteen-day version and wants the rest.
Week one: the centre
Day 1: Arrive in Bangkok. Private transfer to the river. Nothing scheduled.
Day 2: Bangkok, the old city. Guide from eight: the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, a boat to Wat Arun. Afternoon free. Chinatown in the evening on foot.
Day 3: Bangkok, the other city. Longtail through the Thonburi canals in the morning, the flower market, and an afternoon at Jim Thompson’s house or a massage. Chatuchak market if it is a weekend.
Day 4: Bangkok to Kanchanaburi. Three hours west. Hellfire Pass in the afternoon, which is the cutting through rock dug by prisoners of war and Asian forced labourers on the Burma railway, and the best-made memorial museum in the country. It takes about two hours and it is quiet. A hotel on a raft on the River Kwai.
Day 5: Kanchanaburi. The Erawan falls in the morning, seven tiers of limestone pools with fish that nibble your feet whether or not you want them to, then the war cemetery in town. We route around the bridge’s souvenir strip and the tourist trains, which have grown a carnival feel around what is essentially a mass grave.
Day 6: Kanchanaburi to Ayutthaya. Across country, about four hours, to the former capital. Afternoon among the brick temples with a guide, then the ruins lit after dark, which almost no day-tripper sees.
Day 7: Ayutthaya to Sukhothai. North by road, about five hours, with a stop at Wat Phra That Lampang Luang or at a riverside lunch depending on the route. Into Sukhothai in the afternoon.
Week two: the north
Day 8: Sukhothai. In the gates at opening on bicycles, when the park is empty and the light is low. Thailand’s first capital and, we think, a finer ruin than Ayutthaya. Afternoon at Si Satchanalai, or off.
Day 9: Sukhothai to Chiang Mai. Four and a half hours north. Afternoon in the old walled city on foot.
Day 10: Chiang Mai, temples and food. Guided morning through the old city and Warorot market, an afternoon cooking session that begins with the market shop, and Doi Suthep in the late light.
Day 11: The elephant day. A full day at the observation-led project we use outside Chiang Mai. A herd across open ground, food carried in, no riding, no bathing, no performance. We name the project in your proposal so you can research it yourself.
Day 12: Chiang Mai to the hills. Two and a half hours west into the Mae Chaem district and four hours walking to a Karen village, where you stay in a household paid directly for hosting you. Wood fire, shared meal, mattress and mosquito net.
Day 13: Trekking. Five hours over a ridge and down through bamboo forest to the road, then into Doi Inthanon national park. An afternoon on the Kew Mae Pan ridge trail and a night in a lodge with hot water.
Day 14: Doi Inthanon to Chiang Rai. The waterfalls on the way out, then north-east to Chiang Rai, stopping at Wat Rong Khun, the white temple. Evening in town.
Week three: the south
Day 15: Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle. The Hall of Opium museum, which is a serious account of the opium trade and much better than the viewpoint beside it, and a boat on the Mekong where three borders meet. Back to Chiang Rai.
Day 16: Chiang Rai to Khao Sok. A flying day via Bangkok to Surat Thani, then two hours inland to a lodge on the river at the edge of the national park. It is a long day and it is the only one in three weeks.
Day 17: Khao Sok, the jungle. A guided morning on the valley trails, out early for gibbons and hornbills, in rainforest older than the Amazon. Afternoon tubing on the Sok river or a nap in a hammock.
Day 18: Khao Sok to Cheow Lan lake. An hour to the dam, then 90 minutes by longtail across a reservoir with limestone towers rising out of the water, to a floating raft house with no road access. Swim off your own veranda. Simple rooms, limited power, and the best night of the trip.
Day 19: Cheow Lan to the coast. A dawn boat safari while the mist is still on the water, then back across the lake and two hours west to the Andaman coast. We use Koh Lanta or Koh Yao Noi depending on which you want, quiet or very quiet, and we will explain the difference before you choose.
Day 20: The coast, free. Nothing scheduled. A private longtail into the islands if you want one, out at seven thirty so you are ahead of the fleet, or a beach and a book.
Day 21: Departure. Boat and road to the airport, then your flight home. If your international connection is late we hold the room to midday.
What is included
Accommodation with breakfast throughout, one night of village homestay with all meals paid directly to the household, a night on a Cheow Lan raft house with full board and boat transfers, all domestic flights with a real baggage allowance, a private air-conditioned car with English-speaking driver on every transfer day, licensed local guides on nine days, a trekking guide from the northern region who speaks the village languages, national park fees and permits, the cooking session, the full-day elephant project, bicycle hire at Sukhothai, all entrance fees on guided days, and a WhatsApp group with your consultant and our representatives in Thailand for the whole trip.
What we would change, and when
- Travelling between May and September? Everything up to day 15 is unchanged. We finish on the Gulf coast instead of the Andaman, because those islands have the opposite season, and Khao Sok stays where it is since it rains there in every month anyway.
- Not interested in the war history? Replace Kanchanaburi with two nights in Isaan for the Khmer temples at Phanom Rung and the food, which is the other direction the third week can go.
- Want to add a country? Laos across the northern border after day 15, down the Mekong by slow boat. That turns this into a month and it is a very good month.
- Trekking not for you? Days 12 and 13 become two more nights in Chiang Mai with craft workshops and Doi Inthanon as a day trip, and the price comes down slightly.
Honest notes
Day 16 is long: two flights and a drive. There is no way around it that does not cost you the north or Khao Sok, and both are worth more than the saving.
Eight hotel changes in twenty-one days is at the upper end of what we think is pleasant, and it is why the last week has only one move in it. If you would rather have six changes, we would cut Ayutthaya and one northern night, and the trip loses less than you would think.
The village homestay and the raft house are the two simplest nights on the trip by a wide margin. Shared bathrooms, limited power, no air conditioning. They are also the two nights people write to us about, but you should know what you are agreeing to.
Three weeks in Thailand still does not include both coasts properly. The Gulf islands and the Andaman islands are on opposite calendars, and even in three weeks we would rather give you a full week on the right one than split you between two.
Built by Osnat Angerman and Paz Prosianoy, our Southeast and Central Asia specialists, with the route checked by our partner team in Thailand.
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