Thailand, 14 Days

From the crazy streets of Bangkok to the crystal clear waters of Phuket, the Phi Phi Islands and the Similans...

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Day 1 – Arrival Bangkok, Grand Palace and Evening at Khao San Road

After a good and deserved rest to get your energies back after a long flight, get your first Tuk Tuk ride, the most popular taxis in Bangkok, to the Grand Palace. The Palace has been the official residence of the Kings since the 18th century and is truly an amazing place to visit. Remember to either wear long trousers or to bring something long enough to cover up your legs/shoulders.. No entry with short or sleeveless tops. Opening hours are from 8:30 to 15:30, and make sure you allow at least 3 hours for your visit. For the rest of the day, familiarize yourself with the city and enjoy the wonderful craziness of Khao San Road. If you manage to get a very friendly Tuk Tuk driver like we did, you could also try and get a good price for a night tour of Bangkok. Seeing the temples by night was great, doing it while on a traditional Tuk Tuk even better!

Overnight in Bangkok

Day 2 – Floating Market, Wat Pho and Wat Arun Temple

Go on a half day Damnoen Saduak Floating Market Tour (see pictures in photo gallery below). All around Bangkok you will be able to find little local travel agencies where you can book whichever tour you like for reasonable prices. Once back in Bangkok, use the rest of the day to visit Wat Pho Temple, one of the largest and oldest Buddhist Temple in Bangkok, also home to the biggest lying Buddha sculpture in the world. When you are done with the lying Buddha, head over to the Wat Arun on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River. There is a huge Golden sitting Buddha statue (the cute, cabby one with the belly button). The design of this temple is quite different from all the others in Bangkok and its location makes it even more magical. From Wat Pho you can easily reach Wat Arun using a river boat to cross over to the West Bank. Make your way towards the river side and look for Saphan Taksin boat pier on maps, from here you can get a boat to Pier 8, where another small shuttle boat will then take you to the other side of the river.
To end the day beautifully, approach one of the many Longtail boat piers along the river for a river cruise during the golden hour. I’m sure the drivers will be happy to take you along if you make a good offer. The atmosphere will be incredible! With ‘find a Longtail Boat’ I literally mean just look around for one, even though you will probably get some of the drivers coming towards you anyways in search of their next ‘prey’.

Overnight in Bangkok

Day 3 – Erawan Waterfalls

Visit the Erawan Waterfalls and spend a day in the jungle. The 7-tired Erawan waterfalls are part of the Erawan National Park. The turquoise colour of the water will blow your mind and the hike in the jungle is even better. The trail is a little uphill and you might have to do a tiny little bit of rock climbing somewhere after the 5th waterfall but nothing too hard. When reaching the 7th waterfall, I assure you, you will not regret it! The hiking trail itself is amazing and you will also be able to stop at some amazing viewpoints along the way. Of course, don’t forget to pack your swimwear. I would suggest you go all the way up and then gradually down, staying about 1 hour or so at the waterfalls you liked the most. If you have a limited amount of time available, then I would suggest you stop at Phu Pha Erawan (waterfall number 7), Oke Nang Phee Suae (waterfall number 4) and Wang Mat Cha (waterfall number 2). At Phu Pha, the last waterfall of the hiking trail, you can literally swim into a little grotto, at Oke Nang you can slide down a natural rock formation and into the pond, while at Wang May Cha, which is the one with the biggest pond, you can have all the time in the world to relax and hang out behind the fall sitting on natural rock formation.

Overnight in Bangkok

Day 4 – Ayutthaya and Lopburi, the monkey city

Wake up early and start making your way to Bangkok central station to get a train to the historic city of Ayutthaya. The city has been declared UNESCO world heritage site and is today an extensive archaeological site with huge reliquary towers and monumental Buddhist monasteries. One of the most famous destinations in Ayutthaya is Wat Mahathat, where you can find the large Buddha head encased in a tree. The train ride, and of course the scenery you will be able to admire during your train ride to Ayutthaya, are spectacular. Moreover, if you choose to get on one of the cheap trains like we did, you will be able to experience the train ride the way locals do. By the way, when leaving Bangkok, make sure you look out of the windows as you will notice that the train passes through a market (you probably saw plenty of pictures of this online but being there and actually seeing it with your own eyes is just priceless!).
After visiting Ayutthaya, hop back on the train to go see the city of monkeys, Lopburi. In Lopburi monkeys are kings and queens hanging around every single corner of the city, taking over entire buildings and temples. It is truly amazing and mesmerizing to see how these little creatures and humans live together undisturbed around Lopuri. While in Lopuri keep in mind that monkeys can be a bit invasive sometimes (careful with your belongings as they will open whatever zip they are able to reach). When you are ready to say goodbye to the monkeys in Lopburi, get back on your train to return to Bangkok.

Tip: make sure you get to the station early as you might not be able to find seats meaning you end up standing for 3 hours which is not very pleasant.

Overnight in Bangkok

Day 5 – The Golden Mount and arrival to Phuket

Visit the Golden Mount, a small temple on top of a hill right in the middle of the city. From up here you have 360 views of the entire city. Even though I loved my visit to the temple, I did find it a bit sad as well to be honest. You can clearly spot the difference between the modern and ‘richer’ part of Bangkok, and the reality behind how most of the population really lives. It certainly does make you think.
After lunch, it’s time to pack up for a very short flight to Phuket! I would say pick a hotel close to a beach (basically 90% of hotels in Phuket) and enjoy a little bit of relaxation once you arrive at your destination. I would suggest picking one around the area of Kamala beach, it is very central, lots of shops and nightlife as well as plenty of kiosks that will allow you to book tours for basically everywhere.

During our stay in Phuket, we relied mainly on organised tours for our daily activities as it was the most practical way for us to go around the island and I must say (for someone who is not a fan of tours like I am) I actually enjoyed it. However, we made sure to book only those ones that would allow lots of free time at the destination so that we would have had the chance to just go around by ourselves and discover the island the way we liked it. During our first day in Phuket, we made sure we booked all our tours for the week in advance, so we knew what we were going to do during our stay.

If you want to find out more about the tours I added to this itinerary, their cost and approximate duration, have a look at this website.