14 Perfect Days in Thailand 🇹🇭 Travel Guide & Itinerary (2024)

I used to run a travel agency so travel planning is basically my life and in this video I'll share what I think is the best way to travel Thailand if you got two weeks to spend in this stunning country. My travel philosophy is not to scrape yourself too thin and try and see everything in 14 days. Instead we're going to focus on some of the most beautiful areas and islands of Thailand that are quite easy to get to. We'll experience some of the most famous beaches and attractions but we'll also go to some of the more calm areas that you won't see all over the internet. So relax and don't worry about writing all this information down as I've already put everything you need in the description here on YouTube. So just enjoy the video and as always if you have any questions drop a comment and I'll do my best to help. So we're kicking our amazing journey through Thailand off in the bustling capital. When you're searching for flights to Thailand there's a good chance that Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport is the cheapest one to fly into and I think it would be a massive mistake to visit Thailand without having a few days in Bangkok. After clearing customs in the airport you can either walk out and get a taxi or get the train. There's this official taxi rank where you talk to a member of staff and let them know the name of your hotel because sometimes the drivers aren't that fluent in English. This way the driver knows where you're going and the official airport taxis will always use the meter so you can't get scammed here. The price is usually around 400 to 600 Thai Baht depending on traffic and where you're going of course. Traffic can be pretty brutal so the journey could take anywhere from around 40 minutes to an hour and a half. You could also get the Bangkok airport rail link directly from the airport to downtown Bangkok. It takes around 30 minutes to the last stop on the line I did this on my last trip and thought it was absolutely brilliant and the tickets are only 45 Baht. Now it's time to check into a hotel in Bangkok. I would highly recommend getting a hotel with a rooftop pool and I'll get back to why in a minute but there are so many of these hotels all over Bangkok and you don't have to splurge and stay in a five-star hotel just to have a pool with a nice view of the city. But I want to share this super swanky five-star hotel with you guys. If you follow me over on Instagram you've probably seen this hotel as the reel I made about it got 3 million views and to be honest this hotel is absolutely fantastic. I booked us a panorama room view view room here at the the East Inn and to be honest the view is bloody bloody brilliant. Look at this. The hotel has two different rooftop pools where the first one has a nice little bar where you can order a drink or some food and the top one is calmer and obviously the view from up there is out of this world. The breakfast buffet is one of the wildest I've ever tried. There's literally food from every corner of the world and the staff were always super nice and the room was brilliant as well so I've got zero complaints here. The hotel is connected by its own like walk bridge over to the BTS Skytrain so even though it's pretty warm here in Bangkok you can just almost go from hotel room to public transport. I've also written a massive guide on the best areas to stay in Bangkok where I recommend more hotels in different price ranges and that guide is of course linked below. My main advice when it comes to exploring Bangkok is that you split your day into two. The heat in Bangkok is no joke so I'd recommend getting up a bit earlier than you usually would on a holiday so that you can go out and explore the city in the early hours of the day. Then after having lunch somewhere in the city it's nice to go back to your hotel and have a bit of a siesta and this is also where the hotel's rooftop swimming pool comes in handy. The heat dies down a bit in the late afternoon and you should now feel ready to take on part two of your day in Bangkok so here are some of the best things to do in Bangkok. To get a good feel for how diverse the capital of Thailand is I'd recommend going on a boat cruise on the Chao Phraya River. There are many different lines and boats with the classic sightseeing commentary but you can also just take one of these commuter boats as they are super cheap. For example here I'm Another absolutely must do here in Bangkok is obviously to go and visit one of the temples. I'm currently at Wat Arun. The temple is also known as the Temple of Dawn and it's renowned for its stunning riverside location and iconic central spire that stands over 70 meters tall. Entrance to Wat Arun is 200 baht and again I'd advise that you come here early in the day as it gets pretty damn hot around here. It's always insanely hot in Bangkok so one of the things I like to do is go into the shopping malls and there are so many shopping malls here in Bangkok. This is MBK and it's a bit of a weird one because there's plenty of like proper touristy stuff and like elephant pants and stuff like that so it may not be the best center to buy proper clothing but it's quite funny to experience. Here in MBK you'll also find one of the famous food courts in Bangkok. I know this one may not look as trendy as the ones in the finer shopping malls but it's an awesome place to go for a super cheap lunch. There are so many different food stalls and I've never had a bad meal from any of these. One of the most famous things to do in Bangkok is to visit the legendary Khao San Road. Khao San Road used to be the place to go if you were a young backpacker traveling around Asia on a budget. Nowadays it's way more polished and it may not be an authentic Thai experience but if you just want to go to an area of Bangkok where there's always a party atmosphere going at night, Khao San Road is a safe bet. Lompini Park is one of Bangkok's most famous parks for good reason. It's not just a nice park with a few lakes, there are also some pretty cool guys living here. The monitor lizards are totally harmless unless you're a bird or a fish but I'm still keeping my distance whenever I visit Lompini Park just to be on the safe side. We are now leaving Bangkok and getting one of the many daily flights down to Surat Thani Airport. From Surat Thani Airport you'll get a taxi over to Khao Sok National Park and I'd recommend pre-booking the taxi so you don't have to hackle on arrival. Khao Sok National Park is one of the most beautiful places in Thailand so even though I only have vertical videos from here I had to include it in this itinerary. The National Park is home to everything from elephants to wild tigers and many other species you'll only find in this part of Thailand. There are two main things to do here, go jungle trekking and day trips on the lake and there are two main places to stay in the area, the little village where most of the jungle treks are happening and then the town where the boat tours depart. All hotels here can help you arrange jungle trekking and day trips on the lake or you can pre-book them from the comfort of your own home. Again sorry for the lack of proper video from Khao Sok but just trust me this is one of the most stunning parts of Thailand. Now it's time to hit yet another top region in Thailand, Krabi. This is the part of the country where you can chill on some of the most stunning beaches, go on day trips to incredible tiny islands and then in the evening you can enjoy a bit of nightlife and a good selection of restaurants to choose from. My advice is that you use this famous tourist town called Ao Nang as your base. I'm not actually madly in love with Ao Nang as a destination in itself but it is the perfect place to stay in Krabi if you're looking for a town with a beach and an unlimited amount of day trips and things to do. Ao Nang has hotels in all price ranges but my advice is that you don't splurge too much on your accommodation here as you probably won't be spending too much time at the hotel and will splurge on the hotel at the next destination on the itinerary. The beach in Ao Nang has a beautiful backdrop but it does get pretty noisy with all the boats running to Railay Beach which we'll get to in a minute but if you want a nice beach day in Ao Nang and you're up for a bit of a trek I'd suggest walking over to Pai Plong Beach which is much quieter however there are only a couple of hotels over here and no shops or anything so do bring your own snacks and water. Okay let me tell you about the three things that you need to do when you're in Ao Nang. One of the main reasons why Ao Nang has become such a popular holiday area is without a doubt the fact that you can walk down to the beach and get a five minute shuttle boat over to one of Thailand's best beaches, Railay Beach. The first time I went to Railay I stayed there for four nights and to be honest I think it's best to stay in Ao Nang and then just get the quick boat over to Railay to enjoy the beach. Railay is actually not an island but it's surrounded by these incredible limestone cliffs and the jungle so it feels super remote and you can only access it by boat. There's a little strip with restaurants and bars and there's a super laid-back vibe here but it's a tiny area so if you want to kick back and not care about wearing shoes for a few days you could also book your hotel here. When you visit Railay it's also a good idea to cross over from the famous Railay West to the eastern side where you'll walk along the monkey trail to Pha Nang Beach. Don't underestimate Railay, I'd highly recommend spending at least a full day here. There are so many cool things to do here in the Krabi region but I've got two more things that I wholeheartedly recommend and that I want you to seriously consider doing. The first one is a day trip to the famous Maya Beach in the Phi Phi Islands. I went on this awesome early bird tour where you try and set out from Ao Nang rather early so that you'll beat the worst crowds. We started out with breakfast on this stunning island near Ao Nang and then headed down to Maya Beach which first gained fame when a young Leonardo DiCaprio went to live here in the film The Beach. Much has been said about Maya Beach and if you looked on social media people would either tell you it's out of this world gorgeous or they'll tell you to avoid it like the plague because there are too many tourists. My advice is that you go on this early bird tour so you do your best to beat the crowds but you should also know that beating the crowds altogether is probably gonna be impossible here. This is one of the most beautiful places in the world probably so of course there will be other tourists. Just accept it and enjoy the view. The tour continues over to the main Phi Phi Island where they serve lunch and you've got some time to experience the island as well. I actually stayed here for five nights back in 2016 and when I was back here in 2024 I felt that it changed a lot and not in a positive way. That's also why we're staying for five days in Ao Nang and not here in Phi Phi. Next up on the tour we're heading over to Bamboo Island before returning to the stunning islands near Ao Nang. You could also go on a separate day trip just to these four islands but I think it's awesome that this tour combines Maya Beach with these islands. Another day trip I want you to consider is a trip over to the Hong Islands. Honestly these islands blew me away when I went there on my I think fifth trip to Thailand. I honestly don't know why it took me so long to get there because they are easily accessible from Ao Nang and it only takes about 30 minutes to get there on a longtail boat. Again of course there will be other people but I don't think these places were overrun with tourists which is a bit weird because they are drop-dead gorgeous. The main Hong Island is probably gonna be the main stop of the day and I guess it's easy to see why. Most tours will sail around the islands and visit the best places. They are all super close to each other so it's an easy day trip or you could even do it as a half day trip actually. Koh Lao La Ding is just out of this world gorgeous and I even saw a British couple getting engaged here which was so lovely. I'll leave a few more tips on things to do in and around Ao Nang in the description but trust me there's enough to fill up the itinerary for a week to be honest. Ao Nang is a classic tourist destination in Thailand and we've now had a few busy days exploring a lot of incredible places so now it's time to have some more relaxed days. Don't worry there are still awesome day trips to be had but we're getting a boat over to either Koh Yao Yai or Koh Yao Noi. Koh Yao Noi is the smaller of the two and it's like going to a completely different world compared to Ao Nang. Over here there truly aren't that many other tourists so it's the perfect place to just kick back in a nice hotel and enjoy some beach days. Koh Yao Yai is very similar although it's a little bit more developed. I've actually been to Koh Yao Yai twice where I stayed in the same hotel because yeah it's just that good guys. Remember how I told you not to splurge on your hotel over in Ao Nang? Now is the time to splurge and get a pool villa at the Santia Koh Yao Yai although the normal rooms are also very nice. But if you can I would highly recommend setting yourself up in one of these ocean view pool villas. I went here in the absolute high season in February and paid this much per night. The hotel itself is built over a massive area of land so you're using these little cars whenever you want to get from your room to the breakfast restaurant or the infinity pool or down to the more or less private beach where there's also a restaurant gym and a little shop. The hotel's atmosphere is truly unique and there's just an insane amount of attention to detail everywhere. It's pretty much the perfect place to just unplug with a good book and just relax properly. Whenever we've been there we've gone into total relax mode and pretty much just spent our days at the resort but it's also pretty cool to rent a scooter and drive around the island as it really is totally different to the more touristy areas. If you're staying at Santia you can get the speedboat over to Phuket in about 15 minutes and then maybe stay in a tourist town like Enjoy a few beers in the evening or just soak in the last Thai atmosphere before you'll be heading to Phuket International Airport and fly home either directly or via Bangkok. If you enjoyed this Thailand travel guide please leave the video a like and subscribe to the channel for more travel content and if you have any questions comment below and I'll try and help you out of course.