This is a continuation of an earlier post Trip Review: Thailand With Kids. Part 1 focused on the daily events of traveling with 2 kids and detailed our time in Bangkok, Ko Samui and Railay beach in Krabi. This followup is about some places we didn’t visit, some tips for planning your trip and a few thoughts on the weather and staying healthy.
- Traveling to Bangkok? Read Bangkok: The Best Hotels For Kids And Families.
Roads Not Taken
You can’t go everywhere. Here are some popular tourist destinations in Thailand that we didn’t get to on this trip.
Chiang Mai
An abundant supply of day trips and fun activities make this an attractive option for a family with young kids. A huge variety of foods and restaurants, a moderate climate during the winter months (when most people visit), and a number of swimming pools would make it easy to while away a few weeks in Thailand’s 2nd largest city.
Kanchanaburi
A mini Chiang Mai with ample nearby parks and natural beauty. A train from downtown Bangkok can get you here in just under 5 hours.
Hua Hin
This could make a good pit stop on a bus or train trip to the southern islands – or a destination in itself. It’s a popular destination for Thai tourists so if you visit outside of Thailand’s holiday seasons it can be very quiet.
Ko Pha Ngan
This is perhaps my favorite spot in all of Thailand. Great beaches, cheap low-key accommodations, and just a great over-all vibe make it a dream island. Get here before it becomes just another tourist destination.
Trip Particulars
Health
As always check the cdc web site for vaccination and malaria recommendations. But compared to other destinations in South and South-East Asia Thailand is about as safe and easy as it gets.
Getting There
Bangkok is the center of cheap flights for the region so you should have a lot of choices in how and when to get there. Enter some dates – preferably flexible dates — into Kayak then proceed to the web sites of the cheapest airlines to see if their web sites offer an even better deal. Bangkok is a great place to buy cheap tickets, so if this is part of a extended trip don’t feel you have to book all your flights before starting your trip.
Getting Around
Traveling around Thailand is easy, cheap and often painfully slow. It’s as if the country has made it half the way to a Westernised idea of efficiency on punctuality. Trains and buses tend to leave on time, but then enter some strange time warp where 50 miles on the map can take several hours. Be patient and have fun. You’re traveling right?
Air Asia can be the remedy for many of these road trials and tribulations. They seem to be adding routes every couple of months and prices only go down, not up. Their web site is great and easy to use.
Nokair, One Two Go and Bangkok Airways are other airlines that offer cheap flights to all corners of the country.
Weather
I’ve been to Thailand 4 times, in 4 different seasons and can say that when planning a trip don’t let climate determine where and when you’re going to travel. You can get great beach weather in the wet season and be doused with rain in the dry season. The weather patterns on each of the coasts vary a fair bit as well, so if you’re getting crummy weather on one coast it’s always an option to travel across the country and see if you get sunny skies.
Travel Tips
Really make an effort to get away from the more touristy spots. This advice applies everywhere of course, but I think it’s especially relevant in Thailand. After a few days of interacting with jaded hotel owners and tour operators on the tourist trail you’ll be shocked at just how friendly and inviting Thais can be when you see them in their local element. It really is the land of smiles. And if you have kids, forget about it. You’ll never want to go home.
Summary
Destinations don’t get much better than Thailand. Safe, beautiful and relatively easy to get around, the country offers seemingly all the amenities of the west while still retaining a lot of the old Thai culture and hospitality. Make an effort to get off the beaten track and you’ll be rewarded with some of the friendliest people, most beautiful scenery and fantastic food the world has to offer.
[Photos by: kwanz, Mark Lehmkuhler, travlinman43, jiashiang]
My Favorite Websites
I get lots of questions about booking hotels. These are my favorite sites.HotelsCombined.com – The absolute best for finding hotel deals and discounts.
Agoda.com – A great resource for hotels in Asia.
Spent time with the family in the Chiang Mai region. Kids loved it. Highly recommend.
Next time head northeast and visit the Isaan area. More down to earth people, beautiful temples, and excellent food. You will save money as it doesn’t cost nearly as much in this part of Thailand as opposed to the touristy areas.
Thanks for the budget airline links!! We’re heading to Thailand with the kiddos next month, Bangkok, Phuket, then back to Bngkok. Really looking forward to it
Hi, great piece! Thanks for the info. We – my wife, 4 kids and I – are planning atrip to Thailand and Vietnam. We are trying to figure out the amount we need to save. May I ask what your (average) daily spend in Thailand was?
Cheers,
Daan
Hi Daan. I’d put daily expenses for a family of 4 traveling through Thailand somewhere between $120 and $200 per day. Of course, if you stay put in one place and live more like a local you could get by with far less money, but I’m assuming you mean staying in hotels, eating in tourist-oriented restaurants, and hitting the popular tourist spots.
Here are a few articles that might provide a bit more context and info:
http://www.gotpassport.org/2011/07/09/the-cost-of-living-in-chiang-mai-for-our-family-of-three/
http://migrationology.com/2011/07/cost-of-living-in-bangkok-thailand/
http://almostfearless.com/2010/12/16/living-in-chiang-mai-thailand/
Good luck.
Thanks! We were counting on spending about 200 euro’s a day, including travel and extra’s.
Hi Dave
u have given some great advice so far. Another question for u pls. How would i get from either Railay/Ko Lanta to Koh Samui. The flights from Krabi to Smui appear to be a little expensive (especially for a family of 4). Could u also pls advise of the time frame the journey would take? Thanks
Bec
Yes, Bangkok Airways owns the Samui airport and they’re the only airline with regular flights (so they keep the prices high). You could try flying to Surat Thani on the mainland instead. The flight only takes about an hour. From Phuket to Koh Samui by bus takes 8 or 9 hours by the time you wait for the ferry in Surat Thani. So it’s nice if you can catch a flight.
Thanks for all the great information on SE Asia, looks very useful. Our family (my wife and I and our 6 and 8 yr olds) are planning a SE Asia trip beginning in July and are considering weather in our choices of destinations. How limiting is Thailand in the rainy (July-Sept) season? We want to spend some time on the beach but certainly not all.
thanks again,
Jason
The weather in Thailand during that stretch can vary dramatically from year to year. So first off, there are no guarantees. If you read that one person had a 2 weeks of rain last year then this year could be a 2 weeks of sun. In general however, the weather on the east coast of Thailand tends to be clearer and dryer during the wet season. I’d probably go to either Koh Pha Ngan or Koh Samui and hope for the best. Also note, that even during a rainy day the sun will usually come out for a few hours, the ground dries up, and it’s no problem to go for a swim. Of course, up North between Bangkok and Chiang Mai you can see heavy flooding during that time of year so follow the news closely while you’re there. Good luck.