Places to Visit in Thailand

A list of the best places to visit in Bangkok complete with highlights for shopping, sightseeing, fun things to do for kids, cultural and historic places to see, food experiences and some off-the-beaten-track places to visit. There is a huge amount to see and do in Bangkok that is family-friendly and suitable for people of …

Kanchanaburi is a beautiful spot on the historic River Kwai, under 200Km from Bangkok. This makes Kanchanaburi a popular weekend destination for people escaping the city for a riverside weekend. Kanchanaburi is also a popular destination in Thailand for long-term travellers as a pretty spot to hang out for a few days or weeks. A look …

The Grand Palace in Bangkok is probobly the number 1 must-see attraction in the whole of Thailand. It’s an incredibly beautiful place and well worth visiting. The area around The Grand Palace is a good area to stay as you will be close to Wat Arun, Wat Pho, the Khao San Rd, Jim Thompson House, …

Pai is a small town and district in the north of Thailand in Mae Hong Son Province, not far from the Myanmar border. It has long been a destination for backpackers, digital nomads and long term slow travellers with a cool relaxed hippie vibe, low prices, and rural surrounds. Pai isn’t really a mainstream tourist …

The Jim Thompson House is a popular tourist destination in Bangkok Thailand. The house itself is made of traditional teak, Thai style with beautiful tropical gardens and original furnishings and decorations. It is worth visiting the Jim Thompson House if you have free time in Bangkok or a particular interest in Jim Thompson, silk, art, …

Wat Pho or Wat Po is a one of the most beautiful and popular Buddhist Wats in Bangkok Thailand. It is in Phra Nakhon District of Central Bangkok, on Rattanakosin Island, south of the Grand Palace. It is also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, but its full name is Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram Rajwaramahawihan. The name “Wat …

Thailand is a fantastic, easy, and cheap country to travel around. Thousands of backpackers, travellers and holidaymakers travel within Thailand, and all the other countries in Southeast Asia, daily, this post is about travel options, booking tickets, and arranging travel in and around Thailand, but the same applies to all countries adjacent to and near …

Need to know some cool and interesting facts about Thailand? This post is stuffed with Thailand facts and trivia, history, geography, and more. Thailand is one of our favourite countries to visit, with the best food in the world, so here are some facts about Thailand, for kids. Thailand is a Southeast Asian country. It’s …

This post is about the experience of getting a traditional Thai tattoo in Bangkok. We also suggest other places in Thailand to get a traditional sak yant. These are “bamboo tattoos” done with a long bamboo pole tipped with a spike. This is how I was able to book a Thai tattoo in Bangkok with …

When most people think of Thailand, sandy beaches with crystal clear waters, snorkelling, temples, and tropical fish come to mind. Kanchanaburi offers something different. It is steeped in contemporary history, whilst also offering a place to just relax on the River Kwai and explore the surrounding countryside.  This post is about things to do in …

Amphawa Floating Market is one of Thailand’s best floating markets and is an easy distance from Bangkok for a day trip, weekend or overnight stay. It’s in a lovely part of Thailand, Samut Songkhram and this area is worth your time. Amphawa Floating Markets are open on the weekends, Friday to Sunday and they are …

What is Thai food? Thai food is the national food of Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia, and is one of the best cuisines in the world, if not the very best. Thai food is full of flavour, featuring aromatics like lemongrass, gingers, lime leaves and hot chillies alongside coconut milk, peanuts and basil. Thai …

Sukhothai is a city in central Thailand and home to Thailand’s first ancient capital. For lovers of history and culture, Sukhothai is a must-visit and we’d encourage anyone to add Sukhothai to their Thailand itinerary. However, getting to Sukhothai isn’t so easy, it’s a little off the main train lines, so buses, private tours and …

A favourite part of any trip to Thailand, the Bangkok to Chiang Mai journey, is to be enjoyed not endured. Chiang Mai is a fantastic destination, it is cheap, relaxed, and very different from Bangkok. We highly recommend a trip to this part of northern Thailand and exploring further into the mountains if possible. There …

I’ve been wondering for days if we could take kids to the Full Moon Party at Haad Rin on Ko Phangan. I asked around and got mixed answers. Blog posts like this one describing it as a “war zone” had me wondering. In the end we went to find out for ourselves. We just happened …

This is the question I’m asked most in our Facebook group – Living Differently. Do I need onward flight tickets, a return flight ticket, or other proof of onward travel, to fly into Thailand. It’s not always Thailand, sometimes it’s Bali, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but we’ll address Thailand in this post. First I’d like to …

This post deals with things to do in Ao Nang and trips to take from Ao Nang, a beach area in Krabi province, Thailand. Krabi is on Southern Thailand’s west coast, approximately 800 km south of Bangkok. It’s part of the mainland, not an island, and is famous for beautiful limestone formations which continue out …

The Three Kings Monument Square in Chiang Mai Thailand is a large open square in the heart of the walled Old Town. The statue portrays the three founders of Chiang Mai, King Mengrai, King Ramkhamhaeng and King Ngam Muang.  King Mengrai ruled Lanna, King Ngam Muang was ruler of Phayao and King Ramkhamhaeng was King of Sukhothai …

Ethical elephant attractions in Thailand are a bit of a hot potato so over the years we’ve decided to just not get involved. We haven’t done anything involving elephants since back in the days when we were all OK to ride them. Then suddenly it wasn’t OK and a huge publicity campaign made elephants something …

Maeklong railway market is really no distance at all from Bangkok, is easy to get to and well worth the trip. The Maeklong market itself is a fascinating warren of stalls many selling local seafood, but it’s the trains passing through that most want to see. We’ve tried getting to Maeklong by local bus ( …

Tha Kha floating market is a smaller, less well known floating market near Bangkok. It is a much better experience than visiting the popular Damnoed Saduak floating market, which is the market most tourist tours will take you to. Amphawa floating market is also near Bangkok and trips can take you to any of these, …

Northern Thailand is one of the best places to visit in Thailand. Best, most beautiful places to visit in Northern Thailand and a Northern Thailand Itinerary. Things to do and places to see in the north of Thailand. Don’t stop at Chiang Mai! We think Northern Thailand is one of the best parts of Thailand …

Chiang Rai in Northern Thailand should be a lot higher on people’s places to visit list than it is, we enjoyed 2 very full days staying in Chiang Rai on our Thailand road trip and highly recommend you make the journey just 3 hours ( roughly) from Chiang Mai to explore the temples, villages, forests …

Thailand for families, best places and parts of Thailand for families to visit. Thailand highlights for families to enjoy on a visit. trip, or vacation. Information on visiting Thailand as a family, for families. Thailand is a fantastic and relatively easy destination for families, for you and your kids. We’d certainly rate it the easiest …

6 weeks in Thailand, what a ride! If you’ve been following us on Facebook or Instagram, you’ll know a lot about our trip already, but some of you don’t and some of you will want more detail, so here’s a round-up on our 6 weeks in Thailand, where we went, what it cost, what we …

This is a hotel with a wow factor! After enjoying 3 days at Novotel Surin Beach we moved on to Novotel Karon beach, still on the island of Phuket, Thailand. Surin was superb, but Karon took hospitality to the next level. Everything we loved about Novotel Surin Beach was still there, but Novotel Phuket Karon …

Phuket is one of the islands of Thailand and for some a dream exotic holiday destination. It lies to the south-west of mainland Thailand, near other holiday hotspots such as Krabi and Ko Phi Phi. The Simian Islands are to the north of Phuket, also on the Andaman shore. Phuket is, sadly, an island with …

Food is one of our favourite things and food photography is part of that. Chef and I were very impressed with the food on offer at Novotel Surin Beach and we have rather a lot of photos to share, so here’s a selection for you to enjoy. Everyone Instagrams their breakfast right? Thai salads and …

Just behind the clear blue Andaman Sea, the sand, the palm trees and the scrubby foreshore sits Novotel Phuket Surin Beach Resort. We checked in for a few nights to take a break from long-term family travel, to relax, pamper and unwind after 5 weeks exploring Thailand. Our stay coincided with the Phuket Ironman event my husband …

Yesterday my husband, chef and dad at World Travel Family, competed in the Ironman Thailand Phuket half distance Ironman event. This was his second event in a couple of months, most recently he completed a full distance Ironman event in Tenby, Wales. (See photos and write up on Ironman Wales 2016 here). We travel the world …

Thailand is one of the more tricky countries for travellers to handle their travel money at minimum cost. We normally tell our readers just to get money out at ATM s or cash points, but in Thailand, that costs a lot. Just withdrawing cash from an ATM in Thailand can cost you half a day’s budget, …

There are plenty of ” things to do in Chiang Mai” posts on the internet, even when you add the “with kids” bit to the end. I’m not going to write one, it’s been done to death and everything you need to know about Chiang Mai will be in our Living in Chiang Mai post. But …

The long neck women of Northern Thailand, on the Burmese border near Mae Hong Son. These long neck ladies belong to the Karen tribe and the rings around their necks are traditional in their culture. We were welcomed in their village, bought some trinkets, had a look around. We were the only western tourists visiting …

There are several Hill Tribes in Thailand, mostly in north Thailand. These Thai villages can be visited by tourists, and it is possible to arrange overnight stays in Hill Tribe villages. 20 years ago I took an extended trek in Northern Thailand staying in various Hill Tribe villages in the Mae Hon Song area. This …

A typical Long Neck Karen village house near Mae Hong Son, Northern Thailand. We visited by hire car and local “taxi” read more about our experiences Visiting the Hill Tribes of Northern Thailand by clicking through. Back to our main Thailand Travel page

We’re loving this city in strange and unexpected ways. I’m loving the Thai environment sure, the Old City of Chiang Mai with its ancient walls, stunning temples and teak houses, the amazing Thai food and it’s abundant availability, the clear blue skies and tropical heat, but I’m loving it in more than a tourist-sort-of-way. I’m …

A “things to do in Bangkok” post could easily turn into a book. This is a city with so many facets, so many variables that in 20 years of travel to Thailand, I’ve still not seen it all, nor had enough. These days I bring my children, they love this city too and ask to …

Sometimes we all like to stay somewhere a bit special. In Bangkok you can take your pick of the cheap hostels and guest houses or stay in any one of the huge chain hotels, we’ve tried many Bangkok hotels before and the experience has always been good and affordable. This time, for my 50th we …

It’s hard to know where to stay in Bangkok and finding family accommodation in Thailand’s vibrant capital is harder still. We’re hunting for the best family hotels in Bangkok at every price point, budget guest house, hostel, mid-range hotel and luxury resort because we travel all ways. Many hotels cater for singles and couples, but …

Living in Chiang Mai has been on our radar for years, it’s a city that Chef and I like a lot and for travellers, families and digital nomads. The cost of living in Chiang Mai for expats, good wi-fi, plentiful things to do and great street food make Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand …