Thailand forum

I was thinking Krabi too. Seems to have most of what you're looking for. But one day in Bangkok? It's the heart of the country and it's where more than ten percent of the population resides. It is the example of contemporary Thai urban society and it's steeped in history. Hard to imagine coming to Thailand for the first time and only spending one day in Bangkok, unless you just hate cities.

Check with the airline once you book your flight south to determine which airport.

As for Bangkok, you could easily spend all three weeks there and still find plenty to see and do. The place is HUGE.

Okay, I'm convinced. For Bangkok I was thinking hang out for the first day there and do stuff (have to figure out what), then the second day take the Khao Yai National Park tour (looked cool online, thoughts?) Then, start in Krabi . Ideally, I would love to go in a big circle: Krabi to Ko Lanta to Koh Phi Phi to Phuket and then fly back to Bangkok for a day or 2 so I can do a little shopping and not worry about carrying it around the whole time! It might be easier to just leave from Phuket or maybe just do all of Bangkok at the end, I don't know! I figured it was about 4 days in each place. Is that too much moving around or do you think that would be doable and allow me to still enjoy my time there. Any that I should skip, any I can't miss, any that I'm missing out on. Ah, I thought 3 weeks was a long time but now it doesn't seem like nearly enough time!

Thanks so much for all of your help!!

As far as Bangkok goes, I am now kicking myself for not spending a couple of weeks there on my last visits there. The recent blog entries by David Luekens (and others, of course) have really opened my eyes, in particular the Thonburi area. http://www.travelfish.org/blogs/thailand/category/bangkok/

My next trip I will happily spend a few weeks there!

I love Bangkok, used to live and work there and it feels like home every time I go back, but the constant noise, crowds, traffic jams and air pollution get to me after about a week and I find myself itching to get out and go somewhere where I can just kick back and relax.

Like any big new city, it can be quite stressful trying to find your way about at first in Bangkok, especially if you're very tired and jet lagged. Definitely think it's a good idea to leave shopping till the end of your trip, otherwise you'll have to either leave it in storage somewhere or carry it about with you.

As it's your first time in Thailand, I'd advise leaving Bangkok for the end rather than the beginning of your trip. You'll be more used to Thailand so you'll find it easier to get around and will be less likely to fall prey to any scam artists targeting tired and confused newly arrived tourists.

The only problem with this plan is that once you're in the islands you'll quite likely find it too hard to leave the beach and go back to Bangkok before you really have to. But hey, it's your holiday and Thailand is a great place to be flexible, it's very very easy to wing it there. If you want to explore Bangkok a bit more then do so, if you'd prefer to stay put, that's fine too. You'll already have had a glimpse of the city when you arrive so you'll be better able to figure out whether you want to or not than you can now.

"But in between I would also like to enjoy the beautiful beaches, take a boat tour of an island, ride elephants, snorkel, stay in a bungalow on the beach, and really anything else."

You can do all of that on Koh Chang - the word for elephant in Thai is Chang.