Thailand forum

the sleeper train is a good adventure as well as a good choice for budget travel. it won't be the best night's sleep ever, but it should be interesting.

to answer your question, yes, there are some worthwhile stops between bangkok and chiang mai, but for a first trip to thailand and given that we all have limited time and resources for travel, you won't be seriously cheating yourself by skipping them.

if you want to take a look, the most popular of the options would be sukhothai, which is a fascinating place in terms of history and ruins and a pretty fun backpacker hangout too. but if you want to capture some of that type of stuff, you could always make a daytrip stopover in ayutthaya to explore its ruins and museums and then still catch that same sleeper train from ayutthaya onwards to chiang mai later in the evening. ayutthaya is just a bit north of bangkok proper. regards.

I agree with the others, although I'm skipping CM & Sukhothai this time (been already) I'm adding Chiang Rai, Nan and most likely Lampang & Phitsanulok when I head north, if I should skip one of these, please let me know I love the night train.

Thanks, I'll keep it in mind
http://www.travelfish.org/location/thailand/northern_thailand/chiang_mai/tha_ton

If you had to choose between Tha Ton & Nan which would it be?

that day trip stopover idea works just as well for lop buri as it does for ayutthaya. the train station in lop buri is right down town, and an easy walk to the roundabout where the largest groups of monkeys hang out. it is also a relatively short walk to a few of the worthwhile ruins and the museum, which is also good but a bit pricey.

on my last visit, there was a decent night market between the train station and the roundabout where we got excellent phat thai and other dishes from friendly people for not much money, and there was a backpacker-friendly guesthouse and bar starting to put down roots only two blocks or so from the train station. but that was nearly three years ago now, so things may be different.

i actually lived in lop buri for two months back in 1985. i wasn't a big fan of the monkeys then and i didn't like them much more on this last visit. be sure to take care around them, as they get teased so much they can be very foul tempered. have fun.