Plan Your Trip
Local Life
Activities
Thailand offers a wealth of activities to choose from. From swimming with whale sharks and other big fish to a visit to the Gulf of Thailand’s premier dive spots, Sail Rock and Chumphon Pinnacle on Ko Pha-Ngan, water-based activities should be at the top of your holiday to-do list. If you prefer keeping your feet dry, Kanchanaburi Province offers historical sites, caves and national parks galore, while adrenalin junkies can scale the limestone crags or kayak the rocky monuments around Railay. If hiking is more your thing, exploring the remote hill tribes of Chiang Rai might just be the tonic for you, or indulge in a little hot-spring action.
Shopping
Your wallet will get a serious retail workout in Thailand. The capital’s mega-malls are packed with designer gear, unique gifts and home decor, and Chatuchak Weekend Market and other outdoor markets will test your shopping muscles to the max. In Chiang Mai, the bustling Night Bazaar is filled with souvenirs and antiques, while boutique stores provide economic development opportunities for rural villagers and their handicrafts, such as silk textiles and basketry. And save room in your suitcase for the beautiful Lao-influenced weaving traditions of mát·mèe to be found in the sleepy northeastern town of Nong Khai.
Eating
Thai food is super delicious, remarkably convenient and ridiculously cheap. Each region whips up its own variation of pungent, fiery and colourful curries, and you can learn the tricks of the trade at one of Bangkok’s, Phuket’s or Chiang Mai’s cooking schools. The northeast’s triumvirate of dishes – grilled chicken, spicy green papaya salad and sticky rice – have converts across the country, while along the coast you can dine on some of the finest fruits of the sea. And don’t overlook the tropical fruit – sweet as candy, it can be plucked from colourful pyramid displays throughout the country.
Drinking & Nightlife
From international DJs spinning discs in the capital’s clubs and cocktails flowing from the sky bars to the Full Moon Parties, whisky buckets and almighty hangovers nursed by lazy days on the beach at Ko Pha-Ngan to carousing with hip uni students and boho NGOs in the beer-garden bars of Chiang Mai, the hospitality of the Thai people is legendary.
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Best Local Restaurants
Entertainment
There is no shortage of events to keep you entertained in Thailand. As traditional music and dance are performed in colourful street parades during local festivals in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai or Nong Khai, in Bangkok you can experience Thai boxing champions sparring at the country’s premier stadium, or catch an open-mike night, jazz jam sessions and Thai folk music at cosy live-music clubs in places including Chiang Mai.