In Bangkok, plan one day around the Grand Palace and Wat Pho in the historic centre. Explore Chinatown and nearby Talat Noi on another day, with time for their shops, shrines and food stalls. A boat ride gives you a different view of the riverside temples and neighbourhoods. Rattanakosin is convenient for the historic sights; Asok has rail connections to other districts. Choose your hotel around the places you want to visit, since a central address does not necessarily mean a short journey across Bangkok.
In Chiang Mai, visit Wat Phra Singh and Wat Chedi Luang, then explore the lanes inside the old-city moat. These are working temples, part of the city’s Lanna heritage. Leave time for a cooking class and an evening at a market as well as trips outside the city. For lunch, try khao soi: soft noodles in coconut curry, topped with crisp noodles and served with shallots and pickled vegetables. Visit Doi Suthep on a separate mountain outing. If Chiang Rai’s temples are a priority, stay there overnight rather than spending the day driving there and back.
Phuket has a wide choice of beach towns: Kata combines sand and restaurants, Patong has the busiest nightlife, and Bang Tao has large resorts. Krabi offers a different landscape of limestone cliffs. Stay in Ao Nang for restaurants and boat departures, or on Railay for beaches below the cliffs, reached by boat. Khao Lak suits long, quiet beach days, with accommodation spread along the mainland coast north of Phuket.
On Koh Samui, Bophut puts Fisherman’s Village restaurants near the beach; Chaweng is livelier at night, while Lamai has another substantial choice of hotels and places to eat. Add a neighbouring island for something you particularly want to do: a dive course on Koh Tao, for example, or time in Koh Phangan’s northern coves. Haad Rin’s party beach is only one part of Phangan. Each island move includes the hotel-to-pier journey as well as the boat crossing.
Visit Ayutthaya to see the remains of an earlier Siamese capital. Founded around 1350, it became a major trading city before its destruction in 1767. Brick monasteries and tall prang towers show the scale of the old capital; Wat Phra Si Sanphet is one of the main sites to include. Staying overnight gives you a late afternoon and another morning among the ruins. Add this to your time around Bangkok, or take a night from the beach stay if history interests you more than another day by the sea.
For 14 calendar days and 13 nights, one example is Bangkok on nights 1–4, Chiang Mai on nights 5–8 and Phuket on nights 9–13. Travel on days 5 and 9, leaving three full days in each city and four at the beach. Depart internationally from Phuket to keep that allocation. If your flight home leaves Bangkok, move back for the final night and shorten the beach stay by one night; add the return flight to the budget.
With seven nights, choose two destinations. Ten nights can fit three, though two give you more uninterrupted days. Give a dive course its full training schedule, or spend longer in the cities for food and history. An overnight train replaces a hotel night: if you take one north, count the berth within your total rather than booking an unused room in Bangkok.
The January 2027 budget below covers two adults sharing one room: four Bangkok nights, four Chiang Mai nights and five Phuket nights, outside New Year. Allow THB 52,000 (≈ US$1,550) for rooms including taxes and service charges, and THB 14,000 (≈ US$417) for all meals, breakfast and drinking water over 14 days. THB 18,000 (≈ US$537) covers two domestic flights per adult with baggage, all six airport transfers and local rides; THB 6,000 (≈ US$179) covers admissions and ordinary visits. These allowances total THB 90,000 (≈ US$2,683) for both travellers, with an international departure from Phuket.
Bangkok
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