Planning a first trip means sorting out visas, cash vs. card, common scams, and how many days to budget per destination — details that are easy to get wrong from abroad. These guides cover full destination overviews, sample itineraries, and safety tips, written for long-haul travelers. Coverage spans major destinations across Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore.
Koh Phangan has two reputations that barely seem to belong to the same island. To one crowd it is the home of the Full Moon Party, a monthly beach rave on Haad Rin that draws thousands of backpackers. To another it is a quiet, half-undeveloped coastline of bays reachable only by boat or dirt track,…
The Phi Phi Islands sit in the Andaman Sea between Phuket and Krabi, and they are usually visited one of two ways: as a long day trip packed onto a speedboat tour, or as an overnight stay on Koh Phi Phi Don, the only inhabited island in the group. Maya Bay, the limestone cove on…
Kanchanaburi is a province about 130 km west of Bangkok, built around one of the most sobering chapters of World War II history and one of the prettiest waterfalls in the country. Most visitors come for two very different reasons on the same day: the Bridge on the River Kwai and the Thailand-Burma Death Railway,…
Pattaya is a beach resort city about two hours southeast of Bangkok on the Gulf of Thailand, and it carries two reputations at once: a long-running adult-entertainment nightlife scene centered on Walking Street, and a genuinely family-friendly side built around theme parks, a famous wooden temple, and quieter beaches just south of the main strip….
Ayutthaya was the capital of the Siamese kingdom for over 400 years, until a Burmese army burned it to the ground in 1767 — and the brick-and-stucco ruins left behind are now one of the most rewarding half-day trips from Bangkok. Most visitors see it as a single day trip: roughly 80 kilometers north of…
Four to five days is enough to settle into one area of Koh Samui, visit the Big Buddha and Wat Plai Laem, fit in an Ang Thong Marine Park day trip, and still have time to relax on the beach. This itinerary assumes a Chaweng or Bophut base and can be shortened to 3 days…
Koh Samui is Thailand’s most developed Gulf island — a short direct flight from Bangkok, with its own airport, resort-level infrastructure, and a laid-back pace that sits between Phuket’s energy and Koh Phangan’s backpacker scene. It works well as a standalone beach trip or paired with Koh Phangan and Koh Tao via a short ferry…
Three days covers Krabi’s essentials — a Four Islands boat tour, Railay Beach, and Krabi Town’s temples and markets — without feeling rushed. A fourth day is worth adding if you want to fit in the Emerald Pool and Khlong Thom hot springs, both about an hour inland and easy to skip if you are…
Everything to know before visiting Krabi: where to stay, the best things to do, how to get there, and when to go.
Three days in Phuket is enough to settle into one beach area, see the island’s main cultural sights, and fit in a single day trip — four to five days lets you add a second island trip or just slow down. This itinerary assumes you are based in Kata, Karon, or Patong (see our Where…
