Morning
Land at Suvarnabhumi (BKK)
Immigration is the slow part; the queue after a night flight routinely runs an hour, so do not book anything before noon.
Airport Rail Link into town
From the basement of the terminal to Phaya Thai in about half an hour, then BTS to Phloen Chit. It beats a taxi at almost any hour of the day.
Afternoon / Day
Check in: Ariyasom Villa
65 Sukhumvit Soi 1. A restored 1940s Thai villa turned small boutique hotel at the quiet end of the soi, five minutes from BTS Phloen Chit and clear of the old-town crowds.
Lunch at Wattana Panich
336-338 Ekkamai Road, three stops out on the BTS. The beef broth is topped up rather than emptied and has been going for decades. It shuts one day a week, so check before you make the trip.
Erawan Shrine
Ratchaprasong crossing, on the corner of the Grand Hyatt. Offerings are garlands and carved teak elephants, and petitioners pay the resident troupe to dance when a wish is granted.
Evening
Lumphini Park at dusk
Rama IV Road, open daily from 04:30 to 21:00 and free. Water monitors two metres long live in the lake, and the aerobics classes start up as the heat goes.
Dinner at Somtum Der
5 Sala Daeng Road, a few minutes from the park. Isaan cooking from the northeast: green papaya salad pounded to order, grilled pork neck and sticky rice.
Morning
Wat Benchamabophit
69 Nakhon Pathom Road in Dusit. Faced in Italian Carrara marble at the turn of the last century; the cloister behind the hall lines up 52 Buddha images gathered from across Asia.
Wat Saket and the Golden Mount
Boriphat Road. A staircase spirals around an artificial hill past a rank of bronze bells to a gold chedi with the only 360-degree view of the old city.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Krua Apsorn
169 Dinso Road, one of several branches. Old Bangkok cooking built on royal-household recipes; the crab meat fried in yellow chilli is the dish people come for. Closed Sundays.
Wat Suthat and the Giant Swing
146 Bamrung Mueang Road. The red teak frame in the square in front held a Brahmin swing ceremony that was banned in 1935 after too many deaths.
Museum of Siam
Sanam Chai Road. An argument rather than a collection: interactive rooms asking what Thai-ness is and where it was invented. It closes one day a week, so check before you go.
Evening
Dinner at Thipsamai
313-315 Maha Chai Road. Pad thai wrapped in a thin egg sheet, cooked over charcoal; the shop has carried this name since 1966. Closed Tuesdays. Jay Fai is a few doors up at 327, but check her current booking rules before you count on a table.
Talat Noi, Then the Night Train
Morning
Wat Traimit
Thanon Mittaphap Thai-China, at the east end of Chinatown. Five and a half tonnes of solid gold sat under plaster here until the statue was dropped moving it in 1955.
Talat Noi and So Heng Tai Mansion
282 Soi Wanit 2. A Hokkien courtyard house two centuries old with a scuba pool in the middle of it; the lanes around are engine-part workshops and street murals. Entry is small and at the family's discretion.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Nai Mong Hoi Thod
539 Phlap Phla Chai Road, twenty metres up from Charoen Krung. Oyster and mussel omelettes fried crisp on a flat iron, and a long-standing Chinatown name. It takes one day off a week.
Chao Phraya Express down to Bang Rak
The orange-flag boat runs a flat fare the length of the city, but weekdays only, so this hop does not exist on a Saturday. Cross-river ferries run every day.
Bangkokian Museum
273 Soi Charoen Krung 43. Three houses left as a Bangkok family furnished them in the mid-twentieth century, run by the city. It is shut early in the week, so check the day before.
Evening
Early dinner at Baan Phadthai
21-23 Soi Charoen Krung 44, next door to the museum. Pad thai treated as a serious dish rather than a street snack. Eat at five, because the train will not wait.
Overnight train to Chiang Mai
Long-distance services leave from Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal, not Hua Lamphong, and have done since 2023. Trains 9 and 13 are the modern sleepers; about thirteen hours, arriving after dawn. Book at dticket.railway.co.th as soon as the date opens -- lower berths go first.
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Morning
Arrive at Chiang Mai station
Charoen Mueang Road, east of the river. A shared red songthaew into the old city is 30 baht a head; agree it before you climb in.
Check in: Tamarind Village
Ratchadamnoen Road, mid old city. A courtyard hotel behind a bamboo tunnel; the Sunday market runs past the door and three of the big temples are on foot from it.
Wat Chiang Man
Ratchaphakhinai Road. The oldest temple in Chiang Mai, founded in 1297 with the city itself; the Chedi Chang Lom stands on the backs of fifteen stone elephants.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Khao Soi Khun Yai
Sri Poom Soi 8, opposite Wat Kuan Kama. Northern curry noodles in a temple yard, lunchtime only and cash only. They stop when the pot is empty, so go early.
Wat Phra Singh
2 Samlan Road, at the west end of Ratchadamnoen. The Viharn Lai Kham at the back carries nineteenth-century murals of Lanna daily life rather than scripture.
Wat Chedi Luang
Phra Pok Klao Road. The fifteenth-century chedi lost its top to an earthquake in the sixteenth century and was left that way. Monks sit out at tables most days for an informal chat with visitors.
Evening
Wat Sri Suphan, the silver temple
100 Wua Lai Road. The ordination hall is beaten silver and aluminium, made by the silversmiths whose street this is. Women may not enter that hall, but the viharn and the grounds are open to everyone.
Saturday Walking Street
Wua Lai Road closes to traffic on Saturday afternoons and stays shut into the night; silverwork, lacquer and food carts down the same street as the temple.
Morning
Songthaew up Doi Suthep
Red trucks leave from the 7-Eleven by Chang Phuak Gate, around 80 baht each way. Fix the fare and the waiting time before you get in, not at the top.
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep
Suthep, 15 km up the mountain. Just over three hundred naga-lined steps, or a funicular for the knees; a small foreigner entry fee, knees and shoulders covered.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at SP Chicken
9/1 Samlan Road Soi 1, beside Wat Phra Singh. Whole chickens turning over charcoal in the window; they close when the last one goes, so this is a lunch not a dinner.
Wat Umong
135 Moo 10, Suthep, in forest below the mountain. Brick tunnels were cut under the chedi in the fourteenth century and are still walkable. Quiet, and run on donations. Arrange the ride back before you arrive.
Baan Kang Wat artist village
A cluster of wooden studios near Wat Ram Poeng in Suthep: ceramics, printmaking, a bookshop and a coffee bar. Daytime only, and it takes a day off each week.
Evening
Sunday Walking Street
Starts at Tha Phae Gate and runs west along Ratchadamnoen through the old city, Sunday afternoon into the evening. The temple courtyards off it become food halls.
Dinner at Huen Phen
112 Ratchamanka Road. Northern Thai: nam phrik ong, sai ua, and gaeng hang lay. The daytime shopfront is a canteen; the evening service moves into the teak rooms behind. Walk in.
Morning
Drive south to Doi Inthanon
Highway 108 to Chom Thong, then Route 1009 up the mountain: 100 to 115 km and a solid two to two and a half hours each way. Leave by seven.
Kew Mae Pan nature trail
A ridge loop out of the cloud forest onto open grassland with the whole valley below. A local Hmong guide is compulsory and hired at the trailhead. The trail shuts 1 June to 31 October and is open all January.
Afternoon / Day
The twin royal chedis
Naphamethanidon, built for the King in 1987, and Naphaphonphumisiri for the Queen in 1992, facing each other across terraced gardens. Ticketed separately from the park entry.
Ang Ka Luang boardwalk
A short boardwalk loop through sphagnum bog and moss forest at the summit, the highest ground in Thailand. National-park entry is charged at the checkpoint on the way up, cash.
Back down to Chiang Mai
The same road in reverse. It is genuinely cold at the top in January, near freezing at dawn, and dark comes early down in the valley.
Evening
Dinner at Dash Teak House
38/2 Moon Muang Road Soi 2, set back off the moat. A teak house with a garden, Monday to Saturday, and easy to reach on foot after a long day in a van.
Morning
Pickup for Elephant Nature Park
Programmes start with a hotel pickup between 07:30 and 08:00, or from the office at 07:30. The booking office at 1 Ratmakka Road handles anything that needs sorting in person.
Elephant Nature Park
Mae Taeng, about 60 km north. A genuine rescue sanctuary: the elephants here were taken out of riding, street begging and circus work, and the park runs on no riding and no tethering. You feed and watch. Book months ahead for January.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Ginger Farm Kitchen
One Nimman courtyard, Nimmanhaemin Road, open 11:00 to 22:00. Farm-sourced northern cooking; this is the only Chiang Mai branch, whatever the listings say.
Monk Chat at Wat Suan Dok
Suthep Road, ten minutes from Nimman. The Buddhist university on site runs scheduled sessions Monday to Friday: the monks practise English, and you can ask plainly about ordination and daily life.
Evening
Dinner at Cherng Doi Roast Chicken
2/8 Suk Kasem Road, a short walk off Nimman. Charcoal chicken, nam tok and sticky rice in a room of about eight tables. It shuts one day a week and fills fast, so go early.
Tha Phae Gate after dark
The eastern gate and the moat lit up, with the brick wall running off both ways. What stands today is a 1980s Lanna-style rebuild on the line King Mangrai set in 1296.
Morning
Khao soi at Khao Soi Mae Sai
29/1 Ratchaphuek Alley off Huay Kaew. A tin-roofed shophouse that has been ladling khao soi for decades. Mornings into the afternoon only, and it takes a day off each week.
Warorot Market
Wichayanon Road. Kad Luang, the big market: sai ua sausage, nam phrik num, dried chillies and Lanna cotton, most of it vacuum-packed for a flight.
Afternoon / Day
Out to Chiang Mai International
CNX sits fifteen minutes southwest of the old city, close enough that the ride is never the part that goes wrong.
Fly Chiang Mai to Krabi
The nonstop CNX to KBV hop takes about two hours, but it is a thin route that has come and gone, so book early and check the January schedule. The fallback is a connection through Bangkok, which turns this into five hours door to door.
Krabi airport, Ao Nang, longtail
29 km and about 40 minutes by road to Ao Nang, then a longtail across. There is no pier at Ao Nang: boats load off the east end of the beach and you wade the last few steps. Ao Nam Mao pier is the dry alternative.
Evening
Check in: Bhu Nga Thani
479 Moo 2, Railay East. Railay has no road in at all, so everything and everyone arrives by boat, which is what keeps it quiet after the day trippers leave.
Sunset on Railay West
Five minutes across the neck of the peninsula from the east side. The cliffs turn orange well before the sun is anywhere near the water, so get there early.
Morning
Phra Nang Cave Beach
Ten minutes south along the cliff path from Railay East. The cave at the north end is a fishermen's shrine, stacked with carved and painted wooden phalluses left as offerings for a good catch.
Railay viewpoint and the lagoon
Trailhead on Railay East by the Diamond Cave path. Twenty minutes of near-vertical red mud and knotted ropes to the viewpoint; the lagoon below is another twenty and a real scramble. Not for flip-flops.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch on the Railay East walkway
The mangrove side of the peninsula, where the climbers eat rather than the resort guests: curry-and-rice shops and a row of bars strung along the boardwalk.
Walk over to Tonsai
Fifteen minutes from Railay West over the headland, or two minutes by longtail if the tide is wrong. Tonsai is the climbers' beach, scruffier and cheaper than Railay.
Deep water soloing with Basecamp
Ropeless climbing straight off a longtail, with the sea as the landing. Basecamp Tonsai runs it through the December to March season, four to seven climbers, three to five hours, and cheaper in cash at the office than booked online.
Evening
Dinner at The Grotto
Tables set under a limestone overhang on Phranang Beach at Rayavadee. Open to non-guests, but bookings go through TableCheck only and you arrive by boat.
Morning
Longtail out to the islands
Boats leave off Railay West or from Nopparat Thara pier at Ao Nang. A longtail is slower and far quieter than the speedboats, and January is the calmest month out here.
Koh Hong and the hidden lagoon
Inside Than Bok Khorani National Park. The lagoon opens through a gap in the rock at the north end and goes flat calm at slack water. National-park entry is collected in cash by rangers on the island, on top of the boat fare.
Afternoon / Day
Talay Waek sandbar
The bar of sand that surfaces on a falling tide and joins Tup, Chicken and Mor islands, so you can walk from one to the next. It goes under again as the tide turns.
Snorkelling off Koh Poda
Sand at both ends, shallow reef fish in between, and the karst of Chicken Island on the skyline. Take your own mask if you are fussy about the fit.
Evening
Dinner at Lae Lay Grill
89 Moo 3, above Ao Nang. Seafood on terraces stepped up the hillside, open 11:00 to 22:00 every day. Ask for the upper deck when you book.
Last longtail back to Railay
Boats keep crossing off the east end of Ao Nang beach after dark, but the fare goes up at night. Agree it on the sand, before you are standing in the water.
Morning
Boat to Ao Nang, then east
Ten minutes across to Ao Nang, then about 25 minutes by road to Krabi Town. Bags travel better on the Ao Nam Mao crossing than off the beach.
Wat Tham Suea, the Tiger Cave
Krabi Noi, about 8 km northeast of town. More than twelve hundred steps up a limestone tower to a summit shrine and a view over the whole province. Start early; shoulders and knees covered.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Ruen Mai
117 Moo 3, Sai Thai. Southern Thai in an open-air garden, with a break between the lunch and dinner services. Bring repellent, and book if you are arriving at peak.
Check in: Krabi Front Bay Resort
140/1 Moo 7, Sai Thai, on the river west of the centre. Twenty minutes from the airport, which is the point of it on the last night.
Evening
Gaeng tai pla at Anchalee
315/5 Maharaj Road, at the Utrakit junction. The fermented fish-gut curry southern Thailand is actually known for, plus milder southern staples for anyone who bails on it.
Krabi Walking Street
Soi Maharaj 8, in the middle of town. A weekend-evening street market with a stage at one end and southern food down both sides; check the nights before you plan around it.
Khao Khanab Nam, Then Home
Morning
Khao Khanab Nam
Two limestone towers a hundred metres high standing in the river mouth, the image on every Krabi postcard. Longtails run out from Chao Fa Pier and back in about fifteen minutes each way.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Kotung
66 Soi Maharaj, a few hundred metres up from the pier. Southern seafood and curries in a long shophouse room, and quick enough before a flight.
Out to Krabi International
About twenty minutes east of town on Highway 4, in Nuea Khlong. KBV is a small airport with a short domestic list, so check what is actually flying in January.
Evening
Fly out of Krabi (KBV)
Nearly every way home connects through Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur. Take the earlier connection rather than the tight one; one runway and a January afternoon do not mix.
