Krabi or Phuket at the end?

Krabi for the limestone, the long-tails and a shorter hop from the airport to the sand. Phuket if you want a bigger choice of hotels, direct long-haul flights home, or Phang Nga Bay from the northern beaches. They are three hours apart by road and run on the same season.

Can we skip the sleeper?

Yes — back to Bangkok after Ayutthaya and fly to Chiang Mai the next morning, an hour and a quarter. It costs a Bangkok night and half a day, and it is the right answer if trains are not for you.

Is Ayutthaya worth a whole day?

As a day out of Bangkok, yes, and it is the strongest argument for leaving the city. As an overnight it is worth it only if you care about light: sunset at Wat Chaiwatthanaram and the park before nine the next morning are the two hours a day trip never reaches.

November to February, which is dry in Bangkok, cool in the north and at the best of the Andaman season. March and April bring the burning season in the north. May to October is green and wet, cheaper, and the coast becomes unpredictable.

Thailand Highlights in 9 Days

Overview

Three Thailands in nine days

The country divides cleanly into three, and a first trip that tries to do more than three is a trip about airports. Bangkok and the old capital at Ayutthaya are one piece, an hour and a half apart on the same river. The Lanna north is another — a separate kingdom until 1892, with its own architecture, its own food and a climate two or three degrees cooler. The Andaman coast is the third, and it is the only one with a season that can close it.

The joins are the interesting part. Ayutthaya sits on the northern railway line, so you can spend the afternoon in the park and board the sleeper there rather than doubling back to Bangkok. That one decision saves the better part of a day and puts you in Chiang Mai at breakfast.

Weathered brick chedis and ruins stand amid green grass at a historic temple site in Ayutthaya, Thailand.

The golden chedi of Wat Phra That Doi Suthep on the mountain above Chiang Mai, northern Thailand

Ayutthaya · Doi Suthep

Length: 9 days, 8 nights
Group: Private, up to 12
Starts: Bangkok
Ends: Krabi
Long legs: One sleeper, one flight
Best months: November to February

Nights

The nights, in order

Bangkok2 nightsRattanakosin, the river and Chinatown after dark.→The northern sleeper1 nightJoined at Ayutthaya, off at Chiang Mai.→Chiang Mai3 nightsThe walled city, a kitchen, and the mountain behind it.→Krabi2 nightsAo Nang or Railay, and the boats out of both.

Day by day

What happens each day

Day 1

Into Bangkok

The public river ferry at dusk, which is not a tour

Suvarnabhumi to the centre is 45 minutes to an hour and a half depending entirely on when you land. Nothing is planned. If you still have an evening, the river ferry from Sathorn pier northwards costs almost nothing and is the best orientation in the city.

StayHotel near the river or the skytrain, BangkokMealsNone includedTravel45 minutes to 1.5 hours from Suvarnabhumi

Day 2

Rattanakosin, the river and Yaowarat

Chinatown at nine in the evening, on foot

At the Grand Palace gate when it opens, because by ten it is shoulder to shoulder and the dress code is enforced without discussion. Wat Pho is two minutes away and repays a slower hour. The middle of the day is off. Late afternoon is the canals of Thonburi by long-tail, and the evening is Yaowarat road and the lanes behind it, which is the best eating in the country and costs nothing to walk.

StayHotel near the river or the skytrain, BangkokMealsBreakfast, dinnerOn footAbout 4 km, in two pieces with the heat of the day off

Day 3

The old capital, and onto the sleeper

Wat Chaiwatthanaram in the last hour of light

An hour and a half north by road to Ayutthaya, which was sacked and burned in 1767 and never rebuilt. What survives is the brick core of a city whose stucco and gold have gone: rows of bell-shaped chedis, prangs leaning a few degrees, and hundreds of Buddha figures whose heads were taken long ago. Four or five hours in the park with a guide, ending at Wat Chaiwatthanaram for the last light. Dinner in town, and the sleeper north is joined here rather than back in Bangkok.

StaySecond-class air-conditioned sleeper, Ayutthaya to Chiang MaiMealsBreakfast, lunchTravel1.5 hours from BangkokOn footAbout 4 km across the park, flat and exposed

Day 4

Into the walled city

Wat Chedi Luang, which is the most affecting thing in the old city

Off the train mid-morning. The old city is a square of moat and brick wall from 1296 with around thirty working temples inside a square mile, and the right number to visit is three: Wat Phra Singh for the Lanna woodwork, Wat Chedi Luang for the brick tower that lost its top third to an earthquake in 1545 and was never restored, and one you find on your own. The afternoon is free and the evening is a market.

StayHotel in or near the old city, Chiang MaiMealsBreakfastOn footAbout 3 km inside the walls

Day 5

A market, a kitchen and the food you take home

Going home able to cook the food

A cooking school, which is the single activity travellers mention a year later: a market walk to learn the ingredients, then four or five dishes cooked over gas in an open kitchen outside town, finishing early afternoon. The rest of the day is yours. If it is a Sunday, the walking street closes Ratchadamnoen road to traffic and is the best market in the north — go at four, because it fills by seven.

StayHotel in or near the old city, Chiang MaiMealsBreakfast, lunch

Day 6

The mountain, and the forest camp

Doi Suthep at opening, above the cloud

Doi Suthep in the first hour after it opens, forty minutes up the mountain, while the cloud is still sitting in the valley below. Then north or west of the city to an elephant camp where a small herd lives in forest and a visit means walking and watching — no riding, no performances, and no queue of visitors bathing the animals. We name the camp at the planning stage rather than on a web page, because standards move.

StayHotel in or near the old city, Chiang MaiMealsBreakfast, lunchTravel40 minutes to Doi Suthep, about 1 hour to the camp

Day 7

North to south in one flight

The first sight of the limestone standing out of the sea

Chiang Mai to Krabi is about two hours direct in the high season and otherwise connects through Bangkok, which costs half a day — we book the direct service where it exists and tell you plainly when it does not. Krabi airport is twenty minutes from Ao Nang. The afternoon is the beach.

StayAo Nang or Railay, KrabiMealsBreakfastTravelAbout 2 hours by air, then 20 minutes by road

Day 8

One boat day, chosen on the weather

The Hong lagoon at low water, before the day fleet

The Hong islands to the north are the better half-day: a lagoon that empties and fills with the tide, and a beach you can land on. The four-island trip out of Ao Nang is pleasant and busy, and the single change that improves it most is going privately and leaving at eight rather than half past nine. We pick between them on the morning forecast, and either way you are back by mid-afternoon.

StayAo Nang or Railay, KrabiMealsBreakfast, lunch

Day 9

Home from Krabi

A last morning, then twenty minutes to the airport. Krabi has direct flights to Bangkok every hour or so and a growing list of regional services. If your international flight is out of Bangkok we keep at least three hours between the two.

MealsBreakfastTravel20 minutes to Krabi airport

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Paperwork

Entry, and what changed in September 2026

Thailand shortened its visa exemption with very little notice, and the arrival card caught a great many people out in the weeks after it came in. Both rules are current as of the date below.

The visa exemption is 30 days, not 60, for sixty countries and territories including the United Kingdom, the EU, the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan. It has been 30 days since 15 September 2026 and it is for tourism only.
The Thailand Digital Arrival Card is compulsory, free, and filed within three days of arrival. Airlines and immigration both check it.
Entering overland on the exemption is capped at twice per calendar year. This route flies in and out, so it does not use either entry.
Visa on arrival now covers three nationalities only. Everyone else is either exempt or applies for an e-visa in advance.
Your passport needs six months of validity.
The Thailand – Cambodia land border has been closed to tourists since 23 June 2025, at Aranyaprathet – Poipet and at Hat Lek – Cham Yeam. If you want Angkor as well, Bangkok to Siem Reap is a one-hour flight and there is no road version at present.

Checked 20 September 2026

We do not publish visa fees. The current figure is on the official Thai portal, and your coordinator confirms it in writing, with the date your arrival card must be filed.

Pictures

What the nine days look like

Bangkok

Ayutthaya

Chiang Mai

Doi Suthep

Krabi

Railay

Cost

How we quote it

Travellers	Comfortable hotels	Boutique and luxury
2 travellers	On request	On request
4 – 6 travellers	On request	On request

Every route is quoted for your own dates, party size and hotel standard, itemised.

Thailand has the widest hotel range of any country on this site, which is why the two columns are further apart here than anywhere else: the same nine days can be a good three-star in the old city or a cliff-top room at Railay. One of the eight nights is a train berth in both columns. Ask and the figure comes back within a working day, itemised, with every hotel named.

Included

What the quote covers

What the price includes

Private air-conditioned car and driver in Bangkok, at Ayutthaya, in Chiang Mai and in Krabi.
English-speaking licensed guides for Rattanakosin, the Ayutthaya park, the Chiang Mai temples and the elephant camp. Free afternoons have no guide, by design.
The overnight sleeper from Ayutthaya to Chiang Mai, in a second-class air-conditioned cabin booked as a whole.
The internal flight from Chiang Mai to Krabi in economy with checked baggage, direct where the season carries it.
Eight nights with breakfast: two in Bangkok, one on the sleeper, three in Chiang Mai and two at Krabi.
Lunch at Ayutthaya, at the cooking school, at the elephant camp and on the boat day; dinner in Chinatown with a guide.
Boats: the Thonburi canals by long-tail and one private boat day from Ao Nang with national park fees paid.
Entrance fees to everything named above, including the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, Wat Pho, the Ayutthaya park temples and Doi Suthep.
All airport and station transfers, with the Suvarnabhumi run built to ninety minutes rather than forty-five.
A coordinator on a Thai number for the whole trip, and the arrival card filed on time for every traveller.

What it does not include

International flights into the first city and out of the last.
Visa fees and entry charges. We do not publish these figures — the current ones are on the government’s official portal, and your coordinator confirms them in writing before you travel.
Travel insurance, which we ask every traveller to hold.
Meals not named in the day-by-day, and all drinks.
Tips for guides, drivers and boat crew.
Personal expenses: laundry, telephone, spa treatments, anything bought.

Straight talk

Who should not book this route

Nine days is enough for three regions and not enough for four, and there are five travellers this shape does not suit.

Anyone travelling in March or April. The whole north burns its fields then and the smoke sits in the Chiang Mai valley for weeks; air quality there is among the worst in the world in those months. We move the north out of a March itinerary rather than apologise for it, which turns this into a different trip.
Anyone who wants Angkor in the same fortnight by road. The Thailand – Cambodia land border has been closed to tourists since June 2025. It is a one-hour flight from Bangkok or it is another trip.
Anyone who will not take a night train. The sleeper saves most of a day and it is still eleven to thirteen hours in a shared carriage. The alternative is an hour and a quarter in the air from Bangkok, which costs you the Ayutthaya afternoon.
Beach holidays. Two nights at Krabi is a coda, not a coast. If the sea is the reason for the trip, take the eight-day island route and give it six nights instead of two.
Anyone who needs the boat day to run between May and October. The Andaman monsoon puts a swell on this coast and trips are cancelled at short notice. The Gulf runs on the opposite calendar, which is why our island route can move you across the isthmus and this one cannot.

Two capitals, one mountain, one coast.

Plan My Trip

Start from this route

Tell us your dates and which coast you want at the end. We will send a quote and an amended day-by-day within a working day.

Plan My Trip

Thailand in nine days