Thailand runs on longtail boats and 6am markets.
Which floating market is still a market. Whether the Phi Phi crossing is worth a whole day. What an elephant morning in the Chiang Mai hills actually involves. 658 tours across Thailand, reviewed one at a time.
Longtail boats and temple gold: how Thailand fills a week.
A boat day out of Krabi or Phuket, the temple circuit along the Chao Phraya, a wok in Chiang Mai, a feeding morning in the hills, and the markets that are packed up before nine. Start with whichever one you came for.
Damnoen Saduak, Doi Inthanon, Phang Nga: the days Thailand is taken on.
Every review →The tours with tens of thousands of travellers behind them — the market runs before dawn, the cooking classes, the boats into the bay. Here is what each is actually like on the day.
1
Damnoen Saduak Market and Maeklong Railway Market
Visit Thailand’s railway and floating markets from Bangkok, with a train ride, paddleboat trip, local food, and helpful guides.
From · $25
Read our review →
2
Half-Day Thai Cooking Class at Organic Farm in Chiang Mai
from $29
3
The Old Siam: Damnoen Saduak and Maeklong Railway Market
from $32
4
Ayutthaya Temples Guided Tour with Lunch
from $28
5
Train Market & Floating Market with Boat Ride
from $25
6
Elephant Sanctuary, Waterfall & Bamboo Rafting
from $60
7
Doi Inthanon National Park Eco-Friendly Tour
from $46
8
Ayutthaya & Ayothaya Floating Market Day Trip
from $48
Phang Nga, Phi Phi, Railay: the boat days.
The best mornings in Thailand start at a pier. Sea caves under the Phang Nga limestone, the four-island run out of Ao Nang, Maya Bay before the day boats stack up. Longtail if you want the photographs, speedboat if you want the distance.
Bangkok: let the Chao Phraya do the sightseeing.
The Grand Palace and Wat Pho before the heat arrives, a longtail through the Thonburi canals, then the express boat home past Wat Arun. The day trips out — the Ayutthaya ruins, the market on the Maeklong rails — leave at six for a reason.
A great day in Thailand starts at $24.
The whole shelf, cheapest first. More than half of these days come in under $50 with lunch and hotel pickup included, which is the part most first-timers get wrong.
Temple mornings, a market run, a cooking class, a stadium ticket. Most of Bangkok and Chiang Mai lives in this band.
The full day out: island boats with lunch on a beach, Ayutthaya and back, a feeding morning in the hills.
Private drivers, small-boat charters and the long Phi Phi and Similan days that leave before sunrise.
In Chiang Mai the day starts at a market and ends up a mountain.
The old city sits inside a square moat with three hundred temples in it; outside, the road climbs to Doi Suthep and keeps going to Doi Inthanon. In between: the cooking class everybody books, the night bazaar, and waterfalls you can stand under.
- 1Half-Day Thai Cooking Class at Organic Farm in Chiang Maifrom $29
- 2Elephant Sanctuary, Waterfall & Bamboo Raftingfrom $60
- 3Doi Inthanon National Park Eco-Friendly Tourfrom $46
An elephant morning in Thailand is a feeding, not a ride.
These are feeding and care visits. Expect a briefing, a basket of fodder, a walk at the herd’s pace and a long stretch of simply watching. Chiang Mai runs the most of them; Phuket, Krabi, Khao Lak and Koh Samui each have their own.
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Three Thai days that never quite translate.
Beaches and temples run the length of Southeast Asia. A market that folds off a live railway line, a stadium night scored on the last two rounds, and a longtail with ribbons on the bow belong to Thailand.
The Market on the Rails
At Maeklong the awnings drop and the trays slide back off the track minutes before a train grinds through at walking pace, then everything comes out again behind it. It is a working market, not a performance. Most tours pair it with the canal market at Damnoen Saduak an hour west and leave Bangkok around six to reach both before the heat.
- 1Damnoen Saduak Market and Maeklong Railway Market★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 26,723 reviews
- 2The Old Siam: Damnoen Saduak and Maeklong Railway Market★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 10,992 reviews
- 3Train Market & Floating Market with Boat Ride★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 9,547 reviews
A Stadium Night in Bangkok
Muay Thai is scored on the last two rounds, which is why the first three look unhurried and the crowd stays quiet. Then the sarama pipes pick up, the betting tier at the back finds its voice and the whole room changes. Rajadamnern and Lumpinee hold the serious cards in Bangkok; Chiang Mai and Phuket fight most nights of the week.
- 1Muay Thai Boxing Tickets at Rajadamnern Stadium★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 4,740 reviews
- 2Patong Boxing Stadium Muay Thai Match Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 2,203 reviews
- 3Phetch Buncha Boxing Stadium Muay Thai Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 789 reviews
The Tuk-Tuk Hour
Bangkok traffic beat the tuk-tuk as transport years ago, and it survives as something better: the right way to cross the old city after dark, when the temple walls are floodlit and the river air finally moves. Street fares are argued before you climb in — the tours below fix the price, the route and the stops instead.
- 1Bangkok by Night: Temples, Markets and Food Tuk-Tuk Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 3,752 reviews
- 2Bangkok Midnight Food Tuk Tuk Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,542 reviews
- 3Michelin Guide Street Food Tour by Tuk Tuk★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 1,274 reviews
Bangkok gets better once the heat lets go.
All evening tours →
White Orchid Chao Phraya Dinner Cruise free Beer
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The Thailand bookings that close before you land.
Most of the country can be arranged from a hotel lobby the night before. These cannot: national-park quotas, a seasonal closure written into the calendar, and a ringside seat count that has not changed in decades.
- 01Phi Phi Islands and Maya Bay Day Trip with LunchThe bay runs on a national-park quota and a timed boat slot, and closes outright each August and September.
- 02Wow Andaman Snorkeling Trip to Similan IslandsThe Similan and Surin parks shut from mid-May to mid-October. Either side of that, the day boats fill weeks ahead.
- 03Muay Thai Boxing Tickets at Rajadamnern StadiumRingside is a few dozen seats on a card set days in advance, and it is the tier that goes first.
- 04Elephant Sanctuary, Waterfall & Bamboo RaftingThe hill camps cap each morning at a couple of dozen visitors, so the Chiang Mai ones are gone days ahead in high season.
Thailand has two rainy seasons and they sit on opposite coasts.
The Andaman side — Phuket, Krabi, Khao Lak — takes its monsoon from May to October. The Gulf islands, Samui and Ko Pha Ngan, get theirs from October into December. Cross the peninsula and you have usually crossed the weather. When you cannot, the answers are all under a roof: a wok, a massage table, a temple hall, a stadium.
By region — mainland, north and islands
Bangkok180 tours
Phuket116 tours
Chiang Mai110 tours
Krabi & Ao Nang75 tours
Koh Samui34 tours
Khao Lak & Khao Sok26 tours- Pattaya20 tours
Phi Phi Islands11 tours- All 18 regions →
By experience — boat, temple, wok or ring
Bangkok, the north, then a boat: the first Thailand route.
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