I have a 1 week stopover in Thailand, what should I do?
Posted in Thailand
Unhealthyman, Mar 04, 2008
If you are around for a week or less, you can either relax on Khao Phagnan, in which case I would recommend the North-east of the island or the north(I liked Thong Nai Pan Yai, but there are a lot of chilled out beaches there.) Or you could factor in some diving on Koh Tao which, if you are in to diving, is apparently great. Longer than that, you should try and make some more interesting plans. Less than that, just hit the full moon and then get out again.
Unhealthyman, Feb 13, 2008
The most practical way to cover what they want to do is to fly into Bangkok, explore for a day or two (fun culture, bustling place, loads of great food, get a massage here - Wat Thom is moderately well known for massages but you can probably find tonnes of places). Then they have two options - the more hardcore option is to get the overnight train down to Surat Thani and then a boat out to Koh Tao (or go to the Similan Islands but I didn’t do those) and get the boat out there. Or you can fly to Koh Samui and cut down on the travel (good if you are on a shorter timetable and generally a bit easier, although the train is pretty darn painless.) I think it was about 4 or 5 pleasant hours on a boat from Samui to Tao.
Koh Tao is pretty much the diving island. Lots of professional, affordable but worthwhile diving. All the islands are pretty scenic and you can travel around them a fair bit while you are there. Or island hop from one to another. Getting to somewhere really different and inland within a week would be a bit of a push. North Thailand is a whole different experience and you can fly up there (Chiang Mai) but for just one week I’d worry about trying to squeeze too much in.
