What to do in Thailand?

What we would do here

Not a place to walk into, but something to do: our pick per area.

• A cooking class that starts at the market

  In Bangkok the better classes open with a walk through a neighbourhood market and only then move to the kitchen. That first half is what turns it into a morning in the city rather than a lesson

• Cycling between the ruins

  The sites at Ayutthaya are spread across a flat island, too far apart to walk and too close to drive. A bicycle is what makes the place read as a city rather than a list of temples

• Kayaking on the River Kwai
  River Kwai Canoe Travel · 4.9 stars · 172 reviews

  The river is the reason this town exists, and almost everyone who comes sees it only from the bridge. From the water both the pace and what you see on either bank change

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• A day at an elephant sanctuary

  Northern Thailand is where no-riding elephant sanctuaries began, and they are why many people come to Chiang Mai at all. Choose one that does not offer riding at all, and make that the check before you book

• A craft workshop in the artisan villages

  East of the city runs a line of villages, each specialising in a different craft, paper umbrellas, silver and ceramics, and their workshops are open to visitors. It is the thing Chiang Mai does that no other Thai city does

• Rock climbing in the north
  Progression Vertical Climbing Gym (CMRCA) · 4.8 stars · 259 reviews

  North of Chiang Mai are limestone cliffs with bolted routes, and the organisation that developed them also runs a climbing wall in the city itself. It is the exact opposite of Chiang Mai’s image as a city of temples

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• A tea plantation on the northern slopes

  The altitude and mist around Chiang Rai grow tea, and it is the farming that replaced what was here before. A visit to a plantation is both the view and the explanation of what happened to this region

• A longtail boat to the islands around

  Phuket itself is large and built up, and what draws people to it lies in the water around it. A private wooden boat for the day reaches bays the big tour boats cannot enter

• An elephant sanctuary
  Green Elephant Sanctuary Park · 4.9 stars · 3857 reviews

  Phuket has several sanctuaries founded as an alternative to riding, and they are among the reasons to come to the island besides the beaches. Check before booking that the sanctuary does not offer riding at all

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• Climbing the limestone of Railay

  The limestone above Railay is one of the best known climbing areas in the world, and it has routes for people who have never touched a rope. It is why this beach is known to an entire community that is not a tourist community

• Horse riding on the beach
  Horse Riding Krabi Khlong Muang · 5 stars · 457 reviews

  The northern beaches of Krabi are wide and shallow at low tide, which is what makes it possible to ride along the waterline. It is the only way to see the cliffs from the shore rather than from a boat

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• Kayaking in the Ang Thong marine park

  The archipelago west of Samui is dozens of uninhabited limestone islands, and the only way into the lagoons between them is a small boat. From Samui it is a full day, and from the island itself you cannot see any of it

• Sound healing
  Sabai Yin Yoga Shala & Sound Healing · 5 stars · 107 reviews

  Koh Phangan is one of the few places where sound healing is a session in its own right rather than a spa add-on, and on this question we had a list from friends who live on the island

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• A Muay Thai session
  M19 Muay Thai · 5 stars · 225 reviews

  The Muay Thai gyms on the island take walk-ins for a single session rather than only full cycles, which is how a traveller can step into one without committing

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• A Vipassana retreat
  Indriya Retreat Vipassana · 4.8 stars · 85 reviews

  The Vipassana centres here host small groups by design, which is why they barely appear in ordinary place listings even though they are among the reasons people come east at all

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• Sauna and cold plunge
  The Dome Sauna · 4.6 stars · 357 reviews

  The pairing of extreme heat and cold water has become a scheduled activity on the island rather than a corner of a hotel. It is one of the things that characterise Koh Phangan and do not exist on the other gulf islands

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• A first diving course

  Pattaya is closer to Bangkok than any other diving area in Thailand, and the water in front of it is calm. That makes it where people do their first ever dive without travelling south

• A kitesurfing lesson

  The steady wind and shallow water along the Hua Hin shore made it the place people learn to kitesurf in Thailand, and it is why this beach looks different from any other in the country

• A Thai cooking class
  Hua Hin Thai Cooking Academy · 4.9 stars · 83 reviews

  Hua Hin is a quiet coastal town with an old night market, and its classes are far smaller than those in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Anyone who wanted a class and missed it in the big cities will find one here with no queue

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• A ceramics workshop

  This region exported ceramics across South East Asia, and the old kilns sit beside the site itself. A workshop here continues that craft rather than being an activity imported into the place

• A cooking class in the village
  Naa Cooking School · 5 stars · 43 reviews

  Sukhothai is a small town beside an archaeological site, and anyone staying the night finds there is not much to do once the site closes. A class here is the evening, and it happens in a home rather than a teaching kitchen

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• A winery visit

  Khao Yai is Thailand's wine region, which is the last thing you expect in this country. The altitude drops the temperature just enough for vines to grow here at all

• Kayaking on a forest spring
  Khao Yai Kayak Nature Trips · 4.6 stars · 197 reviews

  At Khao Yai you paddle on water welling up from the ground inside forest, a completely still surface with no current and no motorboats. It is the side of Khao Yai that is neither the national park nor the wineries

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• Your first diving course

  The island is built around diving, and its bays are shallow and sheltered, which makes it one of the easiest places in the world to start. The course runs over a few days and ends with an international certification, and anyone who does not want to certify can still do a single try dive

• Bouldering before you go out on the rock
  The Bunker Climbing Gym Koh Tao · 4.8 stars · 291 reviews

  Koh Tao is built from huge granite boulders, some of them right on the beach. The gym is where you learn the movement and the holds somewhere sheltered, and it is good preparation for anyone who wants to climb outside afterwards

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