Exploring Thailand: A 60 day Itinerary and Travel Hack Recap

You asked, and here it is, a breakdown of my 2 month itinerary & travel hack recap while spontaneously exploring Thailand! Like the entire 9 months of traveling, none of it was planned out more than 2-3 days. Majority of the trip were a series of choices made the same day. While this worked out wildly well and was incredibly exciting, I know many of you prefer to plan ahead. So I am happy to reminisce on the stamps from my passport!

If you're wondering where the best place to land is, you should keep in mind what countries you may want to explore after Thailand. If you plan to go to Loas, Vietnam, or Cambodia you might consider traveling from south to north of Thailand. If you want to head to Malaysia, Singapore, or Indonesia then I'd suggest going from North to South. I highly suggest this if you're solo traveling and backpacking as you'll notice there's a flow of people going in one direction and you'll run into a lot of those same people along the way. You can honestly explore all these locations in a month or less, I just took my time and revisited some cities.

Krabi

I began my journey by flying in to Krabi International Airport (KBV) and shuttling over to Ao nang. This is a great location to boat in and out of to other islands such as Phi Phi, Koh Phi Phi, Ko Kai, or even Railay Beach. You'll find nightly fire shows at the beach and specific hostels around town. There is a modest amount of night life, all grouped together. One of my favorite trips was the 7 Islands Tour for an entire days worth of snorkeling and even ending with a night swim in bioluminescent water. (Keep in mind this isn't year round) This area is where I also witnessed some of the most beautiful sunsets in the world. If you've never seen an iridescent rainbow sky, you might get lucky and see one here! From Ao Nang, a lot of people rent a moped to take out to the Emerald Pools, which was cool to experience

Ko Lanta

I booked a late night shuttle ride from Ao Nang to Ko Lanta in pursuit of getting my Advanced Water Adventurer certification for scuba diving as it was highly recommended for the best quality training centers in Thailand. I did find that it was overall roughly an additional $100. So if you're budgeting, you'll find that Koh Toa has the cheapest rated diving in the world. I regretfully skipped scuba diving here, but it is a known place to spot whale sharks.

Another must try snorkel trip was the 5 Islands Tour, where one of the islands you arrive to is a cave that you swim through and reach this beautiful cave paradise. Inside is enclosed by the border of towering rocks and lush greenery.

Phang Nga

If you do anything while in Thailand, please visit Koh Sok National Park! This was by far one of my favorite experiences during my 2 months exploring Thailand. I arrived in a nearby village to stay the night and got picked up by a shuttle through Smiley. You'll arrive to Cheow Lan Lake and stop through Guilin of Thailand Rocks. You'll arrive to the FLOATING boathouses for lunch, where you can then go kayaking free range on the reservoir. In the evening there will be a sunset safari boat trip which will take you around to spot monkeys, giant hornbills, and gibbons in the trees. Afterwards you'll arrive back to the boathouses for another big family meal. The next morning you'll be given the open to wake up for a sunrise safari trip again and then the Nam Taloo cave trekking tour. The cave trip isn't for everyone especially if you're terrified of spiders and bats. Which to be fair, most of us are freaked out by massive spiders, so this might not sound like the most appealing adventure, but I say DO IT FOR THE PLOT! You'll be given a headlamp after you've trekked through the forest to the caves, and travel past hundreds of bats and spiders everywhere, but I promise it wasn't actually as bad as I thought it would be, just walk through the water paths. You'll also have to swim through narrow passageways in cold water. This experience was well worth getting over your fears and stepping outside your comfort zone. After the cave tour you'll come back for lunch to pack, shower, and get ready to head back to the pier. Many will head to Surat Thani to take a boat to Koh Toa, Koh Samui, or Koh Phangan.

Surat Thani

This is really just the pier point to shipping off to Koh Toa, Koh Pha Ngan, and Koh Samui. I highly suggest booking your boat trip along with the shuttle option, as it'll make it easier to figure out where to go for the port. My friends and I ended up arriving to the main port just to discover we needed to hire a driver to take us to a different meeting point. You may only want to use this area as a resting and transfer point, but there's not much here for you to really explore. I also used Surat Thani to fly to Chaing Mai instead of taking a 14-16 hour bus ride. I spent roughly $50 for a plane ticket, but I felt it was worth it to avoid the awful buses.

Koh Toa

IT'S A TRAP... and you'll never want to leave. I did spend 22 days here on the island, mainly because I got sick, but I met countless people who came for a few days and stayed for a few months or longer. I highly suggest booking your hostels ahead of time for any of the Koh islands as the Jungle, Half Moon, and Full Moon parties always cause everything to get booked out. A lot of people will plan their trip so they can attend both parties, so it's best to check dates and hostels close to all the action. The Jungle party happens weekly, you can purchase your tickets through your hostels, at the 7-Eleven near Sairee Beach, or just wait for someone to sell you tickets along the beach.

Koh Toa is also ranked one of the cheapest places in the world to get your Open Water scuba certification. That also means it's become a very popular spot, and my personal option is that the coral reefs are starting to suffer and aren't as beautiful as I would have expected. I chose to go through the Scuba Club to get my Advanced Water cert and because I got sick for awhile midway, I had to wait until I could go diving again to go back under the water.

Chiang Mai

I discovered some of the coolest excursions and activities in this area. One of the most unique experiences I had was getting together a group of strangers from my hostel and HostelWorld group chats and taking a truck to the Sticky Waterfalls also known as Buatong Waterfall-Chet Si Fountain National Park. Have you ever thought, "how cool would it be if I could climb up that waterfall?" Well now you can check that off of your weird delusional bucket list because this is really the only place I've known for this to be a safe place to do this. Getting here is the only price you'll need to pay as there wasn't an admission fee. I'd suggest taking the trail to the bottom and then hiking backup the waterfall. Everyone went barefoot, so leave your shoes up at the top.

Another epic activity was getting together another group and going to the Grand Canyon, which is a massive inflatable water park for adults. The bigger the group that you form, the more fun this becomes. I suggest going earlier in the day and to make a day out of it. You won't be able to bring in any outside food or drinks as they will check your bags and hold onto them until you leave. Have a bigger breakfast and prepare to have lunch at their restaurant on site. At the park you can zipline, slide down some extremely sketchy slides, waterski, and use some other dangerous yet fun contraptions. I left with 2 sold bruises and injuries, along with a few of my friends. Just like everything in Asia, there's hardly any safety protocols, so just be mindful of this. 10/10 recommend though!

Elephant Land is the company I booked my sanctuary experience through. I was very skeptical of supporting any of the elephant interactions as many of them are not ethical, although they will preach that they are. I booked this through my hostel and it ended up just being me and one other person. I felt that this experience was overall very ethical as they only offered two times frames, one in the morning and one in the evening. When we arrived they gave us traditional clothing that their tribe members have worn through history as it created a sense of familiarity with the elephants. We fed them bananas and leaves before going on a hike through the woods. The elephants would be somewhat guided but were left to roam freely in nature. My new friend Luke and I got to watch them play in the mud and river while interacting with their elephant family. Afterwards we went back to the hut to eat lunch and have our food stolen by the baby elephant. We also learned how to make medicinal treats for the elephants that were all organic and natural. We hung out in some hammocks and continued just observing the elephants in their element. Then we gave them a mud bath and rinsed them off under a waterfall. They rotate out all the elephants so only one gets bathed a day as to not over do it. This is something they generally do in nature on their own as we observed, we just got to be apart of the interaction. Elephants mud bathe regularly, sometimes daily, depending on the temperature and availability of mud. It’s a crucial part of their natural routine, as the mud provides essential protection against the sun and insects.

Some of the most popular nightly meetups are places like Zoe in Yellow, the Saturday and Sunday night walking street markets, Spicy, and North Gate Jazz Co-Op. The town isn't all that big, so I suggest inviting all your hostel friends and doing a bar crawl. The Beer Garden is a great spot to begin and grab a light dinner before hitting the town. Buak Hard Public Park hosted a flower parade and festival off of Bamrung Buri Road, and on the right side of the park had some of the best street food I had tried all along my trip. Be sure to book tickets for the 6ixcrej Show featuring some of the most talented Drag Queens I've seen!

If you're looking for a pictureque location that feels like you've transported into a fairy tale wonderland then check out Dantewada Land of Angels. This place has all the aesthetics for food, colorful flowers, and misty waterfalls. You won't want to skip this place!

Pai

This is where everyone comes for Tipsy Tubbing, which was a place that definitely became a core memory and a huge highlight of my journey. If you are going to run into anyone you have met along your journey, it's very likely you'll see them here! This town was one of the smallest areas but had so much to do. You'll discover the nickname the "Pai-Hole" for a reason, most people have a hard time leaving this place. If you are ever wanting a place to settle for awhile and get a job, you can surely become apart of the Tipsy Tubing squad that sells tickets or do a work trade for one of the hostels. There are 2 tipsy tubing options, so be careful which one you book through as there's a main one where majority of everyone will join and is said to be the better experience. I suggest just booking all the activities through your hostel as it'll be more fun to have a group to go with, you'll meet more people this way too, although it's cheaper to find a few people and to go to one of the booths on the walking street

Chiang Rai

I came all the way over here for the 2 notoriously known temples, and honestly it was worth it just for the adventure. Wat Rong Khun is by far the coolest and most intriquing temple I have seen in all of SEA. It is a completely white sparkling temple from the ground up. You do need to cover your legs and shoulders for entrance, as it is pretty customary throughout Asia. There is also a entirely gold temple at this location. I highly suggest arriving early morning before the crowds start to arrive, because the line can become long, making it less enjoyable. The second temple is the Wat Rong Suea Ten which is a completely blue and gold temple. The intricate artwork surrounding a massive buddha sets the perfect meditation environment. I arrived just moments before sunset, capturing one of the most stunning moments.

Wat Rong Khun

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