Keen to discover northern Thailand? We’ve put together a non-stop action packed itinerary starting in Bangkok and travelling north to Chiang Mai to discover this beautiful region of the country.
Although is it possible to visit the north of Thailand in just a few days, to have 7-14 days will really allow you to see all the main tourist attractions and things to do.
Our itinerary is for a 14 day / 13 night trip and includes all the main highlights what you can do on a perfect 2 week trip in the spectacular north.
Day 1
We’ll start this itinerary in Bangkok, because that’s probably your first point of call in Thailand. This is the easiest and most connected city to get to from international destinations and on arrival you should waste no time sightseeing.
There are lots of tourist attractions in Bangkok which you need to see, spend the day visiting amazing buildings and temples like the Wat Pho/Wat Arun temple and the Grand Palace – all beautiful and worth a look, or if you’re more about the markets, head to one of the many floating markets around the city.
Night 1
When you’re ready to eat, head to Rambuttri, which is a really long street full of restaurants and street food stalls. You could go for Phad Thai at a stall for 40 baht ($1.17!) or a banana and Nutella roti for 30. After you’re done stuffing your face with delightful food, walk one street along to Khao San Road which is backpacker central. During the day it’s full of market stalls, but by night it’s all about loud music, happy travellers, buckets of alcohol, and people trying ridiculous delicacies like scorpion.
Day 2
You could spend the day relaxing or sightseeing, checking out alternative destinations in Bangkok or do a day trip to somewhere like the ancient city and former capital of Thailand, Ayutthaya. It’s located about 50 miles north of Bangkok, and is full of palaces, temples, and monastery ruins. It’s a seriously impressive day out, and definitely something we would recommend. If you get a good guide you learn loads about the local culture.
Night 2
Adjusted to the Thailand time zone? Time to travel north. You could book a flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, or book a sleeper train. Sleeper trains are very comfortable and a very popular way of travelling in Thailand, whilst flying is a lot quicker taking just 1 hour and 15 minutes. There are flight several departures all day/night and prices are very affordable. Another option if you are really on a budget is to take an overnight sleeper bus. This is the cheapest way to travel to the north, although not the most comfortable.
Day 3
Spend a day enjoying the relaxing surroundings on Chiang Mai, this is easily one of the best cities in the country. Its a lot more relaxed than Bangkok, with temples, shops and lots of tourist attractions. There are lots of accommodation options for all budgets here too.
Night 3
Try and make it so that you’re in Chiang Mai on a Sunday so that you can walk to the Old Town Square and visit their night market. It’s absolutely huge, full of incredible street food stalls (go with an empty stomach!) and selling their wares – from classic tacky ornaments all the way through to beautifully hand painted pieces.
Day 4
Get ready for an amazing day with the world’s gentlest giants… elephants. It would be a good idea to pre book your ticket in-advance of arrival, just to make sure there’s availability, and also because you’re short on time. But please make sure you visit a legitimate sanctuary, where you know the animals are being well looked after.
Check out our guide to ethical elephant sanctuaries in Thailand, and we recommend booking a visit to the Elephant Nature Park or the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary, both are highly recommend and it will honestly be one of the best days of your life.
You’ll learn more about the elephants they care for used to belong to local tribes, and they’d use them for logging and other strenuous work. You’ll spend lots of relaxing time with the elephants, feed them, get muddy with them (because what better day out is there than rolling around in mud with elephants?!) and sometimes bathing them – only for them to run back into the mud!
This really is a magical experience, and you’ll spend a good portion of the day just watching them play about on their own in a natural environment.
Day 5
Another day, another day trip! This time we would really recommend going to check out the Wat Rong Khun (aka the White Temple) in Chiang Rai.
You might have seen pictures of this temple before, but you won’t expect it to be as weird and wonderful as it was. From pictures, all you see is a magnificently white palace-type temple, but when you get there it’s actually a crazy combination of beautiful designs and messed up installations. It was designed for visitors to reflect on their life of greed and sin before walking over the bridge titled ‘the cycle of rebirth’ – where you are cleansed. The creepy designs are best explained in photos.
Night 4
The night is yours to enjoy! You could either go to the Night Bazaar, which has a really cute food square lit up by fairy lights (I am an absolute sucker for anything with fairy lights) and live music. Or you could search for some nightlife in the area… we managed to find a really cool pool party in a hostel nearby. The Nimmanheimin Road area is a great place for bars and clubs too – it’s where all the backpackers go!
Day 6
Organise an early mini bus to take you to Pai, further north. Wherever you’re staying they’ll either be able to arrange it for you or point you in the right direction. It’s about a 3-hour drive, but if you get travel sick – take your meds! It’s a long winding road, which will get the best of you. But Pai is definitely worth it. It’s a beautiful, scenic hippy town surrounded by mountains, fields and full of laid-back people.
Night 5
Every night there is an amazing food market stocking every cuisine imaginable, right in the town center! There’s also a pretty buzzing nightlife – go where all the backpackers go, which is Yellow Sun Bar… you get performers, lots of UV wall art, UV face paint, and really cool bartenders. Very Bob Marley-esque.
Day 7
Make sure you rent a scooter to see all of the sights! You could drive to Pai Canyon (an absolute must), Coffee In Love (which is a cute coffee shop perched high above all of the surrounding fields), Pambok waterfall, and on the way back from the fall we went to the Land Split.
The Land Split is one of the most interesting destinations, because it came about after a farmer lost his income due to a huge split in his land, so he could no longer farm. He decided to make it a tourist destination, and when you arrive he is unbelievably welcoming. Sometimes he will offer you wine and juice that he has homemade, and food he has grown himself. All you have to do on the way out is leave a little donation.
Night 6
Chill at your accommodation. Go check out Circus Hostel if you’re not staying there/go and sample some more nightlife. For a small place it actually has a lot of cool bars and little clubs. There are lots of places with live music, cheap cocktails, and a very hippy vibe.
Day 8
Organised a bus back to Chiang Mai before you spending the morning wandering around Pai. Soak up the chill time, and really take advantage (7 nights in Thailand can take its toll). There’s places for great massages, bars for day drinks, and cute shops where you can buy the obligatory baggy elephant pants.
Night 7
Welcome back to Chiang Mai! Use this time to walk around and take in the full extent of the town, all of the temples that line the streets, and all of the markets.
Days 9-12
You can’t come all the way to northern Thailand without doing a jungle trek. Lots of local and international travel operators offer trips to the northern jungles of Thailand which take you off the beaten track to the borders with Myanmar where you can meet and stay with local tribes. This can be a really amazing experience showing you the real rural Thai life far away from the hustle and bustle of the cities.
Day 13
Spend the day relaxing after the trekking trip. You could go for a massage, do a Thai cookery course or just wandering the relaxing streets of Chiang Mai to enjoy the local sights, temples and culture.
Day 14
It’s time for your train, coach or plane back to Bangkok because you’re ready to go home – or probably not so ready, because you’ve no doubt had an amazing time!
If you have some more time in Bangkok, optional recommended extras include getting in a taxi and drive to the floating markets of Talin Chan and Khlong Lat Mayom, which are both really close to each other – the second one as it had much more of an authentic feel to it (the first one was very touristy).
If you’ve got more time we would recommend getting the train to Kanchanaburi from Bangkok, and staying the night. You’ve got the bridge from ‘The Bridge over the River Kwai’ movie, and you can also do a trip to Erawan Waterfalls National Park which is beautiful. The park has a huge waterfall that falls down seven different tiers, all slightly different. Walk all the way to the top and down every tier – it is beautiful, and loads of fun jumping around and swimming between the pools. One of them is home to those fish that nip your toes in those foot spas, but they’re slightly bigger (it definitely make you squeal!).
The north of Thailand really is a beautiful region and one of the must see destinations in Southeast Asia. Our itinerary is totally flexible, and if you have more / less time you can easily see the highlights, or spend more time enjoying your surroundings. If you do have more time and would like to travel south, check out our guide to the most beautiful Thai islands.
