7 Days in Thailand Itinerary: Bangkok, Krabi, Koh Phi Phi and Phuket

While planning my Thailand trip, I have reconsidered a thousand times if I should follow the touristy trail or an offbeat one. Usually I would go offbeat, but considering the sheer number of Indians who visit the touristy circuit, curiosity got the better of me. This ‘7 days in Thailand itinerary’ is focused on southern Thailand.

Is this itinerary right for you?

This itinerary is meant for beach and water sport lovers. There is history only in the Bangkok leg of the itinerary. Of course there is good Thai food everywhere in Thailand, but I wouldn’t be speaking much about that, since my experience was very limited. Also, this was mostly a budget trip, except the only luxury stop at Krabi.

Where are the places?

Bangkok is a landlocked city, the capital of Thailand. Krabi and Phuket are two provinces in southern Bangkok with long coastlines hugging the Andaman Sea. All provinces in Thailand have a city within the province with the same name (of the province). Therefore, there is a Krabi city within Krabi province and Phuket city within Phuket province. The Province of Phuket is the largest island of Thailand. Koh Phi Phi is a tiny island that falls under Krabi province.

Is Bangkok and south Thailand safe?

Thailand shares a long land border to its west with Myanmar, to the north and much of the east with Laos, to its southeast with Cambodia and to its extreme south with Malaysia. However, Bangkok and the provinces of Phuket and Krabi do not share borders with any neighbouring countries. That rules out political turmoil at borders.

Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia that Europeans had failed to colonize. This is a commendable testament to the character of the country; however, Thailand’s political history is still blood-ridden with murders and coups. Even in recent times, Thailand keeps fluctuating between democracy and military rule. Protests in Bangkok are very common and that might make the city rough. The only way to keep ahead is by following the political news-cycle of the city and the country prior to arrival.

Since this is a very touristy circuit, expect touts, tourist traps and scams all the time. Everything is very overpriced. Exorbitant money is charged for below average services. In crowded places of Bangkok, theft and pickpocketing are also big issues. Unless you are in the company of safe reliable people, putting your guards down in this circuit can land you in trouble.

My brush with safety and sanity in Thailand

I had entered Bangkok from Hanoi. In Vietnam I had spent two self-planned hassle-free weeks. I had a rough idea of the places I wanted to go and had the plane and train tickets done from India. Accommodations and day-tours were all booked while on the move. Except for a ticket collector in a Vietnamese train, nobody tried to fool me (that one too was more bribery than scamming) and everywhere I got value for money.

Since stepping in Thailand, within the first day itself, I had to thwart several tourist traps and paid extravagant prices for extremely poor services. ‘Budget’ rooms were dark and depressing. Even the street-side food stalls who maintain no hygiene charge maddening prices. Tuktuks in Bangkok quoted prices that equal taxi fares in Madrid!

From a random travel agent’s shop, I had booked a Bangkok-Krabi tourist bus. These people promised the bus would arrive two minutes from my accommodation in Khaosan. Instead, I had to walk for around 20 minutes with my luggage, and then wait for an hour for the bus to arrive.

This bus didn’t give the promised dinner stop and left the passengers hungry. It abruptly halted the journey two times in the middle of the night. First at a food stall, and second at a shady place where we were kept like hostages while a tout constantly forced us to purchase expensive tickets for our onward journey or he would dump us in a deserted place(which he did)!

At Koh Phi Phi island, a woman shopkeeper trying to sell an overpriced jumpsuit came screeching after me (an Indian) when I tried to bargain, indirectly stating ‘Europeans’ are superior and richer and what not! She only deals with ‘white’ customers. I should have noted the name of the shop, but I was so disgusted and angry that I just left.

IMPORTANT

Details on the individual sites, with their historical backgrounds and my own experiences have been documented as separate articles. Please click on the respective links if you wish to read more. Remember this ‘7 days in Thailand itinerary’ is mainly written for beach bums.

7 days in Thailand Itinerary

Day 1: Fly to Bangkok. Take rest.

• Reach Bangkok around afternoon, check in to your hotel, have lunch and take rest. I ate spicy Thai red curry with rice and Sayan had fried noodles—a welcome break after two weeks of Vietnamese food (for me at least!).
• In the evening, check out the Khaosan Road night market. If you are interested, you can partake of the unusual non-vegetarian items found in the market, if not, have local Thai food. However, after continuously having Vietnamese food for last two weeks, I just ran to the first Indian restaurant I saw here.
• Sleep well.

Day 2: Sightseeing in Bangkok. Leave for Krabi province in an overnight bus.

• Have breakfast, check-out of the hotel and commence your Bangkok sightseeing. Leave your luggage in the locker room of the hotel. It is a common practice here.
• Visit Wat Arun, an iconic temple in Bangkok with an impressive prang with historical and architectural significance by the west coast of Chao Phraya river.
• Visit Wat Pho and the Grand Palace in the east coast of Chao Phraya river, just across Wat Arun. Have lunch in any of the eateries here; we ate Pad Thai at Grandma’s Kitchen for 80 baht each. While dining from local eateries it is best to stick with Thai food (which is really good).
• Collect your luggage and leave Bangkok for Krabi in an overnight bus.

Day 3: Reach your luxury pitstop in Krabi’s Tubkaek beach and stay put.

• Arrive in Krabi; check in to your hotel. We chose the immensely beautiful Tubkaek beach in Krabi to relax for a couple of days. We stayed at Amari Vogue Krabi.
• Have lunch and take rest.
• Catch the beautiful sunset and have dinner by the beach in the resort’s in-house restaurant (Marco’s Restaurant and Bar in our case).

Day 4: Still in Krabi, enjoy the fantastic feeling of having the beach all to yourself throughout day and night.

• Go on Dragon Crest Mountain hike early morning.
• Have breakfast and swim in the sea with zero agonizing crowd.
• Relax in the infinity pool of the hotel or take a halfday trip by a longtail boat to the nearby Hong Island archipelago.
• Have lunch at Marco’s Restaurant and Bar and retire for the afternoon.
• Watch sunset and have dinner at Lotus Restaurant.

Day 5: Leave for Koh Phi Phi Don Island. Explore the island.

• Have breakfast and check out of the hotel in Krabi. Head to Ao Nang pier and catch a ferry to Koh Phi Phi Don.
• Check in to your hotel in Koh Phi Phi Don and leave to take a dip in Loh Dalum Bay. Have lunch by the beach.
• Retire for the afternoon, or choose a longtail boat excursion to the nearby uninhabited islands for snorkeling and scuba diving.
• Set off again at sunset and explore the Ton Sai bay area.
• In the evening, come back to Loh Dalum beach area for the fire shows and partying.
• Have tapas dinner from the umpteenth food stalls and grab a drink. Sleep late if you want to.

Day 6: Just walk around in the island and go for water sports.

• Wake up late and head to the beach. Lay on the sand, swim in the ocean or go on longtail boat excursion again.
• Have lunch at the beach. I ate in the only outdoor restaurant, the Princess Restaurant, still having (at the moment) an unoccupied table for two. I had a fulfilling lunch of jasmine rice, red chicken curry with mango juice. The gravy of the curry had a nice amalgamation of pineapples and coconuts. This lunch would set you back by 290 baht.
• Retire for the day in your hotel or go out for water adventures yet again.
• In the evening, join the party but don’t overdo on drinks and sleep early to prepare yourself for the next day.

Day 7: Engage in a morning hike and leave for Phuket Island.

• Wake up at dawn and go on the ‘Phi Phi View Point’ trail hike.
• Descend down and have breakfast.
• Swim in the sea here one last time before leaving the island.
• Catch a ferry to Phuket.
• Arrive in Phuket, check in to your hotel, preferably somewhere close to the airport, and have lunch. Rest for the afternoon.
• Set-off before sunset and visit the Nai Yang forest beach adjacent to Sirinat National Park to catch some quiet beach time and a stunning sunset.
• Have dinner from any local eatery and retire for the night. I had dinner at a Chinese restaurant named Heang Heang Heang.

Day 8: Have breakfast and check out of your hotel. Catch a morning flight back to your country.

Accommodation

Bangkok: I stayed in a budget hotel in Khaosan Road, the accommodation is not worth a mention or recommendation.

Krabi: I stayed at Amari Vogue Krabi on Tubkaek beach, being a luxury accommodation it has all the amenities in place plus the allure of a secluded location.

Koh Phi Phi Don: Here in Ton Sai village, I perched inside the worst and most overpriced accommodation in my three weeks Vietnam and Thailand backpacking trip. The place is not worth a mention or recommendation.

Phuket: Since I had an early morning flight back to India, I chose to stay near the airport. It was a neighbourhood with no tourist clutter. I stayed at Phuket Airport Overnight Hotel, a budget guesthouse with very spacious, clean, bright and warm room. To my joy, there was a small garden and a house cat!

Transport

Bangkok

In the afternoon, I arrived in Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok from Hanoi. From here, I boarded an air-conditioned airport bus to Khaosan Road for 50 baht per person. Since I was in Khaosan Road, the nearest pier to me was the Phra Arthit pier. To reach Wat Arun pier, I opted for a ferry at 15 baht per person. The ferry from Wat Arun to Wat Pho cost me 4 baht per person. I came back to Khaosan the same way.

Krabi

The tourist bus from Bangkok to Krabi cost me 800 baht per person, I had booked this bus one night in advance from a random travel agent’s shop in Khaosan. However, the unscrupulous driver of the bus dropped me somewhere away from Krabi city centre, so I hitched a songthaew ride to Ao Nang beach (from wherever I was dropped) at 50 baht per person.

At Ao Nang beach, I walked into another random tour agent’s shop and booked a taxi to Tubkaek beach at 300 baht. The return trip was also pre-booked at an additional 300 baht.

Koh Phi Phi Don

From the pier at Ao Nang I took a ferry to Koh Phi Phi for 500 baht per person. This was also pre-booked through the same agent in Ao Nang at the time when I booked the first taxi. Koh Phi Phi is entirely walkable and I didn’t take any longtail boats during my stay. The ferry from Koh Phi Phi Don to Phuket set me back by around 500 baht per person, again from one of the roadside travel agents.

Phuket

Once at the pier at Koh Phi Phi Don, before boarding the ferry, I booked a pooled private transport van to my accommodation near the airport for another 200 baht(per person). This is the last transport related cost I bore in Thailand.

Language

In this touristy circuit of Thailand most of the people working in the hospitality and tourism industry have working knowledge of English. I don’t recall experiencing language problems.

Time of Travel

I travelled in the second week of December. The weather was very pleasant and sunny throughout our stay. Bangkok was a bit humid.

Final Note

You can directly land in Phuket or Krabi airport and avoid Bangkok if you solely want to focus on the beaches. I got a cheap flight from Hanoi to Bangkok, hence decided to give Bangkok a day. Also you can fly directly to Krabi from Bangkok instead of opting for a bus ride, the difference in cost is not much. I opted for the overland journey, just for the adventure of it and sure, I got a taste of some misadventure!

Budget rooms in touristy areas are actually dark and depressing in my experience. It is good only if you plan to stay outdoors all the time. In this touristic circuit, there are “7-Eleven” stores everywhere; the cheapest food is available here, from American burgers to cup noodles.

Please increase the number of days allotted if you have the time, or else feel free to drop some sites/experiences to make the trip more comfortable and better suited to your interests. I hope you have read the individual articles on the destinations.

Happy travels!

Have you been to South Thailand? Are you interested in this 7 days in Thailand itinerary focused on southern Thailand? Comment below and start the conversation!

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