Thailand · Itinerary · Updated September 2026
14 days in Thailand: Bangkok, Chiang Mai and the Andaman coast
This is the 22-day route with eight days taken out, which is a different job from planning a two-week trip from scratch, because the cuts were made against real distances. Every fare and fee below was checked in September 2026.
Length
14 days
Budget
฿39,800 / $1,195
per person, mid-range
Best season
Nov–Mar
Dry in both north and south
Stops
7
1 flight, 1 overnight train
The route
Bangkok and Ayutthaya, an overnight train to Chiang Mai, then a direct flight south to Khao Sok and the Andaman coast.
Day by day
Days 1–3 · Bangkok
Land, sleep it off, then the old city
Airport Rail Link from Suvarnabhumi to Phaya Thai, then BTS. Day one is a write-off, eat and sleep. Day two: Wat Pho, Wat Arun by cross-river ferry, then Chinatown after dark for Yaowarat street food. Day three: Chatuchak if it's a weekend, otherwise Jim Thompson House and the canal boat along Khlong Saen Saep.
Sleep: Phra Nakhon for temples, Ari for cafés and quiet.
Day 4 · Ayutthaya
Ruins by bicycle, then straight onto the sleeper
Third class from Krung Thep Aphiwat, 1h30–2h for ฿15–20. Rent a bicycle at the station and do Wat Mahathat, Wat Chaiwatthanaram and Wat Phra Si Sanphet in a loop. Then take the northbound sleeper from Ayutthaya the same evening rather than backtracking to Bangkok. It stops here, and boarding at Ayutthaya turns the day into a full one instead of a half.
Sleep: On the train. A second-class air-conditioned berth is ฿941 upper, ฿1,041 lower; first class is ฿2,446.
Days 5–7 · Chiang Mai
Three nights, and the north in miniature
Three nights instead of the 22-day route's four, and no Pai or Chiang Rai beyond it. One day for the old city temples and the Sunday Walking Street, one for Doi Suthep and a Doi Pui village walk, one for a cooking class at ฿1,000–1,500. Book a market visit with it. If you want the elephants, choose a place that does observation only: no riding, no bathing.
Sleep: Old City inside the moat, or Nimman for coffee and coworking.
Days 8–10 · Khao Sok
Rainforest and the floating rafthouses
Here the short route beats the long one. Thai AirAsia flies Chiang Mai to Surat Thani direct in 1h50, where Chiang Rai has no direct service at all, but it runs only five days a week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, so the whole itinerary has to be counted backwards from that flight. Then a 2-hour transfer. One night in the village to arrange the lake trip, one on Cheow Lan in a rafthouse, one back on land.
Sleep: Rafthouse ฿2,500–2,800 for a standard overnight including boat and meals, plus ฿340 park and pier fees.
Days 11–12 · Railay & Krabi
A peninsula you can only reach by boat
Bus to Krabi Town, longtail from Ao Nam Mao or Ao Nang. Railay West for the beach, Railay East for cheaper rooms, Tonsai next door for climbing. The viewpoint and lagoon trail is a short, steep, rope-assisted scramble, not in flip-flops, and not after rain.
Sleep: Railay East ฿800–1,800; Railay West from ฿3,500.
Day 13 · Koh Phi Phi
One night is enough
Ferry from Krabi, 1–2h. Maya Bay sits on Phi Phi Leh and is a separate boat trip with real rules: ฿400 entry, a cap of 380 people ashore at once, one hour on the beach, no anchoring, and no swimming. You may wade to knee depth and no further. It shuts completely from 1 August to 30 September, which sits outside this itinerary's Nov–Mar window. The village is loud until 2am; stay at Long Beach if you want to sleep.
Sleep: Long Beach, 15 minutes by longtail from the pier.
Day 14 · Koh Lanta
Slow down before the flight home
Ferry from Phi Phi, 30 minutes to 1h30 depending on the boat. Lanta is long and flat, so a scooter at ฿150–350 gets you the whole west coast in a day: Klong Nin for swimming, Old Town for the stilt houses, and Mu Ko Lanta national park at the southern tip for the lighthouse and the sunset, ฿200 entry. Krabi airport is a two-hour transfer from here.
Sleep: Klong Khong or Klong Nin, ฿700–2,000, or fly out the same evening.
Best things to do on this route
If you cut the trip short, these are the ones to keep.
- 01
The overnight sleeper from Ayutthaya
It saves a hotel night and a travel day at once, and boarding at Ayutthaya rather than Bangkok is the trick most itineraries miss.
- 02
Dawn on Cheow Lan Lake
Gibbons and hornbills before the day boats arrive. Only accessible on an overnight rafthouse trip.
- 03
Yaowarat after dark
Bangkok's Chinatown from 7pm. Go hungry, eat standing up, budget ฿300 for the whole night.
- 04
Ayutthaya by bicycle at sunrise
The park opens at 8am but the outer ruins are unfenced and empty from first light.
- 05
A northern Thai cooking class
Half a day in Chiang Mai, ฿1,000–1,500, market visit included. Ask for khao soi.
- 06
The Railay lagoon scramble
Twenty minutes up a rope-and-clay trail. Hard, short, and the best view on the Andaman coast.
- 07
Sunset at Lanta's southern lighthouse
฿200 park entry. Stay past the sun going down; almost everyone leaves too early.
Where to stay
Neighbourhoods rather than specific hotels. Prices move, areas don't.
Bangkok: Phra Nakhon or Ari
Phra Nakhon puts you inside the temple district. Ari is 15 minutes on the BTS and much calmer.
The sleeper train
A night's transport and a night's accommodation in one, which is most of why this route fits into fourteen days.
Chiang Mai: Old City or Nimman
Inside the moat for temples and markets; Nimman for cafés, coworking and better food.
Khao Sok: village then rafthouse
One night in the village to arrange the lake trip, one on the water. Book the rafthouse ahead in high season.
Railay: East side
Mangrove not beach, but a five-minute walk across the peninsula and less than half the price.
What it cost
Per person, 14 days. International flights not included.
| Category | Cost |
|---|---|
| Accommodation: 13 nights, one of them the train | ฿17,100 / $514 |
| Food and drink | ฿8,400 / $252 |
| Transport: trains, buses, one flight | ฿6,500 / $195 |
| Activities and entry fees | ฿4,000 / $120 |
| Ferries and longtails | ฿2,000 / $60 |
| SIM, laundry, ATM fees, tourist entry fee | ฿1,800 / $54 |
| Total | ฿39,800 / $1,195 |
Converted at ฿33.3 to the dollar, checked 2 September 2026. About ฿2,840 a day, inside the ฿2,150–3,600 band Thailand mid-range travel runs to. Rebuilt from scratch rather than scaled down from the 22-day total: the nightly mix is different, the sleeper replaces a hotel night, and the fixed costs (฿400 Maya Bay, ฿200 Mu Ko Lanta, ฿340 Khao Sok park and pier fees, ฿1,000–1,500 for a cooking class, the ฿300 tourist entry fee) do not scale at all.
Getting around
The overnight train does two jobs
The northbound sleeper is the reason fourteen days works. A second-class air-conditioned berth is ฿941 upper or ฿1,041 lower, ฿2,446 in first, and it removes both a travel day and a hotel night. Board at Ayutthaya rather than going back to Bangkok for it.
One flight, and it decides your dates
Thai AirAsia flies Chiang Mai to Surat Thani direct in 1h50. A better connection than the 22-day route gets, since Chiang Rai has no direct service to the south at all. But it operates only Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, so build the itinerary backwards from it rather than hoping.
Ferries
Andaman ferries run reduced schedules from May to October. Between November and March there are several a day between Krabi, Phi Phi and Lanta. Krabi to Phi Phi is 1–2h; Phi Phi to Lanta 30 minutes to 1h30.
Scooters and apps
฿150–350 a day. You need an international permit with a motorcycle endorsement for your insurance to be valid. Most rental shops will not ask, and your insurer will. Grab works in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket.
Packing notes
The things that are annoying to find locally, or that people forget.
- Long trousers and a shoulder covering for temples. Sarongs are sold at every entrance but cost triple.
- A fleece or light jacket. Chiang Mai drops sharply at night between December and February, and the sleeper's air conditioning is fierce.
- Reef-safe sunscreen. Thailand bans four compounds in marine national parks (oxybenzone, octinoxate, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor and butylparaben) with fines up to ฿100,000. Rangers hold confiscated bottles until you leave.
- A dry bag. Every island transfer involves wading to or from a longtail boat.
- Trainers with grip for the Railay viewpoint and the Khao Sok jungle walk.
- Cash in small notes. Islands run on cash, and Thai ATMs now charge foreign cards ฿250 a withdrawal on Visa and ฿350 on Mastercard. AEON is the exception at ฿150.
What the eight missing days cost you
The cuts were made in this order, and the order is the reasoning.
The transit day went first. The 22-day route ends with a full day getting to Phuket for a flight. Here you fly from Krabi instead, and that day disappears without costing you a place.
Then the far north went as a block, Pai and Chiang Rai, four days. Dropping one and keeping the other would have left a long backtrack through Chiang Mai for a single stop. Regions come out whole or not at all.
Then Sukhothai, two days, which is the hardest loss on this list: it is the quieter historical park and the one most people have not already seen photos of. It goes because it sits between Bangkok and Chiang Mai, and cutting it is what makes the single overnight train possible.
Then one night in Chiang Mai, four down to three. Fewer nights in a place you are keeping is a fair trim; cherry-picking stops inside a region is not.
What survives is the shape of the original: Bangkok, one set of ruins, the north, then rainforest and islands. If you have the extra week, the 22-day route is the better trip. This one is what fits.