Thailand · Itinerary · Updated September 2026
5 days in Thailand: one base, three day trips
Five days from Europe or the US is really three usable ones once the flights and the jet lag are paid for. This itinerary spends none of them on internal travel. Fares and market days checked September 2026.
Ninara from Helsinki, Finland / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Length
5 days
Budget
฿11,700 / $351
per person, mid-range
Best season
Nov–Feb
Cool and dry; Bangkok is punishing April–May
Stops
4
no internal flights, one hotel
The route
One hotel in Bangkok for four nights, with Ayutthaya and the Mae Klong and Amphawa markets done as day trips by train and bus.
Day by day
Days 1–2 · Bangkok
Land, lose a day to it, then the old city
Airport Rail Link from Suvarnabhumi to Phaya Thai, then BTS. Day one goes to the flight. Eat on Yaowarat after dark and sleep, and do not schedule anything you would mind missing. Day two is the river: Wat Pho, then Wat Arun by cross-river ferry, then the Khlong Saen Saep canal boat back east if the heat has not won.
Sleep: Phra Nakhon to walk to the temples; Ari for quiet, better food and the BTS.
Day 3 · Ayutthaya
Ruins by bicycle, home by dinner
Third class from Krung Thep Aphiwat, 1h30–2h for ฿15–20, the cheapest good day in Thailand. Hire a bicycle at the station and ride Wat Mahathat, Wat Chaiwatthanaram and Wat Phra Si Sanphet as a loop. Go early: the outer ruins are unfenced and empty from first light, and the heat by one o'clock is the real constraint, not the opening times.
Sleep: Back in Bangkok. The whole point of this itinerary is not moving hotels.
Day 4 · Mae Klong & Amphawa
A market on a live railway line
Buses run hourly from Bangkok, ฿100 and 90 minutes, dropping you five minutes from the tracks. At Mae Klong the stallholders pull their awnings and produce off the rails as the train comes through, then put them back, several times a day. Amphawa is 7km on, ฿10 by songthaew or ฿100 by tuktuk. **Amphawa only runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday**, so this day has to land on a weekend or it is Mae Klong alone.
Sleep: Back in Bangkok again.
Day 5 · Bangkok, and out
The morning you did not spend travelling
Because nothing was packed and unpacked all week, the last morning is genuinely yours: Chatuchak if it is a weekend, otherwise Jim Thompson House or the Bangkokian Museum, then the Airport Rail Link. A five-day trip that flew internally would have spent this morning in a queue.
Sleep: Nowhere. This is the day you leave.
Best things to do on this route
If you cut the trip short, these are the ones to keep.
- 01
Ayutthaya by bicycle at first light
The park opens at 8am but the outer ruins are unfenced and empty before it. The best two hours on this itinerary and they cost ฿15.
- 02
The train through Mae Klong market
Awnings and crates come off the rails as it passes, then go straight back. It happens several times a day and never stops being absurd.
- 03
Yaowarat after dark
Bangkok's Chinatown from 7pm. Go hungry, eat standing up, budget ฿300 for the whole night.
- 04
Wat Arun by cross-river ferry
A few baht for the crossing, and approaching it from the water is the whole point of it.
- 05
Amphawa in the evening
Friday to Sunday only. Later than the tourist floating markets, more Thai, and the boats sell dinner rather than souvenirs.
Where to stay
Neighbourhoods rather than specific hotels. Prices move, areas don't.
Bangkok: Phra Nakhon
Inside the old city, walking distance to Wat Pho and the river. Best choice if you want the temples on foot and do not mind fewer restaurants at night.
Bangkok: Ari or Phaya Thai
On the BTS and the Airport Rail Link, which on a five-day trip is worth more than proximity to the temples. Ari eats far better.
What it cost
Per person, 5 days. International flights not included.
| Category | Cost |
|---|---|
| Accommodation: 4 nights, one hotel | ฿4,800 / $144 |
| Food and drink | ฿3,000 / $90 |
| Activities and entry fees | ฿1,500 / $45 |
| Transport: trains, buses, BTS, airport rail | ฿1,200 / $36 |
| SIM, laundry, ATM fees, tourist entry fee | ฿1,200 / $36 |
| Total | ฿11,700 / $351 |
Converted at ฿33.3 to the dollar, checked 2 September 2026. About ฿2,340 a day, the cheapest route on this site, and the transport line is the reason. ฿1,200 covers five days of moving around, against ฿5,200 on the ten-day route, because nothing here needs a flight. Staying put is not a compromise on a trip this short; it is where the money and the time both go.
Getting around
Everything here is a train or a bus
Ayutthaya is ฿15–20 in third class, 1h30–2h. Mae Klong is ฿100 by hourly bus, 90 minutes. Between Mae Klong and Amphawa is ฿10 by songthaew or ฿100 by tuktuk. The entire week's intercity travel costs less than one airport transfer.
Amphawa is Friday to Sunday
The floating market runs weekends only, roughly midday to 8pm. If your five days fall midweek, do Mae Klong on its own, the railway market runs daily, and use the spare afternoon for Chatuchak or the canals instead.
Why there is no flight on this route
Bangkok to Chiang Mai is cheap and frequent, roughly ฿600 across 738 services a week. It is still the wrong call at this length: two airport transfers, two hotel changes and most of a day, bought out of three usable days. At seven days the maths flips and the north becomes worth it.
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 hat and more water than you think. Ayutthaya is a day on a bicycle with almost no shade.
- Comfortable shoes. This itinerary is entirely walking, cycling and public transport.
- Cash in small notes. The bus to Mae Klong, the songthaew and every market stall want it, and Thai ATMs now charge foreign cards ฿250 on Visa and ฿350 on Mastercard.
- A small day bag. You leave the hotel each morning and come back to it each night, which is the luxury of this trip.
Why this route stays in one place
Five days from Europe or North America is not five days. Day one goes to the flight and the time change; day five goes to getting to the airport. What is left is three usable days, and an internal flight spends the better part of one of them on transfers, check-in and a hotel change.
So this itinerary buys nothing with distance and everything with proximity. Four nights in one bed, three days out and back by train and bus, and a last morning that is actually free because nothing needed packing.
What you give up is the north, and it is a real loss. Chiang Mai is the better half of Thailand for most people. It is simply not reachable and returnable inside three usable days without the trip becoming logistics.
The moment you have seven days, that changes: the 7-day route uses an overnight sleeper to add three nights in Chiang Mai without spending a daylight hour travelling, which is the trick that makes the north work at short notice.
If you are already in the region, a short-haul flight rather than long-haul, ignore the jet-lag argument. Five days is then genuinely five, and Chiang Mai or Krabi alone is a better use of them than Bangkok.