Thailand · Itinerary · Updated September 2026
7 days in Thailand: Bangkok, Ayutthaya and the north
A week in Thailand is a choice, not an itinerary problem. You can do the north properly or the islands properly; trying to do both is how people come home having mostly seen airports. Fares checked September 2026.
Length
7 days
Budget
฿18,300 / $550
per person, mid-range
Best season
Nov–Feb
Dry and cool in the north; avoid March–April burning season
Stops
4
1 overnight train, 1 short flight
The route
Bangkok, a day of ruins at Ayutthaya, the overnight sleeper north, and three nights using Chiang Mai as a base.
Day by day
Days 1–2 · Bangkok
Two nights, treated as a gateway
Airport Rail Link from Suvarnabhumi to Phaya Thai, then BTS. Day one is mostly lost to the flight, eat something on Yaowarat and sleep. Day two takes the old city in one go: Wat Pho, then Wat Arun by cross-river ferry, then the canal boat along Khlong Saen Saep if the heat allows. Bangkok rewards a week of its own, and this is not that trip.
Sleep: Phra Nakhon to walk to the temples; Ari for quiet and better food.
Day 3 · Ayutthaya
Ruins by bicycle, then straight onto the sleeper
Third class from Krung Thep Aphiwat, 1h30–2h for ฿15–20. Hire a bicycle at the station and ride Wat Mahathat, Wat Chaiwatthanaram and Wat Phra Si Sanphet as a loop. Leave the bags at the station. Then take the northbound sleeper from Ayutthaya that evening. It stops here, so you never backtrack, and the night on the train is the reason a seven-day trip can still include three nights in the north.
Sleep: On the train. Second-class air-conditioned berth ฿941 upper, ฿1,041 lower.
Days 4–6 · Chiang Mai
Three nights, one base, no packing
You step off the sleeper in the morning with the day still ahead. One day for the old city temples inside the moat and the night bazaar. One for Doi Suthep early, before the coaches, and a walk in the Doi Pui villages above it. One for a cooking class at ฿1,000–1,500 with the market visit included. If you want elephants, book a sanctuary that does observation only, no riding, no bathing.
Sleep: Old City inside the moat for temples, Nimman for coffee and food.
Day 7 · Chiang Mai airport
Out from the north
Chiang Mai has an international airport ten minutes from the old city and 738 flights a week back to Bangkok from around ฿600, so the last morning is genuinely free rather than spent travelling. Do the Sunday Walking Street if the day lands right, or one more temple, and go.
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
The overnight sleeper from Ayutthaya
Boarding at Ayutthaya rather than returning to Bangkok saves a travel day and a hotel night at once. On a seven-day trip that is a tenth of the holiday.
- 02
Ayutthaya by bicycle at sunrise
The park opens at 8am but the outer ruins are unfenced and empty from first light.
- 03
Doi Suthep before the coaches
First songthaew up the hill and the terrace is yours. By ten it is a car park.
- 04
A northern Thai cooking class
Half a day, ฿1,000–1,500, market visit included. Ask for khao soi. It is a northern dish you will not find done properly further south.
- 05
Yaowarat after dark
Bangkok's Chinatown from 7pm. Go hungry, eat standing up, budget ฿300 for the whole night.
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 and saves transport on a short stay. Ari is calmer and eats better.
The sleeper train
A night's transport and a night's bed at once. On a week-long trip it is the single highest-value ฿941 you will spend.
Chiang Mai: Old City or Nimman
Three nights in one place with no packing in between is most of why this itinerary works. Inside the moat for temples, Nimman for cafés.
What it cost
Per person, 7 days. International flights not included.
| Category | Cost |
|---|---|
| Accommodation: 6 nights, one of them the train | ฿6,900 / $207 |
| Food and drink | ฿4,200 / $126 |
| Transport: trains, one flight, transfers | ฿3,400 / $102 |
| Activities and entry fees | ฿2,500 / $75 |
| SIM, laundry, ATM fees, tourist entry fee | ฿1,300 / $39 |
| Total | ฿18,300 / $550 |
Converted at ฿33.3 to the dollar, checked 2 September 2026. About ฿2,610 a day, the lowest daily rate of any route on this site, not because a week is efficient, but because it is the week that skips the expensive things. The internal flight, the Khao Sok rafthouse and the island ferries all live in the longer itineraries. Each day you add beyond this one costs roughly ฿2,800–3,400, more than this trip's own average.
Getting around
The sleeper is worth more here than anywhere
Second-class air-conditioned berth ฿941 upper, ฿1,041 lower; ฿2,446 in first. It converts a travel day into a night you were going to spend asleep anyway. On a seven-day trip that is the difference between three nights in Chiang Mai and one, which is the difference between a base and a stopover.
Book the berth early
Sleeper berths sell out in high season. The fallback is a flight, Bangkok to Chiang Mai runs 738 services a week from roughly ฿600, but it costs you the hotel night the train would have replaced, plus transfers at both ends.
Fly out of Chiang Mai, not back through Bangkok
Chiang Mai's airport is ten minutes from the old city and connects to Bangkok constantly. Ending the trip in the north rather than returning south hands you the last morning back.
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. Chiang Mai drops sharply at night from December to February, and the sleeper's air conditioning is fierce.
- A padlock for the sleeper berth if you are travelling alone.
- Cash in small notes. Thai ATMs now charge foreign cards ฿250 a withdrawal on Visa and ฿350 on Mastercard; AEON is ฿150.
- Comfortable shoes rather than sandals. Ayutthaya is a day on a bicycle and Doi Suthep is 300 steps.
Why there is no beach on this route
Because seven days will not carry three regions, and every attempt to make it do so spends the gain on travel.
Bangkok to the Andaman coast is a flight plus a transfer plus a boat. Do that in the middle of a week and you have bought two beach days with one travel day and a lot of packing. The north survives the cut instead because Chiang Mai is a base: three nights in one bed, with the temples, the mountain and the cooking class all reachable from it.
If you want the beach week instead, do not compress this one. Fly Bangkok to Krabi, take a longtail to Railay, and stay five nights. It is a simpler, better trip than a version of this itinerary with a coast bolted on, and it needs no itinerary from anyone.
The moment a week becomes ten days, the beach fits properly: the 10-day route adds three nights at Railay without taking anything out of the north.