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When I retired in November 2024, Alison and I went to Thailand for nearly four weeks. We flew into Phuket, went north to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, came back down through Bangkok, and finished on the Andaman coast at Railay and Ko Lanta before a last few days in Phuket. Nine places to sleep, three internal flights, and one very long day out to the River Kwai.
This is the route we took, in the order we took it: where we stayed, how we got from one place to the next, and the parts that matter if you are wondering whether you can manage it.
Can we manage this?
The flight out. Heathrow at 21:30 with Qatar Airways, booked through BA, in business class. A short change in Doha, and into Phuket at 18:55 the next evening. About 14½ hours from Heathrow to Phuket. Home the same way: Phuket at 08:20, Heathrow at 19:50 the same day.
Flights inside Thailand. Three, none over two hours: Phuket to Chiang Mai (AirAsia, 2 hours), Chiang Rai to Bangkok (Thai Airways, 1½ hours), Bangkok to Krabi (Thai Airways, 1 hour 20).
The long days. The Bush Camp is about two hours’ drive from Chiang Mai each way, and Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai is about three hours by taxi. The Kanchanaburi day from Bangkok is about 2½ hours each way by road; we left at half past seven in the morning. The longest transfer was Railay to Ko Lanta: a boat, a minibus of about an hour and a half, then a 45-minute speedboat.
Boats. Rayavadee at Railay has no road. It’s 20 minutes by car from Krabi airport to Nong Nuch pier, then 20 minutes by boat, and we waded ashore at the end, so be ready to get your feet and ankles wet. Pimalai on Ko Lanta is reached by a shared speedboat that lands at its own beachfront jetty.
Walking. Temples mean steps, hot stone and shoes off. At Krasae the path runs beside the railway on the wooden viaduct, with the river below. The Bush Camp says plainly that it is not suitable for anyone who isn’t fully mobile.
Heat and weather. Bangkok in late November is around 32°C by day. Railay and Ko Lanta were overcast for us at the end of November, which is the tail of the Andaman wet season. Call it shoulder season: quieter and greener, but bring a light umbrella.
The trip at a glance
| Dates (2024) | Where | We stayed | Nights | About per night |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11–16 Nov | Phuket | The Slate, Pearl Bed Suite | 5 | BA package |
| 16–17 Nov | Chiang Mai | Smile Lanna, Deluxe Double | 1 | £130 |
| 17–18 Nov | Ping River | The Bush Camp (Elephant Hills), tent | 1 | £600 all-in |
| 18–20 Nov | Chiang Mai | InterContinental, King Classic | 2 | £200 |
| 20–23 Nov | Chiang Rai | Le Méridien, pool view with balcony | 3 | £195 |
| 23–27 Nov | Bangkok | Conrad, Executive King | 4 | £170 |
| 27–29 Nov | Railay | Rayavadee, Deluxe Pavilion | 2 | £660 full board |
| 29 Nov–4 Dec | Ko Lanta | Pimalai Resort and Spa, Deluxe | 5 | £235 |
| 4–7 Dec | Phuket | Pullman Arcadia Naithon Beach, Grand Deluxe | 3 | £350 |
What we paid for the two of us in November 2024, converted from baht at about 43 to the pound and rounded. Breakfast was included everywhere except Smile Lanna. The Bush Camp price covers meals, activities and transfers; Rayavadee was full board.
Phuket: The Slate (5 nights)
The Doha flight lands in Phuket just before seven in the evening, so we chose somewhere close to the airport. The Slate is at Nai Yang beach, a few minutes’ drive away, and gave us four full days to get over the journey before anything else. We booked it through BA as a holiday together with our flights, because BA were offering double tier points at the time. The whole BA holiday, business class flights for the two of us plus the five nights at The Slate, came to about £9,000 in November 2024. Most of that is the business class fares; the same trip in economy would cost far less. We stayed in a Pearl Bed Suite with breakfast. One evening we booked dinner at Black Ginger, the hotel’s Thai restaurant, which you reach across a small lagoon.
Chiang Mai and the Bush Camp (4 nights)
A two-hour AirAsia flight at nine in the morning took us north. We spent one night at Smile Lanna, a simple hotel that suited a single night before an early pick-up.
The next morning The Bush Camp’s own transfer collected us for the two-hour drive to the Ping River. It’s run by Elephant Hills, and it’s a tented camp: proper beds, a shower and a balcony in each tent. You spend the afternoon with the camp’s elephants, preparing their food, visiting the mahouts’ families, and finishing with a sundowner above the river. Next morning you watch the elephants bathe, and the camp drops you at your next hotel.
About the elephants. The Bush Camp’s own answer is clear: “At The Bush Camp Chiang Mai, we do not offer any elephant rides to our guests.” Since May 2026 guests no longer hand-feed the elephants either; you help prepare the food and it goes out to feeding stations, and any contact happens on the elephants’ terms. Look for the same promise from any elephant camp you consider.
Back in Chiang Mai we had two nights at the InterContinental, on the east side of the old city, with a rooftop bar for the evenings. The old city is flat and easy on foot. Wat Chedi Luang, the great ruined chedi, sits right in the middle of it.
Chiang Rai: Le Méridien (3 nights)
Chiang Rai is about three hours north of Chiang Mai by road. We asked the InterContinental’s concierge to book us a taxi, which cost about 3,000 baht (around £70). Le Méridien sits on the Kok River outside the town, and our room looked over the pool from its own balcony. Three nights meant one full day out and time either side to do nothing at all.
That day out, on 21 November, covered a lot: the glass skywalk at Wat Phra That Pha Ngao above the Mekong at Chiang Saen, a boat across the river to Don Sao island in Laos, then back south to the Blue Temple and finally the White Temple at Wat Rong Khun. Most of the day is spent in the vehicle, with short stops in between.
Bangkok: Conrad (4 nights)
We flew down from Chiang Rai on the 10:20 Thai Airways flight, in Economy Plus, and were in Bangkok before lunch. The Conrad is on Wireless Road, away from the river but quiet. We had an Executive King room on the 27th floor, which came with lounge access, and a bath with the skyline beyond it.
We gave one day to the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew. Go early, before the heat and the coach groups, and cover shoulders and knees or you won’t be let in.
A day to the River Kwai
On 25 November we left the hotel at half past seven for Kanchanaburi, about 2½ hours west. The Conrad’s concierge arranged the day for us, for about 2,500 baht. We started at the Thailand–Burma Railway Centre, which explains what building this line cost the prisoners of war and the Asian labourers forced to work on it. The Kanchanaburi War Cemetery is next door. Give yourself time there.
From there we drove to Thamkrasae and caught the train across the Wang Pho viaduct, the wooden trestle that hugs the cliff above the river. Krasae Cave, with its seated Buddha, is beside the viaduct. We finished at the Bridge on the River Kwai itself in Kanchanaburi town, early in the afternoon.
Hellfire Pass and its museum are roughly 40 km further up the line. We didn’t go; if you want to, plan a longer day or stay a night in Kanchanaburi.
Railay: Rayavadee (2 nights)
An early Thai Airways flight, 07:35 from Bangkok, had us in Krabi just before nine. From there it’s a short drive to Nong Nuch pier and a 20-minute boat ride to Railay, which no road reaches. We waded ashore when we arrived. Rayavadee calls all its rooms pavilions. Ours, a Deluxe Pavilion, was on two floors in the gardens, and we stayed full board. On the first night we had dinner at The Grotto, the resort’s restaurant set in a cave on the beach.
It was overcast throughout, as late November can be. Railay is still remarkable in grey light: limestone cliffs straight out of the sea, longtail boats pulled up on the sand, dusky leaf monkeys on the roofs and monitor lizards on the paths.
Ko Lanta: Pimalai (5 nights)
Pimalai organised the move from Railay. After the boat back to Nong Nuch pier, the hotel’s minibus collected us with other guests for the drive of about an hour and a half to Pimalai’s private jetty on the mainland. From there a shared speedboat took 45 minutes to the hotel’s own jetty on Kantiang Bay, on the quiet south-west coast of Ko Lanta. Five nights in a Deluxe room with breakfast, and this was the part of the trip for doing very little: beach, pool, a long lunch and sunset from a beanbag on the sand.
Back to Phuket: Pullman Arcadia Naithon (3 nights)
We finished where we started, on the west coast of Phuket. Pimalai’s speedboat took us back to its mainland jetty and a private taxi took us on to Phuket, for three nights at the Pullman Arcadia Naithon Beach. Nai Thon is about 20 minutes from the airport, which made the 08:20 flight home on 7 December easy. We’d stayed here before, in March 2023.
What made it easy
- Long stays and short hops. Nothing under two nights except the overnight stops, and no internal flight longer than two hours.
- One spreadsheet for everything. Every stay, flight, room type, who booked it and what was included, in one place. Dull, but it’s all there when you need it.
- Booking direct with hotel groups. The InterContinental, Le Méridien, Conrad and Pullman are IHG, Marriott, Hilton and Accor hotels, so booking direct earned points on each.
- Letting hotels do the transfers. The Bush Camp, Rayavadee and Pimalai all arrange their own, and the concierges at the InterContinental and the Conrad booked our taxi to Chiang Rai and our Kanchanaburi day. Pimalai contacts you three days ahead to confirm timings.
Good to know
- Check entry rules and travel advice on GOV.UK before you book, as they can change.
- Cover shoulders and knees when visiting temples. A light scarf in your day bag makes this easy.
- Ask your GP or a travel clinic about vaccinations around six to eight weeks before you go.
- Make sure your travel insurance covers any pre-existing conditions.
