Thailand
Suggested Itinerary
Thailand has it all — fascinating culture and art, gorgeous architecture, glorious beaches, friendly people, five-star hotels and resorts, scintillating nightlife, and some of the finest cuisine in Asia. The country is often called "The Land of Smiles" because the mostly Buddhist people are extremely affable and hospitable. The Kingdom of Thailand, formerly known as Siam, was one of the few Asian countries that was never colonized by the west, so its rich culture is largely free of European influence. Thailand, and Bangkok in particular, is quite modern relative to some of its neighbors, and is an economic powerhouse in Southeast Asia with first-rate hospitals and other facilities. The resort towns of Phuket and Chiang Mai are amongst the finest on the planet, with unrivalled scenery, world-class hotels and the always impeccable Thai service. Please note that these are only suggestions and your client’s actual itinerary will be personally designed to suit his own dates, budgets, interests, needs and desires. Optionally by private jet.
Day 1 - Bangkok
Arrive in Bangkok and check in to the elegant Oriental Hotel, overlooking the Chao Praya River. This legendary property is widely considered one of the top hotels in the world, where the service is impeccable and no details are spared.
Venture out with your personal guide for a private cruise to the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, also known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. This is Bangkok's most gilded shrine and top pilgrimage destination, and home to the revered Emerald Buddha image.
Have lunch at Arun Residence, a boutique hotel on the Chao Phraya River. Their restaurant, Deck by the River, has a menu of fusion items, including soft-shell crab salad with spicy pesto sauce and steamed sea bass with Chinese plum, ginger, soy sauce and spring onion.
Cross the river to Wat Arun, the scenic temple of dawn, and then visit Wat Maharat, where you will meet with the head of the International Buddhist Meditation Center to discuss Buddhism in Thailand and its relevance to the pulse of the kingdom. While in the area, visit the quirky amulet market, where a vast array of talismans and other good luck charms, as well as traditional medicine, are on offer. Have your fortune told for fun, and have a traditional medicine doctor give you a check-up to tell you what herbal medicines would benefit your health.
If you are feeling adventurous, visit Siam Ocean World, an aquarium located in a shopping mall of all places, where you can dive in their shark tank – don't worry, the sharks are harmless! – with a member of the aquarium's staff. You will have the opportunity to feed the huge sand tiger sharks, black-tipped reef sharks and eagle rays in the water, sure to be an unforgettable experience.
Return to the Oriental for a shiatsu massage at the hotel's spa, an oasis of tranquility right across the river.
Have cocktails in the Bamboo Bar, or tea in the Author's Lounge, the haunt of such literary luminaries such as Graham Greene, Joseph Conrad and John Le Carre.
Have dinner at the gorgeous home of a prominent Bangkok family, and see their amazing collection of contemporary Asian art as well as antiques. Discuss with them the opportunities and challenges facing Thailand in today's rapidly emerging Asia.
Day 2 - Bangkok
A team of tailors will come to your room with swatches of their finest fabrics for your consideration for tailored clothing. Bangkok is one of the best places to get bespoke suits and outfits made; some seamstresses are so skilled that they can exactly duplicate clothing to your measurements if you bring in a photo of an piece you love.
Thailand is a shopper’s paradise and Bangkok is home to a host of antique, clothing, handicraft and furniture shops. Remote Lands can arrange a bespoke shopping excursion for you if there are specific items you are shopping for.
Take a Thai vegetarian cooking class at May Kaidee #2 Restaurant. The original May Kaidee restaurant is in Chiang Mai. You will learn 10 recipes this afternoon, including tom yum soup, Issan vegetables, ginger fried tofu, peanut sauce, pad thai, masaman curry, green curry, spring rolls, pumpkin puree, and papaya salad.
Take a private Muay Thai kickboxing class at one of the best gyms in the country. It is the most popular sport in the country and other forms of it exist all over Southeast Asia: pradal serey in Cambodia, lethwei in Myanmar, tomoi in Malaysia, and Lao boxing in Laos. Learn how to use your eight limbs – in Muay Thai, they are the hands, shins, elbows, and knees – to strike an opponent. The head was once the “ninth limb” used in the ring, but head butting is no longer allowed. There are regional differences in the sport all over Thailand; learn more about these if there is time and you’re interested.
Have a private tour of one or more of Bangkok’s little-known but worthwhile museums, such as Bang Khunphrom Palace & The Bank of Thailand Museum, a gorgeous colonial-era building on the Chao Phraya River, which documents the evolution of money in the region from ancient to modern times. The Suan Pakkad Palace Museum, comprised of eight traditional houses of a former royal residence – including a splendid renovated Laquer Pavilion – is dedicated to Thai culture, with exhibits on pottery, musical instruments, and more,. The Bangkokian Museum in Chinatown, meanwhile, meticulously recreates middle-class life in the Thailand of the 1950s.
Have dinner at C'yan, the Metropolitan Hotel's restaurant, whose menu draws inspiration from the Mediterranean, including Moorish influences. Follow dinner with a drink at the Met Bar in the hotel, one of Asia's hippest haunts.
Day 3 - Bangkok
Set out on bicycles this morning, which is a great way to take in the daily bustle of the streets of Bangkok.
As Bangkok is a very international, cosmopolitan city and thousands of tourists throng its many sites everyday, it is getting more difficult to have experiences that are local and authentic. One of Remote Lands’ recommended activities that we consider very special is visiting a hospital devoted to healing ailing Buddhist monks; you will most certainly be the only non-Thai people to visit the hospital today. The patients are in varied states of convalescing and those who are cognizant would appreciate your company for a few minutes if you would like to talk to them. If you are lucky, you will be offered a private blessing. Remote Lands can also try to arrange for you to attend one of the Thai weddings that are sometimes held at the hospital, ceremonies in which Buddhist couples believe they gain merit, or good karma, towards their spiritual rebirth.
If you want to see one of Thailand’s best markets, visit Pak Khlong Talaat, a market for fresh cut flowers, vegetables, spices and fruits, all piled high inside the market and along nearby streets. There are great photo opportunities as all the flowers, particularly the orchids, are sold under fluorescent lighting.
Thailand is home to more than 180 varieties of snakes, 56 of which are deadly. The Snake Farm at the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute was set up in 1923 as a clinical research center for developing vaccines based on snake venom. It is funded in part by the Red Cross and is located in the city center. Have a private meeting with a locally renowned reptile expert, who will teach you how to handle and milk a snake. Scores of clinical trials are run before the vaccine is sent back to Bangkok, where it is purified and tested before being distributed to hospitals around the country and world.
For a more somber yet revealing look at Thai history, visit the Bangkok Correction Museum, a reminder of the gruesome aspects of Thai prison history when the penal system was based on retribution through severe punishment and suffering. A grim highlight includes a man-sized rattan ball pierced with nails pointing inwards. Hapless prisoners were placed inside and an elephant would kick the ball around. Ouch! This is not for the faint at heart, but it provides a striking contrast to modern Thailand, the “Land of Smiles.”
Have lunch like the locals who ply their wares along the Chao Phraya River. Many vendors of food and drink will float by you in two-man operated dugout canoes; the person in the front handles the money and takes orders, and in the back is the chef, wok at the ready.
Drive to Mahasawad Klong and see how the locals live in greater Bangkok’s authentic canal-side neighborhoods, with homes and gardens dotted along the waterfront of the klongs, which once crisscrossed the city. Mahasawad Klong is located in Nakhon Pathom province, an area committed to agro-tourism, with many orchid farms and lotus fields in addition to other small agricultural industries. Stop in at an orchid nursery where countless species of the stunning blooms are grown. Mahasawad Klong is also often referred to as the city’s “fruit belt,” and both sides of the canal feature orchards where a wide variety of fruit are grown. Most of the fruit orchards that you will see are organic and you’ll also be able to visit fields where organic rice is grown. You can take a ride through an orchard on a Thai-style tractor and afterwards enjoy a tasting of whatever seasonal fruit is available. These quiet backwaters seem very far removed from the bustling city only minutes away.
Take a peek into the exciting world of Thai contemporary art. At Art Republic, a contemporary art gallery that features mostly young contemporary artists from all over Asia, meet with a gallerist or curator who can inform you of the local scene vis-a-vis the international art world. Stop in H Gallery, housed in a late 19th-century colonial building, which was established in 2002 with the purpose of representing emerging contemporary artists from across Asia as well.
Have dinner tonight at Spring & Summer, where delicious contemporary Thai is served inside the sleek modern lines of the main house, while those with a sweet tooth can get a taste of Summer, the chocolate bar located on the grounds. Alternatively, try Celadon in the Sukhothai Hotel, which has won numerous awards for its fantastic Thai cuisine and its luxurious yet simple ambience. Afterwards, sample Bangkok’s constantly evolving parade of fashionable nightspots, such as the elegant and convivial Long Table, with its 25th-floor views of the city’s skyline, or Face Bar, located in a traditional teak building, whose welcoming ambience features artifacts from China and India and soothing beats turned out by skillful DJs.
Day 4 - Ayutthaya
A wonderful day trip from Bangkok takes you up the Chao Phraya on a private barge to the ancient imperial capital, Ayutthaya, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ayutthaya flourished from the 14th to 18th century; an expert in Thai history and archeology will lead you on a private visit through the remains of palaces and temples that exemplify this proud period in the country’s history.
See the three main temples of Ayutthaya – Wat Maha That, Wat Phra Si Sanphet, and Wat Chaiwatthanaram – in early morning or in the late afternoon / early evening as there are guaranteed to be fewer tourists at these hours. You can go between the temples by car or bicycle.
Remote Lands can arrange for you to take a luxury rice barge owned by friends of ours around Ayutthaya and then have dinner on a private cruise back to Bangkok.
Day 5 - Kanchanaburi
Kanchanaburi is approximately a three-hour drive from Bangkok. Surrounded by hills and mountains all the way west to the Burmese border, the area is blessed with spectacular scenery. With stunning waterfalls, national parks and some of the friendliest people in Thailand, it is easy to spend more time here than originally planned. A definite draw to the area is the many minority ethnic groups living in this sparsely populated province, although Kanchanaburi is probably best known for being home to the Bridge on the River Kwai.
Board a local train that will take you over the bridge and other parts of the “Death Railway,” one of the Burma Railway’s more direct sobriquets. Visit the JEATH War Museum with a curator. JEATH stands for Japan, England, America, Australia, Thailand and Holland, the nationalities of the prisoners of war (POWs) who were forced to work on the Death Railway. This impressive memorial and tribute was established to show actual items that were connected with the construction of the Death Railway by POWs between 1942-1943.
Visit a Mon village and spend time in a school teaching English, telling them about your life or playing an informal game of soccer – always the best way to break the ice! As this school exists outside the Thai schooling system, it is usually open even when the normal school year is over.
Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua, the “Tiger Temple,” is a must-see in Thailand. Now over 10 years old, this beautiful Buddhist temple raises and cares for numerous animals, most notably the tigers who walk around freely, being stroked by visitors. As adult tigers fell victim to poachers, several cubs were given to the temple and over the years several more cubs have been born. There are currently more than a dozen tigers that call the temple home. Though not many monks stay at the temple anymore, staff are on hand to give Remote Lands clients special access to the tigers, where you will have the opportunity to pet, feed and even swim with the adorable cubs, and chat with their minders as well.
Go spelunking in Lava Cave, which has seven chambers filled with picturesque stalactites and stalagmites.
Drive back to Bangkok or alternatively stay overnight in Kanchanaburi at a unique floating lodge on the River Kwai.
Day 6 - Phuket
Fly from Bangkok to Phuket and be met by your private driver for the short ride to Pansea Beach and Amanpuri, one of the most luxurious hideaways in the world. The resort was created by the architect who designed the Winter Palace of the former Shah of Iran. Your palatial ocean villa overlooks the Andaman Sea, and comes complete with your own personal cook and butler and a private pool.
Board your private yacht for an unforgettable day cruising through Phang Nga Bay, where hundreds of limestone karst peaks thrust up out of the sea in a variety of formations, towering over the turquoise water. See James Bond Island, which was a location for the action epic, The Man With the Golden Gun, and the Phi Phi Islands, where The Beach was filmed. Have a lovely picnic lunch on a secluded white sand beach of Koh Kai Nok, and relax as you watch the waves roll in.
Return to Amanpuri and take a cooking class with one of your resort’s chefs. Thailand is renowned for its delicious food, which balances five fundamental flavors in each dish or the overall meal: hot (spicy), sour, sweet, salty, and bitter (optional). Thai cuisine has been greatly influenced by its neighbors, especially India, China, Malaysia and Laos, yet its own unique taste. Today’s lesson will cover Thai appetizers, salads, main courses and desserts, followed by tips of Thai culinary art and culture. Feast on the fruits of your labor for lunch.
Have a massage back at the hotel before having a private dinner served to you on the beach in front of Amanpuri.
Day 7 - Similan Islands
Charter a luxury speedboat to the Similan Islands, considered the top scuba diving and snorkeling spot in Thailand. The Similans are world renowned for their coral reefs and diversity of tropical fish. The nine islands, which are a national park, are home to such rare species of flora and fauna as the Nicobar pigeon, flying lemur and bottlenose dolphin. Spend the day diving or learning to dive. Other activities include snorkeling, hiking or just relaxing in this tropical paradise. Stop at a secluded beach for a private gourmet picnic lunch complete with champagne. Return to Phuket in time for cocktails and dinner at the hotel.
Day 8 - Krabi
In the morning, cruise by private yacht to Krabi, situated on Thailand’s beautiful Andaman coast and noted for its exquisite beaches, mangrove forests, limestone peaks, and emerald waters. Krabi is also famed as a location for outdoor sports; possibilities for the day include rock climbing (Krabi is considered one of the premier climbing venues in the world), kayaking on estuaries and tidal lagoons, elephant trekking, snorkeling in the crystal clear water, or just relaxing on the magnificent beaches of Rai Leh.
The area is also one of the oldest continually inhabited areas in Thailand. After dating stone tools, ancient colored pictures, beads, pottery and skeletal remains found in Krabi’s many cliffs and caves, it is thought that Krabi has been home to homo sapiens since the period 25,000-35,000 B.C.
Stay at a five-star oceanfront resort with lavish Thai villas with private pools and landscaped gardens. Have sunset cocktails followed by a delightful beach barbecue of fresh fish and grilled vegetables.
Day 9 - Krabi
Spend another day delighting in Krabi’s outdoor activities. Krabi’s limestone formations, for example, in addition to being a rock climber’s paradise, are also excellent for marine life and geology enthusiasts. Take an eco-friendly canoe on a private tour into some of the caves and interior rooms, called hongs in Thai, which lie inside these islands. Coral formations, in shallow and deep water, offer great snorkeling, and of course, the quiet, unobtrusive approach of the sea canoe is ideal for spotting some of the seabirds and wildlife to be found here.
Day 10 - Chiang Mai
Fly to Chiang Mai, Thailand's northern capital and second largest city, noted for its old walled city and hundreds of temples. Check into the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, a stunning hotel filled with striking Lanna architecture. The resort is located on 62 serene acres of forests, rice paddies and plantations, and has the largest spa in Thailand.
Drive to nearby Doi Inthanon, Thailand's highest peak at 8,550 feet. The mountain is part of a national park, and has several striking waterfalls as well as stupendous views over all of northern Thailand.
Not far from Doi Inthanon is the city of Lampang, noted for its impressive Lanna architecture. Visit the Lanna Museum in Wat Phra Kaew Temple with a noted Lanna scholar, and have a look at the various Lanna style temples that grace the old city. Explore the area via horse cart, as Lampang is the only town in Thailand that still uses horses and buggies for public transport.
Visit Mae Kampong, a village that is the site of the “Flight of the Gibbon.” Participants soar through the air much like gibbons do (an experience recently featured on the TV show The Amazing Race). There are 18 platforms, sky-bridges and lowering stations that connect two kilometers (just over a mile) of zip lines that will take you through different layers of pristine rainforest canopy.
Spend the afternoon zipping through the air and learning about the various animal and plant species in Mae Kampong and all over northern Thailand. Another purpose of ziplining through the rainforest, rather than hiking, is to minimize human impact on the canopy.
Return to Chiang Mai and visit Studio Naenna and have a private meeting with northern Thailand’s textile expert, a highly respected scholar based in Chiang Mai with interesting, swashbuckling tales of derring-do in her past. She has done extensive research in Thailand and Laos and has lectured worldwide on the topic of textiles and other traditional arts, and established her boutique years ago for local weavers to market their wares. She or her staff will chat with you about the various types of weaving and dying found in this part of Thailand and give you a short demonstration.
Day 11 - Chiang Mai
This morning, try a bowl of khao soy, Chiang Mai's famous curried breakfast noodles.
From your hotel, it is a 15-minute drive to Wat Chiang Man, thought to be Chiang Mai’s oldest temple. Take part in a private ceremony performed by monks intended to prolong one’s life. The ceremony is an ancient Buddhist and Lanna custom believed to bring greater happiness into one’s life, progress one’s career and keep one’s family safe and in good health. In the Northern part of Thailand, this ceremony is celebrated on occasion of getting a new job, receiving a promotion, recovering from an illness, or turning 24, 36, 48, 60 and 72 years old. The ceremony is also performed if a fortune-teller deems it necessary to safeguard one's health or happiness. (Please note, though, that this ceremony requires you to be in a seated, cross-legged position for about 30 minutes.)
Drive for 15 minutes to Wat Umong, or the “Temple of Tunnels,” located in a forested, rural area a few miles outside Chiang Mai. It is unknown when exactly the monastery was built and by whom, as the texts mentioning this Wat today are copies of originals now lost, and it seems that there was another structure around Chiang Mai also called Wat Umong. Regardless, the temple you are visiting today is sometimes called Wat Umong Thera Jan, after an eccentric clairvoyant monk who lived here in the 14th and 15th centuries. Supposedly, the king built the brick tunnels you will walk through – with a flashlight – for Thera Jan. The monastery was eventually abandoned, although the Japanese used it as a base during World War II. Since 1948, Prince Jao Chun Sirorot (now in his 90s) has been active in rebuilding and reestablishing the monastery.
Drive to Doi Suthep, a mountain that looms over Chiang Mai, and is home to the sacred temple of Wat Phra That. Visit Wat Phra That and also Phra Tamnak Phu Phing, the winter palace for the royal family occupying this high ground. On the way down the mountain, stop in at one of the many Hmong ethnic villages that cling to Doi Suthep's slopes and have tea with the family in their traditional home.
This evening, have a khantoke dinner in Wieng Kum Kam, an ancient city not far from Chiang Mai. Archaeological remains excavated here – stone tablets with Mon inscriptions, pottery, earthenware moulds, Buddhist sculpture and architecture – suggest that the area has been continually settled since the 8th-century Haripunchai era.
Khantokeis an authentic way for honored guests to partake in traditional music and dance while enjoying classic Issan (northern Thai) dishes. The food of the north is as distinctive as its culture. Steamed glutinous rice is preferred, traditionally kneaded into small balls with the fingers. Northern curries are generally milder than those of central and northeastern Thailand. The influence of neighboring Burma is evident in such popular dishes as kaeng hang le, a pork curry that uses ginger, tamarind and tumeric as flavoring agents, and khao soy, a curry broth with egg noodles and meat, topped with spring onions, pickled cabbage and slices of lime.
After dinner, participate in a sky lantern release. The Thais in the northern part of the country are particularly fond of sky lanterns; it is considered good luck to release one, and many Thais believe doing so is symbolic of problems and worries floating away.
Day 12 - Chiang Rai
From Chiang Mai, fly over lush and mountainous northern Thailand, soon touching down in Chiang Rai, the capital of the infamous Golden Triangle – a landscape of spectacular beauty and an amazing confluence of the cultures of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. Check into the exclusive Four Seasons Tented Camp. From your luxury tent, you will have views of Laos and Myanmar, right across the Mekong River not far away.
After lunch, go to the Elephant Camp right next to the Four Seasons. It was set up by the Thai Government as a conservation center for elephants as well as their handlers, who have traditionally relied on them for their livelihood. Help the kind and gentle mahouts to bathe and feed the delightful beasts, and go on an elephant trek through the lovely forests to a beautiful waterfall.
Visit the Hall of Opium, an impressive museum describing the history of the Golden Triangle and its former role in the production and trading of opium. The museum emphasizes the strong measures that Thailand has taken to eradicate drug production and use.
Return to the Four Seasons and pamper yourself after this busy day in its stylish and soothing spa, with a variety of treatments including mud baths, facials, and various types of massage for you to choose from.
Attend an exotic Lanna wedding as an esteemed guest. All participants are dressed in beautiful costumes, and the groom is transported to the bride's house on an elaborately decorated elephant. Take part in the singing, dancing and feasting rituals of this highly convivial and extremely important life event.
Day 13 - Chiang Rai
Drive up and over spectacular jungle-covered mountains and past hill-tribe villages en route to an enchanting mountain retreat called Doi Mae Salong. Once opium country, Doi Mae Salong is now home to Thailand’s premier oolong tea production. Take a short one-hour hike through the tea fields and hill tribe villages. You’ll have a special opportunity to sip tea with the owner of one of the largest plantations in Thailand, followed by tea with a prominent member of the Doi Mae Salong community. We can arrange for you to create a special blend of tea here for you to take home as a keepsake of your journey.
Afterwards, have a classic Yunnanese lunch with a prominent member of the Doi Mae Salong community and a member of one of the original founding families who fled Burma in the early '60s to lay cornerstones in this enchanting town. Over lunch you'll hear more about the history of the area, the significance of tea in the area's development, as well as enlightening stories of one of the world's most notorious drug lords who once resided in town, Khun Sa! You can then have a short visit to the Santikhiri School in the mountains to witness student life in a hill-tribe village, and to meet some of the delightful students and teach them a few words of English.
Take a journey up the “Burma Road,” a hair-raising route straddling the narrow and mountainous border between Thailand and Myanmar. Stop along the way at strategic lookout points and cross through several Thai army bases which patrol and monitor movements along the border.
Stop by the bustling town of Mae Sai, right on the Burmese border. Mae Sai is the northernmost point in all of Thailand and has a vibrant market where sellers from all around the Golden Triangle ply their wares. After an exhilarating afternoon you’ll drive roughly 28 miles back to the Four Seasons, which will feel a thousand miles away from this rugged mountain highland.
Return to the Four Seasons in the evening and relax with a spa treatment. Enjoy an alfresco dinner of Northern Thai cuisine on the terrace at the resort's Sala Mae Nam restaurant, which has wonderful views of the Mekong Valley.
Day 14 - Chiang Khong
Visit Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden, which at just over a decade old is an internationally recognized center for botanical study and research that offers visitors the opportunity to learn about the biodiversity unique to northern Thailand and also local conversation efforts. Meet with a senior member of staff, who will guide you on a private tour of the gardens, which include four unique trails.
Drive from Chiang Rai to Chiang Khong.
Arrive in Chiang Khong in the afternoon and check in to a small resort located 10 minutes from the city center, next to the Khong River and surrounded by mountains and farmland; most neighboring farmers grow vegetables and rice organically, which the resort uses.
The border town of Chiang Khong is just opposite Huay Xai in Laos. Although it is located on the Mekong, one of Southeast Asia's main arteries for travel and trade, the town only has one road and no nightlife to speak of. Soak in the sleepy atmosphere of this river town, whose true charm and uniqueness actually lies inland away from the riverfront and its gorgeous waterfalls and rapids.
Have dinner at your resort, which also functions as a wellness center and caters to those looking to improve their health and eating habits. Specialists are on hand to make recommendations to improve one's diet so if you have any questions about your regular diet or the ingredients that are used in your dinner, feel free to ask.
Day 15 - Departure
Drive back to Chiang Rai and fly to Bangkok for your connecting flight home.