Central Thailand And The Gulf Islands – 15 Days

After breakfast, drive west into Kanchanaburi province, a little over two hours by road. At Wang Pho station you board the train for a short ride on the surviving stretch of the Death Railway, built by prisoners of war and Asian labourers during the Second World War, with the river running alongside the line towards Nam Tok.

A long-tail boat carries you along the River Kwai to the bridge made famous by films and books, and still in use today. Walk across it, then look over the wartime steam locomotive and the curious road and rail vehicle displayed at the small railway museum by the bridge.

Pay your respects at the war cemetery and visit the JEATH War Museum, which tells the story of the prisoners who built the railway.

Travel by private minivan to Damnoen Saduak, still one of Thailand’s best-known floating markets. Glide between the stalls by canoe as vendors paddle past with fresh fruit and vegetables, and some cook to order right from their boats.

Continue to Samut Songkhram and set off by bicycle for the floating market of Amphawa, where the boats stay moored along the canal banks. A canoe takes you on to see the old chapel of a local temple.

Cycle on to your accommodation for the night.

If you wish, take an optional boat ride on the Mae Klong River after dark, when thousands of fireflies light up the riverside trees like strings of fairy lights.

After breakfast, drive to Hua Hin, known for its traditional fishing port, seafood restaurants and a sandy beach that runs for some three kilometres. The royal family spends part of each year here, and the town has an easy pace that suits families and anyone escaping the big city.

Visit Klai Kangwon Palace, the royal summer residence facing the sea just north of town, built in 1926 in the reign of King Rama VII.

The rest of the day is yours, perhaps for a walk along the sand or a seafood dinner by the pier.

Drive south to Prachuap Khiri Khan, a fishing port set in a sweeping bay. Climb the 395 steps of Khao Chong Krachok, Mirror Mountain, to the small pagoda and revered monastery at the top, watched by the hill’s many lively monkeys.

Continue to Ao Manao, a calm bay that is one of the most pleasant places nearby to relax and swim, busier and livelier at weekends. Look out for the playful monkey monument nearby.

Transfer to Bang Saphan, a quiet stretch of coast that grows at its own pace, with a broad sandy beach lined with coconut palms. The afternoon is at leisure.

We suggest a wander through the local market and a barbecue on the beach as the evening cools.

Transfer to Chumphon and board a shared boat across the Gulf of Thailand to Koh Tao, around 70 kilometres offshore. Its name means Turtle Island, and its clear water and many dive schools draw divers from all over the world.

Lunch and the rest of the day are yours on the island.

If you would like more, an optional boat trip takes you to Koh Nang Yuan, three small islands joined by sandbars, with white sand and fine coral.

Transfer to the pier and take the boat to Koh Phangan, which sits just north of Koh Samui in Surat Thani province. The island is best known for its beaches and for the Full Moon Party on Haad Rin beach.

Lunch and the rest of the day are yours. A scooter is the easiest way to reach the quieter corners of the island, if you are comfortable riding one.

Spend the day as you like. There is snorkelling and diving, canoeing, boat trips to Ang Thong National Marine Park, Thai boxing, fishing, yoga, archery, guided tours and elephant rides, or simply the island’s beaches and views.

Divers of every level find good sites here, and Sail Rock is the island’s most famous dive, often called the best in the Gulf of Thailand. Walkers can follow the trails between Haad Rin and Haad Tien through jungle and over headlands.

Or take a boat to Bottle Beach in the north, a calm, spacious bay of fine white sand and clear water that is ideal for swimming.

Transfer to the pier for the boat to Koh Samui, an island of beaches, palm trees and coral reefs in the Gulf of Thailand.

Monkeys have been trained for generations here to harvest coconuts, and the island’s monkey theatre shows this along with elephant shows. East of Bophut, on a small island joined to the shore by a causeway, the golden Big Buddha sits 12 metres high at the top of a staircase lined with dragons.

Nearby, on the island’s northeast tip, Wat Plai Laem is a Chinese Buddhist temple known for its striking 18-armed statue of Guanyin, the goddess of mercy and compassion.

Transfer to the pier for the ferry to Don Sak, then drive across the peninsula to Khao Sok National Park. Lunch is on your own along the way.

Khao Sok is a world of dense rainforest and limestone hills, home to elephants, sun bears, leopards and even tigers, though these keep well out of sight.

The jewel of the park, and our favourite, is Cheow Lan Lake, where limestone rocks and the ghostly tops of drowned trees rise from the water. A boat trip on the lake is the way to see it: mist-wrapped and mysterious at dawn, a film set of shadowy peaks at dusk.

Join a small-group tour that begins with an elephant ride through the jungle to a hidden waterfall, where you can swim before heading back.

Lunch is at a local restaurant, with tree houses dotted around the grounds.

Head to the pier for around an hour and a half of canoeing on the Sok River. From the water you see views of Khao Sok that the forest usually hides, with tree roots gripping the limestone cliffs, and your English-speaking guide shares what they know of the park’s wildlife and ecosystem.

Transfer to Khao Lak, without a guide.

After breakfast, leave Khao Lak for Krabi province.

Settle in at Ao Nang, Krabi’s lively beach town framed by limestone cliffs, and spend the rest of the day as you please.

The day is yours at the resort or on the beach.

Option one is a long-tail boat tour of four islands. Swim beside Phra Nang Cave, a limestone cave honoured as a shrine by local fishermen, snorkel at Chicken Island and walk the sandbar of Koh Tup at low tide, then picnic on a Thai lunch at Poda Island before returning to the pier.

Option two heads into Phang Nga Bay National Park by speedboat, after a stop at Wat Suwan Khuha, the monkey cave temple. Glide past mangrove forest to Khao Phing Kan and Koh Tapu, James Bond Island, where The Man with the Golden Gun was filmed, canoe through caves, lunch at the fishermen’s stilt village of Koh Panyee and end with an elephant trek along a rainforest trail.

After breakfast, leave Ao Nang by road for Phuket.

Check in and enjoy a last afternoon and evening by the sea.

Enjoy a final morning in Phuket.

Transfer to the airport for your flight via Bangkok and on home.