About The Thailand Guides
Our mission
We have made more than 15 extended trips to Thailand — not short layovers but weeks in specific places, returning across different seasons to understand how they actually work. The Thailand Guides is built from those visits: practical coverage that goes well beyond the standard Bangkok–Chiang Mai–islands route. Our goal is straightforward — every guide should give you something concrete to act on, with prices in baht, verified transport options, and honest notes on what changes by season.
We have no sponsorship from the Tourism Authority of Thailand or any regional tourism body. We pay our own way on every trip and have no commercial relationship with any hotel, tour operator, or restaurant mentioned on this site.
Where we've been, and what we found there
In Chiang Mai, we spent mornings at Warorot Market watching the wholesale flower trade before the tourist traffic arrived, walked Doi Suthep at sunrise before the tour coaches, and learned to navigate the songthaew system without a map app. Khao Soi Khun Yai on Nimman Soi 7 — around 60 baht for a bowl in 2024 — remains our benchmark for the dish, tangier than tourist-area versions and served with a proper side of pickled mustard greens. The city's moat-side neighbourhood at dawn is a different place from its Instagram version, and we write about both.
In Isaan, we covered the northeast properly — the Mekong-side temples at That Phanom, Udon Thani's Red Lotus Lake in January when the blooms peak, and the specific quiet of the plateau in April heat when almost no other foreign travellers are around. A grilled chicken (gai yang) and sticky rice set at the morning market in Mukdahan costs around 40 baht and is better than anything served to tourists in Bangkok. Isaan has the best street food in Thailand and almost no English-language coverage. We're fixing that.
On Koh Lanta, we've stayed through low season when most guesthouses close — useful for understanding which operations are serious and which disappear in May. Long Beach and Klong Dao are not interchangeable; our guides make the differences clear. A longtail boat charter to the Mu Ko Lanta marine park runs around 1,800–2,200 baht per boat depending on season. The Old Town pier at sunset is worth going out of your way for.
On Koh Tao, we've dived the Chumphon Pinnacle in good conditions and bad, explored the HTMS Sattakut wreck at 30 metres, and mapped out which beaches have jellyfish problems by month — because the dive schools don't always tell you. A two-dive fun dive with equipment runs around 1,200–1,600 baht depending on the dive school and season. The island changes radically between high season (December–April) and the rest of the year, and our guides reflect that.
Our editorial standards
Prices are given in Thai baht, verified against recent visits or confirmed current sources, with the year noted where seasonal fluctuation is significant. We include seasonal caveats on anything that shifts substantially — a 200-baht longtail boat in November may not run at all in October. Ferry schedules, national park admission fees, and hostel prices are reviewed before we publish or update a guide.
We do not publish guides based on secondhand accounts or press trips. If we haven't been somewhere or can't cross-check it properly, we say so clearly rather than hedging with vague caveats. When something closes or changes significantly, we update the article rather than leaving stale information live. High-traffic guides for Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and the southern islands are reviewed at least twice a year before the high-season and shoulder-season peaks.
If a fact is uncertain — a trail condition after heavy rain, a business's current operating hours — we flag it explicitly. We'd rather note "confirm locally" than state something outdated as fact.
Revenue and independence
The Thailand Guides is independently run. The site is funded in part through affiliate links: if you book a tour or activity through one of our links, we earn a small commission at no added cost to you. We never recommend something solely because it pays a commission. Full details are on our affiliate disclosure page.
Talk to us
Planning a Thailand trip and have a specific question? Spotted an error in one of our guides? We read every message. Get in touch here.