Thailand

The mainland has three seasons — cool and dry November–February (the best), hot March–May (regularly over 35°C), and the rainy southwest monsoon roughly May/June–October. But the islands are the catch, and they don’t share a calendar.

Get it wrong and you’ll watch the rain from the wrong beach: in the Andaman monsoon (May–October) the southwest wind brings rough seas and ferry cancellations off Phuket and Krabi, while the Gulf is calm — and in October–December the reverse is true.

When one coast turns, locals don’t cancel the trip — they switch islands:

• May–October (SW monsoon)Skipthe Andaman — Phuket, Krabi, Phi Phi get rough seas and ferry cancellationsGothe Gulf — Koh Samui, Phangan and Tao are in their dry stretch
• October–DecemberSkipthe Gulf islands at their November rainfall peakGothe Andaman, back in its dry season from November
• March–May heat (35°C+)Skipsweating through temple days in Bangkok and Ayutthaya at middayGothe cooler northern hills around Chiang Mai, or an early-morning sightseeing start

Maya Bay (of The Beach) shuts annually 1 August–30 September and reopened on 1 October 2026 under strict rules: no swimming — wading only — boats no longer anchor on the sand, and a cap of around 375 visitors an hour in timed slots. There’s no separate fee; it’s covered by the ฿400 Phi Phi marine-park ticket. The Similan and Surin dive parks close 16 May–14 October for the monsoon, running a fixed 15 October–15 May season with e-tickets and no overnight stays.

Two festivals worth planning around: Songkran, the Thai new-year water fight, falls on 13–15 April (public holidays nationwide, with Chiang Mai often starting on the 12th); and Loy Krathong / Yi Peng, the Chiang Mai lantern festival, lands around 25 November 2026 — though releasing sky lanterns inside Chiang Mai city limits is actually illegal, so the famous mass releases are at licensed sites outside town.

Budget airlines (Thai AirAsia, Nok, Thai Lion, Vietjet) make the islands and Chiang Mai a cheap hop — Bangkok–Phuket or Bangkok–Chiang Mai runs roughly ฿450–1,150 one-way booked ahead, most leaving Bangkok’s Don Mueang (DMK) airport rather than the main Suvarnabhumi — and overnight sleeper trains are the slow, scenic alternative. In Bangkok the BTS Skytrain and MRT (single fares about ฿17–47; a BTS day pass ฿150) beat the notorious traffic, and Grab or Bolt end the metered-taxi haggling.

Never leave your passport as a scooter deposit — it’s a known extortion setup; use a cash deposit (฿500–3,000) and photograph the bike for damage before you ride off. On the water, match the pier to the season: the Gulf islands go via Surat Thani and Donsak (Samui has its own airport — about 45 minutes by boat, Koh Tao nearer three hours), and ferries on either coast are cancelled when the monsoon turns the sea rough.

The 15 September 2026 change halved the exemption from 60 days and trimmed the eligible list from 93 countries to 60 — the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan and the EU all still qualify. It’s tourism-only now, and if you arrive overland the exemption is capped at two entries a calendar year. The TDAC (Thailand Digital Arrival Card) has replaced the old paper form and is required for every non-Thai arrival; file it free within 72 hours of arrival and ignore the paid lookalike sites.

The long-threatened ฿300 arrival fee still isn’t being charged as of late 2026 — the air-side ฿300 (฿70 of it funding traveller insurance) keeps getting pushed back, and the land/sea portion is shelved. In principle you should be able to show ฿10,000 per person (฿20,000 a family) and an onward ticket, though enforcement is at the officer’s discretion and rarely applied to obvious tourists.

Prices below were read off 2026 reporting at roughly ฿33.6 to the dollar — the baht moves, so treat them as the shape of the market rather than a fixed menu.

Bangkok centres on the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew (฿500, and a strictly enforced dress code — shoulders, knees and ankles covered, with sarongs rented at the gate), with Wat Pho’s reclining Buddha and Wat Arun nearby and the vast Chatuchak weekend market. Ayutthaya, the old capital, is the standard day trip. The food is a headline in itself — Thailand has a full Michelin guide, but the point is the street stalls, where a plate costs a dollar.

In the north, Chiang Mai is the temple-and-mountains base (Doi Suthep above the city), and it’s where one choice matters: the ethical elephant model is observation-only — no riding, no shows, and now no bathing either, which welfare groups have turned against. Many places marketed as “sanctuaries” still offer riding or bathing, which is the red flag; Elephant Nature Park is the benchmark.

The baht is the currency, 7-Elevens are everywhere (SIMs, cheap eats, bill payment), and plugs are hybrid Type A/B/C at 220V — US 110V-only devices need a converter. Tap water is not drinkable anywhere, five-star hotels included; stick to bottled. At temples, cover shoulders and knees, remove your shoes, and never touch a monk (women especially), point your feet at a Buddha, or touch anyone’s head.

Two laws are genuinely serious. Vaping is banned outright — e-cigarettes have been illegal to import, sell or possess since 2014, and a 2025 crackdown means tourists are now fined (commonly ฿20,000–30,000) and devices seized at the airport. And lèse-majesté: insulting the monarchy is a criminal offence carrying 3–15 years per count, actively enforced, reaching social-media posts and even disrespecting banknotes, which bear the King’s image. Thailand is otherwise very safe; the real risks are the roads and the scams, not crime against tourists.

The common scams are easy to sidestep: the “Grand Palace is closed today” gem-shop steer (the Palace is essentially never closed), jet-ski damage demands (photograph the craft before you take it), and metered-taxi meter refusals (use Grab or Bolt). The Tourist Police English line is 1155. Weighing Thailand against its obvious rival? See Japan vs Thailand, measured.