Thailand

Thailand offers more variety than almost any country its size. Bangkok for energy and food, the north (Chiang Mai, Pai) for culture and trekking, the south for islands. Affordable, easy to navigate, and the food alone justifies the trip.

The classic shape: three days in Bangkok eating your way from street stalls to old shophouse restaurants, then a cheap flight north to Chiang Mai or south to the islands. Ferries link Krabi, Koh Lanta, and the quieter Trang islands; the Gulf side runs Koh Samui through Koh Pha-ngan to Koh Tao. Daily costs stay low — it's the beach resorts, island transfers, and diving courses that move the budget. Massages remain absurd value.

Thailand is the most-trodden path in Southeast Asia, and it shows: Phuket and Phi Phi are wall-to-wall in high season, Bangkok's tuk-tuk and gem scams are old enough to have anniversaries, and burning season smothers the north in smoke from roughly February to April. If you want to feel like a pioneer, this is not your country. But the same machine that brings the crowds makes everything cheap, easy, and reliably good.