Thailand has by far the biggest choice of tours of the five countries, and that is exactly the tricky part: everywhere you go, someone is trying to sell you something. A lot of it you can sort just as easily at your hostel or on the beach. Booking ahead pays off for the boat trips that fill up in high season, for anything with a long drive in it, and for the one day when it simply has to happen. And one rule that works on every island: the first boat of the day is the best boat of the day.
Bangkok
Five things that do not get in each other's way. Ayutthaya is the only one that takes you out of the city: seven hours, to the old capital eighty kilometres north. To be fair, the train gets you there for a fraction of the price, so book the tour if you want those temples explained to you rather than wandering the ruins on your own. The Muay Thai tickets are for Rajadamnern stadium, and for us that is the best way to fill an evening in Bangkok: the crowd is half the show. The classic bike tour spends three hours in alleys you would never end up in by yourself, and it is best done early, before the heat kicks in. The floating market and the train market come as one trip because they are in the same direction. And the SkyWalk is not a tour but a ticket: save it for a clear day, because the view is the whole point.
Bangkok: Muay Thai tickets at Rajadamnern Stadium
Bangkok: floating market and train market experience
From Bangkok: Ayutthaya temples guided tour with lunch
Bangkok: Mahanakhon SkyWalk ticket
Bangkok: classic bike tour with Co van Kessel
Chiang Mai
Everything on this list stays close. The cooking class is the classic here for a reason: it starts at the market, ends with your own curry, and it is the only souvenir you can still make at home. The Sticky Waterfalls trip (five hours) does exactly what the name promises: the limestone grips, so you walk straight up the waterfall without slipping. The Kingkong Smile zipline is the classic day out if you are staying put, and the Muay Thai ticket at Kalare Night Bazaar is an evening, so it fits around anything. The elephant programme is feeding and walking, no riding, and that is the right direction. Before you pick any elephant place, know that the word sanctuary is not protected. At a genuine one the elephants keep their distance, the animal decides whether it wants contact, and there is no riding, painting or bathing with tourists.
Chiang Mai: elephant sanctuary feeding programme, half day
Chiang Mai: Muay Thai ticket at Kalare Night Bazaar stadium
Chiang Mai: Sticky Waterfalls half day trip with hotel transfer
Chiang Mai: cooking class with market visit and pickup
Chiang Mai: Kingkong Smile zipline with lunch and transfers
Chiang Rai
Four tours that mostly do the same thing: the White Temple, the Golden Triangle and whatever sits in between. The difference is in the extras, tea plantations on one and a buffet with a river view on another, so pick one of them. But keep this in mind: the White Temple, the Blue Temple and the Black House are all within scooter range of the centre, and those three belong together. A scooter at about €5 a day and one day are all you need. Where a tour really earns its place is the Golden Triangle, an hour further north, where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet across the river.
Chiang Rai: guided highlights full day tour with lunch buffet
Best of Chiang Rai: seven sights and a riverside buffet
Chiang Rai: Golden Triangle and seven sights guided tour
Chiang Rai: seven sights, the Golden Triangle and tea plantations
Pai
Two of these five are tubing with DJs and foam, which is the same party in different packaging: pick one. The Nam Lod cave tour (seven hours) is the complete opposite. You go through the cave on a bamboo raft with a lantern and finish at sunset at Two Huts. But the honest answer for Pai is that the whole valley is within half an hour's ride: the canyon, the Bamboo Bridge through the rice fields, the Land Split, the hot springs. If you can actually ride, rent a scooter for about €4 a day and you have your own tour at your own pace. If you cannot, the day tours and the sunset tour cover that same ground. The one thing worth getting out of bed for is the sea of mist at sunrise, and you do not need to book anything for that except an alarm. In December and January it drops to around ten degrees at dawn, so bring a jumper.
Pai: tipsy tubing with local DJs, guides and water sports
Pai: jungle tubing river trip with DJs and foam party
Pai: sunset tour with Yun Lai, Pai Canyon and Two Huts
Pai: day and afternoon tours around the valley
Pai: Nam Lod cave tour with local guide and sunset at Two Huts
Koh Tao
Here is why people really come to Koh Tao: it is the cheapest place in the world to get your dive certificate, and you can tell from the number of schools. Below Zero Divers is up top as our own pick. Staying above the water? The three snorkelling trips mostly cover the same water at different times of day. The early morning trip of four and a half hours exists to beat the other boats, and that is the difference between a bay to yourself and a bay full of floating legs. The road trip past eight viewpoints is the version on land. Planning to ride yourself? The roads here are steep and loose, so this is not the island to learn on.
The small dive school on Koh Tao we send people to: tiny groups, new kit and briefings that are real. Why we recommend them, and our reader discount.
Koh Tao: island snorkelling highlights day tour and lunch
Koh Tao: snorkelling trip to Nang Yuan Island and hidden bays
Koh Tao: early morning snorkelling trip with turtles and no crowds
Scenic road trip on Koh Tao: eight iconic viewpoints
Koh Phangan
Two of these five take you off the island. Ang Thong is the marine park with forty-two islands and the kayaks, and that is a proper full day. The other goes snorkelling at Koh Tao and Nang Yuan, but ask yourself whether you would rather spend a few nights on Koh Tao: it is an hour and a half by ferry, not an expedition. On the island itself, the road trip (seven hours) and the jungle trek with waterfalls (six and a half hours) show you the side behind the beaches. The zipline over Wang Sai waterfall takes two hours, which makes it a good pick for a day when you want something easy. And the best snorkelling on Koh Phangan itself is at Koh Ma in the northwest, straight off the sandbar at Mae Haad.
Koh Phangan: Ang Thong day tour with kayaking, snorkelling and lunch
Koh Phangan: day trip to Koh Tao and Nang Yuan with snorkelling and lunch
Koh Phangan: shared road trip with Mingalaba
Koh Phangan: hidden jungle trek and waterfall adventure
Koh Phangan: sky-high zipline with views over Wang Sai waterfall
Koh Samui
The nine-hour Ang Thong cruise is the big day: forty-two islands, kayaking, and the climb to the viewpoint over the Emerald Lake, a saltwater lagoon inside a collapsed island. It is also the only tour here you cannot do on your own. The 51 kilometre ring road, the Big Buddha and the Na Muang waterfalls take one rented scooter at about €6 and one day. The highlights tour is the version for anyone who would rather not ride that road, and with real cars at real speed on it, that is a fair choice. The snorkelling trip to Koh Tan and Pig Island is half a day and stays close to the coast. The highlights tour comes with elephant feeding as an option: before you tick that box, check that it is feeding only, with no riding and no bathing.
Koh Samui: Pig Island and Koh Tan snorkelling by speedboat
Koh Samui: half day highlights tour with elephant feeding option
Koh Samui: Mu Ko Ang Thong park cruise with kayaking option
Koh Samui: Tree Bridge zipline and café experience
Khao Sok
No GetYourGuide cards here, only our own picks, and that is not a gap: in Khao Sok everything runs through local operators, and that is how it should be. The only choice that really matters is whether you do Cheow Lan Lake in a day or stay the night. Stay the night. You sleep in a floating hut with no signal and power only in the evening, if at all, between limestone towers that rise hundreds of metres out of the water, and at sunrise you take a kayak out while the mist still sits on the lake. That is what people come here for, and it is exactly the part a day trip cannot give you: the day boats all arrive and leave at the same time, and the two hours before and after them are when the lake is at its best.
Two days between the limestone towers of Cheow Lan Lake: longtail boat, a jungle trek, two wildlife safaris and a night in a floating raft house.
Into the rainforest with a local guide: survival skills, dinner cooked inside bamboo over an open fire, a night safari and a hammock strung between two trees.
Four hours on an organic farm near Khao Sok: pull your own herbs and vegetables from the garden, then cook four Thai dishes in bamboo over an open fire.
Krabi
The four island trip by longtail (six hours) is the classic Krabi day, past Koh Poda, Chicken Island and Tup Island, where a sandbar surfaces between the islands at low tide. Take the earliest boat. The nine-hour tour heads inland instead: Tiger Cave Temple with its 1,237 steps, the Emerald Pool and the hot springs, which makes for a long day with plenty of driving in between. Kayaking through the mangroves of Ao Thalane is the calm option in the middle. Not on this list but worth knowing: Railay Beach is a fifteen-minute longtail from Ao Nang for about €3, no tour needed. You will see elephant bathing offered around Krabi, and it is not on this list for a reason: bathing means touching, and at a genuine sanctuary the elephants keep their distance and decide for themselves whether they want contact. Feeding and walking with them, with no riding and no bathing, is the standard to look for anywhere in Thailand.
Krabi: premium four island day trip by longtail boat with lunch
Krabi: kayaking through the mangroves of Ao Thalane
Krabi: Tiger Cave Temple, Emerald Pool and hot springs tour
Koh Lanta
Two of these five are the mangroves, one by kayak and one by boat, both three hours: pick based on whether you want to paddle yourself. The four island trip past the Emerald Cave and Koh Kradan (seven hours) is the full day on the water, and the Emerald Cave is the one you swim into, eighty metres through a pitch black tunnel holding a rope, so know that before you book if you are claustrophobic. The snorkelling trip to Koh Rok and Koh Haa goes further out and has the better coral. Koh Haa is also among the best dive sites in Thailand, so if you have a certificate, this is the day to use it. The sunset kayak trip with the glowing plankton (five hours) is an evening, so it clashes with nothing. The plankton is not guaranteed, it depends on the moon and the season. For the rest, Koh Lanta is nine beaches in a row and nothing you have to do, so plan less here than you normally would.
Koh Lanta: half day mangrove kayak tour with lunch
Koh Lanta: half day mangrove boat trip with lunch
Koh Lanta: snorkelling trip to Koh Rok and Koh Haa with lunch buffet
Koh Lanta: four islands, Emerald Cave and Koh Kradan by longtail
Koh Lanta: sunset and bioluminescent plankton by kayak
Phuket
The day trip to Maya Bay, Phi Phi and Bamboo Island (eight hours) is why most people get on the water from Phuket, and it is a full day on a fast boat. Take the earliest departure, because the difference in crowds between the first and the third boat is enormous. If Phi Phi is on your route anyway, think about sleeping there instead: it is two hours by ferry. Missing from this list, and the best day out on this coast, is kayaking in Phang Nga Bay, between the limestone towers and into caves that only open up at low tide. Ask at your hostel. The guided tour of Phuket Old Town is the land version, and that town is a lot better than the island's reputation suggests: Sino-Portuguese shophouses in pink and yellow, and good coffee. YONA is a floating beach club, so swimming and drinks. The elephant sanctuary is feeding and walking, no riding and no bathing, which is exactly the standard to hold anywhere in Thailand.
Phuket: Maya Bay, Phi Phi and Bamboo Island with lunch buffet
Phuket: ethical elephant feeding at a jungle sanctuary
Phuket: YONA floating beach club day experience
Phuket: guided city tour of Phuket Town with hotel transfers
Koh Phi Phi
Three of these five go to Maya Bay, and you choose between them on exactly one thing: how early you get there. By eleven the bay is packed, so the trip that arrives as the first group does exactly what it promises, and that difference is bigger than any other on this list. The private boat runs at your pace, and the four-hour half day is the standard version. Good to know: you can visit Maya Bay but not swim there, and the bay closes every August and September so the coral can recover. The seven island snorkelling trip (eight hours) is the full day with a sunset. And the five-hour PADI Discover Scuba is not a tour but your first time underwater with an instructor next to you: no certificate, but you find out whether this is for you. What costs nothing: the steps up to Phi Phi Viewpoint, for the best-known view in Thailand. Go at sunrise, when there might be four of you up there.
