Our top Thailand tours and excursions

Thailand is overflowing with guided tours and excursions, but not all are created equal. That’s why we only ever recommend the best of the best: the experiences guaranteed to get you under the skin of Thai culture.   

Kayaks on the beach at Ang Thong Marine Park

Kayaking and snorkelling in Ang Thong Marine Park

Encompassing 42 jewel-like islands in the Gulf of Thailand, Ang Thong National Marine Park is a wonderland of dense jungle, hidden waterfalls and sandy beaches so brilliant they almost hurt the eyes. 

As far as we’re concerned, the best way to discover this natural playground is with a full day’s island-hopping by speedboat, with plenty of stops to feel the sand between your toes, trek to mountain viewpoints, and swim in warm, clear waters among coral reefs darting with fish of all colours, shapes and sizes. Stop for a delicious buffet lunch on the shores of Ko Pha Luay, then spend the afternoon chilling out beneath the palm trees, swimming, or perhaps heading back out on the water for a kayaking adventure to some of the more remote corners of the marine park. If you ask us, that’s as close to a day in heaven as you’ll find on Planet Earth.

Orange vintage car street art on wall in Talad Noi, Bangkok

Street art tour of Talad Noi

Though it’s now part of Bangkok’s sprawling Chinatown, the first residents of Talad Noi were Portuguese Catholics who moved from Ayutthaya in the 18th century.

Today, it’s the epicentre of Bangkok’s street-art scene, with colourful murals splashed on walls between Chinese temples and grand, European-style architecture. Snap up some street food (dim sum is a local fave) as you hear the stories behind the artworks, then finish up with an ice-cold drink on a rooftop terrace.

Man cutting down coconuts in Thailand

Introduction to coconuts

Coconuts: not much to know, right? Wrong.

Today’s join-in tour will get you beneath the hairy husk of this humble fruit as you visit a museum, orchard, farm and family-run processing factory. Along the way, follow the coconut from cultivation to peeling, scraping, squeezing, distilling and crafting — ending in products as diverse as coconut oil and household appliances. Of course, you’ll also get to eat plenty of coconut-flavoured goodies, including a traditional sweet dessert you’ll whip up yourself. 

Ruins of Sukhothai historical park

Sukhothai Historical Park

It was during the age of Sukhothai that Thai culture as we know it was born.

Hop on a tuk-tuk tour to uncover the 700-year-old remnants of this extraordinary city — which invented the Thai alphabet, spread Theravada Buddhism and presided over a golden age of the arts. Stop in at some of nearly 200 temples and spires spread out between trees, paddies, ponds and villages, and soak up the atmosphere of one of the great pre-modern civilisations. 

Views over foothills near Mae Hong Son looking towards Myanmar

Nature & tribes of Mae Hong Son

Get a glimpse of Mae Hong Son’s natural and cultural bounty as you bamboo raft through a 1.5km cave system, watch as thousands of bats and swifts fill the air at dusk, and visit a village of the Black Lahu tribe, who’ve adapted to use eco-friendly tourism to support their traditional lifestyle. On the way home, stop to take in breathtaking views over the Himalayan foothills stretching into Myanmar and beyond. 

Blue Temple with white Buddha statue at top of stairs

Full day art scene of Chiang Rai

Get beneath the skin of this eccentric beacon of creative culture as you take in the dazzlingly kitsch vision of Buddhism at the White Temple, contemplate the meaning of life and death at the hellish Black House, then peruse scripture art at the strikingly contemporary Blue Temple. Grab lunch at an arts community with a local art expert, then round off the day in the hills at the home and gallery of a local potter.