Wild Thailand Family Adventure

Day 1-2

Bangkok

City stays can be hard on families, with their dry history tours and cultural attractions. Not this time! Discover Bangkok’s illustrious heritage as you join a treasure hunt, searching for clues and completing missions that’ll have you exploring some of the city’s most interesting sites. Then, jump in a brightly painted longtail boat for a cruise into the city’s network of khlongs — or canals — where modern mansions and old-fashioned teakwood houses line the banks. Hop out to explore temples, orchid gardens and plantations of exotic fruit, and don’t forget to feed the holy catfish who call these waters home!

Highlights

Explore Bangkok’s different neighborhoods on a treasure hunt through the city

See a quieter side of the capital on a boat trip through Bangkok’s canals

Escape the crowds at temples rarely visited by foreign tourists

Day 3

Petchaburi

Trade the concrete jungle for the actual jungle as you venture south to Petchaburi. Here, you’ll be staying at a wildlife sanctuary whose mission is to rescue and rehabilitate animals that have been exploited for tourism purposes, kept illegally as pets, or captured for their value in traditional medicine. Spend the day getting acquainted with the hundreds of animals being looked after at the sanctuary, including gibbons, bears, lorises, wild cats, elephants and more, then spend the night surrounded by hoots and chirps in an ecolodge in the forest. If you’re lucky, you might even see an elephant passing by your bedroom window in the morning!

Highlights

Meet the animals at the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand

Get up close and personal with the magnificent Asian elephant

Spend the night at an eco-lodge surrounded by jungle

Day 4

Kui Buri

Your next stop is a small village sandwiched between pineapple and rubber plantations at the edge of the Kui Buri National Park. Here, you can watch and try all kinds of activities, including paper making, rubber tapping and silk harvesting, but the main attraction is the afternoon’s safari into the national park. Kui Buri has the highest concentration of wild elephants in Thailand — in fact they’re well-known to locals as naughty fruit thieves! — and it’s not unusual to see herds of over 40 of them milling in the long grass from the Huai Leuk viewpoint. Keep your eyes peeled for other animals, too: the park is home to plenty of bison-like gaur and packs of golden jackals.

Highlights

Have a go at making paper from elephant poo and pineapple (yes, really!)

Learn how silkworms produce their precious crop

Go in search of elephants, gaur and jackals on a 4x4 safari in Kui Buri National Park

Day 5

Chumphon

Finally, you’ve reached the coast, and the lush islands of the Mu Ko Chumphon National Park beckon. This protected area is over 50% ocean: its emerald-green islands ringed by clear, blue sea, and its many waterways fringed with tangled mangroves. Explore by walking through the mangroves on a kilometer-long boardwalk. A highlight of the day is sure to be a trip to golden, palm-fringed Hat Sai Ri Beach, and the view from Khao Matsee Viewpoint, over the town of Chumphon to the jungle-covered hills and wide open ocean beyond, is spectacular.

Highlights

Take in the incredible views from the Khao Matsri Viewpoint

Explore between the twisted roots of the mangrove forests

Day 6-7

Ranong

Island-hopping is our favorite way to get a sense of the diversity of Thailand’s coastline, and Ranong is the perfect place to begin. Stop off at quiet coves undiscovered by the tourist hordes; their soft, white sands backed by dense, tropical rainforest. Climb to viewpoints with fabulous views over crescent-shaped bays, then dove into the warm waters to swim and snorkel with the sealife in colorful coral reefs. Back on dry land, spend your time picking up street-food snacks and trinkets on Ranong’s bustling walking street, and pay a visit to Gong Valley to see how robusta coffee is roasted and brewed to perfection.

Highlights

See how robusta coffee is roasted and brewed

Go island-hopping off the coast, with plenty of stops for snorkeling

Stop off at Ko Gum Island and climb to a spectacular viewpoint

Day 8-9

Khao Sok National Park

Your next destination is arguably the most beautiful lake in Thailand: spectacular Cheow Lan. Here, spend your nights in jungle camps and floating lodges surrounded by towering karsts, and your days exploring the surrounding national park — where rescued elephants live peacefully under the protection of the Elephant Hills sanctuary. As well as getting to meet and feed these gentle giants, you’ll get to explore their jungle home, and perhaps spot some of the many other types of wildlife that live here. Back at the camp, there are films, dance performances and cooking classes to enjoy, and a morning market visit offers a chance to experience everyday life in this remote part of Thailand.

Highlights

Meet and interact with the gentle giants of Elephant Hills

Go for canoe trips and boat safaris on the lakes and rivers of the National Park

Stay in a floating rainforest camp on Thailand’s most beautiful lake

Elephants of Elephant Hills sanctuary, Khao Sok National Park

Day 10-14

Khao Lak

Finally, it’s time to see out your adventure with a few days in Khao Lak: our favorite family-friendly beach spot in the whole country. Popular without being overrun, Khao Lak strikes the perfect balance of low-key beach towns, quieter stretches of sand, and a superb array of excellent resorts and restaurants. It’s the perfect place to wind down by the sea, but there’s plenty to keep you busy, too — with an included cooking lesson and plenty of day-trip opportunities to waterfalls, caves, islands and beaches. That said, we won’t blame you if you decide to sit still, watch the waves, and toast the end of your trip with a cocktail or two.