The Best 10 Day Thailand Itinerary To Plan Your Trip

Ahh Thailand… the land of smiles, elephants, white sand beaches, and street food! OH the street food! If you’re planning a trip to the *magical* land of Thailand, use this 10 day Thailand itinerary to help you figure out where to spend your time!

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We spent an entire month finding the best spots and enjoying the relaxing vibes of Thailand, but I’m going to give you a nice 10 day Thailand itinerary (with two options to customize it) so you can experience the best this beautiful country has to offer!

Mango sticky rice anyone?? 

Let’s get to the itinerary!

When my husband and I left for our 6 month trip to 18 countries, we knew that airfare would be one of the single largest individual costs of our trip. So, after a little bit of research, we found a way to get affordable flights all over the world: travel credit cards.

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The first note here that I need to make is that almost no flight is truly free, you do have to pay the taxes and fees. But, what if I told you I just bought a $6 flight from North Carolina, USA to Athens, Greece this week. Or that I’ve spent only $11 for me and Colton to fly from NC to Turkey?

Would you believe those numbers?

I never in a million years thought I could fly abroad for less than a few hundred dollars, and that’s if I somehow found an amazing deal!

It wasn’t until I came across travel credit cards and the world of points and miles that I understood how these serial travelers I was seeing everywhere were affording their flights.

The trick was, they were barely paying for them.

So, after tons of research, applying for credit cards, hitting bonuses, and of course getting everything in order to leave home for 6 months to travel, I bought our one way flights out of the country for $11.

How did we do it?

The world of points and miles, of course!

Let me tell you how we did it and give you the information you need to start earning free flights with your credit card! 

Let me preface this with one statement: the world of points and miles is BIG and there is a lot that you honestly don’t need to know to just get started.

So, I’m going to give you the most necessary information to get you started and cut out all the fluff. Let’s go!

I promise you this is not a scam, because maybe that’s the first place your mind is headed when I say “free” flights. 

In fact, paying with points and miles to purchase flights at insanely low prices is entirely legal, I promise!

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What Are Points and Miles

Points and miles are the reward currency of airlines and hotels: aka loyalty points. 

I’m not talking about the points you earn by flying with an airline repeatedly, that you only rack up over several years. 

I’m talking about points and miles you earn just from having the credit card you already use!

Each bank or airline that offers credit cards with points and miles use them as an alternative currency for purchasing flights. 

Many of the banks that offer travel credit cards have both airline and non-airline branded credit cards: a.k.a the airline the bank has partnered with offers airline miles as the sign up bonus, not credit card points. Those miles can only be used with that airline. 

If you apply for a bank branded card with no airline association, you’ll earn points with that bank that can then be transferred to their airline or hotel partners. 

How To Get Points And Miles With Travel Credit Cards?

The fastest way, and most likely reason why you’re wanting a travel credit card, is to earn points with a sign up bonus.

Most banks offer a sign up bonus of varying amounts after a certain amount of qualifying purchases on the card in the first few months. 

It might sound something like this: “earn 60k bonus points when you spend $3,000 dollars on purchases in the first 4 months.” Yadah yadah. 

But, you will also earn points while using your card on your everyday purchases! Some cards offer bonus categories, like 3x on grocery purchases, or 2x at restaurants, etc. So, when you spend money on your card, you’ll earn points in return that can be redeemed for various things, like flights or hotel stays. 

Generally, if you’re wanting to redeem miles for flights or hotels, you’re going to need a good chunk of miles to do so. 

You can purchase some domestic flights with as little as 8,500k points one way, but if you’re flying international, it will likely cost you 15k one way, at the very least. 

Of course, the cost of award flights in points can greatly vary and is not always directly tied to the cash ticket price.

Other ways to earn points with travel credit cards include anniversary bonuses, giveaways, and transfer bonuses. These come and go and aren’t something I would rely on.

For the purposes of this post, which is all about a beginner’s guide to free flights with points and miles, sign up bonuses are your very best friend. 

READ ALSO:
How to Save Money for Travel – Budget & Save for Your Next Trip
8 Simple Tips to Help You Save Money While Traveling
5 Tips To Find Cheap International Flights

How Much Are Points and Miles Worth?

Not all points are created equal.

Some points are more valuable than others simply because you can transfer and redeem them in more ways. 

Points and miles also get their value depending on the deal you get when redeeming them. 

Let me give you an example scenario to explain…

For example, let’s say you have 75k Capital One miles and you want to fly from Atlanta, Georgia to Athens, Greece for an amazing holiday eating delicious Mediterranean food and swimming in crystal clear waters for 8 days. 

These are the flights you’re looking at. They’ll take you to Greece during the best time to visit, late summer when it isn’t too crowded and not too hot.

You have a few options for how you can book these flights with points

Option 1: Redeem Points with a Travel Portal

Option 1 is to redeem your points through Capital One Travel and their online portal. When you do this, you’re going to get a fixed redemption rate of 1¢ per mile.

So your 75k miles would be worth $750 for travel. You could use those 75k miles to buy a flight worth up to $750 through the Capital One Travel portal. That’s over half of what this ticket is worth. So you would still have to pay about $390+ on top of your 75k miles for this ticket. 

We can definitely do better than that!

Option 2: Transfer to a Partner

Option 2 would be to transfer your Capital One miles to one of their airline transfer partners, then book the flight on their website using your points. 

If you did this, those 75k miles could become 75k FlyingBlue points (Air France & KLM’s loyalty program and one of Capital One’s transfer partners). 

The same exact flight booked on Air France with cash would cost you $1,142.

But, you can transfer your points from Capital One and over to FlyingBlue, so now you have up to 75k FlyingBlue miles! Let’s use them!

If you use FlyingBlue to book the exact same flight, you would only need 30,000 miles and $208 in taxes & fees. Way better than using all 75k and only covering half of the cost!

And, instead of paying $1,142 out of pocket for a round trip ticket to Europe, you’re only paying $208 plus 30,000 points.

*you want to transfer only the amount of points you need. In this scenario, thats only 30k of the 75k.

In this scenario, you would be redeeming your Capital One points, through FlyingBlue, for 3.1cents per mile. Now that’s more like it!

This is why points can be so valuable and why transfer partners can be the best way to go when redeeming points.

I know that was a lot, so let me summarize if for you:

• Out of pocket price for ticket Atlanta to Athens: $1142 on Air France/KLM
• Price of same ticket booked through Capital One Travel: 75k miles + $392
• Price of same ticket booked through FlyingBlue after transferring Capital One miles: 30,000 miles + $208 in taxes and fees.

You would come out of this deal with around 45k Capital One miles left in the bank. That’s enough to buy you another roundtrip flight to Europe.

Now THAT’S how we use points and miles to our advantage 🙂 

RESOURCE: Free List of Transfer Partners & Airline Alliances + How to Use Them

*be sure to only transfer the points you need and no more so you can keep the extra points with your bank and transfer them elsewhere in the future*

How Do You Redeem Points And Miles For Flights?

The way that we typically redeem our points and miles is by using them to purchase flights. We do this by transferring our credit card points to transfer partners. 

The scenario above is a great example of how we would use our points and miles to get amazing deals on flights.

Here is that chart again that I made to show you where you can transfer points based on what program you’ve accumulated points with. 

The process of transferring points can be a bit complicated, but I’m going to help you out here. 

Here is the basic rundown of how to redeem your points for flights:

• Accumulate points on your credit card
• Research credit card airlines transfer partners
• Search Google Flights or Skyscanner to find flight routes
• Search for award flights on airline transfer partners
• Find desired flights and see how many points/money required to book them
• Create a frequent flier account with airline if you don’t already have one
• Transfer points on your bank’s website to transfer partner of choice
• Book those flights!!

To use the example from above, I would find the flights I want and make sure I have enough points to pay for them. Then, I would log into Capital One and go to the Capital One Travel portal to transfer my points to FlyingBlue. Once my points were transferred, I would buy my flights!

The real trick is finding award flight availability and the deals that are out there waiting to be had! It takes a little bit of time and practice but you’ll get the gist!

READ ALSO:
How to Save Money for Travel – Budget & Save for Your Next Trip
Our Once In A Lifetime 6 Month Trip Itinerary
What 6 Months of Travel to 18 Countries Cost Us

What Travel Credit Cards Are Best?

For me to answer this question, you’ll need to ask yourself a question first: what are your goals?

Are you looking to cover some international long haul flights? Maybe you’re an avid domestic traveler and would like to cover a few legs of travel for your upcoming trips. Would you like to stay in nice hotels for just the cost of fees?

It’s good to look at the options and decide what you think will work best for your goals!

If you want to cover some flights, I would find a card that has great travel benefits and flexible rewards. If you’re more interested in hotel stays, get a hotel branded card!

You can find my favorite travel credit cards and all the information about them on my
Travel Credit Cards Recommendations page.

Want my help choosing a travel credit card?
Fill out my Free Credit Card Consultation Form & I’ll email you personalized recommendations!

“Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.”

10 Day Thailand Itinerary

I’m going to lay this itinerary out based on the recommended number of days I think you should stay in each place.

However, if you are staying longer or shorter than 10 days, simply adjust the number of days and customize this itinerary for yourself! 

At the end I’ll also give you some options to extend your trip if you have more than 10 days to travel Thailand.

Arrive in Bangkok

The largest city in Thailand with the largest International airport, Bangkok is the best place to begin your time in the land of smiles. 

Fly into Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) and catch a taxi to your hotel. We set up a taxi pickup with our hotel concierge ahead of time over WhatsApp, so I recommend you do the same to be sure you’re getting the best experience! 

However, if you did not plan a taxi with your hotel, no worries! You can pick one up at the airport, or you can catch the airport rail link into town. Check out the timetables and where you can go here.

1 Day in Bangkok

Depending on when you arrive, give yourself the next full day to explore Bangkok.

I would recommend you stay a bit longer if your schedule allows, however if you are in Thailand for only 10 days, there is a lot more to see in this country, so spend just one day in Bangkok. 

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Here is what you NEED to see in the city while you’re here!

1. Wat Pho: a beautiful Buddhist temple with an absolutely massive golden Buddha inside! Seeing the temples in Thailand is a wonderful cultural experience, and they are all over the place! Please beware of scammers that will try to talk to you outside of Wat Pho. If they say they know a better way to get into the temple or that it’s closed and they can take you to a different one, keep walking and say NO!
2. Chinatown Night Market: If you do anything in Bangkok, go to the Chinatown Night Market. I have never had such incredible food. This area of Bangkok is famous for its street food, some stalls even having Michelin recommendations! 
3. The Grand Palace: See the palace where the Kings and Queens of Siam once lived! Beautiful grounds to walk around, I would skip the museum or inside tours. Just enjoy the beautiful palace from outside.

Some people would maybe recommend Khao San Road. Unless rowdy bars and unsavory joints are your style, I’d steer clear. 😉

Where to Stay in Bangkok

Luxury: Park Hyatt Bangkok

Mid Range: Gardina Asoke Hotel & Residence

Budget: Ekanek Hostel

Make Your Way to Chiang Mai

Now, you have two options here as far as getting to Chiang Mai from Bangkok. 

I am a big fan of flying with the airlines in Thailand. The airlines are great and affordable, however tons of people say that to save time and money you should take the overnight train to Chiang Mai from Bangkok. 

I think at the end of the day, this comes down to preference and travel style. If you don’t want to do an overnight train because that sounds kind of miserable and you aren’t a shoestring traveler trying to save every penny, I would recommend you fly. It will be faster and you can hit the ground running in Chiang Mai when you arrive.

Try to find a flight to Chiang Mai from BKK in the morning so you can spend the rest of your day getting settled in Chiang Mai and exploring the night markets.

We flew with Thai AirAsia and had a great and easy experience. 

If you do decide to take the train, you’ll want to use Rome2Rio to find train times and prices. 

3 Days in Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai was one of our absolute favorite places in all of Thailand! 

While you’re here, you’ll see why we loved it so! Chiang Mai is a must on a 10 day Thailand itinerary.

There is an ‘Old Town’ area that is built inside a square roadway, which is the most popular part of town for tourists. But, it isn’t popular in the way that would make you want to avoid it. 

There are tons of locals still in Chiang Mai, as well as a great expat community of Americans, Australians, Brits, etc. 

READ ALSO:
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Enjoy The Night Markets

Chiang Mai has little night markets all over the city. What I love about this is that you can find amazing street food all over the city at ANY time of day. All you have to do is walk outside your hotel and you’ll see delicious Thai dishes on every corner! 

We especially loved the Sunday Night Market in Chiang Mai, which runs the length of an entire main road with hundreds of vendors selling food, clothes, souvenirs, and handmade goods.

If you do happen to be there on a Sunday, don’t miss it!

The market is on the Tha Phae walking street: you can’t miss it once the street is full of people on Sunday night!

If you aren’t there on Sunday, don’t fret.

There are tons of markets all over the city that are open every night of the week! A lot of Thai people eat out for most of their meals, so street vendors are plentiful! 

Elephant Sanctuary 

While in Chiang Mai, you’ll have the opportunity to experience standing next to some of the most incredible creatures on God’s green earth: elephants. 

Asian elephants to be exact. We visited an Elephant Sanctuary where elephants with tortured pasts come to live out the remainder of their lives in their own personal heaven on earth. 

Traditionally, elephants have been used for industry in much of Asia, in logging businesses, entertainment, or transportation. However, the working conditions for these great animals are harsh and often deadly. 

There has been a massive movement in the last few decades to remove elephants from such jobs and allow them the dignity they deserve to just exist as natives to their jungles. 

Many of the elephants we met at Elephant Nature Park had been rescued from horrible conditions, and often had the physical scars to show it.

Now, they live pretty posh lives getting to eat bananas all day and play and bond with their chosen families (as they should!). 

So, if you do decided to visit an elephant sanctuary while in Thailand, these are the rules to live by: 

1. NEVER ride an elephant. They do not exist for your entertainment, and they should not be used for such. Only visit a sanctuary where you are allowed to observe and assist in the care of the elephants. 
2. DO NOT support any business that exploits elephants for entertainment or work. 
3. ONLY give your money to an elephant sanctuary that you have done your research on and feel good about donating to. 

The sanctuary we visited and that we still recommend is Elephant Nature Park.

Get A Thai Massage

An incredible experience to have while in Thailand is a traditional Thai massage.

Now, this massage is probably a bit different than what you typically think of when you hear the word massage. 

Thai massage is a traditional practice that combines acupressure and yoga postures. You are fully dressed during the massage and the masseuse uses pressure and manipulation of your limbs to give you a nice stretch through the entire body! We did, however, also get a hot stone massage at the end of ours which was a nice touch 🙂

We LOVED our Thai massage and recommend getting yours at the same place we went to, called Giving Tree Massage.

Eat Like A Local

We found some restaurants in Chiang Mai that we will recommend to you EVERY TIME. 

The first is Grazie Thai: a total gem in Chiang Mai, this restaurant is beloved by locals and visitors alike. We made sure to get the Khao Soi (famous as the regional dish of Northern Thailand) and the basil pork (Pad Kra Pao). It was so delicious! And the prices are amazing!

I also recommend trying a few different Khao Soi dishes while in Chiang Mai. One we loved was from It’s Good Kitchen, and another good one is at Khao Soi Khun Yai.

Khao Soi was one of our favorite dishes in Thailand, so much so that I’ve tried to recreate it at home. This recipe from Half Baked Harvest is absolutely a simplified version of the good stuff you can only really get in Thailand, but it’s delicious! 

READ ALSO:
What 6 Months of Travel to 18 Countries Cost Us
Our Once In A Lifetime 6 Month Trip Itinerary

Learn to Make Thai Food at Cooking School

You should absolutely add this into your 3 day stay in Chiang Mai. Make traditional Thai dishes and learn about the ingredients and culture of this sensational food! 

I recommend you do so at Thai Farm Cooking School.

Where To Stay In Chiang Mai

Luxury: THEE Vijit Lanna

Mid Range: The Chimes Chiang Mai Old City

Budget: Ma Guesthouse

Choose An Option: Khao Sok National Park OR Koh Phi Phi

Now, after Chiang Mai, you’ve got a few options of where to go for the remainder of your 10 day Thailand itinerary. 

There are endless things you can do and places you can go in Thailand, but I’m going to give you the two best options to see a bit more of the mainland, or get out to the islands. 

Either way, I think you’re going to want to fly out of Chiang Mai and into your next destination for the sake of time. 

The two options below are either 1) seeing a national park and lake in the mainland, then hopping over to one island before leaving for Bangkok, or 2) heading straight to the islands and spending the next 6 days island hopping. 

Option 1: Khao Sok National Park & Koh Samui

The first option is to go to Khao Sok National Park and stay in overwater floating bungalows! Then, make your way to Koh Samui via a shuttle or bus and spend the remainder of your trip basking in the Thai sun on white sand beaches. 

Sounds pretty nice, eh? Here are a few pictures of Khao Sok and Koh Samui to entice you.

If you have chosen option 1, here is how you’re going to get there.

From Chiang Mai fly to Surat Thani. Then, take a transfer to the town of Khao Sok (you can set this up with the hotel you book in Khao Sok). 

Here, you will stay one night in a hotel in Khao Sok. The next day, you’ll be taken into the park by your tour guide and will spend 2 days, one night in the park and staying in the bungalows. 

The only way to book a trip inside the National Park is by booking it through your hotel in the town of Khao Sok! 

Where To Stay in Khao Sok

Here are some hotels I recommend you stay in that can help you book your National Park tour and the bungalows!

Mid Range: Our Jungle House

Budget: Palmview Resort

While we stayed in Khao Sok, our tour guide took us on a jungle hike, into a jungle cave, on a water safari looking for wild asian elephants and monkeys, and we were provided 3 meals delicious a day. 

We loved visiting Khao Sok, and especially meeting other travelers from around the world there!

After your time in Khao Sok, you will have just a little more time in Thailand. Spend it on Koh Samui relaxing and soaking up the Thai sun and culture. 

To get to Koh Samui, you’ll organize a transfer with the hotel that you set up the park tour with. They can get you all set up with transportation! 

Heading to Koh Samui is also strategic because it has an airport, so you can return to the Bangkok airport from Samui, then onward home at the end of your trip.

What to Do on Koh Samui 

Big Buddha: Be sure to make a stop at the Big Buddha. It really would be hard to miss and can actually be seen from spots all over the island.

Beaches: I recommend Lamai Beach & Chaweng Beach.

Where To Stay on Koh Samui

We stayed at an incredible 5 star hotel on Koh Samui called the Mantra Samui, which only cost us $75USD per night at the time we visited in January. I definitely recommend!

Luxury: Conrad Koh Samui

Mid Range: Mantra Samui

Budget: The Tree Samui

Option 2: Krabi & Koh Phi Phi

The second option for the end of your 10 day Thailand itinerary is to fly to Krabi where you can then head to Koh Phi Phi for a few days, then spend the remainder of your time using Krabi as a jumping off point for some island hopping. 

Here are a few pictures of Koh Phi Phi and the surrounding islands to give you an idea of what to expect!

Once you get to Krabi by plane, you’ll want to take a taxi to the ferry port. You’ll then take a ferry to Koh Phi Phi. You can choose to stay here for the remainder of your trip and then take the ferry back to Krabi where you can fly back to Bangkok.

Or, you can spend a few days on Phi Phi, then head back to Krabi where you can spend a few days and do some boat tours out to the surrounding islands. 

What to Do on Koh Phi Phi

The best thing to do while on Koh Phi Phi is a longtail boat tour of the surrounding islands. Koh Phi Phi Don is the largest island in a small group of islands, and where you’ll be staying. 

We booked a tour with and visited Maya Bay, Bamboo Island, and Monkey Island. The end of the boat tour had us jumping in the water at night with bioluminescent plankton!

I recommend you book a tour with Explorer Tour & Travel.

What to Do in Krabi

In Krabi, I recommend you do another longtail boat tour of Hong Island! We loved this day, especially because we paid a bit extra to have a private boat for just the two of us. I recommend you do this if you have the funds, it’s very nice! 

We actually just walked up to a tour company in Krabi town and asked about boat rides and they set us up for the next day!

Hong Island is a great spot, and there is an amazing viewpoint hike (straight up MANY stairs). 

This is the view from the top of the Hong Island 360 Viewpoint.

I recommend a tour like this one while in Krabi to the little islands like Hong Island!

10 Day Thailand Itinerary Wrap Up

I hope this 10 day Thailand itinerary is helpful in giving you an idea of where to visit in Thailand during your trip!

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