Fourteen days in Thailand

Days 1 to 3 — Bangkok and Ayutthaya

Three days in the capital, structured around the river rather than the roads.

Then add Ayutthaya as an overnight rather than a day trip. You get the ruins at dawn and at sunset, when the light is good and the coaches have gone, and the old city by night is a different place.

Days 5 to 8 — Chiang Mai and the north

Fly north and give it four nights, which is what turns the north from a checklist into the best part of the trip.

The old city temples on foot, Doi Suthep, a full day at an elephant sanctuary, the Sunday Walking Street, and one long day out to Doi Inthanon or across to Chiang Rai and the White Temple if you are happy to drive.

Days 9 to 12 — the Andaman coast

Fly south to Krabi or Phuket and stay put for four nights — one base, not two. Four days in one place beats two days in each of two.

The island day trip (Phi Phi, or the Hong Islands from Krabi), one day on the water at Railay or Phang Nga Bay, and two days that stay empty on purpose.

Days 13 to 14 — Bangkok, and out

Return to the capital for the last night. It absorbs any domestic delay, it puts you at the right airport, and it gives you one more evening of the food you will miss.

If you would rather have two coasts than the north

Swap the northern leg for the Gulf: Koh Samui, Koh Phangan or Koh Tao. It works in the first half of the year, when the Gulf is dry and the Andaman is wet — and it is the only version of this itinerary where the weather lets you see both coasts in one trip.