Three weeks in Thailand

The shape of it

The working structure is: Bangkok to start, the north in the middle, and the coast at the end — because the coast is where you want to be least inclined to move, and Bangkok is where you need to be for the flight home.

Three weeks allows five or six bases rather than three. That sounds like a lot, but the extra time means each move costs a smaller proportion of the trip.

Weeks one and two

The first fortnight covers the interior, which is where the history and the landscape are.

• Bangkok — three nights, structured around the river.
• Ayutthaya — one or two nights, so you get the ruins at dawn and sunset rather than at midday.
• Sukhothai — two nights, with the ruins seen by bicycle, and a stop at Si Satchanalai if you have the appetite.
• Chiang Mai — four or five nights, which is what turns the north from a checklist into the best part of the trip. Add a day out to Doi Inthanon or an elephant sanctuary.
• Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle — two nights, arriving overland from Chiang Mai for the best driving in the country.
• Khao Sok — two nights, one in the village and one on the floating bungalows of Cheow Lan Lake, on the way south.

Week three — the coast

The last week is deliberately slow. Pick one coast, choose one base, and stay there.

• Andaman option — Krabi or Koh Lanta for five nights, with Phi Phi or the Hong Islands as a day trip, and Railay for a day on the water.
• Gulf option — Koh Samui or Koh Phangan for five nights, with Koh Tao if you dive. This is the version that works in the middle of the year, when the Andaman coast is wet.
• Both coasts are not worth attempting in three weeks unless your dates fall in the March–April shoulder. The crossing costs a day.
• Finish with the last night in Bangkok, not on an island, so a domestic delay cannot cost you an international flight.

What three weeks lets you do that two does not

Stay somewhere long enough to be recognised. Take the slow boat, the overnight train and the local bus without resenting them. Change your mind about a plan on the strength of a conversation.

It also lets you absorb a bad-weather week without it defining the trip — which, on a two-week itinerary, it can.