nwpumacats

hihi friends- I am planning to travel to Thailand in early October for 2 weeks. We do not have airfare yet or any plans. Could you provide suggestions on where to go and what to see in 2 weeks time? we would like to spend the 2nd half of the trip on beautiful beachers and the first half traveling through cities. Also, have heard about day trips into Cambodia or weekend trips to Vietnam - please feel free to suggest your recommendations. We are coming from New York.

Gpanda

Two weeks is usually 12 days on the ground. The split, depends on whether you're flying in between destinations. Asuming this to be the case a good division is:
BKK-2 days
Chiang Mai-3 days
Beach-5 days
BKK-2 days.

This provides a very nice exposure to three very different places. You will have to return to BKK to fly home, so a little BKK at the beginning and a little at the end makes the best use of your time.

Note that October is a very difficult month to guess which beach will have the best weather. The rainy season moves from the west beaches, Phuket, Krabi etc. to the Gulf beaches. Check our weatherbase.com for sample rainfall.

Once you decide where to go, you can book your flights online.

Good luck.

glorialf

There are no day trips to Cambodia or if they are they are as much to be avoided as a day trip from Chicago to New York. If this is your first time in Thailand and you only have two weeks I would urge you to spend no more than a few days at a beach as the beaches have very little to do with thailand. if your main goal is to go to a beach I would go closer to home. For 12 days on the ground I would spend 6 days in bangkok, 3 days at the beach and 3 days in northern thailand (chaing mai).

Early October is still very much the rainy season.

nwpumacats

Thanks vm Gpanda...I have planned the international flights, should I plan/book the domestic, intra-thailand, flights ahead of time, or book when we get there? Where do you recommend staying in each of these places. We are in our mid 20s and have heard very good things about the penninsula and oriental in bangkok.

Kathie

First, you'll have to figure out just how much time you'll have on the ground in Asia. So two weeks might be a mere 12 days on the ground. If you can squeeze out even a couple more days, you'll have a more leisurly trip.

I think in Asia you never want to spend less than 3 nights (which would only be two days) somewhere. Each time you change locations, you'll lose most of a day. So if you have 12 days on the ground, figure three locations at most.

Day trips to Cambodia? No. A weekend in VN? not worth it. Save VN for another trip - you need a couple of weeks to see the highliights. If you want to see the fabulous temples of Angkor, you need a minimum of three full days to see just the major temples. If Angkor is a priority, you can make it work. With 12 days, you could have 4 night each in Bangkok, Siem Reap and a beach.

You say you'd like to spend the first half of your trip "traveling through cities." Don't. If you want any flavor at all for the place you need to stay somewhere for a while. Bangkok is a fabulous city and you could spend weeks there without getting bored. If you can make it work in terms of your time, I'd recommend 5 days in Bangkok, two at the beginning and three at the end.

By the way, the cultural and historic expereinces of Thailand aren't at a beach. You might want a few days relaxation at the beach, but there are equally beautiful beaches much closer to NY. So I wouldn't recommend that you spend half of you precious time in Asia at a beach resort.

Do get yourselves a good guidebook and read some of the trip reports here on Fodors to get some ideas. You are also welcome to visit www.marlandc.com to see some of our SE Asia photos. In particular take alook at the Angkor photos, as it will help you decide whether it is a priority for you.

WeiLong

If you have just two weeks you might be best to just stay in Thailand. If you are keen on getting to another country figure three days minimun for Siem Reap and up to a week to visit Luang Prabang.

http://www.travelsinasia.com