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After travelling the south of Thailand in 2024, we headed back in October 2025 to explore the North.
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This time, instead of maximising our annual leave, we quit our jobs and are travelling long term. A proper luxury, we didn’t feel rushed and could take the time to relax without feeling guilty. We were also pleasantly surprised that Thailand was back to being visa free for 60 days!
Our travels began in Bangkok, cheapest flight in for our flexible dates, booked using SkyScanner. We spent 4 nights / 5 days in Bangkok. Check out our beginners guide to Bangkok to see what we got up to: it involved a lot of temple hopping and lots of good food.
Next up: Chiang Mai.
We used 12Go to book the overnight bus to Chiang Mai. Our first sleeper bus experience, and it wasn’t that bad. We left on time, which is a rarity in Asia, had a perfectly good on and off kip, waking up in a brand new city.
After arriving in Chiang Mai, we wanted to get rid of our bags straight away. We headed to our hotel: Srida Resort Lanna and Cafe. A bit out of the way, with great reason. The Yi Peng festival was coming up. Check out our blog to find out more about this!
We spent 5 nights in the Doi Saket District of Chiang Mai. Celebrating Yi Peng and making use of the hotel pool. We then headed back near the Old Town. We stayed in two different locations. First, Sri Anan Pura Hotel for 4 nights. And then 9 Hostel for 5 nights.
Altogether we spent 2 weeks in Chiang Mai and did a range of activities; from an inflatable water park, ring making and a cooking class. The only downside to Chiang Mai is that a lot of activities are out of town so transport to and from can add up fast. We enjoyed our 2 weeks, but coming to the end we did struggle to find things to do.
Next up: Chiang Rai
We used 12Go to book a bus to Chiang Rai. This was a large bus with zero suspension it seemed, but we got there in once piece.
We spent 5 nights at Be One Resort in Bandu area. Not going to lie, not much to do in the area, but we chose to stay further out of town for peace and quiet as well as being closer to the attractions we wanted to visit in the North, like the Golden Triangle and viewpoints. We rented a bike to get around, which gave us more flexibility and ensured we didn’t have to keep putting our hands in our pockets to pay for tours.
Our second hostel in Chiang Rai was in the town: Kingsun Hostel. We stayed in a cheap private room with a shared bathroom and spent the next few days wondering side streets, finding temples and planning our next move to Laos.
Tight Travellers 