Thailand 2 Week Itinerary (2026)

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A 14-day Thailand trip covers 3 regions well — Bangkok, the north around Chiang Mai, and the Andaman coast islands — if you treat it as a highlights run rather than an attempt to see everything.

Split roughly 3 days in Bangkok, 4 in the north, and 7 on the coast, and each region gets enough time to breathe without transit eating half the trip. Push past 3 regions in 14 days and you spend more hours on planes, trains and ferries than at any single place.

Bangkok: 3 days to land, adjust and hit the essentials

Three days in Bangkok is enough for the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, a Chao Phraya river run to Wat Arun, and one proper food crawl through Chinatown or Chatuchak, without trying to squeeze in every rooftop bar and museum on top. On a shorter trip, our one-week Thailand itinerary keeps those same 3 Bangkok nights and spends the other 3 on the beach or in Chiang Mai.

Arrive on Day 1 and go straight to a riverside area for the sunset over Wat Arun; jet lag from an Australian time zone is mild enough on this route that a light first evening works better than forcing a full day of sightseeing off the plane.

A mid-range hotel with air conditioning and a pool near Sukhumvit or Silom runs AUD 42-105 · USD 30-76 (THB 1,000-2,500) a night, and puts you close to the BTS for temple-hopping without relying on taxis in Bangkok traffic.

Readers building a longer stop here can go deeper with a dedicated 3-day Bangkok itinerary; on a 14-day trip, three days is the ceiling before it starts cutting into the north or the coast.

North: 4 days in Chiang Mai for temples, elephants and food

Get from Bangkok to Chiang Mai on the overnight sleeper train, a classic first move that also saves a night of hotel cost — a second-class berth runs AUD 37-61 · USD 27-44 (THB 881-1,453), departing Bangkok’s Hua Lamphong-area station in the early evening and arriving the next morning.

Four days lets you cover the Old City’s temple cluster, Doi Suthep on the mountain above town, a half-day at an ethical elephant sanctuary — feeding and bathing only, never riding — at AUD 83-132 · USD 60-95 (THB 1,976-3,128) per person, and a cooking class or a day trip to Doi Inthanon National Park.

Check a best time to visit Chiang Mai guide before locking dates, since cool season (November to February) is when the north is at its best and busiest.

South: 7 days on the Andaman coast, or swap to the Gulf

Fly from Chiang Mai back through Bangkok or on a seasonal direct route to reach the coast, then spend the remaining week on islands. This itinerary routes to Krabi and Railay Beach on the Andaman side, with a 4 Islands longtail day trip at AUD 25-34 · USD 18-24 (THB 600-800) and a second day trip to Phang Nga Bay.

The Andaman coast (Phuket, Krabi, Railay) runs driest from November to April, while the Gulf side (Koh Samui, Koh Phangan) has the opposite pattern, staying calmer from roughly January through September and taking its heaviest rain around October to December.

Travelling in the shoulder months, swap the back half of this itinerary to the Gulf instead of the Andaman coast and the pacing barely changes; travelling from June to September, Andaman islands are the safer bet even though it is technically their low season, since Gulf-side swells and ferry cancellations tend to cluster later in the year.

Check a best time to visit Thailand guide before you fix the island leg, since this is the one decision in the whole route where the calendar, not preference, should decide.

What to cut if you have fewer than 14 days

Drop to 10 days and the north is the first thing to cut, not the coast: skip Chiang Mai entirely and spend the freed-up days as 4 in Bangkok and 6 on the islands, since the elephant sanctuary and Old City temples are the hardest single block to compress without rushing.

At 7 days, cut further and pick one region only — Bangkok plus a single island base, skipping the internal flight and train entirely.

A traveller with 12 days can keep all 3 regions but should shave a day each off Bangkok and the coast rather than touching the 4 days in Chiang Mai, since the north is the part of this route with the least slack once the elephant sanctuary, Doi Suthep and a cooking class are all in.

What should not get cut, even under time pressure, is the buffer day before an international flight home; islands run on ferry and flight schedules that slip in bad weather, and a same-day connection to an international departure is the itinerary mistake that causes the most missed flights on this route.

If you would rather keep the north, our Bangkok and Chiang Mai version pairs 3 Bangkok nights with 6 in Chiang Mai, linked by one short domestic flight.

Is this route safe in 2026?

Thailand sits at Smartraveller’s level 2 of 4, “exercise a high degree of caution,” as of September 2026, which covers the country broadly rather than flagging Bangkok, Chiang Mai or the Andaman islands specifically.

The one active “do not travel” zone covers land within 50km of the Cambodia border, a strip of country nowhere near Bangkok, Chiang Mai or the southern coast, so it does not touch this itinerary and is not worth building a route decision around.

Where to stay on the coast

Krabi and Railay both work as a coastal base, and which one suits you depends on whether you want beach bars and easy transfers (Ao Nang, Krabi Town) or a quieter, boat-access-only stretch of limestone cliffs (Railay). Compare options in a Krabi hotels guide before booking, and use the map below to check live prices against where each day trip actually departs from.