Angkor to the Thai north, flown

Arrive Siem Reap

Siem Reap–Angkor International opened in October 2023 and sits 40 to 50 kilometres from town, so the transfer takes 45 to 60 minutes. Your guide meets you inside the terminal.

Nothing else is scheduled. Dinner is in the hotel or a short walk from it, and the Angkor pass is bought this evening at the Apsara Road office if you land in time.

Angkor Wat and the walled city

You are at the gate at 07:30 when the park opens and inside Angkor Wat before the heat. The pass carries your photograph, costs USD 62 for three days and is not transferable. Shoulders and knees must be covered at the inner entrances; the guard on the upper level turns people away for it every day.

Angkor Thom fills the afternoon: the Bayon and its face towers, the Terrace of the Leper King, and Ta Prohm strictly on the boardwalks.

Banteay Srei, then an afternoon off

Banteay Srei is 37 kilometres north-east and worth its own early start. The carving in pink sandstone is the finest in the park and the temple is small enough that arriving first genuinely changes the visit.

On the way back you stop at Pre Rup or Banteay Samre. The afternoon is free, with one pass day still unused if you want a third morning tomorrow instead of a lie-in.

Fly to Phnom Penh

A 45-minute flight lands at Techo International, 19 kilometres south of Phnom Penh and about 40 minutes from the centre. The old airport handles only domestic and private traffic now.

The afternoon takes in the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda, floored with five tonnes of silver tiles, and the riverfront where the Tonle Sap meets the Mekong.

The difficult morning, and what follows it

Tuol Sleng, the school the Khmer Rouge turned into security prison S-21, then the killing field at Choeung Ek 15 kilometres out. Three hours, hard from the first room. It can be declined at breakfast with no argument and no change to the price, and your guide will take you to the National Museum instead.

The afternoon is deliberately light: the Central Market under its 1937 dome, or the riverfront, or nothing.

Fly to Bangkok

Techo International to Suvarnabhumi takes about 1 hour 20 minutes. File your Thailand Digital Arrival Card within 72 hours of arrival at tdac.immigration.go.th before you leave the hotel; it is free and takes ten minutes.

A Thai guide and driver meet you at the airport. The evening is free. Bangkok after Phnom Penh is a change of scale that does not need explaining.

The Grand Palace, Wat Pho and the river

You are at the palace gate for 08:30 when it opens, because by ten the courtyards are shoulder to shoulder. Entry is 500 baht, the ticket office closes at 15:30 and the dress code is enforced at the door. Wat Pho and the reclining Buddha follow at 300 baht, ten minutes away on foot.

The afternoon runs up the Chao Phraya on the public express boat, with Wat Arun on the Thonburi bank.

The canals, and an afternoon of your own

A long-tail boat works two hours through the Thonburi khlongs: wooden houses on stilts, a temple landing every few hundred metres, and monitor lizards on the bank. This is the Bangkok that still faces the water rather than the road.

The rest of the day is unscheduled. Jim Thompson’s house, the National Museum, and Chinatown after dark are what we would suggest, in that order.

Fly to Chiang Mai

The flight north takes about an hour and fifteen and the airport is four kilometres from the old city, which makes the arrival almost effortless.

The afternoon stays inside the walls: Wat Phra Singh, Wat Chedi Luang with its earthquake-broken brick tower, and the lanes between them. The Sunday walking street runs along Ratchadamnoen if your dates catch it.

Doi Suthep, early

Doi Suthep stands at 1,050 metres, 15 kilometres above the city up a road of switchbacks, and then 306 steps flanked by naga balustrades. Go at eight and the terrace is yours; go at eleven and it is not.

The afternoon is free. Most people take a cooking class that starts in a market at nine the next morning instead, and spend today asleep.

The hills east of town

Mae Kampong is an hour east at 1,300 metres, a village of about 130 households that grew coffee and fermented tea leaves long before anyone drove up to look at it. The walk through it takes an hour and the stream runs under the houses.

The alternative is Doi Inthanon, Thailand’s highest point at 2,565 metres, which is a longer day and a colder one. Your guide will put the choice to you the night before.

Chiang Mai, unscheduled

Nothing is planned. The car and guide are on call from nine and most people use neither.

A cooking class, the Lanna Folklife Museum, the silversmiths on Wualai Road, or a chair in a courtyard. This day exists because thirteen days that end on a schedule are thirteen days you come home tired from.

Depart Chiang Mai

A transfer to the airport, five kilometres and twenty minutes, timed to your flight. Most connections go through Bangkok; there are also direct services to Singapore and Taipei.