Thailand Travel Guide: Things To Know Before Visiting 2025

Thailand Travel Guide: Things To Know Before Visiting 2025

Today we’re going to talk about everything you need to know before visiting Thailand. [Applause] [Music] First up, let’s talk about the arrival process into Thailand. So you’ll either arrive into Bangkok, Savanaboom, Bangkok, Don Wang, which is a smaller airport than Savanaboom, Phuket, which is typically for the south, and then you have for the north, you have Shangmai. Most of you will more than likely be doing your international arrival into Suana Boom. That’s BKK. Now, you will need to fill out a Thailand digital arrival card. You need to go out online, fill it out before arrival. You can fill it out at the airport, but you’re going to be uh slow processing immigration if you don’t have it already filled out. You’re going to enter all that information uh that you have about where you’re going to stay, how long you’re going to stay, where you’re departing from. All of that needs to be accurate. Okay. Now, once you guys arrive at Savannah Boom, there will be SIM cards available for you to use. I use AIS. There’s also several other uh SIM card companies. You can also use an ESIM. Uh, but I think AIS, if you’re going to be here for more than seven days, probably better to just get that one with the number. You will need a passport to register. Also, they will have currency exchange. I recommend arriving with around 2,000 Thai bot at least in your pocket or at least enough to convert and exchange. You are going to get high exchange rates at the airport than you would get anywhere else. They do have ATMs. You could just go straight from immigration. While you’re getting your SIM, while you’re getting it registered, just use the ATM and pull out 5,000 bot or 10,000 bot. That comes out to around 320 US somewhere around there depending on the exchange at the time. But that’s what I recommend uh either arriving with 2,000 bot because you will need that to get to your hotel and for some petty cash in your pocket. It is a visa on arrival and the duration is you get 60 days at first then you get the opportunity to extend for another 30 days. So you get 90 days in total in Thailand on a single entry visit if you take advantage of the one extension. Now let’s talk about where you’re going to want to go in Thailand. Right now, I recommend arriving in Bangkok, doing two days here, hanging out around Sukumvit, and then going over to Kanan Road in Chinatown, checking out some of the temples in the daytime. Then from here, you can go towards some of the beaches in the south. Some of my favorite places are going to be Kottow, Kosamui, Copanyang. That’s a whole Gulf of Thailand route that you can do there. You can also do Krabby, Phuket, Phuket. People tend to stay for around 3 to 5 days. 7 days seems like a good enough time if you really want to see uh Phuket in detail, but 3 to 5 days should be enough. Krabby, you can do it in 24 hours, but I recommend 3 days because there is a lot to Krabby, including the islands off the coast. If you go to the north, you’re going to have places like Shang Mai, Shangai. You can go to Pi. Pi is like a backpacker destination. They call it the Pi Hole because people just get sucked in and want to chill and hang out for a long time. It’s up in the mountains. Uh those are the main areas. Then they have like Huah Hen Padia. Those are more of the uh offshoots of Bangkok. Padia is more for like party people. If you really love to party and you’re a single person, maybe you want to go to Padia. I personally like Huah Hen. Huah Hen’s a lot more laid-back. That’s where luxury resorts are. So those are the places that you’ll more than likely want to go while you’re here. if it’s your first time. If you want some really laid-back islands just beyond Padia towards Cambodia, they have some islands like Ko Chong, uh, Kokud, some of those beautiful islands. Uh, my personal favorite islands that I’ve been to, they call it the Maldes of Thailand. It’s in the far south. They have Kipe, but then they have Komach, they have uh Kraon, it’s nearby Colanta, just south of Krabby. That’s a really nice area to explore as well. Now, let’s talk about currency things you need to know about the currency and transacting here. So, the Taibot is the currency. They don’t take US dollars here. I’ve rarely seen any of that. So, you’re going to need Thai bot. Thaibot right now is trading at 31 Thaibot to one US dollar. It kind of fluctuates in between 31 and 32 Thai bot. It has been as high as 37 Taibbot within the last 2 years. Right now, the US dollar and other currencies are weak against the Thai bot. The Taibot is strong. Uh, as far as transacting, they do QR codes like Prompt Pay and other things, but most foreigners won’t be able to use that. So, you will need to use credit cards. Visa and Mastercard are the most common ones that are commonly used. I’ve tried to use American Express, but it’s very seldom taken here, maybe about 15 to 20% of the time. Uh, hotels usually take it through the app. So, if you book directly through Hilton or Marriott or AOTA, you can use an American Express card. But if you’re paying directly, that’s how it is. Now, if you pay the tuk tukquous or you pay the taxi drivers or anything like that, you will be paying more than likely in cash unless you’re using the uh transportation apps, which we’ll talk about next. Yeah. So, we’ll talk about transportation. Here in Bangkok, they have these green taxis, they have pink taxis, they have Grab, and they have Bolt. I like both Grab and Bolt, and I recommend you have both on your phone before you arrive. So, set those up, and then you’ll be good to go. Make sure you got your uh payment details associated with that. If you’re in Bangkok, they also have tuk tuks. Those are overpriced, a little bit dangerous as well. Taxis, they if they run the meter, they should be a good price. As far as other forms of transportation, getting around the islands, you will be on fairies. They have speedboats, which are for long range, going faster, obviously, and then they have fairies. They have fast fairies as well. But uh if you’re going to the PeeP Islands, you may be on a fast uh jetboat or you may be on a ferry boat. They also have buses getting around. They have shuttle buses as well. So little mini buses. That’s another way to get around say from Phuket to Krabby. If you wanted to go from Phuket to Krabby, your options are going to be boat or mini bus or big bus. Uh if you wanted to go say to Samui, you’re going to need to get there either by plane. You can arrive into their really nice airport in Kosamui. If you wanted to go to Pyong or Kottow, you would land in Samui. So they got airports in all these different areas, but uh I would say fast fairies, fairies in the south around the island hopping train. They also have that goes well they’re actually developing and building out the train you’ll see around Thailand. Right now they have a train, but it’s not too fast. It’s an older train, although a new train is coming, so stand by for that. But you could take a train from Bangkok to Shang Mai. Brand new, beautiful station in Bangkok. But uh yeah, we’ll see what’s going on with that. But they do have trains. Now, let’s talk about the best time to arrive into Thailand. So, anytime is a good time to arrive into Thailand. Yes, it’s that good. But there are some things depending on your wants, needs, and desires. If you’re someone who wants to save money, arrive during rainy season. Rainy season is mostly from, I would say, June until September. The upside to arriving in rainy season, you’re saving money, less crowds, you can have beaches all to yourself. The downside is it could be raining at your favorite beach that you’ve always wanted to see, whether it be Pee or Colanta or any of those islands. They close during the rainy season. But I kind of like rainy season. Better prices, less people. Sometimes I make a point to come here during that time of year. Now, if you want to see the islands and you want the good weather, obviously you’re going to want to come outside of rainy season, probably December until around April, May, just a little bit into May. Seemed like rainy season started in May this year. But let me just add on to that. You can have sunny days in the rainy season. You can also have rainy days in the dry season. It just depends on mother nature. Let’s talk about the people. So the people they speak Thai you could say saw cop if you’re a man. If you’re a female you would say saw copun cop that means thank you. People here are very respectful and you will have positive interactions especially in the north. The southern people are friendly as well. But one thing that you have you can take into consideration is different mentalities. In the north mostly it’s Buddhist. The whole country is predominantly Buddhist, but in the south they have a lot of Muslim. Muslim are also friendly. It’s just a different mentality and you can see that by the way that people dress and the temples. There’s not as many temples in the south as there are in the north. So in the south they’ll have mosque. There is a few different regions in Thailand. The way that I would categorize it is you have Ean which is like this very large province or state uh nearby Lao Cambodia and then over towards the west you have Shang Mai Shanghai it’s like a whole another mountainous region’s more flat and then you have the Bangkok area then you have Rayong area which is like Padia and then you have the peninsula but you have the area around Huah Hen and then everything south of there including the far south area which is actually considered a do not travel zone. There’s three provinces down there that you shouldn’t go to right there on the border with Malaysia. Uh that’s just past Yai. I’ve been to Hot Yai. I like it. Let’s talk about health. People always want to know what kind of vaccines are required. None are required, but it is advised that you get uh maybe a rabies vaccine. Be careful with monkeys, okay? Also, stray dogs. I know everyone wants to touch a monkey or a stray dog. Just be careful with those. If you get bitten or scratched, the likelihood that you will have to go get some shots for many weeks to come is high. I’ve had a friend who got bit by a dog. Uh just a little tight, but it happens. Another thing is tetanus. You know, if you get cut or a scratch, tetanus shots, those are a thing. People recommend other shots. You can look at the vaccine schedule, but none are required. That’s what you probably wanted to know anyway. As far as health insurance goes, you can get that. Although, I do hear stories about how uh insurance companies reject claims for miscellaneous reasons. People think they’re covered for all these different things. They get food sickness and then they find out it’s not covered. But you can do it if you want. It’s never a bad idea to have some sort of extra layer of health insurance. It’s just I don’t can’t guarantee that they will cover everything that you think. Let’s talk about safety. So, I find Thailand to be really safe. Although, there are things that you should be aware of such as petty theft scams and little crimes that happen in tourist areas. Tuk tuks are known to overcharge. Uh, if you feel like you’re paying three times the price for a tuk tuk than you would have taken for a taxi, probably getting scammed, right? So, it’s up to you if you want to do that little experience. Most people, they want to do a little tuk tuk ride at least once, see what it’s all about, see what all the hype’s about. But, that is known for a little bit of a scam. Uh, I don’t really see too much scamming going on. I hear about it. I mean, it’s happening. Sometimes it happens with the transportation process or in the tourist areas, but honestly, Thailand is a safe place. There is a little bit of petty crime. Sometimes a violent crime accident can happen, incident. Um, never let your guard down anywhere you travel. But would I say that Thailand is safe compared to other places in the world? Yes. Would I say that it’s totally 100% safe? No, of course not. But one of the things that I would say is kind of dangerous, those fairies when the seas are high. Be careful. Yeah, I’ve seen incidents happen where uh boats capsize. You’ve probably seen it on Instagram in Bali, but it also happens in Thailand. I’ve seen been on ferry boats going from Kosamui to uh Suratani and the waves were coming up over the glass. Kind of scary. We made it safely, but that’s something that I would say is dangerous. Also, the heat, especially in the southern islands during the hot season around like February, March, that sun can creep up on you. So, make sure you’re staying hydrated, not just with water, but with electrolytes. Now, let’s talk about Thai food. So, you’ve got the pad thai, which is famous. You’ve also got curries, green curry, white curry, red curry, the panang curry, and then you have crispy pork. Crispy pork is very common. You’ll see that often in Bangkok, especially in the northern part of Thailand. Then you have sam, which is papaya salad. that’s very famous from Ean. All my friends from Ean love papaya salad. Then there’s pineapple fried rice with shrimp. Various different types of seafood. You also have barbecue skewers or barbecue chicken on a stick. Then you have Pat Kra. Pat Kra is another famous dish from Northern Ean. Whether it’s pork, beef or chicken, Thai food is so diverse and delicious. Trying all the spices and flavors and sauces. I love it. They also have a lot of international cuisine here. Some interesting facts about Thailand. It was never colonized. It’s the only country in Southeast Asia that was actually never colonized by a foreign power. It is known as the land of temples. Over 40,000 Buddhist temples here. The nickname is land of smiles because people here are famous for their just genuinely happy spirit. Matter what the situation, Thai people can always find a way to smile. That’s how it got its name. It did used to be called, but now it’s called Thailand. The capital in the largest city is Bangkok and they say it is now one of the most visited cities in the entire world. Today, Thailand is home to over 100,000 elephants with with 3 to 4,000 being in the wild. If you’re going to come all the way to Thailand, I recommend around 10 to 14 days. If you really want to see the country, use up all 30 days on that visa and even consider doing a visa extension at one of the immigration offices for 30 days extra. See you guys on the next one from Bangkok. Click that link right here. [Music] [Music]

In this Thailand travel guide we talk about everything you need to know before visiting. We talk about Safety in Thailand, food in Thailand, best places to go in Thailand, currency, arrival into Thailand and much more. This Thailand travel video is meant to provide you with relevant information about Thailand visa and documents needed to prepare for you Thailand trip. We share travel and transportation tips for getting around by taxi, ferry, train and airplane. Thailand tourism is down so far this year but peak season for Thai travel is coming and expected to bring a surge of tourist. If you plan to visit Bangkok, Phuket, Samui, Krabi, Chiang Mai or Pattaya then you will find useful information in this Thailand vlog.

More Thailand Travel Videos:
50 Best Places To Visit in Thailand: https://youtu.be/yh7zJM3I4RU
40 Best Things To Do in Phuket: https://youtu.be/kau9XZPpsMI
36 Best Things To Do in Bangkok: https://youtu.be/L48rPBdwVwI
15 Best Islands in Thailand: https://youtu.be/87lPHu-6oeM

Thailand Travel Guide
(Chapters)
0:00 Thailand Intro
0:14 Arrival Process
2:21 Where To Go
4:07 Currency
5:18 Transportation
7:02 When To Visit
8:13 Thai People
9:46 Health
10:55 Safety
12:32 Food
13:18 Interesting Facts
14:21 Outro

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