Slow Travel in Thailand

Flat illustration of a road bicycle leaning by a coffee cup with mountain roads behind, deep teal and gold

Slow Travel

Chiang Mai Is One of Asia's Best Cycling Cities and Almost Nobody Knows

Hundreds of long-stay riders, proper road bikes for hire, a mountain an hour away and a coffee-shop scene built around it. The catch is the timing of the day.

Flat illustration of a winding mountain road with a viewpoint, mist layers and a small town below, deep teal and gold

Slow Travel

The Mae Hong Son Loop Is Four Days on Two Wheels and Two on a Bad Idea

Eight hundred kilometres, the highest road in the country, a Karen village in the clouds and a very specific way to ruin it, which is trying in a weekend.

Flat illustration of three rivers converging, a white temple spire and layered mountains, deep teal and gold

Slow Travel

The Golden Triangle Is Three Countries Meeting in a River and Two Are Worth Skipping

The Mekong, the Ruak confluence, a white temple built by one man over twenty years, and a long-neck village you should probably not go to.

Flat illustration of a backpack, a hostel bunk, a string of lights and a street, deep teal and gold

Slow Travel

Khao San Road Is a Good Place for One Night and a Bad Place to Live

It is loud, it is cheap, it is full of people who just arrived, and the airport bus goes straight there. That is one night's worth of value.

Flat illustration of a Mekong riverbank, a thatched-roof house, mortar and pestle and a rice field, deep teal and gold

Slow Travel

Isan Is a Fifth of Thailand and Nobody Goes There

Twenty million people, a genuinely different food culture, the country's best river, and a dialect continuum that barely relates to central Thai.

Flat illustration of a train crossing a border marker, two separate platforms and a suitcase between them, deep teal and gold

Practicalities

The Train to Malaysia Still Has a Change of Train in the Middle of It

There is no Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur through train any more, and everybody still books one. Here is what actually happens at Padang Besar, and why it is still the best crossing in the region.

Flat illustration of a longtail boat speeding over layered waves toward a small island with a jetty, deep teal and gold

Islands & Beaches

Koh Lipe Has No Bridge and No Airport and That Is the Entire Point

Satun province, the Andaman Sea, and a boat you have to catch. Koh Lipe is the Thailand island most likely to be closed off by weather, and the one people come back from twice.

Flat illustration of a canal boat passing stilt houses, water hyacinth and a temple spire, deep teal and gold

Slow Travel

Bangkok Has a Second River and Almost Nobody Gets on It

The khlongs are the working back streets of Bangkok, seen from above, at a busker's pace. A single boat route takes you from a market to a temple without a single car.

Flat illustration of a rice paddy, a water buffalo, drying rice racks and a wooden stilt house, deep teal and gold

Slow Travel

Farm Stays Are Cheap Because the Work Is Real

You are not a guest at a rural homestay, you are a seasonal labourer with a ceiling fan. That is why it costs a tenth of a beach hotel and why it is worth more.

Flat illustration of a river island with a pottery wheel, a bicycle, temple roofs and cargo ships, deep teal and gold

Islands & Beaches

Two River Islands, Ninety Minutes From Bangkok, and Almost Nobody on Them

Koh Kret makes pottery. Koh Sichang has the best sea view in the Eastern Gulf. Neither is on a package tour, and both are an afternoon from the BTS.

Flat illustration of a forest canopy, a waterfall, gibbons in a tree and a misty ridge, deep teal and gold

Practicalities

Khao Yai Is Three Hours Away and Costs What You Spend on Lunch in Bangkok

The closest thing Thailand has to a national park that works as a national park. Gibbons at dawn, elephants nobody has met, and an entrance fee that tells you who pays for it.

Flat illustration of a moon hill, a riverside cathedral spire, a produce market and a palm, deep teal and gold

Islands & Beaches

The East Coast Has a Moon Rabbit and Almost No Tourists

Past the industrial port on the way to the islands there is a riverside town with a French cathedral, a moon-shaped hill and a produce market that starts at five in the morning.