Thailand sights & activities

How much do museums, sights, and activities cost in Thailand?

Sightseeing

from
$12

Grand Palace & Wat Phra Keo (tour: $38)

 

Thai massage

from
$12

1 hr, full body; at Wat Pho

 

Day trip

from
$98

Khao Yai Park & elephant ride

 

River cruise

from
$71

Ayutthaya & Chao Phraya River

 

Hilltribe trek

from
$179

5 days; out of Chiang Mai

 

Aside from the odd museum, most tourists spend the bulk of their sightseeing time wandering historic wats (temple complexes), perusing marketplaces, taking hilltribe treks, and relaxing on beaches.

Individual sight admissions are low. Most are 20–50 THB (70¢–$1.70); a few may charge as much as 100 THB ($3.35)—with a few marquee sights in Bangkok topping out at $12.

Day trip activities—boat excursions, hikes to hill tribe villages, visits from a city to nearby historic sites or parks, elephant rides in the jungle, kayak tours of the islands in Phang Nga Bay—average $35 to $120, including transportation, a guide, any admissions, and often lunch.

Top attractions in Thailand

Bangkok - This sprawling, overwhelming metropolis is home to such marvels as the National Museum (the most encyclopedic collection of art and cultural artifacts in Southeast Asia), the Grand Palace and Wat Phraw Kaew (Temple of the Honorable Emerald Buddha, a wonder of Asia), the Wat Pho monastery complex (where the world's top Thai masseuses and masseurs train—and practice on tourists for just $12 an hour), and an impressive collection of cheap hotels and banana pancake/Internet access shacks lining the alleyways off Khao San Road, the center of the backpacker universe for Southeast Asia...

Thai Islands - Chill in you own hut under a shade palm on a island beach in Southern Thailand for as little as $15 a night, whether your idea of the perfect island be the sugar-sand beaches of Koh Samui or the Full Moon Party of Koh Phangnan (both in the Gulf of Thailand), or the tourist resorts of Phuket, the backpacker Shangri La of Koh Phi Phi, or the laid-back island retreat of Koh Lanta (all on the Andaman Sea)...

Chiang Mai - The ancient Royal City of Chiang Mai sprouts an impressive 300-odd temples and serves as a perfect home base for Northern Thailand's most popular activity: hilltribe treks...

Feature: Hidden Lagoons and Jungle Treks on Thai Isles

I was in a Southeast Asian jungle, waist-deep in stagnant water and having Vietnam-movie flashbacks, when something slithered past my leg... » Treks to visit hilltribe villages - Spend one to four days hiking into the mountains surrounding Chiang Mai or in the Golden Triangle around Chiang Rai to meet the various ethnic groups of local tribesmen. Bunk down in village huts, bargain for handmade crafts, take time out to learn the finer points of riding an elephant, or laze down a river aboard a bamboo raft...

Ayutthaya - Thailand's ancient capital city sprawls over a large river island. It is now restored as a national historic park of wats, temples, and buildings dating back to the period that, in the West, constituted the Middle Ages (from about 1300 until the city was sacked by Burma in 1767)...

Kachanaburi - This town is the base for paying your respects to the infamous bridge over the River Kwai and the WWII Allied cemetery and touring nearby Erawan Falls National Park to hike and swim in the pools of a mile-and-a-quarter-long waterfall...

Chiang Rai - The epicenter of the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Burma (Myanmar), and Laos converge, terraced with rice paddies, laced by the mighty Mekong River, historically plagued by the world's first great international drug trade (opium), and hemmed by dramatic, craggy mountains where hill tribes still proudly practice their traditional lifeways (albeit, some of which involve remaining traditional so tourists will come and visit).

Sukothai - A 13th-century planned city.

Khao Sok National Park - TK.