These 20 things make Thailand the perfect holiday destination

If you’re considering Thailand as your next holiday destination, you’ve made the right choice.

In this article, I will show you exactly what makes Thailand the perfect holiday destination, whether you’re a family with young kids, a couple who consider Thailand as their honeymoon destination, or a single guy who finally wants to put himself first.

I’ve been going to Thailand since November of 2010 and have never gone anywhere else. Also, it got me to meet my lovely wife, Saengduan, whom I’ve been married to since 2013.

Before I go over all of the beauty Thailand has to offer, let me ask you this…

What are the first things that come to mind when you think about Thailand?

Chances are it’s things like sex tourism, ladyboys, tuk-tuk scams, and more of those things, right?

Those things come to mind because those are usually the things that are shared in the media. It’s negativity that is shared the most.

And I’ll be the last person who will tell you, those things don’t exist, but Thailand also has the most friendly people you will ever meet, the most dreamy beaches with turquoise water and white sand, so many interesting cultures and let’s not forget the most delicious food.

I will guarantee you that once you come home from your first Thailand holiday, you can’t wait to book your next flight.

So whether you’re traveling solo, with your family, or your partner, Thailand has to offer whatever you’re looking for.

So let me stop talking now and instead, let me show you exactly what I mean.

Reasons to visit Thailand

Gorgeous Thai beaches with turquoise water

Whether you’re going to Phuket, Koh Samui, or even islands like Koh Chang.

What all of these places have in common is that they have gorgeous beaches with beautiful turquoise water.

One of our personal favorites is Phuket. It has everything you can possibly wish for. From multiple beaches (especially Kata), to wild nightlife in Bangla Road, to the Sunday night market.

So if you’re going to Thailand for the first time and the beach is important to you, I would highly recommend putting Phuket on your to-do list.

Beautiful Buddhist temples

Over the many years I’ve visited Thailand, I’ve seen so many beautiful temples.

From the laying Buddha in Bangkok to Ayutthaya (which is an entire temple city in itself) to the White Temple in Chiang Rai.

Or even Wat Arun in Thailand. Check the picture we took below.

At one point I felt I got kinda bored with all of the temples until we found one again which was so unique.

Delicious Thai Food

If you love food, there’s no better country to visit than Thailand. Especially the local cuisine. From the many different types of Noodles, the spicy Papaya salad, Roti with Nutella and banana, and even Durian, which is something you either love or hate.

But in Thailand, you can find a worldwide selection of food. So if you visit Thailand with your kids and they are difficult eaters, you can easily get your hands on a hamburger, spaghetti, or even some Chinese food.

Here you’ll find an article I wrote about the best Thai street foods you just HAVE TO try out when you come here.

Thailand is still super affordable

Even though Thailand was cheaper when I went for the first time in 2010, it’s still more affordable than any Western country.

Personally, I live in the Netherlands and my wife lives in Thailand and when I go grocery shopping here in the Netherlands, I easily spend €10 and I hardly buy anything for that.

And let’s not start with going out for dinner.

In Thailand, you can go to a local Thai street food stall and buy a complete meal for less than $2. I’m not even joking.

In Thailand, the basic needs are super affordable. Things like food, oil for cars and motorbikes, and even public transportation.

When I would visit my father here and go with a taxi, I would pay about €35 for a 30-minute ride.

In Thailand, you can take a taxi and drive for an hour and pay less than €5.

And if you’re in Bangkok and want to explore the city, you can take the local MRT or BTS and go through the entire city and it’s super cheap.

Even if you book a Grab taxi hardly costs anything, which is what my wife and I used recently a couple of times in Bangkok as well as in Pattaya.

You can read more about using Grab in Thailand here.

Thai are the nicest people you will ever meet

Thailand is called The Land Of Smiles and there’s a reason for that.

The majority of Thais are Buddhists and they’re taught to treat others with respect and when they do good things, good things will come to them.

They also take good care of their parents. That is something we often forget over here in the West these days.

It’s because of these things that makes Thai people very friendly.

Not only that, you will hardly find any huge crime in Thailand. And most of the time when you do hear about it, it usually is something between foreigners.

And of course, there are bad Thai people. No country is perfect. But in general, you can forget your keys on your motorbike and when you come back, chances are likely those keys are still there.

Last December I was with my wife at her home in Phayao and I ran the car off the road. It was halfway into a ditch. A local guy saw us and he came to help us with about 6 other neighbors to get our car out of that ditch.

And when I wanted to give them something for their help, they refused to accept it.

I can’t find a better way to show you their personality than this.

And if you want to visit Thailand as a solo female traveler, don’t worry. You will be safe. Just as long as you keep using your common sense.

Tropical climate

Thailand is such a popular destination because it has warm weather all year round.

I don’t know about you, but I hate cold weather.

And yes, Thailand also has a rainy season, but even that is a good time to visit Thailand. You will usually only have 1 or 2 moments of the day where it rains for about an hour.

But the moment the rain stops, minutes later the water will disappear and you’ll have sun again.

You can read all about the Rainy season in Thailand here.

For me, this is one of the reasons I would like to live in Thailand.

If you’re going to visit Thailand for the very first time, you’ll probably want to go somewhere between December and February, since that is when it’s high season.

But I’m telling you, even during the other seasons, Thailand is well worth a visit and you’ll better hotel deals and there will be fewer tourists.

Adventurous activities

If you’re more of an adventurous person and love activities like diving, parasailing, kayaking, and mountain climbing, you can do all of those things in Thailand.

In the future, I still want to get my PADI Open Water diving certificate. But since my wife can’t really swim, that is something I’ll be doing on my own.

But for you, what is it that you would like to do on holiday?

Chiang Mai has some beautiful mountains where you can do a lot of hiking.

Or you can go to Phuket and go parasailing or snorkeling and diving.

There are a lot of different tours you can book where you can do these things.

Exotic wildlife

If you love to see some wildlife, whether that is monkeys, tigers, or even elephants.

Elephants are Thailand’s national animal and there are a lot of Elephant sanctuaries.

But if you think monkeys are cute, be aware that those little monsters can steal your bags, which almost happened to us, haha.

We went to the Tiger Cave Temple in Krabi and in that area, there were a lot of wild monkeys hiding. And when tourists are passing, they try to get some food.

But there are lots of other places to find monkeys or even tigers and other wildlife.

The wild Thailand nightlife

If you love to party, Thailand is the place to go.

If you are a single guy looking for a wild night out, have a drink, and be accompanied by some gorgeous Thai girls, Thailand will be like heaven for you.

Just 1 word of caution here, don’t fall in love with the girls working in the bars. Yes, they know what you want and they will give it to you but they want to make money from it in return.

For the best nightlife in Thailand, you can visit places like Bangla Road in Phuket, cities like Pattaya, and even the city of Bangkok has got your back.

If you love loud music and towers of beer, Khao San Road is a good place to visit. Beyond that, Nana in the Sukhumvit area has tons of beer bars with live music and beautiful girls to keep you company.

Very diverse landscapes, from jungle to beaches

No matter whether you’re a beach person or a mountain person, you can find all of this in Thailand.

Back in 2011 when my wife and I visited her mom for the first time, we drove from Chiang Mai to Phayao by bus and we drove through some impressive jungle scenery.

It almost felt like we were in the movie Avatar and that image stuck with me.

Personally, I’m more of a beach person, but no matter what your preference is, you will find it over there.

Unique Thai festivals

Throughout the year, there are tons of different Thai festivals that you can attend.

One of my favorites is Songkran, which is the Thai New Year, where people splash each other with ice-cold water and white powder.

Another one is Loy Krathong and the Yi Peng festival, where people light up paper lanterns, and when you look at the sky and you’ll see hundreds of those lights in the sky, that’s impressive.

Luxurious Thai resorts and hotels that are very affordable

Are you the type of person who wants to stay in hostels or in luxurious hotels and resorts?

When I’m in Thailand, my wife and I always mix it up. We don’t go to hostels, but we always book more expensive hotels for 2 nights, followed by some cheaper hotels.

And when I compare the hotels you’ll find in Thailand for the same price I’d pay here in the Netherlands for a very simple room, you simply can’t beat that.

Even luxury hotels will cost you less than a hundred dollars on average.

One of our favorite hotels in Bangkok is the Grand Fortune Hotel, which is in the Ratchada area. This hotel has the softest bed we ever slept in, and also has a sauna and wellness area, swimming pool, and a very extensive breakfast buffer.

We’ve been there multiple times now and we always paid less than a hundred dollars per night.

But you will even find very good and luxurious hotels and resorts for less than $50 per night.

many different Thai islands, big and small

Thailand has a lot of different islands you can visit.

From Koh Larn, which is opposite of Pattaya, James Bond Island, Phuket, Koh Chang, Koh Tao, Koh Samui, to even Koh Lipe.

There are too many islands to visit on your first stay. And I know it’s hard to pick which ones to go to.

Our personal favorites are still Phuket and Koh Chang.

health and wellness

Do you like massages? Or what about Natural water sources?

If you come to Thailand all stressed out from work, do yourself a favor and get yourself a traditional Thai massage.

You can thank me later.

With a traditional Thai massage, every muscle in your body will be taken care of. And you will even feel muscles you never knew you had.

And I’m not talking about massages with happy endings ok. Yes, you can also find those, but I’m talking about the regular Thai massage that Thailand is known for.

Beyond getting a massage I can also highly recommend to go visit an Onsen Sauna, which is known as a Japanese Sauna.

These saunas have 2 separate areas, one for men and one for women, where you can go into the steam sauna, and cool off in an ice bath.

And once you want to take a break, these places have relaxing areas where the 2 of you can meet up again as well as restaurants to get something to eat.

Gorgeous diving spots

As I mentioned earlier, Thailand has a lot of different places if you love diving or snorkeling.

I recently wrote an article about diving in Phuket, so you can check that out here.

But because there are so many places with crystal clear water, it’s the perfect place to watch underwater life, beautiful coral, and more.

Floating markets

If you love to explore the local Thai food, a unique way to do this is from the water.

Especially in Bangkok, you will find these water markets where locals are selling from their small boats and it will take you way back in time, when people were exchanging products to help each other.

At these floating markets you will find all sorts of things, from food to handmade crafts.

spectacular sunset views

If you’re like Saengduan and me and you love a beautiful sunset, there are so many places to watch the sun go down.

Just be in the moment and appreciate the little things.

You can take a walk on the beach around 5 PM and sit down, relax, and watch the sun go down.

Or you can go to a cool rooftop bar and watch the sun go down with the view of the entire city.

On our last 2 days in Bangkok, my wife and I visited the Mahanakhon Skywalk, which is a building that’s 314 meters tall and had a 360 view all over Bangkok, which was beautiful to see.

And yes, we weren’t the only ones. It is very touristy, but I can still recommend visiting the building at least once.

Although it has spectacular views of the sunset in Bangkok, it also has this glass floor that allows you to look 314 meters straight down onto the streets of Bangkok.

Elephant sanctuaries

If you’d love to see elephants, there are a lot of elephant sanctuaries in Thailand, where you can watch them getting fed and bathed.

I love these huge creatures and they always look so impressive. But I have to admit that when I first went to Thailand, we went to the wrong place, where they would also paint pictures and play soccer.

Those aren’t sanctuaries, but places where elephants were used to make money.

So please, when you want to visit a good elephant sanctuary, make sure they’re legit.

The Phuket Elephant Sanctuary is my personal recommendation.

Cultural shows

If you want to see some more of the local cultural shows Thailand has to offer, you could go watch Thai boxing matches. These are all over Thailand.

Another popular show to watch is a cabaret show, which is a dancing event with transgenders, or as they call them in Thailand, ladyboys.

Spiritual retreats

If you want to rediscover yourself, participate in a yoga retreat, or meditate, Thailand has a huge range of places to do this.

There are places like the New Life Foundation in Chiang Rai, where they offer Yoga classes, mindfulness, and self-discovery workshops.

Or if Koh Samui is on your list of places to visit, you could go to the Samahita Retreat, which offers retreats right on the beach and has yoga classes as well as detoxing, and much more.

These are just a few examples, but there are so many more.

You could even stay at a Buddhist temple and practice Buddhism.

My wife wanted us to go to this temple in Bangkok during our last holiday and stay there for 3 days to meditate and do what those monks do.

I was in for it, but right before we were planning to go, it turned out they were renovating the temple. So it didn’t happen this time.

But when we do this, I’ll make sure to make a video about it and post it on the YouTube channel.

Are you ready to book your trip to Thailand already?

As you can tell, Thailand has so much more to offer than the media shows you, and let me tell you this.

Now that you know how much Thailand has to offer, you might want to know when to visit Thailand in the first place. Because every time of the year has something unique.

Even the rainy season.

Just go around your family, friends, or even coworkers and ask if someone has ever been to Thailand and I guarantee you, you will find at least 1 person within your direct circle who has been here.

Now ask that person if they would go back and you know exactly what I mean.

Once you visit Thailand for the first time, you will want to go back.

If you happen to know someone who’s looking for their next holiday destination, do them a favor and share this article with them and help them out.