Thailand Holidays: Bangkok, Phuket and Krabi, Month by Month

The short answer

What is a Thailand holiday with us?

Most long-haul holidays to Thailand are a city and a beach, and ours is built that way. Thailand is also one of the few places where a third stop genuinely earns its place, and it comes down to how different the two coasts are from each other and from the capital.

Bangkok is the arrival city and the cultural stop — the Grand Palace, the temples, the river, and food that is reason enough on its own. Two to four nights is right. It is a demanding city in the heat and most people are ready to leave when they leave.

Phuket is the busy beach: developed, well served, easy, with the boat trips to Phi Phi and James Bond Island running from it. Seven nights on the ten-night version of our two-stop package; three or four if you add Krabi.

Krabi is the quieter counterweight — limestone karsts straight out of the sea, Ao Nang as the base, and a slower pace than Phuket without being remote. Two to four nights.

Going Bangkok to Phuket and stopping there gives you a city and a resort — that is our Bangkok and Phuket package, and the simpler trip. Adding Krabi gives you the landscape people actually picture when they think of southern Thailand.

How much does a holiday to Thailand cost?

These are our lead-in prices per person, based on two sharing, for the Bangkok and Phuket package, with return flights from London, the domestic flight, 4★ hotels, breakfast and airport transfers. Ten nights cost £150 more than seven in every month, and twelve nights £250 more.

October and May are the cheapest months, at £849pp for seven nights, and December is the dearest, at £1,199pp — £350 more for the same holiday, a 41% spread. Regional departures can be priced on request, at a supplement, and a £99 per person deposit holds the booking. The three-stop route with Krabi is priced for your dates.

What sits outside the price: island excursions such as Phi Phi or James Bond Island, lunches and dinners, and travel insurance.

When is the best time to go to Thailand?

Thailand is hot all year; what changes is the rain, and Bangkok and Phuket do not follow the same calendar. These are official averages from the World Meteorological Organization, supplied by the Thai Meteorological Department — the Bangkok station for 1961–1990, and the Phuket station, whose averaging period is not published.

January to March is the window. Bangkok averages one or two rain days a month, and January and February are Phuket’s two driest months, on both rain days and rainfall. March is the value pick of the three, at £949pp for seven nights, with 5.8 rain days on Phuket.

The cheapest months fall in the rainy season. October and May are £849pp for seven nights, but Phuket averages 22.1 and 19.8 rain days in them, and Bangkok 14 and 13. If your dates are fixed to those months, expect rain on some days; the price reflects it.

November is a split month. Bangkok has dried out, with 5 rain days, but Phuket has not, with 16.1. December is dry in Bangkok and much drier on Phuket, at 8.3 rain days, but it is the dearest month; January is drier again on Phuket and £200 less, at every length.

September is the wettest month in both places, on rain days and rainfall alike — 18 days and 344mm in Bangkok, 22.8 days and 386.5mm on Phuket. The heat barely moves all year: Bangkok’s average highs run from 31.3°C to 34.9°C, peaking in April, and Phuket’s from 31.2°C to 33.8°C.

Our where is hot in December guide sets Thailand against seventeen other December destinations on temperature and rain.

Getting between them

Bangkok to Phuket takes about 1 hour 25 minutes non-stop — AirAsia’s own figure for the route, checked on 22 September 2026, and several carriers fly it many times a day.

The internal flights are included. The Bangkok and Phuket package has one; the three-stop route with Krabi has two. That is the part worth paying attention to when you compare quotes: booking domestic connections yourself after a twelve-hour flight is where the savings usually disappear. Here they are priced in and covered by the same ATOL protection as the long-haul legs.

One practical note. Domestic Thai flights carry smaller baggage allowances than the long-haul leg you arrive on. Check the number before you pack rather than at the desk in Bangkok, and remember you will be doing it twice if you add Krabi.

How many nights, and how to split them

Our Bangkok and Phuket package runs seven, ten or twelve nights: on ten, three in Bangkok and seven on Phuket, and on seven or twelve the split is set with you. With Krabi added, the route also runs seven, ten or twelve nights.

Seven nights is the short version and it is tight for three stops — two in Bangkok, three in Phuket, two in Krabi. You will spend two of your seven days partly in transit. If seven nights is what you have, consider dropping Krabi rather than rushing all three.

Ten nights is the one we would suggest to most people. On the two-stop package it gives you a proper week on the beach for £150pp more than seven; with Krabi, three in Bangkok, four in Phuket and three in Krabi gives every stop a full day that is not eaten by a flight.

Twelve nights is the unhurried version — four, four and four with Krabi — and it is the only one where the beaches feel like a holiday rather than an itinerary. On the two-stop package it is £100pp more than ten.

Given the flight time from the UK, ten or twelve nights is the better use of the journey.

Where you stay

On the Bangkok and Phuket package you stay at 4★ hotels with breakfast, such as Centre Point Silom in Bangkok and Novotel Phuket Vintage Park in the Kata or Patong area, or similar.

On the three-stop route, the Krabi leg is at the Centara Ao Nang Beach Resort, a 4★ property named specifically rather than as a category — one of very few where the hotel is fixed rather than “or similar”. Bangkok is at the Rembrandt Hotel or similar 4★, and Phuket at the Deevana Plaza Patong or similar 4★.

All three are confirmed in writing before you pay, along with the room type and what meals are included on each leg.

What do you need to enter Thailand?

• Visa. None for tourism. From 15 September 2026, British visitors entering under the visa exemption can stay for up to 30 days, for tourism only — every length of this holiday fits well inside that. Visa-exempt entry for tourism is normally limited to two entries per calendar year.
• Digital arrival card. Every foreign national entering Thailand must complete one online before arrival, and you can register within the three days before you arrive. It is free and takes minutes — do it before you fly, not at the airport.
• Passport. It must have an expiry date at least six months after the date you arrive, and at least one blank page.
• Proof of funds. You may be asked to show at least 10,000 Thai baht per person, or 20,000 per family, and evidence of onward or return travel.
• Time. Thailand is seven hours ahead of the UK in winter and six during British Summer Time; it does not change its clocks.

Entry rules are GOV.UK’s guidance, checked on 25 September 2026. Check the latest official requirements before you travel, as they can change.

Frequently asked questions