Beautiful Places in Thailand

Known For : Rock Climbing in Railey Tham Phra Nang Cave View Point and Lagoon

Cut off from the mainland by limestone headlands, Railay is reachable only by longtail boat from Ao Nang or Krabi town, which is most of its appeal. The cliffs that isolate it also make it one of the best sport climbing destinations in Asia, with bolted routes at every grade and schools on the beach. If you are not climbing there is deep water soloing, kayaking through the karst and the walk over to Phra Nang beach.

Best Time: November to March

3 Railay (Rai Leh) Attractions

The largest waterfall in Thailand, roughly 250 metres high and around 450 metres wide, dropping in tiers on the Mae Klong river inside Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary in Tak province. It is also the hardest place on this list to reach: Umphang is a long day from Mae Sot on a mountain road, the sanctuary requires a permit, and access is seasonal, so it needs planning rather than a spare afternoon.

Known For : Nightlife in Phi Phi Island Maya Bay Koh Phi Phi Leh

Six islands 40 km east of Phuket, of which two matter to visitors: Phi Phi Don, the only inhabited one, and uninhabited Phi Phi Leh, which holds Maya Bay. That is the beach from the 2000 film, and it now runs under conservation rules rather than open access: boats cannot anchor in the bay and land at Loh Samah on the far side instead, and the bay closes every year from 1 August to 30 September.

Best Time: November - April

24 Phi Phi Islands Attractions

One of the longest cave systems in Thailand, in Pang Mapha district in the far northwest, with the Nam Lang river running straight through it. You go in by lamp with a local guide, wading and crossing on bamboo rafts. Beyond the stalactites and the bat and swift colonies there is real archaeology: the Coffin Cave holds carved teak log coffins, some of them thousands of years old.

Sam Phan Bok means three thousand holes, and that is what it is: a rock reef in the Mekong on the Laos border, scoured by the current into thousands of potholes and basins, some large enough to swim in. It only exists as a landscape in the dry season, roughly January to May, when the river drops far enough to expose the rock. In the wet months it is simply under the Mekong.

Not one building but a walled complex of halls, pavilions, courtyards and throne rooms built from 1782, and the single most visited sight in Thailand. Inside it stands Wat Phra Kaew, which holds the Emerald Buddha and is the country's most important temple. Dress code is enforced at the gate: shoulders and knees covered for everyone, no sheer fabric, no flip flops on some days.

A cliff on the Thai side of the Laos border in Thoeng district, and the north's best known sunrise viewpoint. The point of it is the hour before dawn: the Mekong valley below fills with cloud, and the sun comes up through it. That means a pre dawn start and genuine cold in December and January, when the temperature at the top can drop close to freezing. Guesthouses in the villages below exist for this.

The White Temple is not an old temple at all. It is a working art project begun in 1997 by the artist Chalermchai Kositpipat, still unfinished, built entirely in white plaster and mirrored glass. The bridge into the main hall crosses a field of reaching hands, and the murals inside mix Buddhist cosmology with pop culture. It reads as a temple, a sculpture and a comment on all of it at once.

Inland from Phuket and Khao Lak, and often described as one of the oldest rainforests on earth. The reason to come is Cheow Lan lake, a flooded valley where limestone towers rise straight out of the water and you sleep in floating raft houses. Wildlife here is dense but genuinely hard to see: gibbons and hornbills are realistic, the Rafflesia blooms in the cool months, and tigers are present on paper only.

Best Time: June to September

An archipelago of 42 mostly uninhabited islands in the Gulf of Thailand, visited as a day trip from Koh Samui. The set piece is Talay Nai, the Emerald Lake, a saltwater lagoon sealed inside the rock of Koh Mae Ko and reached by a steep climb. It inspired the lagoon in Alex Garland's novel The Beach, though the film itself was shot at Maya Bay in Phi Phi, further south.

Best Time: February to October

Built around Doi Inthanon, at 2,565 metres the highest point in Thailand, which is why the summit is cool and damp year round and the forest at the top is mossy cloud forest rather than jungle. Over 350 bird species have been recorded, making it the country's best birding site. The Ang Ka boardwalk, the twin royal chedis and the Karen and Hmong villages on the lower slopes are the standard circuit.

Seven tiers of turquoise limestone pools stepping down through the forest, named after Erawan, the three headed elephant of Hindu and Buddhist myth, which the top tier is said to resemble. You can swim in most of the pools, and the walk to the seventh gets rough and steep near the top. It is not Thailand's highest waterfall, despite what gets written about it, but it is the most swimmable.

Known For : Waterfalls in Koh Chang

Thailand's third largest island, close to the Cambodian border and much greener than its size suggests, since most of the interior is national park rather than resort. The west coast beaches hold the accommodation, from backpacker huts at Lonely Beach to resorts at White Sand Beach, and the inland waterfalls and the jungle trails are the reason to leave them. Quieter than the Gulf islands and easier to reach from Bangkok than the south.

Best Time: November to March

9 Koh Chang Attractions

Mu Ko Surin National Park, five islands about 60 km off the coast northwest of Khao Lak, and one of the best snorkelling destinations in the country because the reef sits in shallow water right off the beach. The Moken, a sea nomad people, live on Koh Surin Tai. The park closes for the monsoon, roughly mid May to mid October, and fishing is not permitted inside it.

In the middle of Phang Nga Bay between Phuket and Krabi, and still a working island of rubber plantations, rice and fishing rather than a resort strip. There is no nightlife and the beaches are tidal, which puts most people off and is exactly why the ones who come like it. Bicycles and scooters cover the whole island in a day, and the karst islands of the bay are a short longtail ride away.

Known For : Koh Nang Yuan Hike to John Suwan Viewpoint Sairee Beach

A small island in the Gulf of Thailand north of Koh Samui, and one of the cheapest places in the world to qualify as a scuba diver, which is why it certifies more people annually than almost anywhere else. Sail Rock and Chumphon Pinnacle draw divers who are already qualified. Green and hawksbill turtles nest on the beaches, and the island's name means turtle island.

Best Time: December to September

25 Koh Tao Attractions

Known For : Full Moon Party Haad Rin Snorkeling in Koh Phangan

Between Koh Samui and Koh Tao, reached by ferry from Surat Thani or from either neighbour, with no airport of its own. It is known worldwide for the Full Moon Party at Haad Rin, which is a single beach at one end of a large island. The north and east, around Chaloklum, Bottle Beach and Thong Nai Pan, are quiet, hard to reach and where most repeat visitors actually stay.

Best Time: February - September

30 Koh Phangan Attractions

Known For : Sukhothai Historical Park Ramkhamhaeng National Park Loy Krathong Festival

The first capital of a unified Thai kingdom in the 13th century, and the place Thai art and script recognisably begin. Around 190 ruins stand in and around Sukhothai Historical Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, spread widely enough that a bicycle is the standard way to see them. Wat Mahathat, Wat Si Chum's huge seated Buddha and the hilltop Wat Saphan Hin are the ones to build a day around.

Best Time: November to February

4 Sukhothai Attractions

Known For : Ban Vichayen Phra Prang Sam Yot King Narai's Palace

One of Thailand's oldest cities, about 150 km from Bangkok, with Khmer era ruins standing in the middle of the modern town at Phra Prang Sam Yot and San Phra Kan. It became famous for the long tailed macaques that occupied those ruins and the streets around them, but that has changed: after years of aggression and property damage the authorities have sterilised and relocated large numbers of them into controlled enclosures. Do not carry visible food near the ruins.

Best Time: November to April

9 Lopburi Attractions

Known For : Snorkelling and Scuba Diving in Koh Lipe Trash Hero Island tours in Koh Lipe

The far southwest corner of Thailand, inside Tarutao National Marine Park and closer to Langkawi than to anywhere Thai. Three beaches, no cars, a single walking street, and the clearest water on this list, with reef straight off Sunrise and Sunset beaches. Getting there is the cost: speedboat or ferry from Pak Bara pier in Satun, and the crossing does not run reliably in the monsoon.

Best Time: November to March

17 Koh Lipe Attractions

Known For : Ayutthaya Historical Park Wat Mahathat Wat Phra Si Sanphet

The Siamese capital for over four centuries until it was sacked in 1767, 80 km north of Bangkok and easily done as a day trip by train. What is left is a UNESCO World Heritage Site of brick prangs, decapitated Buddhas and the famous Buddha head held in the roots of a fig tree at Wat Mahathat. Wat Chaiwatthanaram at sunset and Wat Phra Si Sanphet are the other two to prioritise.

Best Time: November to February

57 Ayutthaya Attractions