A Road Trip through Thailand
May 18, 2026
This is our second holiday to Thailand and we thought….road trip! The response from most has been one of surprise that we’re driving in Thailand….”isn’t that dangerous”, “you’re brave”, “I wouldn’t want to drive there” etc, etc. We drive in Italy every year….how bad can it be?
Driving in Thailand - the basics
- They drive on the left…familiar ground for us Brits
- Speed limit signs are few and far between. Most rural roads and “highways” have a max of 90 kph, going down to 60 in towns and cities and 50/40/30 where signed.
- Any lane goes. Officially it’s the same rules as the UK, but they have a lot of U-turn spots on fast roads, so lane discipline doesn’t really count.
- If breaking hard, bang on the hazards to warn the cars behind. The biggest cause of road accidents is rear-ending.
- The bigger car takes priority on some of the unclear roundabouts and cross-roads.
- It’s probably best not to drive in Bangkok. It’s not impossible, it’s just that the traffic is a bit nuts and it takes ages to get anywhere. Grab (Uber equivalent) is a lot less stressful.
- There’s something we liked to call “the flow”. If a car makes a right turn, others will follow even if there is traffic on the main road that has to stop for them….they are in “the flow” – others will wait (this is an unwritten rule).
- There are loads of good service stations with clean bathrooms and 7/11 shops (PTT seems to be the best).
Easy peasy, right? Actually, yes. We were very comfortable driving there and the autonomy it affords is priceless. Others we met on our travels were bound by the constraints of their flights, location of their accommodation and availability of organized day-trips. We were stopping in the more unusual, not on the tourist path stuff. No FOMO for us.
A Thai road trip - where to start
After using the “Grab” car services and local transport in Bangkok, we took an overnight train to Surat Thani. From here we started our road trip, picking up a rental from the airport (very easy from a company called “Drive”).
Thailand is a big country, so deciding where to go is no easy task. We decided early on we didn’t want to go to the South and all the beaches. We wanted to see nature, wildlife and beautiful scenery. To witness local life and try regional Thai food and we wanted to visit the temples, not just the obvious ones, but some of the more unusual. We didn’t want to pre-book everything upfront, but rather decide where to go as we went. As Julia Roberts said in Pretty Woman, “fly by the seat of our pants, moment to moment”.
Rather than all the amazing destinations we stayed in, I’m going to concentrate on the road-trip itself.
A true road-trip does not mean driving from one overnight accommodation to the next. It involves stopping en-route to take in some culture and sights and try local food. Yes, your luggage in the car may get a bit hot (a classic road-trip hazard, don’t pack any chocolate), but the freedom of stopping wherever you chose makes the day not just a travel day but another adventure. What’s the saying? It’s the journey, not the destination. Whoever said that was definitely talking about road-trips.
Road trip - Leg one and our first day behind the wheel
Surat Thani to Ao Bang Son beach (200km - 3 hours drive).
Having spent the night on a train, albeit with private cabin, we were delighted to be in a real room with a real bed (and a very large one at that). This was only an overnight stop, but we were so delighted with the beach-side setting and walking on the sand it has to be mentioned.
The hotel itself also delighted. As we arrived at Santi Beach Retreat, we were given a welcome drink. I asked “can you recommend somewhere to eat nearby?”. “Yes, eat here, I am cook, very good food”. Well, ok then. She didn’t lie. Our room was huge with luxury toiletries and even an in-room mezzanine perfect for a spot of yoga. Heaven. In the morning we had breakfast on the sand with the sun bathing us in the early morning heat.
This may have been only an overnight but to us it was the start of 18 nights of pure freedom; we are on our own steam, not constrained by schedules and timetables, we can come and go as we please, we can stop when and where we chose and…..breathe.
Road trip - Leg two
Ao Bang Son to Kaeng Krachan national park (300km – 4 hours 20)
After our delightful breakfast we started our drive (did I mention they served proper loose-leaf jasmine tea. Absolute heaven). Our planned stop was Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park and the Phraya Nakhon cave.
There is parking right at the beach and many stalls selling snacks and drinks, along with bathrooms (yay). There are two choices to get to the start of the path; take a boat to the neighbouring beach and walk, or walk the 20 minutes over a hill to the start of the path. Having been sat in a car for a while we welcomed the leg-stretch so opted for the latter. It was a steep path with monkeys along the way, but worth the effort for the beach views.
What is Phraya Nakhon Cave? Named after the ruler who discovered it over 200 years ago, it is a natural limestone cave that features the royal Kuha Karuhas pavilion. It has “skylights” i.e. sinkholes in the roof of the cave, which illuminate the pavilion in the morning sunlight. To get to the cave from the beach is an uphill stepped walk through woodland. It took about 30 minutes and was hot (hello, we’re in Thailand at 35 degrees), but we were delighted to spot a Dusky Langur monkey on the way up who very obligingly sat still while we took photos. She also has the name of Spectacled Langur….I wonder why?
Once at the cave entrance it’s a stepped walk down into the depths and then on to the cavern with the pavilion. Alas with a 4 hour drive we were not there for the morning illuminations, but I have to say, the cave and pavilion were still absolutely amazing. Can the photos do it justice?
This was an amazing first road-trip stop and enthused us even more for our next driving day. After our stop we had a short hour and a half drive to our destination. At Kaeng Krachan we chose to stay 4 nights on a peacock farm….more on that later.
Road trip - Leg three
Kaeng Krachan NP to Haad Chao Samran (53km – 1 hour)
I had read that Phetchaburi city had some amazing hilltop and cave temples, so we decided a stop was a worthy detour. It’s situated quite near the coast, so where to stay…beach or city? As we were heading north and away from the coast we decided one last look at the sea would be nice, so Chaosamran beach won for our overnight.
Our stop on the way to the beach was Phra Nakhon Khiri, a hilltop with three peaks, each one home to beautiful temples. It’s possible to walk the entire top and visit all of the temples, 10 in total. A quick funicular to the top and off we go…just watch out for the monkeys! (apparently if they see anything they think is food, they will attempt to take it…cheeky monkeys!). Once again I’m going to let the photos do the talking.
Road trip - Leg four
Haad Chao Samran to Kanchanaburi (216km – 3 hours 20)
I think this was one of my favourite “drive” days, just because the stops were so amazing. Just outside Phetchaburi I had seen two possible temple stops. The first, Tham Khao Luang, was just 5km away. I thought Phraya Nakhon Cave was amazing but this is a notch above.
Stop one - Tham Khao Luang temple in a cave
A Buddhist temple in a cave, also with “skylights” and on this day we were there at the perfect time, 10am. Stairs lead down to the main cavern (huge) and there is a further cavern beyond that. The cave is full of Buddha statues including a large gold one in the main cave, a reclining Buddha and hundreds of smaller ones tucked onto cave shelves and in any small hole. A real jaw-dropper and although it wasn’t much walking we spent a good hour there.
Stop two - Wat Tham Khao Yoi temple complex
Our second stop was 17km away from the previous temple. This is another cave temple. Actually, much more than that; a main cave temple, a wooden temple, another cave temple up a steep hill and a viewpoint with a statue of a 3-headed white elephant (Erawan)…phew, that’s a lot of things to see. Let’s Go!
Can you believe this is free to visit? The climb to the upper cave is via a very ornate naga-decorated staircase (a mythical serpent, there for protection). It’s a lot of up and at the entrance to the cave there are steps going down. It’s here that there are amazing shards of light shining through natural openings in the roof. Further exploration leads to deeper caves, one with a Buddha statue inside.
Outside again and at the other end of the mountain lies the elephant statue (apparently it represents the link between earth and heaven), with splendid views over paddy fields and beyond.
Finally, we walked back down to the main lower cave. Not left as nature intended, but instead filled with many Buddha images including a 16 metre long reclining Buddha and some coloured illuminations to highlight the many effigies. It really is quite effective, if a little un-natural, to see the cave walls turn from blue to green to red. The entrance into the cave is also very grand with two huge ornate doors straight onto the cave face.
Well they were the two most amazing stops. Road-trip heaven. Onto The Float House for our accommodation for 4 nights and a well deserved rest for the car (our accommodation being literally floating on the river…no roads here).
Road trip - Leg five
Kanchanaburi to Ayutthaya (226km - 3 hours 25)
We did one stop on this leg of our journey – Luang Pho U Tong. I chose this because it has the biggest Buddha carved right into a rock-face. In my opinion that makes it a must-see, and on arrival we could see it really was one of the biggest Buddhas we had seen so far in Thailand. Ignore the fact that the area around it feels a little like a theme park with music, people on loud speakers, food and drink sales etc etc.
One night in Ayutthaya means 2 half days to see the temples….and there are quite a few. A separate post I think.
Road trip - Leg six
Ayutthaya to Issara Estate Vineyard (102km - 1 hour 40)
Who knew Thailand had vineyards. Being “sort of” en-route, we thought it would be remiss not to stay a night and sample their wine and food. The hotel was amazing with a lovely pool and the most spectacular views to the mountains. On-site (ok, not actually on-site but a 20 minute walk away – they could have told us that before we started on foot) is a traditional Italian Trattoria. Well, that makes a bit of a change from Thai food. We had opted for dinner in the vines and a flight of wine to taste the offerings. The food was delicious with copious amounts of truffle and decadence. The wines were all very pleasant and in Thailand I really like the fact that they serve their red wine slighlty chilled. Totally appropriate when you’re in temperatures in the 30’s.
Leg seven of our road trip
Issara Estate Vineyard to Phitsanulok (385km – 5 hours 40)
There’s a district called Wichian Buri and I had discovered this area is famous for its grilled chicken, especially on route 21. Hang on, aren’t we driving north on that road? Excited! It’s a complete no-brainer for a lunch stop….spiced grilled chicken, called Gai Yang, need I say more? We stopped at one with a giant chicken out front (why not?) called Bua Tong Roasted Chicken. The chicken is rubbed with spices; garlic, lemongrass, coriander and black pepper and soaked in milk before grilling. It’s served with sticky rice in 2 colours, a spicy tamarind dipping sauce and a spicy papaya salad. This was a dream road-side restaurant. KFC? Bah.
We could have knocked 50 minutes off of this journey by taking the faster roads, but a road-trip is about the journey and we wanted scenery and mountains. So we chose the route that goes over one of the prettiest mountain passes in Thailand and an area known for its coffee growing.
Our one stop was Wat Phra That Phasornkaew. Another giant Buddha but this time with a backdrop of gorgeous mountains. Weirdly, once again there was an air of amusement park because of the music, loud speakers and some rather gawdy statues. However, we were happy for the food stalls as we were able to bag an ice-cream.
Our destination for a few nights was in Phitsanulok. Time to rest the car once more and explore the local surrounds.
Leg Eight of our road trip
Phitsanulok to Mae Tang District (392km – 6 hours 15)
Mae Tang District is north of Chiang Mai. We’ve overshot our final destination but with a good reason. Tea Plantation. Need I say more.
Our only stop en-route on this day was Si Satchanalai Historic Park….A UNESCO world heritage site and part of the more famous Sukhothai.
It’s a beautiful green park that you can walk or bike around to see the various historical sites and monuments. It was the second largest city of the Sukhothai kingdom founded in 1250. These are some seriously old and beautiful ruins.
The final leg of our Thailand road trip
Tang Mae District to Chiang Mai (75km - 1 hour 35)
What can I say? Road-trip complete and what a fantastic experience. I cannot recommend it enough. Now we’re in a city it’s time to let someone else do the driving.
Our Road-trip stats
Our road-trip started in Surat Thani and ended in Chiang Mai. That’s almost 2000 kilometres, plus extra miles for day-trips at our destinations. I think Clark said we did a total of almost 3000km. Would you believe all of that cost us the equivalent of £85 in petrol? Slightly cheaper than the UK (yes that was sarcasm….so much cheaper!) and even with the rental costs, probably not far from the cost of public transport and flights.
We are 100% road-trip converts, and have now partaken in a road-trip in 3 continents. We started our road-trip education in Costa Rica and now when we go back we wouldn’t do anything other than picking up a rental. Every year we drive from the UK to Italy, always stopping en-route to do a house and pet-sit. Again, we wouldn’t do it any other way.
Where next? Well, we’re off to Italy again in the summer, this time via a cat-sit in Basel. More adventures await. Beep beep.
