North Thailand is famed for its epic scenery and mountains. The north also has more of a ‘backpacker’ vibe than the south, not because there aren’t loads of backpackers in the south (there are), but because there are also more holiday-makers in Bangkok and the south, likely due to the beaches, islands and coastlines there. 

My North Thailand travel guide is also somewhat of an anomaly for my guides. I will admit that I am the world’s slowest traveller; there aren’t many countries which I have visited where I have stayed for less than a month. Being the slow traveller that I am, I ended up spending a month in the south of Thailand (nearly two weeks of that in Railay Beach – separate guide on there below) and therefore by the time I got to Bangkok my 30-day visa was coming to an end.

At this point in my travels, I had spent months in South-East Asia and with my visa running out, it felt like a good time to explore somewhere new. I had always fancied going to Mongolia and the weather window was perfect by the time I had arrived in Bangkok, as the weather in Mongolia was improving while the rainy season was fast approaching in south-east Asia. For this reason, I jetted off to Mongolia and then hit up much of East Asia on my way back to South-East Asia. By the time I had returned to South-East Asia, I explored some of Vietnam and Cambodia, but I was craving a new cultural group and something new. Other than getting a bus from western Cambodia to Bangkok to fly out to Sri Lanka, I didn’t return to Thailand and therefore didn’t explore the north of the country. 

That being said, after spending so long in Thailand and South-East Asia, I had loads of recommendations from people I have met for places to visit after hearing so much about it. For that reason, I wanted to share the recommendations I got from others who I trust with my followers. I am sure I will end up back in Thailand at some point and flesh out this guide more; however, for now, here it is! I made note of all these places on Google Maps and made notes about them when speaking to people I’ve met and that is how I plan my travels. You can find the blog post I wrote below about exactly how I do this and why it works so well! 

Title photo: I couldn’t post a travel guide without a cover photo, so as a disclaimer, the main image is taken from a more mountainous area of south Thailand.  

So without further ado, here are the places in North Thailand which have come highly recommended to me.