Thailand has become so popular that you’d think that there isn’t much you need to know before arriving. There are so many package holidays and everything is set up for tourism so is it really possible to go far wrong?

The answer is yes. Whilst Thailand is certainly easier to travel around than many other countries, there are still several traps you can fall into, especially if this is your first visit. Some are obvious, others aren’t and can make a massive difference to how much you enjoy your trip.

So here are the 12 top mistakes to avoid when travelling in Thailand.

12 Mistakes to avoid in Thailand

1 - Falling victim to the Bangkok Tuk Tuk scam

Watch out for the Tuk Tuk scam, it’s extremely common and often catches out first time visitors. It goes something like this: you ask to go to a famous landmark like the Royal Palace or Wat Pho. They drive you to a side entrance which is very quiet, and they tell you it is closed for prayers, but they can take you on a city tour for a ludicrously low price like 20 baht (60 US cents!) until it re-opens again.

It is a scam. What they’ll do is take you to various shops and places with caged animals. They then pressure you to buy goods or to pay to set the animals free (they are later recaptured). It can get very aggressive when you refuse.

If something seems too good to be true it is.

2 - Thinking the Tuk-Tuk will be cheaper

You wouldn’t expect this, but Tuk-Tuks are virtually always more expensive than taxis (as long as you get the taxi meter turned on)! They are a lot more fun to ride, but we still can’t quite understand why a turbo charged lawn-mower is more expensive than a car.

So hop on the Tuk Tuk for the thrill of flying through the streets on this crazy machine, but don’t expect it to be the cheapest way to get around!

3 - Believing that the monsoon season is to be avoided (and that Thailand even has a dry season)

The weather in Thailand is confusing and we personally haven’t experienced much difference between any of the seasons. In Bangkok it rains ALL year and it goes between incredibly humid and “can’t go outside humid!”. We’ve visited many times and still can’t categorically say when the best time to visit Bangkok is!

Furthermore, we visited the Andaman islands in “dry season” and had weeks of rain. We then visited in “rainy season” and it was bone dry. You’re never guaranteed rainless weather in Thailand!

You’ll also find the beaches much quieter in the monsoon seasons, with lower prices, and as we mentioned the weather is often great.

*Maya Bay - Sadly closed for the foreseeable future*

4 - Thinking you can visit “The Beach”

This is one of the most visible impacts of over-tourism in recent years - Maya Bay (famous as the location for the movie “the Beach”) has been closed indefinitely. The impact of crowds and people leaving litter led the natural reef and marine life to be decimated.

The Thai government took a bold decision to close the entire site and allow it to regenerate. It’s unlikely to reopen soon as sharks and protected animals have moved back into the bay for the first time in years.

Don’t worry though because Thailand still has plenty of gorgeous islands to visit, including many near Maya Bay which are less busy and still stunningly beautiful.

5 - Only visiting one island & Bangkok

One of the greatest mistakes you can make in Thailand is planning an itinerary of Bangkok plus one island (usually Koh Samui or Phuket). If your desire is simply shopping and sunbathing, this will be fine, except you’ll find yourself on a ridiculously crowded and underwhelming beach.

The problem is that this is the most touristy trip you can book and what the majority of package holiday makers opt for.

We recommend planning some time in the North at Chiang Mai. We found that not only were the locals a lot friendlier up there (and much less jaded by tourists), but it also had some of the more authentic and beautiful experiences in the whole country.

6 - Missing out on the quieter islands

Whilst Koh Phi Phi, Koh Phangan and Koh Samui may be on your bucket list, you’ll be sharing paradise with a lot of people! The real gems are islands that aren’t so popular like Muuk, Nghai, Lanta and Yao Noi.

These islands will still have people around, but they aren’t over-run and you’ll be able to find secluded spots away from the crowds. They’re also not very difficult to get to so they can easily fit in to a two week break.

7 - Thinking that staying near Khao San was a good idea

At first Khao San may seem like a great area to stay in: very central, cheap and close to endless amounts of places to eat. This is all true however there’s a but coming…

Khao San is an area that has been taken over by backpackers (hands up that was us on our first trip so we’re not knocking backpackers!) and is crammed full of bad food, tacky souvenir stalls and scammers wanting to take your money. The cheap hotels here are dreadful - trust us, we stayed in a lot - all were noisy, run down dives. As this is a party town, the music is loud and goes into the early hours with some drunken backpackers carrying on to first light.

It’s definitely a place you might want to visit just to see for yourself, but staying there is another matter. If you’re looking for anything other than a 24 hour party, trust us, you don’t want to stay there. If you go even just a ten minute walk from Khao San itself you’ll find quiet backstreets that offer the same central location as well as a good nights sleep.

8 - Riding elephants anywhere

Riding elephants is incredibly popular in Thailand, but is a barbaric industry. This is something that has come to light in recent years with much media attention but sadly still goes on. The animals may look well fed and well cared for but that isn’t the case.

The truth is that these animals have been tortured (physically and mentally) to get to the state of accepting tourists on their backs. Elephants are highly intelligent animals and have to go through a traumatising process known as “breaking” them to allow the owners to have complete control.

Tourist money encourages this industry to capture wild elephants, take them away from their families and torture them until they are so broken they will accept rides. The first time we visited Thailand we had no idea but these facts are now well publicised, a quick google search will tell you everything you need to know.

9 - Visiting that tiger temple

The same goes for the tiger temple. This tourist attraction claims to be the only place to have successfully “hypnotised” tigers so you can go up and stroke them.

Of course this is ridiculous and it’s clear that they have taken this endangered animals from the wild and injected them with sedatives. You can read numerous accounts of people who visited and saw that the tigers seemed completely out of it and clearly not because of some Buddhist mind trick. Avoid avoid avoid.

10 - Visiting tourist traps like Patong and Pattaya

Every travel agent pushes tourists to Phuket and Pattaya as it has a proliferation of branded hotels, restaurants, beaches and everything a package holiday maker might be looking for.

However, these places are really over-run and have a seedy side. There are a lot of sex tourists in these areas and in general you’ll see some of the worst of humanity.

There are nice spots in Phuket so we’re not suggesting not to visit at all, but just make sure you avoid Patong.

The beautiful Wat Arun - one of the best temples in Bangkok — *The beautiful Wat Arun - one of the* **best temples in Bangkok**

11 - Believing that public transport is the cheapest way to get around in Bangkok

Another bizarre aspect of Bangkok transport is that frequently the taxi is the cheapest way to get around! We used to get the MTR everywhere until one day we hopped in a taxi to do the same journey and found it cost less for the two of us!

This isn’t always true for the longer journeys, but if you bundle two or more people into a taxi for a short journey, you’ll find it to be the cheapest form of transport in town.

12 - Riding a motorbike from Chiang Mai to Pai if you aren’t experienced

Getting on a motorbike in Southeast Asia is always a bit risky, but the road from Chiang Mai to Pai is the most dangerous time to hop on a bike if you aren’t an experienced rider! On the surface, it sounds adventurous, getting between these two amazing spots by riding through the mountains and picturesque countryside. However, the road is windy, narrow and with the changeable weather can become perilous, especially with the numerous impatient bus drivers that ply this route.

A friend of ours attempted it and when it started raining she came scarily close to sliding off a cliff as the breaks on her bike didn’t do much in the wet conditions! Sadly there have been tourist deaths on this road so only go for it if you are really confident on a bike.

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