THAILAND
VISA INFORMATION: (UPDATED 11/29/2024)
- Thailand offers American tourists a 60 day visa exemption upon arrival. This means that American tourists don’t need to obtain a visa, unless wanting to stay longer than 60 days. If you wish to stay longer than 60 days, you must extend your stay through the Thai Immigration Bureau. The official Thai website for information regarding visa information is thaievisa.go.th.
- THIS INFORMATION IS VALID AS OF 11/29/2024!! UP TO DATE INFORMATION CAN ALWAYS BE FOUND AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT WEBSITE IN YOUR COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE. FOR U.S. TRAVELERS, IT CAN BE FOUND AT travel.state.gov
Helpful Apps!
- Google Translate
- Google Maps
- Grab – to orders both taxies and food delivery
- Food Panda – another food delivery app
Links to our Accommodations: (I only list ones that I’d recommend)
- Our AirBnb in Bangkok – We really liked it here, except for the bed. It was the hardest bed we’ve ever had to sleep on! It appears that the owner may have fixed this issue. 5 out of 5 stars
- Our AirBnb in Chiang Mai – This AirBnb was great! It’s located in the Astra Building and is in a great location. 5 out of 5 stars
- Our AirBnb in Chiang Rai – This was also a great AirBnb. It’s a small house. Very comfortable, great air conditioning, and very good wifi. 5 out of 5 stars
Things we liked about Thailand! 🙂
- The people are very friendly!
- Very safe!
- More laid back way of life
- Diverse landscape
- The Thai food!
- Good roads and infrastructure!
- Massages! A 90 minute massage costs about $17.00 USD, and is wonderful!!
- Very inexpensive to live!
Things we didn’t like as much: ☹️
- The air quality can get a bit rough.
- Some areas (normally in the bigger cities and beach towns can be a little R to X Rated). We didn’t have any trouble staying away from these areas. Just be aware that they exist.
Some of our favorite things in Thailand include:
- Mango Smoothies!
- Pad Thai – yummy!
- The Healthcare is top notch and extremely affordable!
- Night Markets are so much fun, with great inexpensive food!
Places We Visited
BANGKOK
We spent about a month in Bangkok and very much enjoyed it! It’s a huge city and we both agreed that we probably couldn’t live here because of that, but it is a very nice place to visit!
There is a lot to see and do here! It’s very easy to get around either by train or “water taxis”, but street traffic can become snarled just like in any major city. We felt very safe no matter where we went, and it was so much fun walking around and enjoying the sights, sounds, and aromas of this wonderful place!
Highly recommend coming here for a visit!
Chiang Mai
If there is a place in Thailand that we could choose immediately to live, Chiang Mai would be that place! It is a mid sized city with lots of green space and is very walkable. There is much to do and see here. The people are so friendly! And it’s perfect in almost every way…except one.
During February to April, burning season takes place in the farmlands around the area and we’re told that the smoke gets very bad during those three months. Even locals have a hard time here in burning season because of the bad air quality.
Other than that…Chiang Mai is definitely one of the places that we would be quite happy to live. (Right now it’s a tie with Vietnam, but Vietnam doesn’t have a long term visa option for expats. So Thailand would probably take the lead here)
Chiang Rai
Chiang Rai is about 3 hours and 15 minutes north of Chiang Mai by car. We were here at the height of smokey season so the air quality was horrible, however we still enjoyed our time here. The airbnb we stayed at was very nice, relaxing and had great air conditioning which we needed since we were here in a heat wave. We had a rental car to get around and the 9 days spent here was just what we needed to recharge and unwind.
This is an area that we’d recommend having a car since there are lots of things to see and do around the area, but having a car will make those things much more accessible. By the way, the roads are excellent in Thailand!
Hua Hin
The easiest way to get to Hua Hin is to catch the bus from the airport in Bangkok. There are two main airports in Bangkok (Don Mueang International, and Suvarnabhumi International). The easiest one to catch the bus from is Suvarnabhumi. The bus terminal is located on the ground floor of the arrival terminal, and tickets can either be pre-purchased online, or straight from the ticket office in the bus terminal. Buses run about every 30 minutes, so they are plentiful.
It takes about 2 hours to get from Bangkok to Hua Hin, but they seem worlds apart! Hua Hin is a laid back beach town and we really liked it! If beaches are your thing, then this might be a place for you to consider. We found the people to be very friendly and there are a lot of nice restaurants and shops to visit.
The Airbnb that we stayed was about a 10 minute ride outside of the city so we rented a scooter while we were there to get around. The cost for the scooter was about $100.00 for the full month. (We also needed to leave a $75.00 deposit which we got back upon the return of the scooter. Our Airbnb was a house with a really nice pool and that’s where we spent most of our time. We went to the beach only once while we were there, not because it wasn’t nice. We’ve decided that we’re just not the beach kind of people!
