Thailand

Surrounded by forested mountains and with a remote and pretty setting by a tranquil lake, Mae Hong Son (แม่ฮ่องสอน) fits many travelers’ preconceived notions of how a Northern Thai town should look. A palpable influence from Myanmar and a frontier-settlement feel don’t clash with this image and, best of all, there’s hardly a túk-túk or tout to be seen. This doesn’t mean Mae Hong Son is uncharted territory – tour groups have been coming here for years – but the city is far more laid-back than Pai, while its potential as a base for activities, from boat trips to trekking, ensures that your visit can be quite unlike anyone else’s.

Letar du billigt och centralt boende i Bangkok? Det finns gott om prisvärda boendealternativ och det kan vara svårt att navigera i djungeln av hostels och vandrarhem. Här kommer fina alternativ där du sover gott för under 500 kronor natten.

Vagabonds mini-guide till norra Thailand.

Leafy lanes, antique shophouses, buzzing wet markets and golden temples convene in Banglamphu, easily the city's most quintessentially 'Bangkok' neighbourhood. It's a quaint postcard picture of the city that used to be – that is until you stumble upon Th Khao San, arguably the world's most famous backpacker enclave.

Jade-hued waves concealing rainbows of fish wash white-gold beaches wrapped in Phuketian heritage: Phuket (ภูเก็ต), Thailand's dazzling largest island, is so diverse you may never want to leave.

Phu Kradueng National Park (อุทยานแห่งชาติภูกระดึง) is one of the most popular national parks in Thailand, and spending the night atop its eponymous peak is something of a rite of passage for many students in the region. The park covers a high-altitude plateau cut through with trails and peppered with cliffs and waterfalls. Rising to 1316m, Thailand's second national park is always cool at its highest reaches (average year-round temperature is 20°C), where its flora is a mix of pine forest and savannah. Various forest animals, including elephants, Asian jackals, Asiatic black bears, sambar deer, serows, macaques and white-handed gibbons, inhabit the 348-sq-km park.

Udon Thani (อุดรธานี) is a big, brash city with one of the largest expat populations in Thailand. The city was the site of a large US airbase during the Vietnam War , and it subsequently became the region's primary transport hub and commercial centre. The town itself doesn't have any must-see attractions, but there are some tremendously interesting spots around it.

Jungle-shrouded mountains carved up by thick rivers leading to aqua bays sprinkled with sheer limestone karsts and, below, some of Thailand's finest underwater treasures. That's Phang-Nga.

Det är dags att börja prata om elefanten i rummet. Eller snarare – i djungeln. Vagabonds skribent Johanna Jackson åkte till norra Thailand i jakt på en ny sorts elefantturism.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Region, as it is officially known, includes six provinces bordering the city of Bangkok, which add up to an area spanning more than 7500 sq km and have a population of around 10 million people. Because of their relative proximity and easy access, we have opted to include a few places in these neighbouring provinces in this designation, which can be visited as day trips from the city.