7, 10 or 14 nights.
Choose your route.

Start with two nights in Bangkok, four in Chiang Mai and one back in Bangkok. Use the Bangkok stay for a riverside temple day and a Yaowarat food evening. In Chiang Mai, stay around the old city if Wat Phra Singh, the city streets and the Sunday Walking Street are the focus; reserve a separate outing for Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.

Four Chiang Mai nights give you room for the arrival afternoon, a city day and an outing without changing accommodation again. This is a good starting route if food and culture matter more than the beach. If you want a train journey, replace a hotel night with a booked overnight service and recount the nights; the example above assumes flying.

Use three nights in Bangkok, six in Phuket and one back in Bangkok. Choose your Phuket address around the part of the island you want to use most. For a beach stay, compare accommodation near Kata or Karon with the map of the Phuket Smart Bus coastal route. For food and architecture, Phuket Old Town gives you a different trip, with Thalang Road's walking street on Sundays.

You can visit Old Town from a beach base without moving all your luggage. Before booking, price that outing and the airport journey alongside the room. Six coastal nights also let you move a boat excursion to another day if the forecast changes. Avoid selling yourself a package of fixed boat days before you know which coast and month you are visiting.

A workable starting split is three nights in Bangkok, four in Chiang Mai, six in Phuket and one back in Bangkok. Book the Chiang Mai–Phuket leg before fixing both hotels: Thai AirAsia lists a direct connection in its October 2026 network, so you can check it before accepting a route through Bangkok.

Give each move a place on the calendar: checkout, transfer, flight, baggage collection and the journey to the next hotel. The arrival afternoon belongs to that destination, but it is a poor place for a non-refundable excursion. If you would rather have fewer flights, remove Chiang Mai and use the extra nights for Bangkok and Phuket; the resulting trip still has food, historic streets and beaches.

Use Koh Samui in place of Phuket if its beaches and island connections fit your plans. Compare a flight to USM with flying to Surat Thani and buying the onward road-and-boat transfer. Bangkok Airways sells Bangkok–Samui flights; Lomprayah lists Surat Thani Airport connections to Samui, Phangan and Tao.

For a six-night island block, one Samui base is the simplest version. A three-night Samui and three-night Phangan split is an alternative if you specifically want both islands. Price the ferry and the two pier transfers before deciding. For a boat-dependent trip in November or December, check the southern east-coast climate carefully: the northeast monsoon can bring substantial rain there while northern Thailand is becoming drier.