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Four ways to make visits and excursions
Independent travellers
A very good option whenever possible and also cheaper. We don’t need to explain the advantages for families.
Private Tour with a local guide
An excellent option but sometimes it can be a bit expensive. Local guides and drivers in Thailand are lovely people and will take care of you from the first second to the last minute. An easy and comfortable alternative to visit Bangkok.
Private Tour without a guide
A very good alternative when it is not possible or advisable to do the excursion on your own, but the available budget does not allow hiring a local guide or you are simply not interested.
This option requires the driver to speak a little English.
A way to make the most of the time because it simplifies transfers and children get up early only the necessary, that is, they will have more time to rest.
Joining a group tour
A good option if your priority is to receive explanations from a local guide. It is not expensive, but depending on the age of the children, you should consider other options because they could pay as an adult. Ask about the family policy of the company.
Keep in mind that you will have to go to a meeting point very early in the morning and then move in a group towards the destination, doubling the transfers. This implies waking children up very early.
In addition, you will have to follow the pace of the group during the visit.
The Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun and the Golden Buddha
Inside the city. Visits that you can do in a single day, by yourselves. They can be considered the most popular in Bangkok.
The Golden Buddha is located in another district of the city, in Chinatown, so you can postpone this visit until after lunch.
Transfers may be part of the tour depending on where your accommodation is located. We suggest including the Chao Phraya River and/or the Saen Saep Canal in the itinerary, if possible.
It is worth getting up early to get to the Grand Palace around 8h30.
Floating Markets and Mae Klong Train Market
This is a very suitable excursion to do with children but it is not easy to do on your own if this is your first time in Bangkok.
The transfers are not long, a little more than an hour.
The boat ride through the market canals (Damnoen Saduak or Amphawa) and the curious entrance of the train in Mae Klong deserve a visit.
We do not think it is essential to have a local guide, so in our opinion, a good way to visit them with your family is a private group without a local guide.
Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Siam
This excursion has in favour that all visits are practically outdoors, which is appreciated by the kids. You can do it on your own by train + tuk-tuk (once in the city). It is not too far, about an hour from Bangkok.
You can add the temple of the monkeys in Lopburi.
A private group with or without a local guide are also good choices, in order to squeeze the available time. Especially if you include Lopburi in the itinerary because transfers might be exhausting and leave little time for visits if you do it on your own.
Take into account that trying to visit too many temples could be exhausting.
We suggest including the Bang Pa-In Summer Palace because its beautiful gardens are refreshing and the little ones will want to climb to the top of the observatory tower.
Think of the possibility of making the return trip on a cruise on the Chao Phraya River, highly recommended.
Kwai River and Erawan National Park
They are located in Kanchanaburi, a little further than the previous excursions and quite more if the Erawan National Park is included in the itinerary, although it is possible to make the excursion in one day.
Our advice is to spend a night in Kanchanaburi if you want to visit Erawan.
Most visitors like the bridge over the River Kwai and there you can take a boat ride along the river.
Erawan allows you to bathe in its waterfalls, but storms during the monsoon season may make it impossible, so we recommend going there during the dry season, from November to February.
From June to October, check the weather forecast for the previous days.
In March and April water is scarcer until the arrival of the first rains in May.
