Thailand manages to feel wonderfully easy and completely unfamiliar at the same time. You can explore a centuries-old temple in the morning, eat one of the best meals of your life from a street stall at lunch, and swim off a tropical island before sunset. It is affordable, welcoming and well set up for travellers, and a little preparation makes it dramatically smoother. Here are the 35 things worth knowing before you go.
Thailand at a glance
- Currency: Thai baht (THB)
- Language: Thai
- Time zone: UTC+7
- Power: Type A, B, C and O sockets, so pack a universal adaptor
- Police: 191 · Tourist Police (English): 1155 · Medical: 1669
- Entry: the Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) is required for foreign visitors
- Data: install a Thailand eSIM before you fly
Check your government’s official travel advisory shortly before departure (for example Smartraveller in Australia, the FCDO in the UK, the State Department in the US); advice for some border regions differs from the rest of the country.
Before you fly
1. Check your passport validity
You need more than six months of validity when you enter Thailand. Airlines check, and they can refuse boarding, so look at the date this week rather than the night before. You may also be asked for proof of accommodation, onward travel or funds.
2. Confirm whether you need a visa
Travellers from more than 90 countries, including Australia, the UK, the US and most of the EU, currently enter visa-free for short tourist stays of up to 60 days. Rules change, so confirm your nationality’s conditions with an official Thai government source before booking anything non-refundable.
Glance at the entry stamp before you leave the immigration desk. If the permitted stay looks wrong, raise it there and then, not at the airport three weeks later.
3. Complete the Digital Arrival Card
All foreign visitors must submit the Thailand Digital Arrival Card within three days before arrival. It is free on the official Immigration Bureau site; anything charging you for it is not the real thing. One person can submit for a whole family, and children need one too.
Screenshot the TDAC QR code once it is issued. Immigration halls are exactly where you do not want to depend on airport Wi-Fi and an email that will not load.
4. Sort your data before departure
Almost everything that smooths a Thailand trip runs through your phone: Grab bookings, translated addresses, ferry times, booking confirmations, your TDAC. Install a Thailand eSIM on Wi-Fi at home and you land connected, with your normal SIM still in place for calls and texts. Before boarding: label the new line Travel, keep your home SIM as default for calls, turn data roaming off for the home SIM, and switch the travel line on with data roaming enabled when you land. The plan only starts when it first connects in Thailand, so installing early costs nothing.
5. Buy insurance that matches your plans
Medical treatment and evacuation are expensive anywhere. Check your policy actually covers what you intend to do: scooters (usually only with the correct licence), diving, boat travel, missed connections. An excluded activity is the same as no insurance.
6. Check your medication is legal
A home prescription does not automatically make a medicine legal in Thailand. Some controlled medications need documentation or prior approval. Keep everything in original packaging in your hand luggage with a doctor’s letter, and check with a Thai embassy if in doubt.
7. Leave the vape at home
E-cigarettes, vapes and refills are illegal in Thailand, including for personal use, and penalties are severe. You may still see them sold in tourist areas; availability does not make them legal.
8. Pick your season with open eyes
November to February is broadly cooler and drier, March to May is the hottest stretch, and May to November brings the wet season. Wet season rarely means all-day rain, more often a fierce hour followed by sunshine, but storms can disrupt ferries and flights. The Andaman coast and the Gulf islands also have different patterns, so check your specific destination.
Travelling in wet season? Spend the last night before an international flight near the airport, and never plan a tight ferry-to-flight connection.
9. Plan fewer regions than you think
Bangkok for food and city life, Chiang Mai for temples and mountains, Phuket and Krabi for the Andaman scenery, Samui, Phangan and Tao for Gulf beaches and diving, Ayutthaya for ruins near Bangkok. The classic mistake is attempting five of these in ten days. One week fits Bangkok plus one region; two weeks fits Bangkok plus two.
Getting around
10. Know which Bangkok airport you are using
Bangkok has two major airports, Suvarnabhumi (BKK) and Don Mueang (DMK), on opposite sides of the city. Low-cost domestic carriers often use DMK. Check the code on every ticket, and do not book separate connections through different airports without a big buffer.
11. Meters, tuk-tuks and agreed prices
In taxis, ask for the meter before getting in and follow the route on your phone. For tuk-tuks, agree the price and destination first. A suspiciously cheap tuk-tuk tour usually includes commission stops at tailors and gem shops you never asked for.
Save your hotel’s name and address in Thai in your notes app. Showing it beats pronouncing it, every time.
12. Use Grab when in doubt
Grab (the local rideshare app) removes the price negotiation entirely. Confirm the number plate before getting in, wait at the designated pickup point, and never accept a ride from someone claiming to be your booking without matching details.
13. Bangkok’s trains beat Bangkok’s traffic
The BTS Skytrain and MRT are dramatically faster than a car at rush hour and connect shopping, nightlife and the airport rail link. Booking accommodation near a station pays itself back in saved hours over a few days.
14. Think hard before renting a scooter
Scooters are everywhere and accidents are the biggest cause of serious injury for visitors. Riding legally requires a motorcycle licence from home plus an international driving permit covering motorcycles, and without them your insurance likely will not pay. A rental shop handing you keys does not make you licensed. Never leave your passport as a deposit.
15. Film anything you rent
Before accepting a scooter, jet ski or car, take a slow video of every side, the wheels, mirrors, seat, fuel level and existing scratches, with the staff member in frame. Two minutes of footage ends most damage-claim disputes before they start.
16. Choose boats with a skeptical eye
Ferries and speedboats are routine island transport, but standards vary. Favour boats with visible life jackets, skip overloaded ones, and think twice about rough-weather or after-dark crossings. Put your passport and phone in a dry bag even when the sea looks calm.
Money
17. Carry cash, split two ways
Cards work in hotels, malls and larger restaurants, but markets, street food, tuk-tuks and small shops run on baht. Carry a day’s spending in your wallet and keep the rest locked up at your accommodation. Use bank-attached ATMs and authorised money changers.
18. Keep small notes
A 1,000-baht note is hard to break at a food stall. Split big notes at 7-Elevens, supermarkets and hotel desks, and keep a separate pocket of small notes for taxis and markets so you are not flashing your full wallet in a crowd.
19. Always pay in baht, not your home currency
When an ATM or card terminal offers to charge you in your home currency, decline and choose baht. Letting your own bank do the conversion is almost always the better rate.
20. Bargain in markets, nowhere else
Haggling is normal at tourist markets and should stay friendly. It is not a thing in supermarkets, restaurants or anywhere with marked prices. If the price is wrong, smile, decline and walk; the amount in dispute is often less than you think once converted.
Culture and etiquette
21. Dress for temples
Temples are working places of worship. Cover shoulders and knees, remove shoes where indicated, keep your voice down and skip the beachwear. Some big temples rent cover-ups, but a lightweight scarf in your day bag is easier.
22. Never climb sacred structures
Do not climb on Buddha images, ruins or monuments for a photo unless signs explicitly allow it, and skip the jokey poses in front of Buddha statues. Watch what local visitors do and follow staff instructions. No photo is worth the offence.
23. Feet low, head high
In Thai etiquette the feet are the least respectful part of the body and the head the most. Do not point your feet at Buddha images, monks or people, and never touch anyone on the head.
24. The monarchy is protected by law
Thailand has strict laws against insulting the monarchy, and they extend to social media posts. Treat images of the King with respect, and remember banknotes carry his portrait, so stepping on money to stop it blowing away is a genuinely bad idea.
25. Learn five Thai words
Sawasdee (hello), khob khun (thank you), mai phet (not spicy), hong nam (toilet), chai / mai chai (yes / no). Add the polite ending, khrap for men and kha for women, and every interaction warms up. Nobody minds imperfect pronunciation.
Food, drink and health
26. “Not spicy” is still spicy
Thai heat runs hotter than most visitors expect, and mai phet often means merely less chilli. If you have a serious allergy, carry a translated allergy card on your phone and show it before ordering, especially at busy stalls.
27. Choose the busy street-food stall
Street food is a highlight, not a hazard, if you pick well. Queue where locals queue, favour stalls cooking to order in front of you, and be wary of anything sitting uncovered in the heat. Mall food courts are an underrated, air-conditioned backup.
28. Be sensible with water and ice
Stick to bottled or properly filtered water. Ice in established hotels, cafés and restaurants is generally commercially made and fine; use judgement in remote settings. And drink far more water than you think you need in April.
Electrolyte sachets weigh nothing and rescue you after a hot temple day, a rough boat ride or a night out. Pack a strip.
29. Mosquito protection is a daytime job too
Dengue-carrying mosquitoes bite during daylight, so repellent is not just for evenings, particularly in wet season. Long loose clothing and screened or air-conditioned rooms do the rest. Talk to a travel clinic before you go about your specific itinerary.
30. Be careful with alcohol
The legal drinking age is 20, and sales pause at certain hours and on religious holidays. Buy sealed drinks from reputable venues, watch cocktails being made, never leave a drink unattended, and treat suspiciously cheap spirits as the methanol risk they occasionally are.
31. The monkeys are not your friends
They bite, they scratch, they steal phones, and they can carry rabies. Keep food out of sight and keep your distance. If you are bitten or scratched by any mammal, wash the wound thoroughly and get medical care the same day.
Staying out of trouble
32. Know the classic scams
The greatest hits: a stranger says the temple is closed and offers an alternative tour (walk to the entrance and check yourself), the bargain tuk-tuk tour with commission stops, jet-ski operators claiming you caused old damage (see tip 15), once-in-a-lifetime gem deals, fake arrival-card websites, and meter-refusing taxis. Stay polite, disengage, and call the Tourist Police on 1155 if a situation escalates.
33. Cannabis rules are not what you heard
The 2022 free-for-all is over. Cannabis is now restricted to medicinal use with a prescription from a recognised Thai practitioner, public use is banned, and rules keep shifting. Never carry it across any international border.
34. Keep your passport secure but reachable
Hotels may copy it at check-in, but never leave the original with a rental shop. Carry a copy day to day, and remember you need the real passport for domestic flights inside Thailand.
Packing and pace
35. Pack for heat, rain and arctic air conditioning
Lightweight breathable clothing, comfortable walking shoes, sandals, a compact umbrella, repellent, sunscreen, a temple outfit, a universal adaptor, a power bank, a dry bag and a waterproof phone pouch cover nearly everything. Then add one light layer, because Thai malls, cinemas and long-distance buses are kept at refrigerator temperatures.
One last thing that outranks every tip above: leave gaps in the itinerary. Markets run late, ferries slip, rain arrives out of nowhere, and the unplanned afternoon is reliably the one you remember. Plan less than you can fit, and let Thailand fill the space.
Pre-departure checklist
- Passport valid for 6+ months
- Visa or visa exemption confirmed for your nationality
- TDAC submitted and QR code screenshotted
- Travel insurance covering your actual activities
- Medication checked and documented
- Vape left at home
- Thailand eSIM installed on home Wi-Fi
- Data roaming off on your home SIM
- Offline maps and Thai translation pack downloaded
- Hotel name saved in Thai, plus a location screenshot
- Tourist Police number (1155) saved
- BKK or DMK confirmed for every Bangkok flight
Flying on to Japan afterwards? We wrote the same kind of guide for Japan.