About Thailand
Map of Thailand
Thailand is about 1,600km from the Malaysian border in the south to the Laos one in the north, with a sea on each side of it. Which sea you are on decides your weather, and the map below is the shortest way to see why.
Where it sits
- West
- The Andaman Sea, and Myanmar beyond it
- East
- The Gulf of Thailand, with Cambodia on the far shore
- North and north-east
- Myanmar, then Laos across the Mekong
- South
- Malaysia, down the peninsula
The peninsula is the part that matters for planning. It is narrow enough that Phuket and Krabi are 60km apart, and wide enough that Phuket and Koh Samui are on opposite coasts with seasons three months out of step.
Computed, not estimated
How far apart they actually are
The straight line is calculated from the coordinates each place's climate was measured at. The journey is the quickest checked way of making it, which is a different number and the one that decides an itinerary.
- Chiang Mai to Phuket 1213km no checked route
- Chiang Mai to Krabi 1190km no checked route
- Chiang Mai to Koh Samui 1037km no checked route
- Bangkok to Phuket 695km 1h 30m by flight
- Chiang Mai to Pattaya 682km no checked route
- Bangkok to Krabi 654km 1h 25m by flight
- Phuket to Pattaya 627km 1h 40m by flight
- Bangkok to Chiang Mai 582km 1h by flight
- Krabi to Pattaya 581km no checked route
- Bangkok to Koh Samui 475km 1h 5m by flight
- Koh Samui to Pattaya 392km no checked route
- Phuket to Koh Samui 261km 55m by flight
- Krabi to Koh Samui 200km 1h by flight
- Bangkok to Pattaya 100km 2h by bus
- Phuket to Krabi 70km 1h 30m by ferry
Straight-line distances are great-circle, so they are shorter than any road or any flight path. Every route we have checked
The three coasts, and which islands are on which
The Andaman, on the west
Phuket, Krabi, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Lanta, Khao Lak, Koh Lipe
Dry from December to March, wettest in October. Limestone karsts, the deepest water and the diving. This is the coast most people picture when they picture Thailand.
Phuket guideThe Gulf, on the east
Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao
Driest from January to April, wettest in November, and about a third of the Andaman's rain through the northern summer. It runs three months behind the Andaman, which is why it is the answer for a northern summer and the wrong answer for November.
Koh Samui guideThe eastern seaboard
Pattaya, Koh Samet, Koh Chang, Koh Kood, Koh Mak
The coast Bangkok drives to, and the one the two-monsoon story leaves out. It holds both extremes we measure: Pattaya at 1,381mm a year is the driest beach destination in the country, and Koh Mak at 3,397mm is the wettest place on this site. December is the driest month at every one of them.
Pattaya guideThe Andaman and the Gulf are about 250km apart and share almost nothing about their weather. The eastern seaboard disagrees with itself: its two ends are also about 250km apart, and the wetter one takes two and a half times the rain of the drier one. See it month by month