Destination Overview
Time difference: GMT +6 hours
Capital: Bangkok
Currency: Thai Baht
Flight time: 11.5 hours
For hedonists and honeymooners, foodies and fitness fanatics, Thailand has something for everyone. The ‘land of smiles’ is at once a beach retreat, a temple-strewn centre of Buddhist culture, a hotspot of piquant cuisine and full of luxury resorts with relaxing spas. In both its towns and cities there are gleaming golden Buddhas, ancient banyan trees wrapped in sacred cloth and shrines that decorate the humblest of homes and the most enormous shopping malls. Thai cuisine is the cornerstone of its culture: generous in size, warm in flavour and rich in colour. Relying heavily on local ingredients, like spicy chillies, fresh seafood and fragrant lemongrass, dining here is authentic and eating like a local is possible almost anywhere you are. With a long coastline dotted with islands, Thailand is also the quintessential pleasure-seeker’s beach destination. The setting for every hedonist’s favourite novel, The Beach, you can find yourself a blissful sweep of sand almost anywhere in the country with the exception of the far north – where pleasures of a different kind await.