10 things that are great to do solo in Thailand
Ordered by what solo travellers tend to enjoy most and find easiest.
1
Almost every solo Thailand trip begins in Bangkok, and the area that acts as the solo-traveller hub is Khao San Road and quieter Soi Rambuttri beside it. It is packed with cheap hostels, bars, restaurants and tour and bus counters, and you will meet people from your first night. Spend 2 to 3 days settling into the city — see the temples, take a Chao Phraya river boat, hit a night market — then move on.
2
Worried about feeling lonely on a solo trip? The single most effective move is to head north to Chiang Mai and Pai, the two towns solo travellers love most in Thailand. Chiang Mai has loads of hostels in the Old City and the Nimman area, a relaxed feel and a low cost of living. Pai is a tiny mountain town where everyone seems to know each other — sit at the same cafe and you have made a friend. Both have common areas to chat in and run group trips for guests.
3
The classic route ends at the sea, and Thailand has islands for every style. The Gulf side (Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao) swims best Feb–Sep, while the Andaman side (Phuket, Krabi) is best Nov–Apr. Small islands like Koh Tao and Koh Phangan have beachfront hostels where it is very easy to meet people solo, while Phuket and Krabi work as bases for island-hopping day trips. You set the entire pace.
Koh Tao is one of the cheapest places in the world to learn to dive, and it suits solo travellers brilliantly. The Open Water course runs over 3 to 4 days in a small group, so you spend several days with the same people — learning, diving and usually eating together afterwards. Plenty of people arrive alone and leave with a whole new crew. The water is clear and the dive sites are close, which makes it one of the best places anywhere to start diving.
5
The Full Moon Party at Haad Rin on Koh Phangan is a beach party the whole world shows up to, held on each full moon. Solo travellers have an easy time here because everyone is there to socialise. If your dates miss the full moon, the island also runs Half Moon and Jungle parties through the month. The cautions: drink sensibly, watch your drink and valuables, wear shoes against broken glass on the sand, and note down where your accommodation is.
A Thai cooking class is a great solo activity, especially in Chiang Mai and Bangkok where there are many to choose from. Most run a half to full day and start with a market walk to pick ingredients together, then you cook tom yum, pad thai and green curry. It is a small group where you can chat the whole time, and you finish by eating what you made and taking the recipes home — a very natural way to meet people when you are travelling alone.
7
If you want to meet people and reach places that are hard to do alone in a day, small-group day tours are a great move solo. Think ethical elephant sanctuaries around Chiang Mai, island-hopping tours around Koh Phi Phi or Phang Nga Bay, and sunset cruises. You go with other travellers, many also solo, the transport is handled, and these often end with the group heading off to eat together.
8
This is where Thailand makes solo travellers most comfortable — most Thai food is a single plate sized for one person: pad thai, khao man gai (chicken rice), pad kaphrao, noodle soups and som tam. Street stalls and mall food courts are everywhere, cheap and simple to order, and eating alone is completely normal here, so nobody looks twice. Unlike some countries where food is ordered to share, in Thailand you can eat solo at almost every meal.
Long-distance travel in Thailand is an experience in itself, especially the overnight sleeper train on the Bangkok–Chiang Mai line and the southern line down to the islands. You sleep on the train, wake up in a new city, save a night's accommodation, and usually chat to your carriage along the way. The sleepers are safe and clean, and they suit solo travel well. For towns with no train, like Pai, minivans and buses reach everywhere. Book sleepers and buses ahead.
In town, a few tools make solo travel easy and safe — Grab (the ride app) shows the fare before you book and you pay in the app, so there is no haggling or worrying about being overcharged. Bangkok has the cheap, fast BTS/MRT and Chao Phraya river boats. Smaller towns and islands use songthaews (shared pick-ups) or a rented scooter (helmet on, licence with you). The key thing: there is no metro outside Bangkok, so elsewhere rely on Grab and songthaews.