A phenomenal family vacation in Thailand

Thailand | Jun 19 - Jun 29, 2025

We had such a fantastic trip to Thailand! We were initially hesitant to book through KimKim because the price was so much lower than through the other travel companies we considered, but we took a chance and are so glad we did! KimKim reps met us at each airport on our trip and transported us to our hotels, taking away so much travel stress. The hotels they booked in each of our destinations (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, & Koh Samui) were all great and in fantastic locations. We knew we weren’t booking luxury hotels and we didn’t expect luxury amenities, but we were very pleasantly surprised with how luxurious our accommodations were. Each hotel was very clean, very safe, and very comfortable — and had gorgeous swimming pools, very nice and spacious rooms, and delicious breakfasts included — far more than you get with included breakfasts in the U.S.
Leo, our guide in Bangkok, was a delight—striking the perfect note between taking us to all the sites and experiences we were excited about while also giving us plenty of time to rest and enjoy our vacation. We particularly enjoyed visiting the palaces and temples and trying out the foods in the markets and night markets. Leo even helped us order! We arrived in Bangkok early and had 2 days on our own. We spent those visiting Benchakitti and Lumphini Parks - which I highly recommend — and the Snake Experience, where we saw how anti venom is made by extracting venom from live cobras — this turned out to be a favorite experience of the teens in our group! We also visited the Jim Thompson House and the indoor floating market at the IconSiam shopping mall. If you have more time, I recommend all of these experiences. And, on the recommendation of a friend, we went to the Akara Sky Hanuman high rise rooftop dining & show experience— we had a blast and the views were spectacular!
The highlight of our Chiang Mai visit — and possibly of our entire trip— was the elephant sanctuary! Getting to interact so closely with the elephants was unreal. Do not skip that experience!!! The rest of Chiang Mai was less exciting — the drive to the mountain top and to see the waterfall and gardens was beautiful and easy for everyone in our group. We were worried my 75 year old mother might struggle — but easily did it all, and did it in flip flops! And the cooler temps at the top of the mountain were a welcomed respite from the heat. We also walked the city in our own to see the temples and the old wall. Protip: I asked ChatGPT to create a 3 hour walking tour that started at our hotel and took us to the major temples, then I imported that tour into Googlemaps. Worked great! Personally, I would have enjoyed having a guided tour and learning more about each temple, but the self guided walking tour was all the rest of my group was interested in after spending so much time in more impressive temples in Bangkok.
We purposely ended our trip in Koh Samui so we could have some relaxing beach time. My only criticism there is that the Pig Island excursion was awful and not something I would recommend. Instead of a charming encounter with pigs like we expected, we were told on the boat ride over that the pigs are very dangerous and bite off tourists’ fingertips EVERY DAY. They’re also quite aggressive. One sow rammed me when I was just sitting at a table because she wanted to lie where my feet were. It hurt and cut my leg and left a bruise. I would not take young children on this excursion at all because I don’t think they would appreciate how dangerous and aggressive the pigs are, and there are so many adorable piglets, I don’t think a young child would be able to resist touching them or trying to hold one.
While we were there, a pack of wild dogs attacked a piglet and began eating it live right in front of us — truly horrifying! — ans the piglet screamed for help. A group of tourists intervened to stop it and scare off the dogs, but I doubt the piglet survived. My 13 year old was crying at this point and went to go sit on the boat. And then, again and again, two or three boars chased down and raped sows in front of us, clearly against their will. At one point they did this right under a table of tourists, using the tourists to corner the sow so she couldn’t escape while 3 boars attacked her. Eventually we all sat on top of the tables for safety until it was time to leave.
The snorkeling portion of the Pig Island trip was also lackluster. Very poor visibility and a location that could be described as mid — at best.
But Pig Island was the only part of our entire trip I wouldn’t recommend, and it was so indescribably bad that we’ll be laughing about it for many years to come.
We ended our time in Koh Samui at a restaurant that was recommended by a local — Lanlandaw Viewpoint Restaurant. I highly recommend this! The front desk staff at the hotel (who were wonderful!) helped us arrange it all. A driver from the restaurant came to pick us up and then drove us about 20 minutes over rutted dirt roads up a mountain to the restaurant, which featured a spectacular overlook and view and great food. Be advised, it’s cash only —no credit cards!
All in all, a spectacular, almost seamless, vacation that was everything we hoped for and even better than we expected. We will certainly use KimKim again and we’re already talking about where we should go for our next trip!