Why book a family holiday in Thailand?

Thailand for families

Thailand is a great place for a family holiday offering blissful weather, stunning clean beaches, beautiful national parks, and some well-established resorts with great facilities. The country's well-developed tourist trail means getting around is simple and you'll find great family-friendly hotels and an abundance of options for eating out with the kids. Thai people adore children so your little ones will always be well looked after wherever you go.

The landscape is a natural playground offering plenty to do, including excursions to jungle waterfalls, elephant treks through pristine wilderness, boat trips around the islands, and first-class snorkelling and watersports. There are also loads of opportunities for sightseeing and exploring the country's fascinating culture, with intricately-decorated temples and historic sites galore, offering children an invaluable insight into new customs and religion.

Island hopping

With hundreds of islands, many of them protected by national marine parks, island hopping and day trips by boat are an unmissable experience on holidays to Thailand. Phanghan Bay, between Krabi mainland and Phuket island, has stunning limestone karst cliffs indented with untrammelled beaches. Boat tours around the turquoise waters, scenic rock formations and caves of Ao Phang-Nga National Marine park are an experience you will never forget. There are 40 islands in total, the most visited being 'James Bond Island' or Ko Phing Kan to the locals, which was made famous as a setting for Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun.

If you are staying on the Andaman Coast or on one of its stunning islands, it's also worth the extra effort to visit one of the Similian and Surin Islands national marine parks. Boat tours take visitors out to see the five Surin islands, which have shallow coral reefs teeming with life that make for excellent snorkelling. Best accessed from Khao Lak, there are nine small, uninhabited islands in Similian National Marine Park that are good for nature walks and snorkelling, and you may even spot bottle-nose dolphins, and hawksbill and leatherback turtles.

In the southern Gulf of Thailand, there are plenty of ferries offering transport between the three main islands of Ko Samui, Ko Phangan and Ko Tao, so you can explore them all if you wish. But the island-hopping highlight of this archipelago has to be Ang Thong National Marine Park that encompasses little unspoilt emerald islands with empty beaches. Taking a day trip here by boat is both exhilarating and deeply relaxing. After exploring hidden lagoons and stunning panoramas, you can relax on a beach miles from civilisation and drink in the pristine scenery.