How the planner works. And what it deliberately won’t do.
What it asks, and why
First, when you are going: real dates if you have them, or a month and a length like “12 nights” if you don’t. Then five groups of questions. Who is going, with ages for children, because a six-year-old changes what a day can hold. What you want from Thailand: beaches, food, temples, jungle, trekking, diving, local life, and how full you want the days. Your budget band. How you feel about overnight trains and long ferries, which buy a cheaper, quieter Thailand at the price of some comfort. And, when you know it, what time your flight lands.
That last answer shapes the first day. Land early off an overnight flight and Day 1 stays light to recover. Land midday and you get one thing. Land late and the plan holds Day 1 to an easy evening, with a note on the day itself so you know it was deliberate. Until you know, the planner keeps Day 1 light and says so.
What the engine weighs
Thailand runs on two monsoons, on two coasts, out of phase. Before the planner places a single day it scores both coasts for your month, using the same month-by-month map we publish. July in Phuket and July on Koh Tao are different trips.
Then the routing rules. Total transit is held to a ceiling set by your trip length, about 10 hours of it for a week away, and the planner would rather drop a stop than rush you. Stops carry minimum stays, so you never unpack for a single pointless night. This is the same arithmetic our free route check uses to judge itineraries people bring us.
Inside each day, two systems work side by side. A ranking system: when a stay is short, the thing you would regret missing takes the slot ahead of the merely nice, and things that belong together land on the same day. And a time budget: a full-day outing never lands on the day you arrive, and two full-day outings never share a day. Your first morning in Bangkok is something easy nearby, not a theme park an hour out of town.
Festivals the planner tracks appear on the days your dates touch them, with the hedges kept. So do season notes: Songkran water, burning-season air in the North, the wet coast’s discounts.
Examples
Both routes below are real planner output for the same brief: ten nights from 7 November 2026, two of you, temples, food and beach. Hours are time in transit from the planner’s own transport records; totals are its estimates, not quotes.
- 12h50 in transit across four legs, one of them a six-hour van-and-flight back through Chiang Mai to reach the coast, ten hours door to door
- Two-night stays everywhere, so every other morning is a pack-up
- ⚑ Ends on Koh Lanta with no Bangkok night before the flight home: a cancelled boat becomes a missed flight
- Estimate for two: $2,350–2,950 before flights to Thailand
- 4h40 in transit across three legs, all of them flights of two hours or less
- Three and four-night stays, so the beach days are beach days, not transfer days
- The last night is in Bangkok, so the flight home doesn’t depend on a ferry
- Estimate for two: $2,150–2,750, and eight fewer hours in transit
What you give up: Pai and Koh Lanta. Both are still one tap away in the planner, and it will tell you, in hours and nights, what adding either back costs. Already have a route sketched? The route check runs the same tests on it →
The three example trips on the homepage each carry a constraint the planner has to respect. The family trip has a six-year-old, so the planner drops Pai, holds back climbing, ridge paths, the night swim and the rooftop bars until you have checked with the operator, and prices two rooms and four fares with the assumptions written down. The July diving trip goes to the Gulf, because the Similan and Surin parks on the Andaman side are closed for the season, with a flight to Samui instead of the ten-hour night train. The February sleeper trip replaces a hotel night and a $45 flight with the 13-hour train, counted as an overnight rather than a day to protect, and early February clears the burning-season cut-off the planner applies from mid-month.
What you can change once it’s built
All of it.
Nights. Every stop has a plus and a minus. Take a night away and it does not vanish: it goes to a visible night bank (“2 nights in hand”) until you place it somewhere. Add a night when none are banked and the planner asks where it should come from, because your trip stays the same length. Nothing moves silently.
Places. Tap any stop’s name to change it. You can pick from suggested swaps or search all 19 places we cover so far. Prefer to skip the questions? The planner has a second door: Know your route? Build it yourself. Tap places in the order you will visit them, we fill the days with verified plans, and we tell you straight when the transit arithmetic gets ugly.
Days. The refresh arrow on any activity offers the next verified thing that fits that day. When nothing else fits, it says so instead of pretending.
Keeping it. A share link restores the trip on any device, rebuilt against the current tables: your route, nights and choices come back as saved, and a detail that has since been re-checked can read differently. Print / save as PDF is free and adds a proper calendar page when your trip has real dates. Dated trips can also download an .ics file that drops your stays, travel days and the arrival-card reminder into your phone’s calendar.
How we check
A row is checked when we have read it on the operator’s or the authority’s own page and written down the date. When we haven’t, the planner says so, in amber, on the plan.
Dream World’s parade runs on weekends and public holidays, at 3pm
Not daily, and not twice a day. Our own planner said “a daily parade” and our kids guide said “twice-daily” until an outside review caught it. Both were corrected the same day.
Full Moon Party dates come from the Haad Rin schedule, not a blog
The planner’s 2026 dates were re-checked against the published Haad Rin Business Association schedule on 22 August 2026; 2027 dates are projections and are labelled as such on every plan. That schedule itself warns the 27 October party may move.
◌ Not checked: no flight time, so day 1 is shaped as a guess
Lines like that print above every verdict: no dates yet, children’s ages not given, a transfer composed from two legs we checked separately rather than one we have ridden as a through-route. The planner never prints a green light while one of those is open.
Who maintains this. Thaitinerary is written and maintained by one person, Nishan, with no staff and no sponsors. Rows come from operators’ and authorities’ own pages, checked and dated, plus time in Thailand; the next visit is this autumn, and what it changes gets logged on the page it changes. Partner links earn a commission at no cost to you, are labeled where they appear, and never decide a pick.
What it refuses to do
This is the part we would put on a billboard.
It won’t invent an activity. Past what we have verified for a stop, days show as open, “yours to shape.” An open day is the planner telling you the truth. Plenty of trip generators will happily invent day six. Ours would rather hand you a free afternoon.
It won’t quote live prices. The planner deals in estimates, not quotes, each with the month it was checked. Booking links open real partner searches and carry a label every single time they appear.
It won’t overfill your arrival day. You just flew across the world. The planner knows.
It won’t route both coasts into two weeks. The transit ceiling exists so your holiday is not a sequence of airports and ferry queues. One coast, chosen by the monsoon. The other one will still be there.
It won’t pretend certainty. Where we are unsure, the page says so, and those hedges are part of the information.
What the Companion adds, and what stays free
The planner, the editing, the share link and the print button: free, now and at launch. The Companion is the $24-per-trip layer for the trip you are taking: arrival and transfer instructions for each leg, a booking checklist with dependencies, a workable wet day for every stop and an offline document. It is planned for late October 2026, and anyone on the list before launch gets it free, for good. What it includes and what it does not is on the pricing page.
Questions about the planner
Do I need an email address?
No. You can build, view and edit a plan without one. Joining the founding list is optional.
What if I do not have dates yet?
Start with a month and number of nights. Date-dependent options stay conditional until you provide dates.
Can I change the route?
Yes. Change stops, move nights or replace activities. The planner reruns its checks and shows the consequences.
Does Thaitinerary make my bookings?
No. Booking links take you to external providers. You make and manage your bookings with them.
What does the Companion add?
Practical help for carrying out the trip, including arrival instructions, booking dependencies, wet-day alternatives and an offline document. See pricing and what is included →
Should I confirm details before booking?
Yes. Information can change after we check it. Confirm opening times, transport and booking conditions with the operator before you pay.
The planner is free now. The Companion is what launches.
Join the list before late October and you’re a founding member: the Companion ($24 per trip after launch) is free for you, for good.
Build your Thailand itinerary.
Dates or a rough month, five groups of questions, and a route you can change.
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