Wondering what actually happens each day on the Thai Intro 18 Day Tour? I just completed this epic journey through Thailand, and I’m breaking down every single day so you know exactly what to expect and if this tour is for you.
This complete itinerary guide covers all 18 days including activities, meals, accommodations, travel days, and insider tips for each stop. For my overall review and verdict on whether the tour is worth it, check out my Intro Travel Thailand Review.
Also, this is the exact same itinerary for the Thai Intro 9 day trip and 12 day trip options. They just obviously end earlier in Koh Phangan and Koh Phi Phi, respectively.
Before the Tour Starts
My strongest recommendation for any Intro Tour is to book a pre-night through them instead of arriving the start date of the tour. You can alternatively book your own accommodation several nights before the official tour start.
Arriving before allows you to ease into the tour, as you’ll be battling jet lag and culture shock. If you book a flight that arrives on the tour start date, you risk flight delays and missing the welcome dinner where you get to meet your fellow group members. This is an important bonding opportunity that you don’t want to miss!
The biggest critique I have of Intro Tours is that it never feels like they have enough nights in the start city. As the start city for Thai Intro is Bangkok, I found it ridiculous that we only have two nights in one of the most famous and largest cities in the world. Doing a pre-night allowed me to check out some sights and do some extra shopping that were not included in the itinerary like the Grand Palace.
If you do the pre-night, you still get picked up at the airport by Intro Travel. The best part is that you’ll have a private room for your first night and have a roommate added the second day, so you can enjoy a bit of calm. The Intro private Facebook group is a good way to find out if anyone else is arriving early to the tour as well, so you might be able to coordinate schedules and not be alone during your pre-night if solo travel is not your favorite.
Bangkok (Days 1-3)
Day 1: Arrival and Welcome Dinner
Where you’ll stay: Rambutrri Village Hotel
You’ll be picked up by Intro Travel at the airport. The Intro Travel app gives detailed instructions on where to meet your driver. When you arrive at the hotel, the group leader greets you and gets you situated before the welcome dinner.
Since I arrived early, I had over 30 hours of free time and squeezed in MBK, Terminal 21, Wat Arun, Grand Palace, The Capybara Café, and nightlife before the tour even started!
Welcome dinner: You’ll meet your group members in the lobby before walking to a touristy restaurant. The food isn’t amazing, but the purpose is socializing and meeting the people you’ll spend weeks with.
After dinner, we went to Bangkok’s tallest bar with a revolving platform for 360 views. The views were incredible, though drinks were just okay.
Khao San Road: The hotel is one street down from the infamous Khao San Road. Some of us not ready to call it a night hit up a live music bar and played Uno while drinking cocktails and Chang Beers—my favorite part of the night.
Day 2: Temple Tours and Epic Bangkok Nightlife
Included activities:
- Group breakfast
- Tour orientation meeting (receive your Intro bracelet)
- Buddhist temple visit with monk blessing
- River cruise
- Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha)
Free time: Afternoon is all yours! I got my first of many Thai massages and manicure with another girl from the group.
Night out: This is one of the BIG group nights. You walk to Khao San Road to a bucket bar for cocktails, dancing. Some brave souls, like myself 😎, ate scorpions and tarantulas from street vendors.
There’s a funny tradition with Intro Travel where everyone buys a vulgar bracelet for the person next to them. Everyone in our group was a good sport and kept theirs on until the end! My favorite was “Long Hairy Flaps” which was a popular pick in our group.
Then you head to “The Club” (yes, that’s actually the name). This night is legendary and really brings the group together. It lives up to Bangkok’s nightlife reputation! The hotel is a 5-minute walk if you want to leave early, but most of us stayed out until 3am.
Day 3: Cooking Class and Overnight Train
Check out day – Pack a day pack for the train and Khao Sok. Your main luggage is stored until you reach Koh Phangan.
Morning activity: Thai cooking class where you learn to make traditional dishes, sing songs, and eat what you cook! Sap, sap, sap! 🎶
Free time: You have several hours. It was a Saturday, so we took a Grab (Southeast Asia’s Uber equivlant) to Chatuchak Weekend Market (world’s largest weekend market!). I could’ve stayed all day but had to get back in time for the train.
Overnight train tips:
- Bring a fully charged battery pack and charge your phone in the hotel lobby before leaving for the train station–no charging ports in the train.
- Stop at 7-Eleven for snacks and provisions, or stock up at the train station
- Bring a jacket! The train gets surprisingly cold
- There are no cabins, just beds stacked in rows with curtains for privacy
- Top bunks are smaller with no windows
- Group leader wakes you around 5am (30 minutes before arrival)
Khao Sok National Park (Days 4-5)
Day 4: Floating Bungalow Adventure
Where you’ll stay: Klong Ka Lakehouse floating bungalows
You have breakfast near the train station and say goodbye to your large luggage (you’ll see it again in Koh Phangan). Last chance to charge phones is in the restaurant, otherwise no electricity until after 6pm! You’ll also stop en route at a bottle shop to purchase your alcoholic beverages of choice for the evening, since the bungalows do not sell alcohol.
Longtail boat ride: After a van to the dock, you board a longtail boat for an hour-long ride through stunning limestone mountains in Khao Sok National Park. It’s otherworldly. Take the trash bag your group leader offers—you will get wet! 💦
At the floating bungalows: You’re essentially stranded here (in a good way!). Activities include swimming, kayaking, playing Uno on the deck, and relaxing. Lunch is included.
Evening boat cruise: An hour-long longtail ride to explore more of the park. You might see monkeys and rarely, elephants–there are around 200 in the park, but our group leader said she’s only spotted the once.
Accommodation reality check: The beds are rock-hard, there’s no electricity until 6pm, no locks on the door, and shared bathrooms down the floating pathway. But the stargazing is unreal. It’s more glamping than hotel, but super memorable for one night. I’d call it an “experience”.
Day 5: Travel Day to Koh Phangan
Long travel day alert: Early wake-up at sunrise. Longtail boat back to docks, then van, then ferry to Koh Phangan. Nearly 8 hours total. Bring a jacket for the ferry—it gets freezing! ❄️
Arrival at Sarana Bungalows: Finally! You get to stay here four nights. Time to shower (best shower of your life after two days of traveling), swim in the pool or ocean, play volleyball, and have the best strawberry daiquiri. Sara Bungalows operates on a tab system so you can leave your wallet in your room and worry about how many strawberry daiquiris you’ve consummed at the end. Live you best island life!
Evening: Full Moon Party
Pro Tip: This is one of Intro’s home bases, so you can buy merch here! It’s actually recommended you buy an Intro souvenir shirt for tonight because you get to paint each other with dayglow paint for the moon party, which will stain. Better not to risk your actual clothes and get paint splatters on an Intro shirt instead. Plus, our tour guide, Tanya, painted our names in Thai on our shirts at dinner!
You meet up before taking a van twenty minutes away to dinner where you start the party by painting each other in glow in the dark paint. It’s like being in art class, but you get to paint everywhere—on yourself, on each other, on your shirt, on your face, arms, legs! After dinner you sing karaoke and stand on chairs (standing on chairs is one of the best parts of Thailand!).
After karaoke, everyone is starting to loosen up and you make your way down the street to a bucket bar where you can continue to paint each other, dance, sing, play pool, and beer pong. Afterwards, you head down to the beach where you dance the night away in the sand and get to see your first fire show! It’s a wild night and another group bonding experience.
Koh Phangan Island Paradise (Days 6-8)
Day 6: Relaxation and Night Market
Scheduled activities:
- Thai massage on the beach (included)
- Night market for dinner
Free time: Most of the day! Many people slept in after last night’s full moon party. I took an early beach stroll—at low tide you can see all the sandbars (Koh Phangan means “Sandbar island”).
We grabbed lunch at Bubbas café (so good I went twice and bought a shirt!). Came back for our scheduled beachside Thai massage, then volleyball, pool time, and getting ready for the night market.
The night market is perfect for trying Thai street food—safe, hygienic, and super cheap. We checked out a local fair afterward, then grabbed soju from 7-Eleven to drink on the beach at our hotel.
Day 7: Beach Hopping Day (One of My Favorites!)
One of my favorite days of the entire tour is day 7, aka the “beach hopping day”. A safari-style truck picks you up from the hotel and drives you across the island to go to several different beaches. Along the way we sang along to songs with the wind blowing through our hair, having the best time ever.
You only spend an hour or so at each location so there isn’t time to relax, but you cover a lot of ground. Starting with the first beach you get split up into two teams for a photo competition with challenges like “take a group pyramid photo” or “do a hair flip photo”. I love challenges and it was nice to get some fun silly memories.
There are stops at a cliff side café where you can do some snorkeling too, as well as a bar with an incredible view from the highest point of the island.
Evening: BBQ dinner on the beach at the hotel (included), then pub quiz about Thailand facts and photo competition winner announcement.
Optional Waterfall Festival: Intro Travel does a great job of helping organize activities that are not officially part of the tour if enough of the members are interested. We found out about this cool Waterfall Festival happening that night, and our group leader helped arrange transportation to and from the festival and joined us for extra safety.
Even though it was one of the more expensive nights out at 1,200 Bhat ($37 USD) for admission, it was well worth it and was the perfect ending to the perfect day. It’s good to factor in these cool, last-minute experiences in your budget when planning your Thai Intro Tour.
Day 8: Muay Thai and Goodbye Dinner
Morning: Everyone was looking forward to this day—Muay Thai training! In the late morning, we were shuttled to a Muay Thai training facility to learn the national sport of Thailand. It involved warm ups, drills, and eventually you get to go in the ring with one of the trainers and practice your new Muay Thai skills as he yells “Right elbow, knee, knee, kick!” It’s a very smelly and sweaty workout that will leave you feeling like such a badass.
Afternoon: Free time until dinner
Evening: Goodbye dinner for 9-day tour members at a gorgeous Mediterranean beachfront restaurant. After dinner, back to the beach for another fire show, cocktails, and connect four in bean bags. Some of us volunteered for the fire show (I had to, of course!). It’s an earlier night finishing at 10:30pm because of the long travel day the following day for those both ending the tour and continuing on to Phi Phi.
Koh Phi Phi (Days 9-12)
Day 9: Heartfelt Goodbyes and Travel
Morning: We said goodbye to three group members (9-day tour and Intro + Dive folks leave 😢💔). The group leader helps those leaving arrange transportation from taxis to ferries, or hotels depending on their situations. Throughout the tour, the group leader is there to assist in any needs you have. It’s like having a travel agent, best friend, and parent all in one.
Travel: Ferry to mainland, then van, then speedboat to Koh Phi Phi. Sleep if you can and be sure to take sea sick meds!
Arriving in Phi Phi: Chaos in the best way at the dock! No cars on the island, so men with carts carry your luggage to the hotel ten minutes away saying “beep beep” when you’re in their way–adorably hilarious.
Quick turnaround: Short time to shower and get ready for dinner since you arrive late.
Optional scuba diving: It’s not part of the Thai Intro Tour, but if you wanted to try scuba diving, this is the place to do so during the tour. It’s very affordable and you don’t have to be certified. If you are scuba certified already, you’re rate is even cheaper at only roughly $85 USD for two dives. After dinner, those interested will walk over to the dive shop to get fitted for gear and pay for the next morning’s dives.
Evening: Another fire show! I volunteered with two others to have a cigarette lit from a spinning fire ball inches from our faces.
Day 10: Scuba Diving and Plankton Boat Party (Another Favorite Day of the Trip!)
Morning: If you’re diving, start at 7am at the dive shop. Everyone else has a relaxing morning until 2pm.
🐢 My diving experience: Absolutely surreal! We saw a sea turtle at the end of our second dive . After returning, there’s plenty time for snacks, shopping (great souvenir shops in Phi Phi), or massage.
Afternoon: Plankton Boat (FAVORITE ACTIVITY!) Three-story boat just for your group:
- Top deck for sublime views
- Party deck with happy hour bar—100 Baht ($3) cocktails (dangerously delicious)
- Jump off the top into the water
- Snorkel with reef sharks (I saw three!) 🦈🦈🦈
- Kayak around Monkey Island
- Inner tubes
- Swim in bioluminescent plankton
- Dinner on board
It was choppy, so we ran back and forth like Jack Sparrow pretending to rock the boat. It started raining and we just moved the party to the second deck and invited the crew to join us in dancing and singing. I never wanted it to end!
Day 11: Viewpoint Hike and Island Tour
Warning: If you’re hungover from those $3 cocktails, it’s going to be a bumpy day!
Early Morning: Hike to Phi Phi’s highest viewpoint. Short hike, but feels like a million never-ending stairs. Views are absolutely worth it.
Speedboat snorkel tour: The next scheduled activity is a speedboat ride to several snorkel spots and a gorgeous beach for lunch. The bumpy speedboat ride was fun at first, but after going from snorkel spot to snorkel spot, I started to feel sea sick even with anti-nausea meds.
If you did the dives, the snorkel spot is nearly the same, so I wasn’t too excited about it. The best part was swimming in the bay and in a little cove that was so tranquil and looked like something out of Jurassic park.
The island beach is lovely too, but sadly we don’t spend enough time there. It’s only an hour for a pre-packed lunch on the beach and a short swim. At that point I was just so grateful to be on dry land and off the rocking boat.
We also pass by Monkey Island ….again. Several of the stops seemed redundant as we did them just the other day. I would have preferred more time in the bay/cove and on the beach and skip the snorkeling and Monkey Island.
Maya Bay is normally one of the stops, but it closes down for conservation purposes several months out of the year, so we only pass by it. It was made famous by the movie “The Beach” starring a young Leonardo DiCaprio.
Afternoon: Free time! Finish shopping, chill at beach with cocktails, or get a traditional bamboo tattoo like my friend Lucy did!
Evening: 12-Day Tour Goodbye Dinner and HUGE Night Out
Lovely dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant, then bar hopping:
- Irish bar (standing and singing on benches)
- Karaoke bar
- Wild dance hall with shots poured from the bar, dance-offs until 3am
- We even ran into a Thai Experience group and partied together!
Since Phi Phi is small and walkable, it’s easy to leave early if you’re tired (unlike Koh Phangan where you need to wait for vans).
Day 12: Final Goodbyes and Travel to Phuket
Morning: We said goodbye to two more group members. Each goodbye gets harder 😭. Only 18-day members remain!
Travel: Speedboat back to mainland (choppy but rocked the exhausted group to sleep), then van to Phuket.
Phuket arrival: Only one night here. The city Phuket is like beach-side Bangkok—chaotic and congested. Jarring after peaceful island life.
No scheduled activities. Group leader sends recommendations in the group chat. We grabbed lunch at a Turkish rooftop restaurant and checked out the beach (very different from the islands).
Evening: Group dinner, then checked out Bangla Walking Street (Khao San Road x20). Would’ve been fun to explore more and party, but we were too exhausted and overwhelmed, so we called it an early night.
Insight: I was looking forward to Phuket so much at the beginning of our tour and was disappointed. This isn’t the island side of Phuket like you may have seen on TikTok, but the crazy, intense mainland Phuket. The short time we were here felt like a “in limbo” day. Don’t expect much.
Chiang Mai (Days 13-18)
Day 13: Flight to Chiang Mai and Night Market
Travel: Early morning flight from Phuket to Chiang Mai. Arrive around noon—feels like you have a whole day still unlike other travel days!
Weather note: Our good weather luck ended here. Rain off and on for the rest of the tour, but we didn’t let it stop us!
Afternoon: Free time! Half of us went to Women’s Prisoner Massage (ex-convicts given a chance as masseuses—unique, must-try experience!).
Evening group activities:
- Night market for dinner and shopping
- Try Khao Soi (Northern Thailand’s famous dish—my personal favorite!)
- Watch a real Muay Thai fight with professional fighters
I loved the night market so much I kept returning again and again even after extending my trip post-tour.
Day 14: Doi Suthep Temple and Sticky Waterfall
Morning: Visit Wat Prathat Doi Suthep—Buddhist temple on a hill overlooking Chiang Mai. First temple since Bangkok! Tucked in misty hills, much more authentic and less touristy.
Included lunch outside the temple, then light shopping.
Afternoon: Sticky Waterfall A must-do Chiang Mai experience! Walk up the waterfall like Spiderman thanks to grippy limestone. It’s impossible to describe—truly like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. It’s ironically more dangerous and harder to walk down the slippery wooden stairs to get to the bottom of the waterfall than it is to climb up the waterfall itself.
My mistake: We all left our phones in the van. The tour guide took photos, but I wish I’d brought mine in a waterproof case for videos and better photos!
You can go up twice if you want. I did it again with a few others, taking a different path for more challenge.
Evening: Long drive back, quick shower, then group decided on a burger joint for dinner.
Nightlife: Everyone else was tired (boo!), so I went with just our group leader to North Gate—a famous jazz bar. MUST-DO in Chiang Mai! People pour out onto the street trying to get in. Energy is incredible. Eventually everyone’s standing on chairs and benches dancing to live music. You feel like a main character in a movie. Shout out to our group leader Lucy for always having the best recommendations everywhere we go!
Day 15: Jungle Trek to Waterfall Camp
Checkout: Today you checkout of our rooms and stow all your luggage in the group leader room, only taking a day pack into the jungle. You’re coming back to the same hotel tomorrow, but Intro Travel doesn’t want to pay for empty rooms for the night. Pack light–you’ll have to carry it during the hour hike there and the two hour hike back up!
Transport: Songthaews (pickup trucks with bench seats in back). I’ve been mistakenly calling them long tuk tuks the entire trip. It’s a very common mode of transportation in Chiang Mai and practical for large groups, but when you were planning on sleeping in a nice comfy van, a songthaew is bitter surprise.
Karen Village visit: A local tour guide shows you how they live, make woven bags, their moonshine, and gives a village tour. Then a songthaew up a bumpy jungle path to lunch at Wat Laung Khun Win—700-year-old temple with beautiful teak Buddhas. Most serene temple ever, tucked in mountains with hardly anyone there. It’s my favorite temple of the entire trip–absoluely magical.
Jungle trek: Leave the songthaew and hike through jungle. The Tour guide makes everyone jungle crowns from leaves! Learn about bugs and plants. EAT LEMON ANTS OFF LEAVES—they taste exactly like lemons!
Waterfall camp arrival: Cool off in the waterfall at our camp after the very sweaty hike. Chill afternoon playing slingshot, eating jungle fries, Uno. Dinner by gaslamp and roasting marshmallows over campfire.
Sleeping: Thatched-roof hut with entire group on mats under mosquito netting. Manual flush toilets, no electricity, gas lamps only. Waterfall sounds are loud but relaxing—drowns out snoring. If you survived Khao Sok’s hard beds, you’ll survive this.
Day 16: Jungle Breakfast and Bamboo Rafting
Morning: Coffee at camp made from local beans, tea with jungle honey. Incredible pancakes with chocolate sauce, fresh mangos, and passion fruit. One of the best breakfasts in a once-in-a-lifetime setting in the jungle!
Time to swim in waterfall and chill before the 11am trek back. Before heading out, you get to play with the resident banana spider—she’ll crawl on your face if you’re brave!
Trek back: You take the longer route passing corn fields, rice fields, and crossing a creek this time. Got caught in rain the last 30 minutes, which actually added to the experience (more adventure!).
Back at Karen Village: Well-deserved lunch, then bamboo rafting! Three people per slender bamboo raft going down the river PASSING BY ELEPHANTS! I kick myself for not bringing my phone. It’s a short 20 minute ride, but so much fun!
Return to Chiang Mai: The Songthaew picks you up. Check into rooms again and then get ready for dinner at night market (yes, again— I told you we love it!).
Optional: Ladyboy Cabaret – Located at the night market, I STRONGLY recommend going to the Ladyboy Cabaret! It’s a fun, wild time with beautiful ladyboys performing empowering songs like “It’s Raining Men” and “Moulin Rouge.” Be warned though–They do pick on men in the audience for volunteers for certain acts! It’s all in good fun though!
Day 17: Elephant Sanctuary and Final Goodbye Dinner
Free morning until 1pm – Good time to cram in any last minute souvenir shopping and start packing.
Into the Wild Elephant Camp: One of the most awaited activities of the trip—the elephant sanctuary! I’m not sure why it’s such a late start, since we essentially travel two hours by songthaew again to where we were yesterday. Intro Travel only uses ethical, eco-friendly activities.
We eat a quick lunch at the sanctuary before learning about the elephants and preparing their “medicine” and food we get to feed them. Afterwards, we go on a jungle walk and get to watch the elephants bath in the river from afar.
No touching, bathing with, or riding elephants – Sanctuaries that allow this aren’t in the elephants’ best interest. I have to admit, I was expecting a little more interaction with the elephants as well as a longer time spent at the elephant sanctuary itself, especially for such a long drive. Everything went by so quickly!
Photographer takes photos (sent via Google Doc link on WhatsApp later), but if you want to *make sure* you get good photos, I recommend taking some on your phone.
Return: After an even longer journey back to the hotel thanks to Chiang Mai traffic, we have just over half an hour to get ready for our final dinner together.
Final dinner: We reflect on our entire trip together and share our highs and lows of the trip and fill out Intro Travel’s online review about the tour and our tour leader and guide.
Epic final night out:
- Zoe Yellow for drinks and dancing
- Gasoline (karaoke bar across the street) – most of the night spent here singing, playing pool, dancing
- Spicey nightclub for those who never want it to end
Day 18: Tour End
Official last day: You have to check out of the hotel by noon, unless you arranged with Intro Travel to do an extra night post-tour. Luggage storage available if you have a later flight or are switching hotels.
Only two people in our group left that evening—the rest stayed extra nights or days.
My advice: AT MINIMUM stay one extra night. Even better, book a changeable flight and extend several days like I did. It’s been a hectic 18 days and you need time to decompress. Plus, there is so much still to check out in Chiang Mai and Thailand, you will regret it if you don’t stay a few more days.
Post Tour Recommendations
If you heed my advice and take a few days after the tour to enjoy Thailand either solo or with some of your new friends, here are some options you can do—
- Explore Chiang Mai some more! It’s the second largest city with so much to do and see.
- Get a bunch of spa treatments since no matter where you are from, it’s definitely at least 3x more expensive back home.
- Stay a night at Chai Lai Orchid in the middle of an elephant sanctuary and experience elephants right at your bungalow doorstep.
- Do a day trip to Chiang Rai (or spend a couple of days there for a less rushed experience)
- Fly down to Phuket or Krabi for more island hoping.
- Fly back to Bangkok for a few days to check out all the cool malls, temples, and restaurants you missed.
Ready to book? Read my complete Intro Travel Thailand Review for accommodations, costs, and my final verdict on whether it’s worth it.
Need to know what to pack? Check out my Essential Packing List for Intro Travel Thailand with everything you need.
