Adventures in Thailand Tour: Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, Chiang Mai & Doi Inthanon

This is a long overdue review. We traveled to different areas of Thailand for 2 weeks at the end of January and beginning of February 2018. After being matched with this travel company, our agent made the process of planning this vacation very simple. He responded quickly to questions, was available through text, email, and phone, and put together a wonderful itinerary for us. We visited Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, Chiang Mai, and Koh Lanta, which were all unique and amazing in their own respects. What we were really impressed with is that our agent and his team made sure that someone was always waiting for us at our next stop, whether it was someone to pick us up at the airport or a tour guide waiting for us at our hotel. Unfortunately, there was one issue with our airplane tickets being accidentally booked incorrectly, but after getting on the phone with our agent, we were able to resolve it quickly and were able to continue on to Krabi as planned. I must say my fiancé and I were really impressed with the quality of the tours that were arranged for us by this travel agent. I cannot say enough about how much I absolutely adored our tour guide in Bangkok. Kanchanaburi was beautiful and my most favorite part was waking up to the sound of the flowing river on our jungle raft in the morning. We also loved the cooking class with a local Lanna family and visiting the Elephant Sanctuary in Chiang Mai and the Scuba Dive in Koh Lanta. The hotel was a spectacular treat in Koh Lanta. Our agent booked us a beachfront suite that was literally steps from the hotel's private beach front, and the perfect place to get engaged in Thailand.  This was an amazing unforgettable trip for the both of us and we cannot thank this travel company enough. Our travel agent and his team made this trip stress-free and wonderful. I would use his company again in a heartbeat and encourage anyone who is planning a trip to Thailand to utilize them as well. I promise you will not be disappointed! Thank you so much to our agent and the travel company's team. 

Excellent tour package and itinerary for a month long Southeast Asia trip visiting Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.

Our travel agent did a super job to ensure that we had an amazing travel adventure.

Transportation arrangements for pick-up and tours were efficient and well organized.  

Drivers were courteous and safe and vehicles were well maintained.

With the exception of one, all tour guides were knowledgeable, friendly, and beyond helpful.  

Special commendations to the following:  Our guides in Siem Reap, Cambodia, Saigon, Hoi An, Hanoi, Bangkok and in Chiang Mai.

Restaurants for lunch and food selections were exceptional.

Our vacation ended with a blissful few days of R&R at the resort on Koh Samui.

Overall experience .....5 Stars, Excellent!  Highly Recommended!

I can’t imagine going to Thailand without this Travel Company: they gave us a beautiful, tailor-made itinerary with no-stress travel from beginning to end. At the outset, our decision to use Zicasso for this trip was based on the following factors: 1) previous amazing experience booking/planning our honeymoon, 2) loved ones’ stories of travel difficulties in Thailand, and 3) our confidence in the travel planner’s (owner and founder, Travel Company) abilities and expertise. Additionally, my husband and I have very demanding careers with very little personal time; thus, planning a Thailand itinerary that incorporated every city and activity we desired seemed like a gargantuan task. 

Of those we spoke to, our travel planner was most exceptional, and his own experiences of once being a newcomer in Thailand shaped his unique perspective on must-see sights and worthwhile adventures. Our planner spent a great deal of time speaking to us one-on-one by phone as he planned the trip, and stayed available to us throughout our time in Thailand by an app. Our trip was 14-days (18 days counting travel), and involved many transfers by air, car, boat, and bus. The planner advised us on what to book, and even helped us decide the cities and length of time spent in each city. Our itinerary incorporated 3 nights in Chiang Mai, 5 nights in Krabi, 4 nights in Bangkok (6 if you count the first and last nights), and 2 nights in Kanchanaburi. Our travel planner booked every single activity, hotel, and car, bus, boat, and flight for us: from in-country domestic flights to making dinner reservations for us. For Krabi, I wanted a jacuzzi villa at a beautiful resort only accessible by boat and he secured it for us! The most difficult hotel to book was the floating villa on the River Kwai; it’s considered one of the most beautiful floating hotels in the world, so it was a high-priority and somewhat difficult but our planner did it! 

Since I am vegetarian, the travel planner went above-and-beyond to book me vegetarian meals on every domestic flight and for every activity. Every guide and/or driver was made aware of the vegetarian issue, and--in the end--it was as if I had more [vegetarian] food than the meat-eaters! I’ve never felt so accepted and included as I did on this trip. I’ve been to countries where these accommodations were not fully provided by guides/agents; thankfully, these struggles have long been “history” since we started booking with Zicasso!

Even if he was out of the office, our planner had us connected with his other team members, and every guide and driver was provided our contact and vice versa. For our time in Kanchanaburi, we were booked an amazing guide who was with us from pick-up to drop-off (3 days!) for all of our Kanchanaburi activities. I had a concerning abrasion after a fall in Krabi, and our guide took us to a hospital, translated for us, and even coordinated with the doctors to expedite our clinic visit.

We can’t imagine our trip without this Travel Company, and the fabulously flawless care provided by the travel planner and his team. Our planner’s dedication to perfectionism and seamlessness shines through how he runs the company, and we are grateful that we were matched up with them. For anyone on the fence, the extra funds required to book a comprehensive package really are worth it for Thailand. Especially if you want to travel outside of the city you fly into, hiring a team like this company is absolutely imperative if you want confidence and trust in those transporting you and guiding you through each city. 

We requested proposals from 7 different providers.  After evaluating each proposal on cost and quality we selected this travel agency.  Their price was in the middle of the price range.  However we judged their value to be the best considering the creativity and quality of the activities proposed as well as the included hotels and amenities.

Our request for proposal included our age, mobility situation. desired trip length and countries to be visited.  We visited Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar.  We provided our international flights to Phnom Penh and home from Yangon.  Our travel agency provided flights internal to SE Asia.  We were met promptly at each airport by a driver if we were just going to our hotel or driver and guide if sightseeing or activities were involved.  The guides handled all of our arrangements and everything went like clock-work.  They got the tickets, got us in the right lines or to the right door so that all we had to do was enjoy ourselves. Despite all the activities and sightseeing we still had time to enjoy our hotels and rest.

The activities were first-class:  acrobatic circus in Siem Reap, dinner and Thai dance show in Bangkok, floating market in Kanchanaburi, ride on the death train on the River Kwai, boat tour on the golden triangle river,  cooking class and dinner with a local family near Chiang Mai, two night luxury riverboat cruise from Mandalay to Bagan, sunrise balloon ride over Bagan, longtail boat tour around villages on Inle Lake and high tea at the old colonial hotel in Yangon.  All of these activities were wonderful and we will never forget them.

The hotels were all luxurious and had local flavor.  All of the rooms were spacious and the service excellent.  We spent the night in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Mandalay, Bagan and Yangon.  We have had several river boat trips but our river boat trip from Mandalay to Bagan surpassed it with more spacious cabins and baths, better public spaces and better service.

Our travel agent worked with us back and forth promptly as we fine tuned our itinerary.  He made recommendations on tipping, currency and local customs such that the entire trip went smoothly and thus maximized our enjoyment of these wonderful countries.  I cannot recommend this agent and his company high enough to reflect our satisfaction with the trip he arranged.

The travel company made some good recommendations and did a good job tailoring the package to our requests.  The selected hotels were all very comfortable and located per our requests in the city centers except one hotel in Chaing Mai but that was likely due to late booking in high season.  The hotel, was a fabulous property and once we figured out where to find Tuk-Tuks (close by but out of sight of the main doors) the location was actually fine.   The guides were exquisite - on time, knowledgeable, friendly and paced very well with us. All the connections were on time and flawless.  The itinerary and information that they furnished for the trip was complete and accurate.  Very professional end to end. High marks! 

Overall, it was a great trip - we loved Thailand and would highly recommend it. Our Thailand travel agency set up a great itinerary for us and almost all of the activities and hotels were fantastic. The agency is based in Vietnam and they used a Bangkok based tour company to book our tour - we didn't have any major problems at all, but I do think this created just a few hiccups, since our main contact with our travel agency wasn't actually in Thailand and needed a third party to help plan our trip. With that said, with the exception of one less than ideal hotel stay, it was an amazing trip, and I would highly recommend the Ariyasom Villa in Bangkok, the De Naga in Chiang Mai (amazing - stay here!) and the Saree Samui in Koh Samui. I would NOT recommend The Legend in Chiang Rai - or really, going to Chiang Rai at all - the time we spent there would have been better spent in Chiang Mai or Koh Samui, or perhaps seeing another part of the country.

Our contact at our travel agency was WONDERFUL. We loved her! But her contact at the Thailand based company was not as helpful as we would have liked when we encountered a military coup while we were traveling. We were completely safe the entire time, but we decided to change one of our hotel stays to be closer to the airport in Bangkok. Our travel agent responded immediately and helped us make the change, but we needed the Thailand based company to help with the change in the reservations, and they pushed back a bit on the change fees, etc.

Bottom Line: I would go back to Thailand and I would definitely use our travel agency again, but I would also recommend researching the places you are headed a little bit more than we did and knowing who your contact on the ground will be, to be sure you're getting exactly what you want. Also, if we plan a trip to Vietnam, I would definitely use this agency as well, since they are based there.