Friendly and fun loving, exotic and tropical, cultured and historic, Thailand radiates a golden hue from its glittering temples and tropical beaches through to the ever-comforting Thai smile.
The celestial world is a close confidant in this Buddhist nation, and religious devotion is colourful and ubiquitous. Visitors can join the conversation through meditation retreats in Chiang Mai, religious festivals in northeastern Thailand, underground cave shrines in Kanchanaburi and Phetchaburi and hilltop temples in northern Thailand.
Thai cuisine is adored around the world, it expresses fundamental aspects of Thai culture: it is generous, warm, refreshing and relaxed.
In between the tremendous cities and towns is the rural heartland, which is a mix of rice paddies, tropical forests and squat villages tied to the agricultural clock. In the north, the forests and fields bump up against toothy blue mountains decorated with silvery waterfalls. In the south, scraggy limestone cliffs poke out of the cultivated landscape like prehistoric skyscrapers. Thailand will promise you the perfect balance of adventure and relaxation and you may begin to wish that you never have to leave.