Bangkok is a huge flight hub in Southeast Asia with good connections to Europe, The Middle East, and London. You can also fly to Bangkok cheaply and easily from just about anywhere in Asia on the budget airlines. It’s the perfect place to start your explorations of Southeast Asia. Here we’ll give you a three-week itinerary to see the best of these three countries.
A Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore route is a great introductory itinerary for first-time visitors, giving a good diversity of food and cultures. There are plenty of beach opportunities if you want that, plus travel is easy in these destinations. These are 3 of the easiest countries to travel in Southeast Asia, they are all very modern and wealthy in parts, and they all have direct border crossings.
There are internal and international flights as part of this itinerary, they are short and cheap. Our cheapest flight ever in Southeast Asia was just $12, KL to Krabi. Bargains like this are out there!
3 Week Southeast Asia Itinerary, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore.
We’ve broken down this post into the following sections
- Things To Know Before Planning or Booking
- Travel Tips and Useful Tools
- Thailand Travel Itinerary (9 days approx)
- Malaysia Travel Itinerary (9 days)
- Singapore Travel Itinerary (3 days)
Obviously there is flexibility in our itineraries, we try to point you towards worthwhile additions or places you may want to skip.
Things To Know Before Planning Any Itinerary For Southeast Asia
- When’s the best time to visit this region? You’ll want to avoid the worst of the rainy seasons, and times when there may be flooding, and possibly extremely hot times of year. We wrote a full guide to best times to visit all of the countries in Southeast Asia here, briefly, for this itinerary, October is the start of peak season in Thailand, with good weather through to the end of February. You may also want to catch some local festivals, there are a lot, and they’re all worth seeing. The Best Festivals in Southeast Asia are on our list, here. If you’re travelling with young children think carefully about crowds and if your kids can handle them. Christmas is a good time, but hotels will probably be more expensive and booking more difficult. Lunar New Year is early in the year, check the dates. The dry season in Malaysia and Singapore is later, February, March and April being the best months. In Malaysia the dry season is around June. I would probably choose February as the best time to visit all 3 countries, but don’t worry about the weather too much. We have driven all around mainland Malaysia and toured Borneo in February, and saw no rain!
- Think about visas in advance. You can check visa regulations for Southeast Asia here at IVISA.
- Consider any travel vaccinations you may need, or health advisories, well in advance.
- If planning all of this travel sounds like too much hassle, or maybe you’re a solo traveller and would enjoy some company, book a small group adventure tour, there are plenty to choose from in Southeast Asia.
- When you book your major international flights, remember that they are often cheapest about 3 months before departure, there is no need to plan further in advance, and you can certainly book everything last minute, or as you go. You do not need a travel agent.
Travel Tips and Tools
We have travelled extensively in Southeast Asia, for years, as a family. We’ve had no major problems, it’s been easy, affordable, and fun for the whole family. This is why we like to write these guides, to help you get the most out of exploring the world!
All of our travel tips for Asian travel, including packing, are here. The links and guides below should be useful for you.
Car Hire As I already mentioned, we have travelled in both Malaysia and Thailand by car. The road trip option is worth considering!
A physical travel SIM card, without borders, or an ESIM
Your flights, to Bangkok, Home From Singapore, or whichever route you choose.
VISAS
Booking tours and activities, alternatively, use the Asia booking platform, Klook. If you subscribe we’ll send you our 10% discount code.
Booking Hotels, Guest Houses, Apartments and Hostels You can use whichever platform you’re used to, but Agoda is based in Singapore, is very reliable in our experience, and often has more choices in Southeast Asia.
Travel insurance. Multi-country travel insurance can be quite complicated. Get a free quote here.
Booking buses, trains, internal flights and ferries. It’s so easy if you use our recommendation!
Thailand Itinerary
1. Arrival in Bangkok, Plus 3 Full Days in The City
You will arrive in Bangkok by air at one of the two main city airports, Suvarnabhumi, BKK (pronounced su-wanna-poom) or Don Mueang DMK. BKK is connected to the city by the Airport Rail Link (ARL), DMK is an older airport, and is not, you’ll have to travel into Bangkok by road.
The local budget airlines usually use DMK, international travellers from Europe, the USA and the Middle East are more likely to arrive at BKK, it’s a nicer airport with better facilities. DMK is a little closer to the city centre, 22 km away vs 28 km out.
How will you get from the airport to the city or your hotel? You can take the train, although we never have in the 30 or so times we’ve arrived in Bangkok. Taxis or transfers are easier and usually cheaper for a family. The roads are usually busy in Bangkok. Your taxi driver will ask you if you’d rather use the highway and pay the tolls, or take the extremely slow route. Pay the tolls! They’re inexpensive. You will need Thai Baht in cash for this, get some out at an ATM inside the airport.
If you don’t want to wait your turn at the taxi ranks and would rather use the faster tollway without dipping into your cash, book a transfer. Book a transfer from BKK here, and from DMK here. If you prefer, you can book these through the Asian platform Klook, if you sign up we can send you a 10% discount code.
Allow at least an hour for the journey. Check in at your hotel, if you can, if not, drop your bags and start exploring!
- Where will you stay in Bangkok? You need a convenient location, near the main attractions. This hotel is a lovely 5-star choice, on the river. For a more moderately priced stay (with family rooms) try here. For a fairly budget stay, check out this gem! We love this location and usually stay in this area ourselves.
Things To Do And See in Bangkok
This is a very short taste of Bangkok, in an ideal world, you should stay at least a week, but to see the main sights, do the following. Remember, this site is family-friendly, so we won’t be including excessive nightlife here. Bangkok is one of our favourite cities in the world, there’s so much to enjoy here!
The major, unmissable sights of Bangkok are the Grand Palace, Wat Po, and Wat Arun. The easiest way to see these, all in one day, is to take a tour. There are hundreds more beautiful places, Wats and Temples in Bangkok. Exploring on foot, just getting lost in the old part of the city, is our recommendation, but time is short, so we book this tour, with a guide. This will take up one full day.
Chinatown Bangkok is home to the biggest solid gold Buddha in Thailand. Maybe visit in the afternoon so that you can proceed to the bustling street food night markets of this part of Thailand. To find the Michelin guide food stalls, you’ll need to book this evening tour.
Floating Markets are a big draw for visitors to Bangkok and there are several nearby. The one most tourists see, Damnoen Saduak, is a bit of a tourist trap but it’s open daily, some of the better ones are weekend markets.
There are loads more things to see and do in Bangkok, for a much longer list visit our sister site for our Bangkok guide.
2. Overnight Train Travel to Chiang Mai (or Fly)
The overnight sleeper train to Chiang Mai is a classic rail journey and an experience in itself. For the budget-conscious, it also saves you the cost of one night in a hotel. If you’d rather fly to Chiang Mai, it’s a very short hop, but we love this train. It gets you to Chiang Mai very early in the morning, you’ll have a full day to explore. You can book the train, a flight, or a bus between Bangkok and Chiang Mai here.
The new train station in Bangkok is close to Chatuchak Weekend Market, this huge market appeals to some, but for us it was very missable, there are better places to shop in Bangkok. There is better shopping in Chiang Mai’s markets, too.
- Where to stay in Chiang Mai? You should stay within the walls of the stunning old town. Most of the places that you’ll want to see are in this area.
3. Full Days in Chiang Mai
Things To Do and See in Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai is famous for incredible temples, and some of the most breathtaking in Southeast Asia are here. There is also trekking and Hill Tribe visits, elephant sanctuary days, beautiful countryside, cooking classes and many night markets and walking streets. It’s a wonderful place, but not in the burning season! Then the air quality plummets. At least try to do and see the following.
This is a popular way to spend a full day in Chiang Mai, elephant swimming and feeding, rafting and waterfalls.
Take an eco day trip to stunning Doi Inthanon National Park from Chiang Mai.
You have to take a Thai cooking class in Chiang Mai! Try this one.
4. Fly To The Beach
You’ll need to fly south from Chiang Mai and this makes it the perfect point in the itinerary to fly to a beach destination. Phuket, Koh Samui and Krabi have airports and all are popular beach locations. There’s not a huge amount of cultural interest at any of these places, but if you need some sun and sea, just relax for a few days!
Spend as many days as you like at the beach. Both Krabi and Phuket, being on opposite sides of a body of water, give you access to stunning scenery and snorkelling, including Phi Phi Island.
5. Onward Flight To Malaysia
You will be flying out of your beach location and on to Kuala Lumpur. While a rail crossing into Malaysia is possible, it’s not normally advised.
Malaysia Itinerary
1. Arrive in Kuala Lumpur By Air, 2 Full Days in KL
Kl is a great city. It’s glitzy and modern but also holds on to old-world charm. Visit the Petronas Towers, the centre of KL, above the KLCC train station and shopping mall. Right outside, there is a playground and water play for the kids. The Petrosains Science Museum is in the towers and the excellent Aquarium is a very short walk away.
You’ll also want to see Batu Caves. You can get there by bus or train, or take a tour. See the famous rainbow steps, the cheeky monkeys, and temples deep inside breathtaking caves. You only need a half day at Batu Caves, this tour is an easy way to see them. Spend the rest of the day exploring Chinatown’s Petaling Street Market and KL, Central Market. The beautiful Colonial district is a short walk from here.
We have a huge guide to Kuala Lumpur with kids here, you could easily spend weeks here, but with just a few days, you’ll have to pick your favourite things to do.
2. Ipoh
Ipoh is well-known as a foodie destination in Malaysia. It also has The Lost World of Tambun water park, this may make your kids happy!
We like Ipoh, it’s a nice town with cute colourful shophouses, rock temples and gardens. It’s on the bus route from Kuala Lumpur to Penang, so if you fancy it, stop for a day or two. If not, skip it. But it’s nice to get a more rounded impression of Malaysia and see different places.
We think Ipoh is much nicer than the Cameron Highlands; to us, that place wasn’t worth visiting.
3. Penang (Not Langkawi)
Why Penang not Langkawi? We like Penang, we did not like Langkawi very much. Penang has more to offer, it still has beaches, but also more places of interest like the incredible (live) snake temple or beautiful Kek Lok Si. For a beach vacation stay in Batu Ferringhi, for culture and history lovers, stay in Georgetown. Don’t miss Fort Cornwallis, Little India for food, and the famous street art in Georgetown.
Penang has its own airport, so you could fly back to Kuala Lumpur cheaply on AirAsia, or return by road and travel on south to beautiful Melaka. The island of Penang is connected to the mainland by a road bridge, so you don’t have to worry about Malaysian ferries. We were on one that broke down once.
If you have your heart set on Langkawi, do it, always travel your way, not somebody else’s way. You can fly or take the ferry. You can see
4. Melaka
Melaka is beautiful and there is a lot to see and do here. The old town is UNESCO listed and well worth your time.
5. Johor Baru For Legoland Malaysia
This is another treat for the kids. Allow one full day at the Legoland theme park and water park next door. Johir Baru is close to the Singapore Border, you can travel into Singapore by road from here.
6 Bus (or Fly) To Singapore
Singapore Itinerary
If you’re on a tight budget, we’d suggest you keep your time in Singapore short. Hotels here, even on the budget end of the scale, are expensive. Some of the luxury hotels are fairly affordable by some standards. If you’d prefer a 5-star stay, check out The Fullerton Hotel, it’s more affordable than Marina Bay Sands (the boat-shaped hotel high on a skyscraper). The location of each is ideal.
We stayed at The Fullerton ourselves recently (more info on our experiences here) and loved the historic building and rooftop pool with river views.
3 Full Days in Singapore, Plus Optional Beach Stay
To explore The Bay Area (Marina Bay Sands, The Supertrees, The Singapore River, Chinatown etc.) it’s easier to stay in this area. For a beach stay and theme parks, stay on Sentosa Island. There is a road bridge between the two.
