We had heard so many wonderful things about Thailand. Several of our friends had already been there—many of them more than once—and they always spoke about it with such enthusiasm. We had been curious about visiting for quite some time, but other trips kept getting in the way. This year, however, we finally centered our winter holiday plans around Thailand. It truly felt like the right moment to experience it for ourselves.
At the same time, we were eager to return to Kuala Lumpur, a city we had loved on a previous visit. It felt familiar and special, and since it was so close, we thought it deserved another stop. In the end, we booked a multi-destination itinerary, flying into Kuala Lumpur and returning home from Bangkok. I also arranged two short AirAsia flights—from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket and from Phuket to Bangkok—so our travel plan was complete.
We flew from Milan Malpensa with Qatar Airways once again. I’ve always found it much more comfortable to break up a long journey to Asia with a stop in the Middle East. Being able to walk around, stretch our legs, and browse the shops makes the trip far more pleasant. Two six- to seven-hour flights with a short layover in between are definitely easier than a single thirteen-hour stretch.
Our flight to Kuala Lumpur departed at 9 p.m., which allowed us to take the day at a relaxed pace. We left home in the morning, enjoyed a lovely lunch in Italy, and met a friend who lives in Milan for coffee in Gallarate, a small town near the airport. As always, Qatar Airways was excellent—punctual, with good food and a solid selection of entertainment. We also had the chance to spend some time in the recently completed Orchard wing at Doha Airport, a stunning indoor garden that made the layover especially enjoyable.
The Orchard at Doha Hamad Airport
After an easy flight, we arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 8:40 p.m., cleared immigration fairly quickly, and made our way to our accommodation in the city. For this trip, I had pre-booked all our airport transfers, which saved us a lot of time and the hassle of finding a taxi or ordering an Uber, Bolt, or Grab upon arrival.
Kuala Lumpur International Airport is about an hour’s drive from the city center, so by the time we reached our accommodation it was already quite late. Based on our great experience staying in an apartment during our previous visit, I decided to book an apartment again. This time, we stayed at Axon Residence, right in the heart of Bukit Bintang, just behind Fahrenheit Mall.
While the location was excellent, the apartment itself was somewhat disappointing. It was advertised as a three-bedroom unit, but in reality it consisted of a two-bedroom apartment plus an adjacent studio. As a result, we adults stayed in the studio, while the teenagers enjoyed the larger apartment to themselves.
Axon Residence is connected to Sleeping Lion Suites by a glass walkway on one of the upper floors, and the two buildings share a rooftop infinity pool and gym. The pool, however, was quite crowded most of the times we visited and noticeably smaller than the one at Eaton Residence, where we had stayed the year before.
Sleeping Lion Suites and Axon Residences
Although it was pretty late, we were hungry and went out to get something to eat. We hoped Jalan Alor food street would still have something open, and as it was only within a short walking distance, we headed over there. We got some simple stir-fried noodles and rice and felt amazing being in Southeast Asia again.
We did not have any real plans in Kuala Lumpur - just wanted to walk around the city, visit some familiar places, get used to the time zone and climate, and enjoy the great weather and delicious food.
Rooftop pool of Axon residence
Lunch at Sushi Zanmai Pavilion Mall - a great sushi place
Several our traveller friends are not too fond of Kuala Lumpur, yet we love its mix of cultures, ease to get around, the variety of food, friendly locals and the modern city center. We had a perfectly busy yet somehow relaxing day in one of our favourite cities and I hope there will be many more days like this to come.
Street art in Chinatown
In the evening we visited the Jalan Alor area again, but not for dinner, as we were already full from all the random street food we had had during the whole day. We only got some fruit from the many fruit stands around Jalan Alor - the fruit always tastes so much better in Asia.
Street food and fruit stalls around Jalan Alor
Phuket and Bangkok
The AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket was short and smooth. I always like to pre-order a hot meal on AirAsia flights—the food is usually quite good (though sometimes a bit spicy), and the price is more than reasonable. Immigration at Phuket Airport, however, was extremely slow; it took us nearly two hours to finally exit the terminal. Just before the luggage claim area, I bought a local SIM card— for just under €20, we got 40 GB of data.
I had also pre-booked a taxi to take us from Phuket Airport to Patong, where our hotel was located. The drive took a little over an hour. By the time we finally arrived in Patong, it was already quite late.
We stayed at the Grand Mercure Patong Hotel for the next five nights, and overall it was an excellent choice. The hotel felt like a true oasis of calm in the middle of Patong’s chaos, with good service and lovely swimming pools. Our only real complaint was the size of the pool-access room. When staying somewhere for more than a couple of days, I like to unpack properly, but there was very limited storage space—just a small wardrobe for hanging clothes. Interestingly, our teenagers stayed in a standard twin room on an upper floor, and their room was noticeably more spacious than ours.
That said, the pool-access room had its advantages. We spent plenty of time on our private terrace—sunbathing, taking refreshing dips in the pool, and enjoying fresh fruit bought from the small market just across the road from the hotel.
After a relaxed afternoon at the hotel, we headed out for dinner and a quick look at Patong in the evening. We couldn’t stay out too long, though, as I had booked an island tour for the next day and our pick-up was scheduled for quite early in the morning. We enjoyed a delicious dinner—though, to be fair, every meal we had in Thailand was excellent—sampling local favorites such as pad thai, pineapple rice, stir-fried noodles, and stir-fried morning glory (also known as water spinach). We ate at a small, simple restaurant called Number 6, just a few steps from Bangla Road.
The following morning started early. After a quick breakfast at the hotel at 7:00 a.m., we met the representative from V. Marine Tour in the lobby at 7:30 a.m., who took us across the island to the marina for our island-hopping adventure. Our destination was Hat Noppharat Thara–Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park, more commonly known as Phi Phi Islands National Park—a world-famous marine park in Krabi Province, southern Thailand. The park is renowned for its white sandy beaches, coral reefs, crystal-clear waters, and dramatic limestone karsts.
We were the first group to be picked up, and after collecting a few more guests from other hotels in Patong, we drove nearly an hour to reach the marina. Upon arrival, we were offered coffee and snacks, followed by a brief safety introduction for the speedboat journey. Seasickness tablets were also available for those who needed them—I took one, and it turned out to be a very wise decision.
The Phi Phi Islands lie about 40 kilometers from Phuket, and the speedboat ride took roughly an hour. The sea was quite choppy that morning, so it wasn’t the most pleasant crossing, but once we reached the area between the islands, the water became much calmer.
Our first stop was Bamboo Island, where we had about an hour to enjoy the soft white sand and go snorkeling. The tour provided all the snorkeling equipment, and the coral reefs started right near the beach. It was lovely at first, but around fifteen minutes before our departure, several other boats arrived and the island quickly became crowded.
Next, we made a brief stop at Monkey Beach, mainly to observe the monkeys in their natural habitat—and there were plenty of them. What stood out most to me, however, was the incredibly fine, powdery white sand, which felt wonderful underfoot. Monkey Beach is located on Ko Phi Phi Don, and on the same island, in a different bay, we later stopped for lunch. The meal was a tasty buffet served on a beautiful terrace overlooking the sea—a perfect setting to relax and refuel before continuing the day.
The beach on Ko Phi Phi Don, where we had lunch
Our next stop was Ko Phi Phi Leh, best known for Maya Bay, which featured in the movie The Beach. Nowadays, Maya Bay is closed to boats and swimming is prohibited to help protect its fragile ecosystem. The boat dropped us off at the dock on the other side of the island, and from there we walked along a wooden boardwalk of about one kilometer to reach the bay. In my opinion, it was a beautiful beach, but there are definitely other equally stunning and far less touristy beaches to explore in Thailand.
Maya Bay, Ko Phi Phi Lee
Our last stop of the day was the picturesque Pileh Lagoon on the same Ko Phi Phi Lee island, where everyone who wished, could jump off the boat and go for a swim.
Sometimes, especially during holidays, it’s important to set aside a day with no plans at all—a day dedicated purely to relaxing. The following day was exactly that. After a long, lazy breakfast, we decided to spend the morning at the beach. I ordered a Bolt taxi and we headed to Karon Beach. We mostly relied on the Bolt app to get around, occasionally using Grab when Bolt was too busy, although Grab was usually a bit more expensive.
Karon Beach turned out to be beautiful and not overly crowded. The sand was incredibly soft—so fine that it squeaked underfoot as you walked. We rented beach chairs, went for swims, watched the world go by, and slowly decided how we wanted to spend the rest of the day.
We arrived in Bangkok just before 7:00 p.m. Since it was a domestic flight, there were no customs to clear, and we were out of the airport fairly quickly. We landed at Bangkok’s older airport, Don Mueang, which is closer to the city than Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Choosing a hotel in Bangkok was surprisingly challenging—the city is enormous, with countless neighborhoods and accommodation options. In the end, I decided on the Eastin Grand Hotel Sathorn, which had excellent reviews and the added convenience of a Skytrain station right in front of the hotel, making it easy to get around the city and reach major sights.
The hotel turned out to be a great choice. The rooms were spacious—we had adjacent king and twin rooms—breakfast was excellent, and the service was consistently attentive. We also loved the pool area, which became our go-to spot for afternoon relaxation, swimming, and the occasional happy hour.
It was quite late when we finally arrived at the hotel, but after a quick check-in we decided to head out for dinner. Just one stop away by Skytrain was the Sathorn Pier, from where we took the free shuttle boat to Asiatique The Riverfront. Cruising along the Chao Phraya River at night felt magical—boats glowing with lights, a pleasant breeze in the air, and a lively yet relaxed atmosphere. I already knew we were going to love Bangkok.
That evening, the teenagers wanted to check out Khaosan Road. They had seen it in The Hangover and imagined it as an extremely wild party street. In reality, it was far less chaotic than expected—much cleaner and very touristy. We ended up preferring the street running parallel to it, Thanon Ram Buttri, which had a much nicer atmosphere, with plenty of lovely bars and restaurants and a relaxed, laid-back vibe. We liked it so much that we actually had dinner there twice during our stay in Bangkok.
Since we had only managed to visit two temples on our first day in Bangkok, we continued our sightseeing the following morning, heading to the Grand Palace just after breakfast. The Grand Palace is a vast complex of buildings enclosed within walls and has served as the official and ceremonial residence of Thailand’s kings since it was first built in 1782.
Within the palace grounds is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew), Thailand’s most sacred temple. Inside, the small Emerald Buddha—actually carved from jasper—sits atop a multi-tiered throne, protected inside a glass enclosure. Photography of the Emerald Buddha is strictly forbidden, but we were glad to have had the opportunity to see it in person.
The Grand Palace also has the strictest dress code of all the places we visited: both men and women must have their shoulders and knees covered. As a result, we had to buy long pants for the guys from a street vendor outside the complex before being allowed to enter.
Although Bangkok is huge, confusing, and a little chaotic, we really liked it and hope to return someday—there was so much we didn’t get a chance to see. The same goes for Thailand as a whole: incredible food, breathtaking sights, friendly people, and so much more waiting to be discovered.