13 guides, each rated 1 to 5 with the reason — and two lists per place, where you are comfortable and where to pay attention. Nowhere is called dangerous; the specific thing is what helps.
Very safe. The hazard is the heat: the ruins are open, unshaded and brutal from March to May, and people misjudge it every year. Start at dawn, carry more water than you think, and stop by noon. Dress covered at the temples, which are active religious sites rather than only ruins.
Comfortable: Ayutthaya Historical Park · Naresuan Road
- Cycling the ring road at dusk with no lights, which is how the temples are usually left
- The heat at midday between March and May, which is what actually sends visitors to a clinic
Very safe city. The serious seasonal issue is burning season, roughly late February to April, when agricultural fires make the air quality among the worst in the world — avoid these months if you have any respiratory sensitivity. Only visit elephant sanctuaries that prohibit riding.
Comfortable: Old City, Chiang Mai · Nimmanhaemin · Riverside, Chiang Mai
- Scooter accidents, which are far and away the main cause of injury to visitors
- Elephant "sanctuaries" that still offer riding, which is the thing to check before booking
- Burning season smog from February to April, a health risk rather than a safety one
Safe for visitors, with one real danger that is not crime: the ring road. Scooter accidents put tourists in hospital here every week, and many travel policies will not pay out without a motorcycle licence. Check yours before you rent one.
Comfortable: Bophut · Maenam · Lamai · Chaweng
- Chaweng Beach Road — at closing time
- Scooter hire without a licence, and the damage claims that follow
- Rip currents on the east coast during the November to December monsoon
Very safe. The risks are the sea and the roads: rip currents on the open beaches in monsoon months, and scooter accidents on the coast road. Rock climbing at Railay is run by reputable operators, but check the gear yourself.
Comfortable: Ao Nang · Railay Beach · Krabi Town · Klong Muang
- Longtail boats in rough sea, which run anyway and should not
- Railay Beach — the tide, which strands walkers on the wrong side of the headland
- Scooters on the Ao Nang hill road
Very safe and very quiet, with almost no crime aimed at visitors. Two practical things instead. The single island road is narrow, steep in the south and gravelly, and scooter injuries are the most common way a holiday ends here. And much of the island closes from May to October — ferries reduce, many places shut entirely, and the choice of anywhere to eat or stay narrows sharply. Much of the population is Muslim, so cover up away from the beach in the villages and around the Old Town.
Comfortable: Long Beach, Koh Lanta · Klong Nin · Lanta Old Town
- The road down the west coast at night, which is unlit and has no verge
- Rip currents from May to October, when most bars and clinics are shut anyway
Very safe town. The two real risks are the road in — a genuinely winding mountain route where minibus accidents happen — and scooter injuries on gravel, which the local clinic treats daily. Burning season from late February to April brings some of the worst air quality in the country to this valley.
Comfortable: Pai Walking Street · Pai
- The 762 bends from Chiang Mai, and hiring a scooter you cannot ride on them
- Burning season from February to April, when the air quality is genuinely bad
Very safe for tourists. Avoid tuk-tuk drivers who offer "special deals" to gem shops or suit tailors — it’s always a scam.
Comfortable: Sukhumvit · Silom · Ari · Thonglor · Riverside, Bangkok
- The "Grand Palace is closed today" scam, which ends at a gem shop — the palace is never closed
- Tuk-tuk drivers offering a 20-baht tour, which is the same scam
- Khao San Road — at three in the morning
- Jet-ski and motorbike rental damage claims, which are a nationwide racket
The island is safe and the hazards are its own. Drink spiking and buckets of unmeasured spirits are the standing complaint on Loh Dalum, fire shows put burns on people who join in, longtails have propellers and swimmers get hurt by them, and there is no hospital — anything serious is a boat to Phuket.
Comfortable: Tonsai village · the viewpoint path by day · Long Beach · Loh Dalum by day · the dive shops and their boats
- the buckets on Loh Dalum — unmeasured spirits, often not what the label says, and drink spiking is the island’s standing complaint
- the fire shows — the skipping ropes are alight and the burns happen to the people who join in
- swimming where the longtails come in — the propellers sit on a long shaft at the surface and swimmers are hurt by them every season
- the viewpoint path after rain — steep concrete steps with no rail, and it is the way everybody comes down in the dark
- anything serious happening at all — there is no hospital on the island — a real injury is a two-hour boat to Phuket
Crime against visitors is rare and the island is comfortable to walk at night. The two serious risks are physical: scooter accidents, which are the leading cause of tourist injury in Thailand, and rip currents on the west coast beaches during monsoon (May to October) — red flags mean do not swim, and people drown every year ignoring them. Jet ski damage scams are common in Patong.
Comfortable: Phuket Old Town · Kata Beach · Karon · Bang Tao
- Bangla Road — late at night, for drink spiking and bar-bill disputes
- Patong Beach — jet-ski and scooter damage claims
- Red flags on the beach in monsoon season, which mark rip currents that kill people every year
Safe by day and generally safe at night, but the Full Moon Party has real hazards worth naming: drink spiking, cuts from fire-skipping ropes, and drownings after drinking. Watch your own drink being poured, and do not swim at night. The steep interior roads injure more scooter riders here than anywhere else in the Gulf.
Comfortable: Srithanu · Thong Sala · Chaloklum
- Haad Rin — on Full Moon night, for drink spiking, theft and glass on the sand
- The hill roads to Thong Nai Pan and Bottle Beach, which are the steepest in Thailand and where scooters are written off nightly
- Swimming at night after the party, which is how people drown here
Safe, with two things worth knowing. Scooter rental scams — damage claimed on return that was already there — are more common here than elsewhere in Thailand, so photograph the bike from every angle before you leave the shop. And choose a dive school on its safety record rather than its price; the cheapest courses cut corners on equipment servicing.
Comfortable: Sairee Beach · Mae Haad · Chalok Baan Kao
- The steep concrete roads, which are the single commonest cause of injury on the island
- Diving with a hangover, or with a school that skips the checks
One of the calmest cities in Thailand and comfortable to walk at night. The real hazard is the road: scooter injuries are the commonest thing that happens to visitors here, and the mountain roads to the villages are steeper than they look. Burning season in March and April pushes air quality to genuinely harmful levels — check before booking those months.
Comfortable: Clock Tower area · Wat Phra Kaew quarter · Th Jet Yod · the riverside promenade
- the night bazaar — for bag-snatching in the crush, rather than anything worse
- Th Phahonyothin after midnight — where the bar traffic and the scooter traffic overlap
Quiet and easy, with the town itself walkable after dark. Erawan’s upper tiers are slippery limestone and people are injured on them every season — shoes with grip matter more than they sound. The river looks calm and has a current; swim where others are swimming. Dengue is present in the wet season.
Comfortable: the riverside guesthouse strip · Saengchuto Road · the war cemetery quarter · Ban Nuea
- the floating bars after midnight — loud, and the walkways between them are unlit and unrailed
- the bridge at dusk — for traffic rather than crime — the walkway is narrow and trains still cross
The ratings are this site's own, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in; they are not an index. Read the general advice in travel safety tips.
