VISIT THAILAND

Chiang Mai — Chiang Mai has long drawn visitors for its temples, markets and mountain-fringed setting. But beyond its visual appeal, the city reveals something less immediately visible: a culture of craft that has never quite receded into the past.

In the first three months of 2026, 9.31 million international visitors arrived in the country, a steady recovery that suggests the long shadow of the pandemic has largely lifted. Yet beneath the headline figures lies a more complicated reality: travellers are spending more cautiously, forcing a rethink of what success in tourism should look like.

Air Arabia has launched direct flights from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, to Krabi, providing a new gateway for Middle Eastern tourists to Thailand’s southern coast. The inaugural flight departed Sharjah on Thursday at 10:45 p.m. and landed at Krabi Airport early Friday at 8:10 a.m., marking the airline’s latest expansion in Southeast Asia.

Each December, Mae Hong Son’s Shan Food Festival rises out of the mountain mist like a beacon of flavour, drawing locals and travellers into one of northern Thailand’s most captivating cultural celebrations. Set in a remote mountain valleys, the five-day event turns the quiet Tai Yai heartland into a vibrant tapestry of herbal aromas and ancestral recipes brought to life.

Air France has launched direct flights between Paris and Phuket, strengthening Thailand’s push to attract more long-haul European visitors and boost tourism revenue from high-spending markets.

A short drive from Chiang Mai, past weaving villages and rice fields, lies Sanggadee Space, a creative sanctuary in San Kamphaeng district. Neither museum nor conventional market, it is a living, breathing ecosystem where traditional crafts, ecological mindfulness, and community converge.

When Bangkok’s brief cool season arrives in December, Suan Luang Rama IX bursts into colour. During 1–10 December 2025, the Phan Mai Ngam Festival draws crowds with its dazzling gardens, cultural displays and warm village-market charm.

Tucked between misty mountains along the Lao border, Nan feels wonderfully remote—a quiet northern province where temples glow with centuries-old murals and village looms still click beneath stilted homes. Now recognised by UNESCO as Thailand’s newest Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art, Nan is finally getting the global spotlight its artisans have long deserved.

Thailand is introducing a new safety and quality certification aimed at restoring traveller confidence and attracting more Chinese tourists, a key market for the...

Songkhla might not top your Thailand travel list just yet—but that’s exactly why it should. Recently recognised by UNESCO as a Creative City of Gastronomy (2025), this laid-back coastal province is earning global attention for its vibrant food culture, artistic heritage, and community-driven creativity.

As Thailand and China mark 50 years of diplomatic relations in 2025, the milestone reaches far beyond politics—it’s a story that began centuries ago....

High in the misty canopies of Southeast Asia’s tropical forests, where the air hangs heavy with moisture and every branch teems with life, an...