A family adventure in Thailand

Zipping through always-on Bangkok aboard a tuk-tuk, greeting the gentle giants of Elephant Hills and swimming among the shimmering shoals of Koh Samui’s shallows. “Our family’s fortnight in Thailand delivered memories to last a lifetime”, writes Kuoni customer, Naomi Burge.

We’re farmers and we only have one family holiday a year around Easter time, as we’re harvesting all summer. This means it has to cover everything: a bit of culture, some adventure and experiences we can all enjoy together.

I love to chill out and read, but my husband Sam is not the kind of guy to sit by a pool all day, and our daughters Harriet, ten, and Hebe, seven, love animals and swimming. Landing in Bangkok you really experience that authentic cultural difference. From our hotel, Oriental Residence Bangkok, we were out to the wee hours making the most of the city’s vibrant streets and colourful markets, still buzzing with life at midnight.

Night life

We were getting tuk-tuks back to the hotel at 1am – thrilling for the girls – and we got around using the BTS Skytrain, the monorail above the city’s traffic. It’s efficient, fast, has great views and its signs are in both Thai and English, so it’s very easy to navigate around the system.

We cruised the canals of the Chao Phraya River on a traditional longtail boat and glimpsed local culture along its banks – temples with great golden Buddhas, huge monitor lizards and the contrast of skyscrapers beside little wooden houses on stilts in the water.

We made a point of sampling street food because we wanted the children to try different things. We had Pad Thai cooked in front of us, along with different fish, meats and spices that the girls had never had at home, mango smoothies, veggie spring rolls and fresh coconut water. Yum.

In the presence of giants

Elephant Hills was a delightful change of pace. Within an hour of being there, we were taken on a jungle canoe ride down the Sok River. We spotted tiny monkeys, lots of different birds, snakes in the trees, shoals of fish – incredible. Then we met around 10 elephants in a corralled area where the guide explained each elephant’s story and how they came to be in the sanctuary.

Some were rescued from pretty horrible lives and now each is well cared for by a handler, or a ‘mahout’ who lives with their elephant too.

We prepared lunch for the elephants, bananas and bamboo wrapped up in leaf parcels, before watching them bathe and swim in the waterfall. A really special shared experience for all of us.

We stayed in a luxury camp with glamping-style tents that had space for a king-size bed, singles for the girls and a lovely bathroom. At night we socialised with other families, were treated to a traditional dance performance by kids from a local school and saw a Thai cookery demonstration where we sampled local dishes.

By the time we reached Koh Samui, we were ready to switch off and have some downtime, but we ended up doing so much during our time at the stunning resort of Santiburi Koh Samui.

Cool for kids

It’s right on the gorgeous Maenam white-sand beach and has a watersports centre with kayaks and paddleboarding, a huge swimming pool, a kids’ club and a golf course at the Santiburi Samui Country Club that Sam made full use of. And we stayed in a stunning pool villa so the girls could swim to their hearts’ content.

While the girls were entertained in the kids’ club, Sam and I wandered along the seafront, stopping for a massage in one of the little beach huts. We went on a boat trip and swam in a blue lagoon, snorkelled among tropical tigerfish and had lunch on the most beautiful, deserted island.

We tried all sorts of seafood from the stalls at the Fisherman’s Village Night Market. And we toured the island on a jeep safari when the girls got to sit up top as we saw interesting landmark sights such as Wat Phra Yai (the Big Buddha Temple), and the mummified monk at Wat Khunaram temple. The guides know the land, the culture, the people and the history so well, and you can ask them to take you somewhere different off the usual tourist trail.

I can happily say that on the last day, none of us wanted to go home – and normally, my husband gets itchy feet after about eight days. If someone told me they were thinking about going to Thailand, I would say, book it. It’s a beautiful country and great for families.

This article was created on 17th October 2025. The information is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication.