However long you plan to spend in the capital, it’s always worth setting aside time for its great showpieces: the Grand Palace and nearby Wat Pho. In the afternoon you’ll be free to explore at your leisure. If you can tear yourself away from the pool, we recommend a visit to Chinatown, with its busy street food markets and beautiful temples. A great place to eat after dark is Yaowarat Road, where you can tuck into steaming plates of dim sum, noodles in a pepper broth and of succulent, fresh seafood. Nearby Sala Chalermkrung Khon stages elaborately costumed performances of traditional Thai masked dance – a superbly exotic spectacle.

Enfolded in an oxbow on the Chao Phraya River, Brang Krachao is a green haven of winding lanes, coconut plantations, canals and bamboo groves, interconnected by a network of stilted concrete and wooden paths that make a wonderful cycle circuit. The area features on our popular off-track cycle tour, which takes in a series of authentic city sights – such as an open-air Muay Thai (kickboxing) school and local sweatshop making shoes for export – before crossing the river by long-tailed boat to reach the park.

Scattered amid lawned grounds on an island encircled by three rivers, the crumbling chedis (stupas) and Buddha images at the Ayutthaya Historical Park, 49 miles (80km) north of Bangkok, are all that remains of former capital of Siam, which at its height between 1350 and 1767 ranked among the wealthiest and most glittering cities all Asia. We always recommend an early start to enable visitors to see the park at its most evocative, with soft, early morning light burnishing its red-brick pagodas and gently smiling Buddhas, many of which are lovingly wrapped in bands of yellow silk.

Spread over 770 square miles (2,000 square km) of forested mountains, Khao Yai is laced with a network of tarred roads and well defined trails that enable you to explore the area’s pristine forest and, with luck, encounter some of its wildlife. Species you can be confident of sighting include hornbills, gibbons and macaques, along with an assortment of giant spiders, squirrels, gaur (bison) and superb butterflies.

Despite its expanding modern suburbs, the old, moated, low-rise core of Thailand’s second city retains the ambiance of a traditional market town. Numerous antique houses survive in the winding back lanes of its old quarter, along with a bumper crop of elegant wats dating from the era when this was the capital of the Lan Na kingdom. One legacy of the old trade with China is Chiang Mai’s bustling night market – among the most atmospheric of its kind anywhere in Asia, and a great source of textiles, jewellery and other handicrafts from across the north.

On the outskirts of Chiang Mai, Doi Suthep (5,498ft/1675m) is a sacred mountain whose summit is crowned by one of the country’s most revered temple complexes. At its heart, a sumptuously gilded chedi (stupa) contains a bone fragment relic of the Buddha – the object of intense veneration. The serene terrace surrounding the temple, studded with rock gardens and shrines, affords fabulous views over the Chiang Mai. Pilgrims eager to acquire merit climb more than 300 steps to reach it, but there’s a funicular railway for the less devout!

Waterfalls, hill tribes, orchids, and around 380 bird species are the main incentives to visit Doi Inthanon – in addition to views of Thailand’s highest peak. High on every birders tick list are the park’s two endemics: the ashy-throated warbler and a green-tailed sunbird. November-December, when the red rhododendrons and Mexican sunflowers are in full bloom, is the best time for botanists. Be sure to visit the market, where local Karen minority people sell beautiful hand-loomed scarves, and the famous chedis (stupas) of the late King and Queen of Thailand – some of the loveliest and most spectacularly sited buildings in Asia.

Popular ever since the 1920s with Thai royalty, Hua Hin is enjoying a new lease of life these days as an upscale resort thanks to its long, broad beach of power-soft sand, and clutch of chic hotels. Attracting a cosmopolitan clientele, it lies within easy reach of the capital; well-heeled Bangkokians flock here on weekends to enjoy seafood fresh from the Gulf.

Bird watchers from across the world come to Kaeng Krachang. More than 400 species have been recorded in the park, which encompasses a rare overlap of the northern and southern species zones. You’ll also encounter black-faced langaurs and gibbons, whose calls echo through the misty trees early in the mornings. And there’s a healthy population of wild elephant too.

Some of the country’s most iconic landscapes are encompassed by this breathtakingly beautiful park, thanks to the two-hundred or more towering limestone outcrops, which loom in dramatic fashion above the surrounding marshes. A shrimp-farming centre within easy range of Hua Hin, it’s far from a wilderness these days, but remains a superb place for spotting birds. Malaysian Plovers and Little Terns number among the signature species you can expect to encounter, along with White-bellied sea eagles, and if you are lucky, you might catch a glimpse of a rare Spoon-billed Sandpiper or Rufous-necked Stint, both of which nest here.