Carmen
Travel editor at Reisedrop · 2026-09-01
There’s a moment when all Thailand scepticism evaporates: you step off the plane in Bangkok, that warm air wraps itself around you like a bath towel, it smells of street food and frangipani — while back home the weather app says low cloud and four degrees. From December to March, the kingdom is at its best: dry season, 28 to 32 degrees, sea like bathwater. There’s a reason Thailand is Swiss travellers’ favourite long-haul winter destination. Here’s everything you actually need for planning — without the brochure fluff.
Andaman Sea, Gulf or north? An honest guide
In winter, there’s really no beating the Andaman Sea: Phuket, Krabi, Khao Lak, Koh Lanta — mirror-calm water, the best visibility for snorkelling, and those limestone cliffs around Railay that always look Photoshopped in pictures and somehow even better in real life. Khao Lak is the quiet family choice, while Koh Lanta is our personal favourite for anyone who wants ‘relaxed’ to mean more than just a word in the brochure. Over on the Gulf side — Samui, Phangan — December can still bring rain; we’d wait until mid-January there. And then there’s the north: Chiang Mai at 25 degrees, cool nights, temples, night markets, mountain villages. North plus island is the country’s most popular two-week route. For good reason.
What does it cost from Switzerland?
Nonstop from Zurich to Bangkok takes a little over eleven hours. If you connect via the Gulf states or Istanbul, you can often save several hundred Franken and, in high season, land at around 700 to 900 Franken return — provided you book by the end of October. Christmas and New Year get expensive, no question. The second half of January and February are the sweet spot: peak weather, noticeably lower prices. One small insider tip: book domestic flights like Bangkok–Krabi separately — if you book early, they cost under 50 Franken.
On the ground: your money goes surprisingly far here
Pad Thai from a street stall: two or three Franken. A one-hour Thai massage: around ten. A genuinely lovely resort with pool: from 80 to 130 Franken for two — and if you’ve always wanted to do five-star with a private pool just once, you can get it from about 250. Backpackers can comfortably get by on 35 to 50 Franken a day. The one money-saving tip almost everyone misses: Thai ATMs charge hefty fixed fees, so it’s better to withdraw a larger amount once than a small amount five times — ideally with a card that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees.
The paperwork (quick to sort)
Swiss passport? Then you can stay visa-free for 60 days — your passport just needs to be valid for another six months. There are no mandatory vaccinations for the usual routes; travel medicine specialists still recommend the standard vaccinations plus hepatitis A. And culturally, three rules are enough to be welcome almost anywhere: cover shoulders and knees in temples, take your shoes off before entering indoor spaces, and show respect for the royal family. As for transport: download the Grab app instead of renting a scooter, unless you grew up on Bangkok’s roads. It costs next to nothing and is kinder on both your nerves and your bones.