16 Days, 3 Countries, 7 Destinations, 2900KM
Why fly when you can drive!
Over the course of 16 days, we took our car, a 2019 Toyota Sienta from Singapore to Koh Samui and Koh Lipe before driving back to Singapore, staying at 7 different cities and islands along the way. For your entertainment and perhaps even reference, I will be covering the…
– Destinations we visited
– Hotels we stayed at
– Attractions we visited at each destination
and some basic tips and tricks as to how to arrange the trip, what to bring, must go places and how to get to Thailand etc. This will be the master blog where you can find the itinerary for the entire trip, tips and tricks, heads up as well as separate posts for each destination we went to.
Trip Itinerary
This trip was planned out over 16 days, with the car traveling a combined total of 2900km starting from our car park. We visited 7 different cities/islands/towns across 3 different countries (duh)
| Saturday | 02/Dec/2023 | Singapore – Cameron Highlands | Cameron Highlands | Copthorne Hotel |
| Sunday | 03/Dec/2023 | Cameron Highlands | Cameron Highlands | Copthorne Hotel |
| Monday | 04/Dec/2023 | Cameron Highlands – Hat Yai | Hat Yai | The Bed |
| Tuesday | 05/Dec/2023 | Hat Yai – Koh Samui (Chaweng Beach) | Koh Samui | Samui Natien |
| Wednesday | 06/Dec/2023 | Koh Samui | Koh Samui | Samui Natien |
| Thursday | 07/Dec/2023 | Koh Samui | Koh Samui | Samui Natien |
| Friday | 08/Dec/2023 | Koh Samui | Koh Samui | Samui Natien |
| Saturday | 09/Dec/2023 | Koh Samui | Koh Samui | Samui Natien |
| Sunday | 10/Dec/2023 | Koh Samui – Pak Bara | Pak Bara | Pakarang Resort |
| Monday | 11/Dec/2023 | Pak Bara – Koh Lipe | Koh Lipe | Lipe Beach Resort |
| Tuesday | 12/Dec/2023 | Koh Lipe | Koh Lipe | Lipe Beach Resort |
| Wednesday | 13/Dec/2023 | Koh Lipe | Koh Lipe | Lipe Beach Resort |
| Thursday | 14/Dec/2023 | Koh Lipe – Hat Yai | Hat Yai | The Three |
| Friday | 15/Dec/2023 | Hat Yai – Ipoh | Ipoh | Sunway Onsen |
| Saturday | 16/Dec/2023 | Ipoh – Malacca | Malacca | 906 Riverside Hotel |
| Sunday | 17/Dec/2023 | Malacca to Singapore | Home! | Home! |
Underlined ones are not recommended
Travel Tips
– If you’re not going back to Hat Yai, you have a few options to get back to
Malaysia/Singapore after Koh Lipe. Either way, you’re gonna have to stop in Malaysia, its
up to you where you decide to stop. What we did was, after Hat Yai, stop at Ipoh and
Malacca. We went back to Hat Yai to find football jerseys
1. Pak Bara straight to Ipoh (5hr 30 minutes on a good day, no breaks, 397km)
2. Pak Bara straight to Penang, good visit if you’ve never been (4hr 18 minutes on a
good day, no breaks, 278km)
3. If you’ve got sheer willpower, Pak Bara straight to Malacca (9hr 28 minutes on a good
day, no breaks, 750km)
Respectively…
1. Ipoh back to Singapore (6hr 50 minutes on a good day, no breaks, 566km)
2. Penang back to Singapore (8hr 50 minutes on a good day, no breaks, 711km)
3. Malacca back to Singapore (3hr 30 minutes on a good day, no breaks, 264km)
In my opinion, if you’re gonna stop at Penang, you should probably stop at either
Ipoh or Malacca
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT:
– Although you can’t bring your car to Koh Lipe, you can to Koh Samui via a ferry. Bringing
your car to Koh Samui and back can be a hassle, here’s an ARTICLE which should tell you
how to do it
– As to how to get to Koh Lipe, you can go by speedboat. Got to park your car at Pak Bara.
– Most people are familiar with crossing the Singapore-Malaysia border but the Malaysia- Thailand border is unfamiliar to most. Here’s an ARTICLE you can reference
Heads up!
Across our road trip, there are a few things we would take note of, a few things we would recommend, and a few things we would avoid.
- Traveling across Thailand, our go-to lunch option was, believe it or not, 7-11. They microwave the food for you and it’s good. For 7-11 and gas for your vehicle, PTT (gas station) is the way to go. After having Thailand 7-11 food, your life changes, trust me.
Need food? Thai Basil
Need water? One Piece Oishi Green Tea
Need something sweet? Hersheys
I like to say that we have a running joke every holiday we go on that we would integrate into our daily lives and never forget. Penang was the jerseyman, this road trip has many, PTT is one we will never forget.
- Be prepared to stay in your car for hours at a time, your Google Maps will often show 3-5- maybe even 7 hours depending on where you’re going. Road sickness is also a very real problem. Be sure to either sleep it out or have a plastic bag ready
- You WILL find yourself stuck in traffic jams regardless of whatever day during the holiday you decide to go, weather should also be accounted for during your trip. It will not be perfect, but sometimes that’s the glory of road trips, the unpredictability
Location Specific Blog Posts
Since we did so much over the road trip, I have split up the blog into specific locations. In each post, you can find the attractions we visited and didn’t visit, the hotels we stayed at, the pictures we took, the food we ate, etc. You can take our experience and use it to plan your own road trip in your own time, enjoy!
- Cameron Highlands – Misty Mountains
- Hat Yai (Twice) – City South of the Border
- Koh Samui – The Jewel of the Gulf of Thailand
- Pak Bara – Sleepy Town
- Koh Lipe – The Maldives of Thailand
- Ipoh and Malacca – Mountain City, Venice of the East
I’ve just gotten to writing this a week later and only now have I digested everything. It’s something I likely won’t experience again but it was so crazy, so unpredictable. Tiring yes, but very fulfilling. How many people can say they’ve brought their car all the way to an island in Thailand and back. So many first times, so many nights where I would just collapse into bed, so many nights where I would sleep with a hoarse throat. So much trouble, so much bonding, so much enjoyment. Likely the best holiday I will ever go on, very bittersweet I know.
Thats all from me, make sure to drink your food and eat your water.