5 day trip to Thailand?

Since your trip is very limited in time, I would suggest one place, maybe Krabi - lovely natural areas, plenty of easily arranged day trips, no tour needed - nice accommodations - inland waterfalls and rafting, ocean diving and trips to outer islands, like Phi Phi - I think that is really your best bet - plenty to do and not really off the beaten path so good food and comfy -

Although you'd need more time, 5-6 days are good enough for now. An example, for 36 hours in Bangkok, the New York Times suggests the following itinerary:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/travel/29hour...

Also, Bangkok has some of the best hotels in the world at relatively bargain rates. I would splurge a little and stay at the Oriental, the Peninsula, the Sukhothai, or the likes. If you rather stay at a chain hotel (to earn or redeem points/nights in hotel loyalty programs) I would stay Riverside at the Royal Orchid Sheraton, the Millennium Hilton, Marriott Resort & Spa, etc. Cheap public transportation (MRT & BTS) and taxis are plenty available to get you where you wanna go. If you like to stay in the "downtown area", the JW Marriott, Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, the Renaissance, Grand Hayat Erawan, Four Seasons, the Intercontinantal, etc. are there too but at higher quality than their partner properties in other regions. So basically many choices are available to you and it all depends on your budget and interests. For photos of some the above properties, check out my sets: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalboz/sets/

Another place that would be nice and quite is Koh Chang. You can get there via bus, then ferry from Bangkok. It's not as touristy as Krabi, but has all the natural beauty you could ask for, plus diving, snorkeling, etc. We spent about a week there and loved it!

Krabi is a great place to go and one place in Krabi that is just absolutely amazing is Railay Beach. It is gorgeous and has all the activities you'd like. We stayed at Diamond Cave Resort on East Railay and had a great time. It's about $36 US per night. Have a great time!

Get flight from India to bangkok - try momondo.com or kayak.com for good rates.

Get flight from bangkok to Krabi with airasia.com.

Get taxi or coach to Ao Nang, Krabi.

check out either agoda.com or hotelscombined.com for hotels in ao nang.

check out sawadee.com for what to see and do as well as krabi.com and aonag.com.

You can always book diving and sight seeing trips in Ao Nang itself as there are many little tourist Boothe's or shops around.

Why Ao Nang and surrounding area - the beaches are fantastic, the scenery stunning, the water crystal clear and has easy access to Phi Phi, Maya Island , James Bond Island and many other Islands.

Its Paradise on earth at a price you can afford. You will not be disappointed and you will return again and again to visit other wonderful places in Thailand

Been now to most places in Thailand over the last 8 years and moving permanently very soon

5 days isn't a lot of time, unfortunately. In addition, the rainy season will impact many of the prime beach/diving/couple destinations during that time of year (Phuket, Krabi); Koh Samui might be a decent option because the rainy season is generally not in effect specifically during that time because of its location.

My personal pick might be Chiang Mai if you took the diving out (experience the "real" Thailand).

You can find many of the best things to do in Thailand here: http://www.hoteltravel.com/thailand/guides/overvie...