Choosing a camp
Do I need to book a camp in advance?
Updated 2026-09-01
The short answer
Book accommodation for your first few nights and nothing else. Training is almost always available on arrival, and paying for a month before you have thrown a single round at the place is how people end up stuck somewhere that does not suit them.
From the records
Of the 44 camps we list, 21 price both a week and a month, and at every one of those 21 the month pass costs less than four single weeks bought one at a time. The advice above still holds, because a week you have trained is worth more than the saving, but the saving is real and it is why camps push the longer package.
What camps chargeCamps sell weekly and monthly packages because the discount is real, but the discount is also the trap. Buy a week. Train it. If the coaching, the room and the people are right, extend on the spot. No camp has ever refused the second payment.
The exception is high season at the best known camps, where rooms genuinely fill. In that case book the room and leave the training package open, which most camps will accept because they want the room booked.
If a camp will only sell you a month up front and will not explain why, that tells you something about how they think about customers.
Worth knowing
Prepaid multi-month packages are rarely refundable and often not transferable. Read what happens if you get injured in week two, because that is the scenario that actually happens.
Still deciding where to go?
Six questions, and we will tell you which camps fit and which facts about them we have not confirmed.
Vocabulary
The words on this page
Drop-in
Paying for one session rather than a week or a month. Most camps allow it, and it is the only reliable way to find out what a place is like before committing.
Gym language
Choosing a camp
Asked alongside this one
What is the best Muay Thai camp in Thailand?
There is no best camp, and the reason is specific rather than diplomatic: the things you would rank on are the things Thai camps do not publish. Of the 44 camps listed here, none publish a sparring policy, one publishes anything addressed to women training there and 3 state that the coaching is in English. Rank on what is on the record instead, which is price, location, rooms and sessions a day.
Should I train in Phuket or Chiang Mai?
Phuket if this is your first trip, you want beach and nightlife around the training, and you can absorb higher costs. Chiang Mai if you are staying longer, want your money to go further, and prefer a city you can live in rather than a resort island.
Is a big camp or a small camp better?
Big camps give you structure, English, training partners at every level and a social scene. Small camps give you more trainer attention per session and a closer read on how you are actually moving. Beginners usually get more out of a big camp for a first trip, and more out of a small one on the second.