Head to head
Which part of Thailand should you train in
Nobody picks a region from a list of regions. They pick between two, usually the two a friend mentioned. These are those pairs.
10 head to heads between the places people are actually choosing between, each one written by hand. A region is an argument rather than a price list, and an argument generated from a template is a row of adjectives, so each of these is a set of conditions to pick a side on and a caveat written against itself. They cover 8 of the 10 regions. A side needs 3 researched camps before it is worth comparing and 2 regions do not hold 3 yet, so they are left out rather than compared thinly.
On 34 of the 40 rate lines these pairs share, neither region's camps sit wholly below the other's. A week unlimited separates the two sides most often, on 3 of the 10 pairs where both sides publish one, and a month unlimited separates them on none. Nothing separates 5 of the 10 pairs on any rate at all, so a region answers where to go and leaves what it costs to the camp.
10 comparisons
Pick the pair you are stuck between
Phuket or Chiang Mai for Muay Thai
The two most common first-trip candidates, and they are not competing for the same person.
Phuket / Chiang MaiPhuket or Bangkok for Muay Thai
A packaged training holiday against the city where the professional sport actually lives.
Phuket / BangkokPhuket or Pattaya for Muay Thai
Two long-established foreigner camp scenes with very different price tags and very different towns.
Phuket / PattayaPhuket or Krabi for Muay Thai
The same coast and the same weather, and two scenes that are nothing like the same size.
Phuket / KrabiChiang Mai or Bangkok for Muay Thai
Two cities rather than two resorts, split by climate, cost and how close you want to be to the professional scene.
Chiang Mai / BangkokChiang Mai or Pattaya for Muay Thai
Two of the cheapest ways to train in Thailand for a long time, and two very different environments to do it in.
Chiang Mai / PattayaBangkok or Pattaya for Muay Thai
Close enough to visit each other, far apart in what a week of training looks like.
Bangkok / PattayaPhuket or Koh Phangan for Muay Thai
Two islands with nearly the same floor price, wildly different ceilings and wet seasons at opposite ends of the year.
Phuket / Koh PhanganKoh Samui or Koh Phangan for Muay Thai
Two Gulf islands on one weather calendar, which leaves the money and the last leg of the journey to decide it.
Koh Samui / Koh PhanganHua Hin or Pattaya for Muay Thai
Two mainland beach towns on different weather calendars, where the cheaper one sells training and the dearer one sells a bed with it.
Hua Hin / Pattaya
Or skip it