Phuket & Krabi Honeymoon, 5 Nights

Met at Phuket airport and driven down the island to a beach on the west coast. The afternoon is for the pool and the beach. Towards evening the drive south to Promthep Cape, the headland at the island's tip where the sun goes into the Andaman Sea between the small islands, and back for a candlelit dinner set on the sand at the hotel — the first of two evenings arranged for the two of you rather than for a sightseeing list.

A late start. Up the road to the Big Buddha, the white marble figure on Nakkerd Hill that looks over both coasts of the island, then Wat Chalong, Phuket's most visited temple, and on into the Old Town: the Sino-Portuguese shophouses of Thalang Road, the painted shutters, a coffee in one of the restored houses. Lunch in town. The afternoon and evening are free — the beach, the hotel spa, or a longtail to a quieter bay arranged on the day.

Over the Sarasin bridge and east through Phang Nga province, where the limestone begins standing up out of the plain — the same karst that makes Phang Nga Bay, seen here from the road — and on to Krabi, about 170 km and three hours with a stop. Check in at Ao Nang, the beach town that faces the islands, and an afternoon on its beach or by the pool. Dinner on the beachfront road, where the restaurants set tables looking at the sea.

A private longtail from Ao Nang for the classic Krabi day: Poda Island's white beach with the limestone stack offshore, the sandbar at Tup that joins two islands at low tide, the snorkelling off Chicken Island, and Phra Nang beach on the Railay peninsula with its cave shrine at the cliff foot. Lunch on the boat or on Poda. Because the boat is yours the order follows the tide and the crowds, and you stay longest wherever you like. Back by late afternoon.

The morning is the couple's spa session at the hotel, or the beach. After lunch a longtail from Ao Nang round the headland to Railay, the peninsula that no road reaches: West Railay's beach between the two cliffs where the climbers are, the walk through to East Railay and the Diamond Cave, and a drink at one of the bars as the light goes orange on the rock. Back to Ao Nang by longtail before dark, and a last dinner on the beachfront.

A free morning — the pool, a last swim, breakfast taken slowly — and the transfer to Krabi airport, about 40 minutes from Ao Nang, for the flight home or onward to Bangkok. The Tiger Cave Temple and its 1,260 steps to the hilltop Buddha can be added on the way to the airport for couples with an afternoon flight and the legs for it.