Phuket, Krabi & Koh Samui Honeymoon, 7 Nights

Met at Phuket airport and driven down the west coast to your hotel, where rooms are usually ready from mid-afternoon. Rest after the flight. As evening comes, a short drive takes you to Promthep Cape at the island's southern tip, where the headland faces west and couples gather along the wall for the sunset. Dinner afterwards at one of the seafood restaurants in Rawai or back at the beach.

North-east of Phuket, Phang Nga Bay is scattered with sheer limestone islands, many hollowed into sea caves and hidden lagoons called hongs. A guide paddles you by sea canoe through low cave mouths into these enclosed rooms of mangrove and cliff, at Koh Hong and Koh Panak. Khao Phing Kan, from the Bond film, is visited on foot, with the needle of Koh Tapu offshore. Lunch is at Koh Panyee, a Muslim fishing village built on stilts beneath a cliff. Back to Phuket in the late afternoon.

A late breakfast and an easy road transfer east to Krabi, crossing the causeway off Phuket and circling the head of Phang Nga Bay, about two and a half to three hours. Check in at Ao Nang, where the beach faces west into a bay ringed with limestone. The afternoon is free: a massage, a swim, or a longtail boat round the headland to Railay beach for the view back towards the cliffs before sunset.

The four-island trip from Ao Nang: Phra Nang Cave beach below the Railay cliffs, the long white beach on Koh Poda, the sandbar that surfaces at low tide between Koh Tup and its neighbour, and snorkelling off Chicken Island. The hops are short and the sea is usually calm in season. Lunch is served on the islands. Back mid-afternoon, with the evening free for dinner on the beach.

The transfer to Krabi airport and a short flight east over the peninsula to Koh Samui, where you land at an open-air, garden-style terminal. Your hotel is a short drive away. For a honeymoon, the quieter north and north-east coasts, Bophut and Choeng Mon, tend to suit better than busy Chaweng. The rest of the day is yours; Bophut's old Fisherman's Village has a pleasant beachfront walk for the evening.

A day in a protected archipelago of steep, jungled islands north-west of Samui. At Koh Mae Koh a stepped path climbs to a viewpoint over Thale Nai, a green saltwater lake sealed inside the island. Other stops give you time to kayak along the cliffs, snorkel and lie on a beach with few other people on it. Lunch is taken on the islands. The park can close for a few weeks during the rains at the end of the year.

Samui's centre is steep, forested hills that most visitors never see. A 4x4 climbs dirt tracks into them to viewpoints over the coast, a cool waterfall pool, and the Secret Buddha Garden, a hillside of sculptures made by a local farmer. You are back by early afternoon, leaving the rest of the last full day for the beach, a spa appointment or a final dinner by the sea.

Breakfast and checkout. Samui's airport is close to most beaches, so there is often time for a morning swim. Flights home to India connect through Bangkok; we arrange the timings so that the domestic sector leaves you a comfortable margin, and recommend a final Bangkok night if the connection is tight. Leave coconut oil and sand-filled shoes for the last repack; the domestic baggage allowance is often smaller than the international one.