Livingstone

I was skeptical but have really enjoyed it. It's considered a growing 'hipster capital' of Thailand, after Chiang Mai, with its easy access to Bangkok for wealthy weekenders on breaks, and the opening of Seenspace, a massive hotel + food and drink emporium. Train to Bangkok is older and slower, but avoids traffic. There are plenty of mini-buses and taxis plying the route as well. Figure 4 hours door to door. It's blissfully free of digital nomads (even though there is a coworking space and plenty of coffee shops) has great grocery stores, a few clean malls if you need that stuff, and some of the best seafood in Thailand. My advice is to stay south of the main strip of hotels in the quiet, and charming, Khao Takiap area or even farther south in the village of Khao Tao. Some nice condos/Airbnbs (monthly rental only), great walking beaches, and cheap seafood restaurants filled mostly with polite, older Euros and Thai families on vacation. Also tons of random expat owned venues like a petanque bar, or a German bakery, or Southern USA BBQ spot. Unlike Phuket or Pattaya the sex trafficking is not as overt. You mostly see older, beer-fattened Australians/Brits with their middle-aged Thai wives. Overall, highly recommended if you like Thailand but want to try something different. And can eat your weight in crab. Scooter is a must have, as there is a taxi mafia that forces the Grab drivers to pick up in weird places (mostly 7/11 parking lots instead of in front of wherever you are). Really amazing national park about an hour south with waterfalls, caves, cave temples, and the largest protected wetland in Thailand (tons of birds). 1. 5 hours west is a national forest/waterfall where you can still see wild elephants on the roads (not the slave labor elephants like you see in Chiang Mai). I'd recommend coming in the 'rainy' season. By quirk of geography (mountains to the west) it gets much, much less rain than similarly located areas in the wet season.