How to find the best Tour in Thailand?

Way cheaper, below average costs, is a signal that the tour will be a disappointment or will drop you at a gem store and drive away. I recommend using the tour desk inside your hotel where u are staying because the hotel has a vested interest in having a good tour operator inside it. Lots of tiger shows are some poor old things medicated into submission (you hope as you pose for a photo holding their tails). An elephant ride around a circle in a corral is not nearly as much fun and a ride through some woods. My message is you need Lonely Planet guidebook and more realistic tour aspirations.

Cheap is not better Consider a 6 hour tour of movie stars homes costs $85 in Los Angeles http://www.grayline.com/tour_search?reload=true&from_tour=Los%20Angeles,%20United%20States#5911_28 Now does that $100 fee include air conditioned bus that works, meals or snacks, entry fee. The ones you find on the websites are usually more reliable, safe and sane. If it is for 2-3 days, does that really sound like that much? There are many tour agents in Bangkok. Reputable ones? Don't know. Each is a day trip from Bangkok. You may hire a taxi round trip for maybe 2000 baht or even 1500 baht, the entry to the Tiger Temple is ??? Same with the elephant rides. So you end up paying another 1,000 for english tour guide, a snack. Is that so bad.

All decent hotels have a tour agent or you can find one outside your hotel which may be even cheaper. Usually these prices online are higher than you will find in Bangkok once you arrive.