Visas, arrival, money, SIM cards and Thai customs, so you land ready
6 to 15 November 2026
Entry rules, fees and laws change. This page was last reviewed on 16 July 2026 and is general guidance, not legal advice. Always confirm current requirements with the official sources: the Thailand Digital Arrival Card, the official Thai e-Visa portal, the Tourism Authority of Thailand and your own government’s travel advisory for Thailand.
Ten minutes of preparation saves hours at the border. Work down this list in the weeks before you fly.
Thailand is replacing its 60-day visa-free entry with a 30-day visa-free stay for 59 countries (including the EU, UK, US, Canada and Australia), expected to be in force well before November. Plan on 30 days. Staying longer for courses or travel? Apply for a 60-day Tourist Visa before you fly at thaievisa.go.th, and get any visas for other countries on your route before leaving home.
Both airports work the same way: ignore the touts, follow the signs, and you will be in the city for a few hundred baht.
Skip the arrivals-hall bank counters. At Suvarnabhumi, the SUPERRICH booths in the basement (Floor B, by the Airport Rail Link) give close to the best rates anywhere.
ATMs work everywhere but charge foreign cards a flat 250 to 350 baht per withdrawal, so take out larger amounts less often, and if the machine offers your home currency, always choose baht.
Cheap tourist SIMs are easiest at the official AIS or True booths just after customs (passport required by law; staff sort it in minutes). Typical package: around 399 baht for 8 days of data.
Most packages also come as an eSIM you can buy online before you fly. Internet at the venues is limited, especially at Suan Loong Choke, so a SIM is a small investment worth making.
Public metered taxi: follow the Public Taxi signs to the kiosk queue (Suvarnabhumi: Floor 1, Gates 4–7; Don Mueang: Terminal 1, Gate 8). Meter + 50 baht airport fee + tolls; roughly 400–500 baht from Suvarnabhumi, 300–400 from Don Mueang.
Airport Rail Link (Suvarnabhumi): basement level, 45 baht to Phaya Thai in about 30 minutes; tap a contactless card at the gates. Grab or Bolt apps give fixed prices with official pickup zones at both airports.
Avoid the “limousine” touts inside arrivals and any driver who refuses the meter.
Free to call from any Thai phone. The Tourist Police speak English, 24 hours a day.
The IPC16 event emergency mobile number and recommended hotel details will appear here once confirmed.
Thailand runs on cash and QR codes. Cards work at hotels and malls, not at markets and street stalls.
Notes: 20, 50, 100, 500, 1,000. Coins: 1, 2, 5, 10 baht. Guide rate: USD 1 ≈ 33–34 baht, EUR 1 ≈ 37–39 baht; check Bank of Thailand for today’s rate. Banks open Mon–Fri about 8:30–15:30 (passport needed to exchange); booths in tourist areas open late. There is no exchange near either venue, so get your baht in Bangkok first.
Street food and markets are half the joy of Thailand; carry cash for them. Don’t drink tap water: bottled, filtered and boiled water are cheap and everywhere (tap water is fine for brushing teeth; sealed factory ice is fine). Alcohol is sold 11:00–24:00; a few Buddhist holy days each year are alcohol-free, though none fall during the event.
BTS Skytrain, metered taxis, Grab/Bolt and the occasional tuk-tuk ride cover Bangkok. Department stores are fixed-price; markets enjoy friendly bargaining. Flying home, tourists can reclaim 7% VAT on purchases from stores showing the “VAT Refund for Tourists” sign: spend at least 2,000 baht per store (5,000 baht total minimum), ask for the P.P.10 form and visit the airport Customs desk before check-in.
Thailand is easy-going in person and strict on paper. Three things catch visitors out.
Possessing or using any vape, e-cigarette, pod or e-liquid is an offence with real fines (5,000–30,000 baht) and active enforcement, and you can be held in Thailand while the case is processed. There is no tourist exemption. Leave the whole kit at home.
Whatever you read in 2022–24 is out of date: since mid-2025 purchase requires a Thai medical prescription, smoking it in public is fined (up to about 25,000 baht), and taking any cannabis product out of the country is strictly banned. Other narcotics carry severe penalties, up to the death penalty for serious offences.
No smoking in public buildings, on public transport (fines to 5,000 baht) or on many beaches (fines to 100,000 baht). Look for designated smoking areas.
None of these will come up if you know them in advance. All of them can ruin a trip if you don’t.
Criticising or mocking the Thai royal family, including online and in private messages, is a serious crime with long prison sentences. Simply never joke about it. When the national anthem plays in public places at 8:00 and 18:00, stop and stand still like everyone around you.
Road accidents are the biggest real danger to visitors here. Without a motorcycle licence plus an International Driving Permit your travel insurance is usually void, and helmets are required by law. If you do ride: helmet on, sober, slowly.
Thais call it jai yen, a cool heart. Raising your voice or losing your temper causes everyone to lose face and gets you precisely nowhere. A smile and patience solve almost everything in Thailand, genuinely.
Rabies exists in Thailand. However friendly the soi dogs and temple monkeys look, keep your hands to yourself; any bite or scratch means an immediate trip to a clinic for post-exposure shots.
“The temple is closed today, my friend will take you somewhere better” is the opening line of Bangkok’s oldest scam. Politely ignore strangers steering you to gem shops, tailors or special tuk-tuk tours, and agree any tuk-tuk price before you get in.
Thai towns run on 24/7 corner shops (7-Eleven and friends) for water, snacks, toiletries and top-ups, and on apps: Grab for rides, LINE MAN for food delivery. One IPC16 caveat: this convenience thins out in the countryside. There is no corner shop near Suan Loong Choke and only a long walk from the conference venue, so stock up on essentials before leaving Bangkok.
November opens the cool, dry season. The odd shower is possible early in the month; sustained rain is not expected.
Low-30s °C afternoons, nights still around 24 °C. The only cold you will feel is the air-conditioning; that is what the light jacket is for. November sun is still fierce: sunscreen, a hat and a refillable water bottle.
A highland district famous in Thailand as a cool-air getaway: days around 28–30 °C, mornings and evenings 18–21 °C, and a cold snap can push nights into the mid-teens. Dengue mosquitoes bite in the daytime, so use repellent during outdoor sessions.
The short answers, in one place. Details for each are further up the page.
Most attendees from Europe, North America, Australia and much of Asia can enter Thailand visa-free, but the allowance is changing to 30 days in 2026. If your whole trip fits inside 30 days you just show up with a passport valid 6+ months. Staying longer? Apply for a 60-day Tourist Visa at the official e-Visa portal before you fly, and check the current rules close to departure because they are in flux.
An online form every non-Thai national must complete before entering Thailand; it replaced the paper arrival card. Fill it in within 72 hours before you arrive, at tdac.immigration.go.th only. It is free; sites that charge for it are copycats.
The two venues are around three hours apart by road, and a dedicated IPC16 bus links them: it departs the Golden Jubilee Museum on the morning of Tuesday 10 November and brings everyone back to Bangkok on the afternoon of Sunday 15 November, after the Convergence closes. Book the combined two-event package and the bus is included; attending just one event, you can buy a return seat (600 THB per person).
The Conference is at the Golden Jubilee Museum of Agriculture in Pathum Thani, just north of Bangkok and reachable by taxi or Grab. The Convergence is at Suan Loong Choke Bamboo School in Wang Nam Khiao, Nakhon Ratchasima, a genuinely remote valley around three hours northeast of Bangkok; there are no ride-hailing apps out there and nearby resorts sit 5 to 15 km from the site, so the IPC16 bus is the easy way in, and off-site guests cluster at the same resorts and share cars. Full options on the Where to Stay page.
No. Vapes, pods and e-liquids are illegal to bring in, own or use anywhere in Thailand, with fines of 5,000 to 30,000 baht, active police enforcement and no tourist exemption. Leave the whole kit at home.
Treat it as not drinkable: buy bottled water or use filtered and boiled water, which are cheap and available everywhere. Brushing your teeth with tap water is fine, and sealed factory-bagged ice is fine too.
November starts the cool, dry season. Around Bangkok and the Conference expect low-30s afternoons and warm nights around 24 degrees. Wang Nam Khiao is a highland district: days of 28 to 30 degrees but genuinely cool mornings and evenings of 18 to 21 degrees, occasionally colder, so pack a light jacket or fleece for the Convergence.
Not really, and that surprises people used to a 7-Eleven on every Thai corner. There is no convenience store near Suan Loong Choke and only a long walk to one from the Museum, so stock up on toiletries, snacks, repellent and anything else you rely on before leaving Bangkok.
Sources: Thai Immigration Bureau, Thai Customs Department, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Bank of Thailand and national embassy advisories; see the review date at the top of this page and always confirm with the official sites before travelling. Photos via Pexels by min Thway, Shamsuddin Habib, Belle Shang, Markus Winkler, Luoqing, King, Mineia Martins, Santasak Trirattanasak and Kappapat Stories.