December in Thailand:
fairways by day, fine tables by night

December falls in the sweet spot for all three destinations. In Phuket, the northeast monsoon runs from November to April, bringing dry, sunny days, calmer seas and lower humidity. On the Gulf coast, Hua Hin is in its prime November-to-March window, with dry skies and the most comfortable mornings of the year; it sits in a relatively dry rain shadow, and October's heavier showers have usually passed.

Chiang Mai is at its best from November to January. After the rains the air is clear, mornings in the hills are cool, and the haze that can arrive from February is still weeks away.

The trade-off is demand. December is high season everywhere, and the weeks around Christmas and New Year are the busiest of the year. Book tee times and rooms well ahead, and make restaurant reservations as soon as your dates are fixed.

• Phuket — for fine dining. The deepest MICHELIN line-up of the three, with a one-star restaurant, a Green Star and two Bib Gourmands in the Old Town, alongside four strong courses and resort beaches.
• Chiang Mai — for food lovers who like cooler golf. Mountain and valley courses, plus northern Thai cooking recognised by the MICHELIN Guide, from khao soi to Lanna-style set menus.
• Hua Hin — for easy, unhurried golf. Five courses within a short drive, Thailand's oldest course in town, and long-running seafood houses on the beach, about three hours from Bangkok by road.

With a week or more, pair two: Phuket and Chiang Mai are both a short domestic flight from Bangkok, and Hua Hin works well as a road trip at the start or end.

Blue Canyon Country Club's Canyon Course, a Yoshikazu Kato design from 1991, hosted the Johnnie Walker Classic in 1994, 1998 and 2007. Red Mountain Golf Club is carved through the red-rock cliffs of a former tin mine in Kathu, with a par-3 17th played from a tee about 50 metres above the green; a caddie is mandatory. Mission Hills Phuket is the island's only Jack Nicklaus design and its only seaside course, and Laguna Golf Phuket sits inside the Laguna Phuket resort at Bang Tao.

For dinner, PRU at Trisara in Choeng Thale holds Phuket's MICHELIN star for farm-to-table cooking, a short drive from Laguna Golf. Jampa at Tri Vananda in Thalang, near Blue Canyon and Mission Hills, holds a MICHELIN Green Star. In Phuket Old Town, the Bib Gourmand pair of One Chun (crab meat in yellow curry in a 19th-century shophouse) and The Charm Dining Gallery (Phuket Peranakan family recipes) make a great post-round lunch or early dinner.

Chiangmai Highlands Golf & Spa Resort, a 27-hole Schmidt-Curley design, was named one of GOLF Magazine's Top 100 Golf Resorts in the World in 2023 and is known for its 100-plus cloverleaf bunkers against jungle-covered hills. Next door in the same valley, Alpine Golf Resort hosted the Asian Tour's Chiangmai Golf Classic in 2013 and 2014. Royal Chiangmai is Peter Thomson's parkland with links-style pot bunkers, and Summit Green Valley in Mae Rim is floodlit on all 18 holes for night golf.

Chiang Mai's MICHELIN Guide picks are mostly about northern Thai cooking. Khao Soi Mae Sai, a Bib Gourmand, serves one of the city's best-known bowls of khao soi from breakfast to mid-afternoon, which makes it an ideal post-round lunch. Huen Muan Jai serves northern dips and curries in a Lanna wooden house. Two new Bib Gourmands for 2026 are worth booking: Gongkham in Mae Rim, near Summit Green Valley, and CHAWEE, whose seasonal family-recipe menu ends with a shared samrap set.

Black Mountain Golf Club is the headline: 27 holes by Phil Ryan beneath limestone hills, host of the 2009 Black Mountain Masters and the 2015 Thailand Classic. Add Jack Nicklaus's Springfield Royal in Cha-am, Pineapple Valley, and Royal Hua Hin, Thailand's oldest course, laid out in 1924 beside the railway station.

Hua Hin's food scene is about Gulf seafood rather than tasting menus. Chao Lay Seafood by the fishing pier is known for crab curry and baked scallops; Baan Itsara serves clams in basil at beachfront tables; You Yen Hua Hin Balcony cooks regional Thai food in a 1920s wooden house on the sand; and the Railroad Restaurant sits in the historic Railway Hotel building, now the Centara Grand. Finish with the nightly street food at the Hua Hin Night Market.

• Book early. Reserve tee times, rooms and your top one or two dinners as soon as dates are set, especially for Christmas and New Year.
• Tee off early and eat late. Morning rounds leave the afternoon for the spa or the beach and keep you fresh for a long dinner.
• Match courses to restaurants. In Phuket, pair Laguna Golf with PRU and Blue Canyon or Mission Hills with Jampa; in Chiang Mai, pair Summit Green Valley with Gongkham.
• Check holiday schedules. Restaurants may change opening days or offer special menus over the festive period; confirm directly.
• Caddies are standard in Thailand and are tipped in cash; ask the club or your hotel for the usual amount.