What parts of Thailand have the least amount of pollution throughout the year?

[JayBird]

I know most (if not all) of Thailand will be covered with blankets of pollution.  But I'm curious if there are any parts that have the least exposure?

 

I was once told that the Hua Hin area was safe, due to it being near the Royal Family, but I also hear that there is plenty of burning going on there.

 

I'm assuming Phuket is probably nicer, with the pollution coming from the Mainland rather than locally?

 

I'm wondering if places like Phetchabun (in the mountain area), or somewhere around Khao Yai (400M+ places) might be 'safer' ?  (some of these places claim to be Green/Ozone areas).

 

My GF is super sensitive to pollution, and since it started to pick up the last few days she's been having non-stop reactions (itchiness, etc.).  Rather than dose up on meds, thought: Hmm, maybe there's somewhere nicer to live ????

 

Thank you.

[Stocky]

Peninsular Thailand has, by and large, the best air, with the area between Chumphon and Nakhorn Si Thamerat, that includes Phuket and Koh Samui, seemingly the sweet spot. We live further south in Hat Yai, which is good most of the time, but we on some years get the smoke from Indonesia. 

[donx]

I rarely see much pollution in either Phatthalung, Krabi or Nakhon Si Thammarat all the years I’ve visited these areas. I haven’t spent extended periods of time in these places but I’ve been to all of them at various times of the year.

[KhunLA]

Ranong and south along the coast, or east side Nakhon Si Thammarat and south along that coast, would be my pick.  Anything else is hit and miss, and avoided.

 

Air pollution is starting to get really silly here  More and more noticeable every year.  Along with harder to avoid.

[Unify]

Don't trust any advice here that's not directly backed up by a reading on an air quality meter. I've been to a few places that people on this forum claimed were largely pollution free, and my meter said otherwise.

 

Basically, as far as I've been able to confirm, you have to get well south of Bangkok to get out of the majority of the air pollution.

 

Phuket usually has a couple of bad weeks out of the year, and is generally moderate or better pollution levels otherwise.

 

That being said, right now is not the best in phuket, with readings in or near the unhealthy range the last week or so. This last week has been the first time I've run an air filter in many months.

 

Air pollution is a risk for heart disease and stroke, as well as the lung cancer and emphysema you'd expect. Some of these conditions, you might not get advance notice before you have a serious problem. So ignore any of the "It doesn't bother me" folks.

 

Aqi.org is a good resource with a map, but confirm the reporting stations are measuring 2.5.

[hotchilli]

I would imagine somewhere south Thailand with a good sea breeze.

[rughead]

Hat Yai 

ive been here 5 yrs 

only once smoke from Indonesia , and that was only a few weeks 

[bougnat]

Dowmload free app AIR VISUAL. 

Phuket and Krabi are ok.

[GreasyFingers]

Do not know if anyone does any readings up here but the only smoke/haze you see is in the distance. One mountain range is 5km from home and you can see some smoke there on many days in dry season. It is mostly blown in from outside of the area. The only time you can notice anything close up is if there has been burning nearby but that is gone in a day.

[Tropposurfer]

My guess would be the Andaman Sea side of southern Thailand. I live on Phuket and find the air seems (?) cleaner here than most places up-country. Of course when we go to Cheong Thale, Bang Tao, Patong etc its busy and densely populated so not good. Coastal air would (as long as there is no major pollution hub upwind) be cleaner than land locked places I should think.

On Phuket itself I'd hazard a guess the Cape Promthep area would be the cleanest seeing as it sits at the least populated part and the southern most extremity of the island. I chose Nai Thon area to live and as far away from local villages as could be found to avoid the hideously poisonous fumes (cyanide gas is one) burning off of plastics by the Thais.

We have the airport about 15 KMS as the crow flies so thats a pollution source. So far our choice has proved good. We have a great buffer of national forest and large established rubber plantation around us, high end places of low density housing (many holiday places and empty a large part of the year) to the south, west, north for quite a ways, and the sea very, very close to the west just down the road. 

[Stocky]

2 hours ago, Unify said:

Don't trust any advice here that's not directly backed up by a reading on an air quality meter.

I have two PM2.5 monitors in the house in Hat Yai. In the nearly 3 years I've had them they've largely stayed in the 1-20ug/m3 range, or an AQI of 4 to 70. Local pollution can push it up to 60ug/m3, AQI of 150.

 

If the Indonesian 'Haze' comes to town it can go over AQI 200. August-October is the time of year we can expect surprises from Sumatra, but thankfully most years it doesn't reach us.

 

Bad air seldom hangs around for more than a few days because we get a good breeze from the coast most of the time. As my wife is asthmatic this is important. 

[khunPer]

18 hours ago, JayBird said:

My GF is super sensitive to pollution, and since it started to pick up the last few days she's been having non-stop reactions (itchiness, etc.).  Rather than dose up on meds, thought: Hmm, maybe there's somewhere nicer to live ????

 

Thank you.

Seems like you talk about PM2.5 air pollution. The southern islands in the Gulf are normally almost free of airpollution, meaning within safe levels. During my 16 years there only once came some seriously air pollution, haze blown up from Malaysia/Indonesia for a few days.

There's a good haze map HERE.

????

Edited December 24, 2021 by khunPer

[Chris HIckson]

My wife retires soon and I was determined that we would find somewhere with clean air or at least as little as possible! We have found a beautiful location with mountains all around at Si Sawat in Kanchanburi Province. This would not be suitable for everyone as it is quite remote but clean air and clear skies are perfect for us. 

[KhunLA]

32 minutes ago, Chris HIckson said:

My wife retires soon and I was determined that we would find somewhere with clean air or at least as little as possible! We have found a beautiful location with mountains all around at Si Sawat in Kanchanburi Province. This would not be suitable for everyone as it is quite remote but clean air and clear skies are perfect for us. 

good luck with that ... today's #s

 

 

[MarcelV]

I live in the Deep South, the majority-Muslim part of Thailand. Generally the air is pretty clean. Last year we even hit 0 PM2.5 values for a few days. However, some nights see a lot of trash burning in the countryside, pushing values way up.

[Stocky]

Just taking the last two years summary data for PM2.5 from the AQICN website for a geographical spread of Thai cities you can quickly see that the south is a better option.

 

 

Data from https://aqicn.org/map/asia/

[connda]

23 hours ago, JayBird said:

I know most (if not all) of Thailand will be covered with blankets of pollution.  But I'm curious if there are any parts that have the least exposure?

Then inside of my house where I run HEPA filtration.

[KhunLA]

3 hours ago, Stocky said:

Just taking the last two years summary data for PM2.5 from the AQICN website for a geographical spread of Thai cities you can quickly see that the south is a better option.

 

 

Data from https://aqicn.org/map/asia/

aqicn has got to be the worst site there is. 

 

Right now, it's got my area as AQI 16 ????  iqair has it at 68 (1600hrs), and accurate as there was a haze less than an hour ago at surfside and the headlands were a blur.  And not a moisture haze.  My meter agrees usually with aqair +/- 5. 

 

Airvisual has it at 59 (1800hrs)

Edited December 24, 2021 by KhunLA

[Moonlover]

If you pick a spot up in the rural north east, making sure that there is no sugar cane in the area, you can enjoy clean fresh air year round.

 

We live some 15klms from the Phu Pha Yol hill range and I regard it as normal to be able to see the peaks from our village. I never have cause for complaint when I go for my morning walk in the countryside.

 

[Stocky]

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

aqicn has got to be the worst site there is. 

Whilst I'd agree that IQAir generally gives better current data, the daily (24hr) data from AQICN is a fair reflection of what I see in my daily readings. So I consider the monthly summaries to be accurate.

 

That said, currently (20:00hrs) AQICN has Hat Yai at 50, IQAir also gives 50 or 12 µg/m³ - my reading here is 9 µg/m³, but I live just outside the city centre and it's an indoor reading. So here at least we're all in agreement.

 

.

Edited December 24, 2021 by Stocky

[gamini]

Samroyyot 40 kim south of Hua hin. Probably because of the 300 mountains surrounding it in

[KhunLA]

2 hours ago, Moonlover said:

If you pick a spot up in the rural north east, making sure that there is no sugar cane in the area, you can enjoy clean fresh air year round.

 

We live some 15klms from the Phu Pha Yol hill range and I regard it as normal to be able to see the peaks from our village. I never have cause for complaint when I go for my morning walk in the countryside.

 

It's not only sugar that they burn, also rice fields after the harvest.  NE gets terrible air pollution, rural or metro.  Lived there for 16 yrs.

[Moonlover]

9 hours ago, KhunLA said:

It's not only sugar that they burn, also rice fields after the harvest.  NE gets terrible air pollution, rural or metro.  Lived there for 16 yrs.

There is very little paddy burning going on in our district to the east of Sakon Nakhon nowadays. With the availability of tractors, they are plowing in much more than they were a few years ago. I walk in the countryside just about every day without any quarms.