I'm planning our first trip to Thailand in January. We'll start with 6 days in the north and then fly to Phuket. My question is about whether to fly out of Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai. Which one, if either has direct flights to Phuket, and which one is more convenient to fly out of?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

There are direct flights from chiang mai, to both phuket and koh samui.

Thai airways have a direct flight from Chiangmai to Phuket (not the other way around though!) but it is extremely expensive one way.

The cheapest option is to turn up at the airports early in the morning, get the nearest flight to Bangkok from any budget airline offices (Nok Air, AirAsia, One2Go, etc.) and when in Bangkok get to the airline offices again for the nearest flight into Phuket.

That's how to do it cheaply and if you want to get to Phuket well in time for a sunset cocktail.