Isaan is Thailand's northeastern plateau, bordering Laos and Cambodia — a third of the country's land and population, and by far its least-visited region by foreign tourists. It's flatter, poorer, and hotter than the rest of Thailand, with its own language (closely related to Lao), its own food (sticky rice, som tam, grilled chicken), and a very different pace of travel: fewer well-worn circuits, more improvising.
Khon Kaen and Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat) are the region's biggest cities and its usual entry points. Along the Mekong, Nong Khai faces Laos across the Friendship Bridge, a relaxed river town and a common border crossing to Vientiane. Ubon Ratchathani anchors the region's eastern edge near the Cambodian and Laotian borders.
The region's real draw is its scattering of Khmer temple ruins, remnants of the Angkor empire's reach into what's now Thailand — most notably around Surin, also home to the country's most famous elephant traditions and the annual Elephant Round-Up. Sakon Nakhon, Roi Et, and Maha Sarakham round out a region best explored slowly, by car, without a fixed itinerary.
