Group two are the people taking part in the Sandbox. These people are fully vaccinated, but they don’t come from a country on the list. You must fly into one of the international airports on the listed 17 tourist provinces. For most people, that will probably mean Bangkok. These travellers must book a SHA+ hotel in advance for seven nights. The arrival procedure for Bangkok is the same as the first group of people. I’m also told, that both of these groups don’t necessarily have to stay in Bangkok. They could, in theory, go straight to a SHA+ hotel in say Pattaya or Hua Hin. But they must have a hotel transfer booked in advance as part of the hotel package. My advice for the first group is to stay in Bangkok for the first night. Then go where you like.
For the second group, there was one thing I didn’t fully understand before which I have just learned. I thought that these people had the freedom of the 17 provinces and could switch to hotels in different provinces. I just learned today that you have to stay in the first province that you picked. So, if these people want to go to Pattaya, they should try and arrive in Thailand during the day and book a SHA+ hotel in Pattaya with a hotel transfer. So, basically, these Sandbox people are stuck in one province, much like in the Phuket Sandbox. But after seven days, and after the negative test results on the last day, you then get the freedom of all 77 provinces.