Hong Kong, Bangkok, TBC, Dubai 16 nights, Family

[Henry Fiddleton]

Hi All,

Looking for general hotel advice - and to do advice.

Going with my wife, who is 3 months pregnant, and 18 month son.

16 nights in total, last week of Jan and 1st week of Feb.

No hotel booked yet (last minute holiday due to a tough pregnancy so far).

AM PM
23-Fri-Jan UK LON:AIR
24-Sat-Jan AIR HK
25-Sun-Jan HK HK
26-Mon-Jan HK HK
27-Tue-Jan HK HK
28-Wed-Jan HK HK:AIR
29-Thu-Jan BKK BKK
30-Fri-Jan BKK THAI
31-Sat-Jan THAI THAI
01-Sun-Feb THAI THAI
02-Mon-Feb THAI THAI
03-Tue-Feb THAI THAI
04-Wed-Feb THAI THAI
05-Thu-Feb THAI BKK
06-Fri-Feb BKK BKK:AIR
07-Sat-Feb DUB DUB
08-Sun-Feb DUB LON:AIR

Done a bit of research:

HK:
Aiming for £100 hotels in HK (we have a wedding to attend so not about the hotel). Will find out where friends wedding is, they live there, and work near there.

Harbour view hotel? Any good?

Bangkok:
£80-£100 seems to get something good. After central so its easy to get amongst it, and then retreat quickly with a push chair. Shops near by, places to eat (malls are fine for us).

Are these good?
Banyan Tree Bangkok
Siam Kempinski Hotel
Lebua at State Tower

Thailand Island:
Done the search here, and spoilt for choice. Ko Samui seems a safe bet.
£150 a night should go far here, and really let the wife relax and get the beach holiday.

Back to Bangkok for one more night?
Tempted to drop this and extant time on the Islands?

Last Two nights in Dubai.
Was going to to do the Atlantis but is over £250/night.
Will just find a decent hotel, nothing amazing for £150 ish and cab it to locations, and catch up with family and friends out there.

Food wise: not into massively expensive meals (whats the point with the little guy running around!). Happy with malls and local easy places to eat. Would be useful if the restaurants in the hotels were reasonable..

Any tips and thoughts welcome.

HF

PS: there goes the new track car fund!

Edited by Henry Fiddleton on Friday 9th January 16:59

[Henry Fiddleton]

Any help?
Flights are now booked..

HF

[Philplop]

I was just about to bump this up because I was hoping for some recommendations. £100 doesn't get you much at all in a HK central, and I need somewhere the same time as you. My usual place is about £25 but I was looking for somewhere a bit more upmarket for my mam visiting. :lol:

Did you find out which area it was that you'd be staying?

[nyt]

I'm actually doing the same trip within a few days of you so 've been researching too.

HK: I'm still looking for a hotel. I'm thinking either central or kowloon. £100 doesn't go far these days.

Bangkok hotels look good. I'd probably choose the Banyan tree from that list. Lebua has great outdoor bars high up but I don't find it very relaxing.
Not sure how much the Shangri-la is at the moment but it's by the river with a nice outdoor pool area. It's where I tend to stay. But some think it past it's best.
If you're on the river then you can take the free boats to the other hotels and a couple of shopping malls which is nice.
Best way to get from the airport into town is taxi. Take out some cash form a machine in the airport and it's a fixed price from the govt taxi rank. Less than a tenner iirc.
It's best to be near the skytrain in Bangkok. The roads are often jammed and it's the best way to get about.

Samui: Changwa beach has lovely sand and clear sea but it is populated by thousands of young people determined to have a great time - so lots of cheap beer/food etc.
Bo phut is nicer with Fisherman's village providing bars and restaurants. Beach & sea is not nearly as nice.
Anantara is a nice hotel (and the one at changwa beach is also ok as it's away from the crowds).
Zazen is a nice boutique hotel but a bit too far to walk to fisherman's village with a young 'un.
There are lots of upmarket resorts.
It's usually pretty cheap to hire a car at the airport and the island is safe enough to drive round.

Beware Chinese new year. Thailand is their number one foreign destination so hotels will fill up. So lock in hotels for that period.

if you have quidco then Expedia, booking etc are currently giving 11% cash-back which is nice.

[mcbook]

I've stayed at the Banyan Tree in Bangkok and it was pretty decent. I think the rooms are all "suites" with a separate bedroom but they're not massive. Perfectly acceptable but not true "suites". It's a good, clean, modern hotel with nice facilities. From memory the location was pretty good - it didn't take very long to get anywhere but the traffic is crazy and you will be stuck in traffic if you take a taxi over a tuk-tuk (which you will probably have to with a kid).

[nyt]

In Bangkok you should book a hotel with breakfast.
Hotel breakfasts tend to be good and it's usually not very easy to just pop out.

Like most 4* hotels they'll want £20+ per person if they are not included.

[Philplop]

Sounds like I better get booked up sharpish if half of Pistonheads are going! :lol:

nyt said:

Samui: Changwa beach has lovely sand and clear sea but it is populated by thousands of young people determined to have a great time - so lots of cheap beer/food etc.

Chaweng? Yeah, it's pretty busy. Better to be somewhere else on the island if you're wanting a bit more of a relaxed time.

[rich85uk]

If you don't mind 2 hours on a ferry then I loved Koh Tao, small island that you can easily explore in a week

[Dr Imran T]

Are you flying into HK International? Always wanted to see that airport it's a feat of engineering.

Not been to HK but by all accounts it can be tad pricey!

Will get back to you re. dubai.

[Henry Fiddleton]

Thanks for all the advice so far, very helpful.

As it stands, in HK we will most likely book "Holiday Inn Golden Mile" due to a friends wedding and all guests staying there.

Re Thailand: Ko Samui or Krabbi?

Needs to be a bit happening within say a 10 min taxi..

[nyt]

Henry Fiddleton said:

Re Thailand: Ko Samui or Krabbi?

.

I prefer Samui. It's a really easy journey and bo-phut in particular has more charm than Krabi imv. Lot's of restaurants overlooking the sea or on the beach.

As was posted above, Ko Tao is nice too. But probably no point adding a 2 hour catamaran trip to your journey.

When choosing Thai hotels I like to make sure that there are alternative bars and restaurants in walking distance. It usually means that the food in the hotel will be better.
One time that I didn't do this - centara in Krabi - the only beer was small cans of Heineken at £5 a pop. Not the end of the world but I don't like Heineken or cans. Food was also far from 4* quality.

[rich85uk]

I would also say Samui if you want nightlife, I have just spent 4 nights in Ao Nang which is the area in Krabi for tourists and was pretty quiet at night with about 20 bars in 2 separate areas, generally pretty small with women working in them looking for men to buy them drinks and pay for sex.

Even though we skipped Samui and did Koh Tao and Koh Phangan I have heard good things about it

[nyt]

Someone was asking about Hong Kong hotels.

I booked the Hotel LBP for part of the stay. £45/£60 without/with breakfast.
Gets well reviewed and is where I wanted to be.

The garden view hotel also seemed nice but was a bit of a walk uphill from Central.

[chris7676]

nyt said:

Someone was asking about Hong Kong hotels.

I booked the Hotel LBP for part of the stay. £45/£60 without/with breakfast.
Gets well reviewed and is where I wanted to be.

The garden view hotel also seemed nice but was a bit of a walk uphill from Central.

It's not that nice and the breakfast is VERY basic, those reviews seem to be written from the point of 3 star budget travellers in most cases. Still at this price it's good value and good location, even if I wouldn't stay there again (mind you it cost me about £80 in April 2012).

[nyt]

chris7676 said:

nyt said:

Someone was asking about Hong Kong hotels.

I booked the Hotel LBP for part of the stay. £45/£60 without/with breakfast.
Gets well reviewed and is where I wanted to be.

The garden view hotel also seemed nice but was a bit of a walk uphill from Central.

It's not that nice and the breakfast is VERY basic, those reviews seem to be written from the point of 3 star budget travellers in most cases. Still at this price it's good value and good location, even if I wouldn't stay there again (mind you it cost me about £80 in April 2012).

So, £15 for a very basic breakfast. Thanks for the heads-up. I will probably cancel the breakfast.
I'm heading across the river for the weekend to a nicer hotel. So hopefully the luxury levels will even out.

[Henry Fiddleton]

Regarding Hong Kong:

Staying in the Tsim Sha Tsui area, and probs going to book the Intercontinental Stanford.

[Henry Fiddleton]

Hong Kong Booked:

Hotel Panorama By Rhombus.

Next up will be sorting Bangkok once we agree on flights to Ko-Samui.

Plenty of flights to choose from, looking at £200/person from BKK to USM.

[Henry Fiddleton]

All booked (except 1 night):

Hong Kong: Hotel Panorama, Tsim. 5 nights

Bangkok Outbound: Banyan Tree. 2 nights

Thailand Island: Centara Grand, Karon Beach. 6 nights.

Bangkok: TBC.

Dubai: Sheraton Dubai Mall of Emirates. 2 nights. Only one without breakfast.

We couldn't get the Koh Samui flights or hotels to work, and Krabbi was good flights but couldn't get the hotels to work out.

Thanks for help, im off after work tomorrow.

HF

[thehawk]

Henry Fiddleton said:

Are these good?
Banyan Tree Bangkok
Siam Kempinski Hotel
Lebua at State Tower

Siam Kempinksi is one of the best hotels in the world full stop, Lebua is a dump in comparison and the Banyan Tree is good, but not in the same class.

[FunkyGibbon]

Another vote for the siam kempinski. Great hotel, great location for a short stop in bkk.