Bangkok and krabi

[sunnygym]

I'm hoping to book this up for April, spending two nights on Bangkok and the rest in Krabi.

What I'm after is:-

Best sites/places to book through

Hotel recommendations

Best places to visit

General advice

Many thanks

Edited by sunnygym on Tuesday 4th January 10:58

Edited by sunnygym on Tuesday 4th January 11:14

[h0b0]

We stayed at lebua State tower which is very close to the river. Very large rooms with seperate living rooms. We spent on night in the bar on the top of the tower looking down at fireworks.

Booked through Jetsetter for around $100 a night. We had the club level room which was great as the restaurants are very expensive ($400 for 2 people) but on the club level they give you free food and booze until 6pm. Also the breakfast is included which was very good buffet.

Here is a link to their current auction but you probably have to be a member
http://www.jetsetter.com/sale/lebua8/towerclubrive...

[DownUnder.]

We stayed at the D&D inn in Bangkok. Nice, very luxurious for the price, pool on the roof Breakfast included. Some of the rooms however had not been refurbed though so were a little dated.

In Krabi check out phi phi and Koh Lanta. Awesome islands, if you have time try and get across to the other side and try Koh Tao.

Enjoy yourself.

[g3org3y]

DownUnder. said:

We stayed at the D&D inn in Bangkok. Nice, very luxurious for the price, pool on the roof Breakfast included. Some of the rooms however had not been refurbed though so were a little dated.

+1 for D&D. Back in the middle of the action in Khao San Road and very decent for the price.


In terms of places to visit:

Grand Palace
Wat Phra Kaeo
Wat Arun
Wat Pho (for the massive golden Buddah)
Suan Lum Night Market
National Museum is ok

Worth doing a day trip (via train) to Ayutthaya (the old capital).

Edited by g3org3y on Thursday 6th January 10:53

[Nobby Diesel]

My general advice would be to book up quick.
Depending on when you want to go in April, you may hit Easter holidays and Songkran.
If you are travelling from LHR to BKK, you have a limited choice of non stop direct carriers. BA/Qantas, Thai and EVA.
You will generally find EVA to be the cheapest of the 3, particularly if you want to go Prem Ec or Business.
For hotels, look at sawasdee.com, agoda.com and asiaweb.com
These are all discounting brokers who can offer great rates.

Both Bangkok and Krabi have some very good hotels.
I could suggest some, but you need to say a bit more about what you are looking for and your budget.

Check into flights first though.

[DownUnder.]

Finnair also fly out there. Good service on the economy and all!

[Nobby Diesel]

DownUnder. said:

Finnair also fly out there. Good service on the economy and all!

As far as I know, you have to fly London-Helsinki-Bangkok and then reverse on return.
If the OP is happy with indirect routes, there are hundreds to choose from.
As I said, the only LHR-BKK non stop, direct carriers are BA/Qantas, Thai and EVA.
I would welcome being corrected though, as it would give the family Diesel more choice!!

[havoc]

g3org3y said:

In terms of places to visit:

Grand Palace
Wat Phra Kaeo
Wat Arun
Wat Pho (for the massive golden Buddah)
Suan Lum Night Market
National Museum is ok

Worth doing a day trip (via train) to Ayutthaya (the old capital).

Agree with all of that, except haven't done Nat'l Museum.
That said, GP is a few hours alone, Wat Arun can take from 30mins to 3x that, plus you need to get across the river - you could combine this with a morning visit to the floating markets? So even without Ayutthaya or the Museum you've got 2.5 days of trips there. Chatuchak market in the north of the city is also good if you're there at a weekend.



Krabi - beware where you book - try and find a couple of maps first which show where you'll be...
- Krabi town is actually inland from the coast.

- Ao Nang is the main resort, with an OK beach but a whole bunch of restaurants and a few bars - best rest'ts back in Dec-07 seemed to be the ones overlooking the beach on stilts at the RH end of the centre of town (below the large forested hill in the middle of town). We had a few very nice meals at ~3rd/4th one along - fish counter on ice and dark-wood floors/tables. Better beach is Railay, a short long-tail journey from Ao Nang. The Rayavadee (if you're loaded) is just behind this beach. And you can get a (larger) boat day-trip around some islands further afield, which look truly beautiful, and where you can do a bit of snorkelling (don't expect Red Sea, but it's clear water and quite interesting)

- You've got a cluster of semi-isolated (boat or narrow walkway around towards Ao Nang - ~1 mile+) but good hotels on the west-coast around the corner from Ao-Nang, facing some islands and closer to Phang Nga Bay (which is I think a full-day trip from Ao Nang, mixed bus and boat. Can do long-tail trips all around here apparently, and being west-facing will probably get better sunsets.

- ...and there may be some other options further afield. But they'll be the main 3, I think.


Some photos I took are here - we did Bangkok (inc. Ayutthaya, but not Grand Palace or Wat Phra Keo as we did them 3 years before), Chiang Mai (lovely place - really friendly, plus the Elephant sanctuary/charity outside the town), and Ao Nang ("4-Islands" labelled photos are from the boat-trip I mention above). Photos of the beach from above are from the restaurant I mentioned.
http://s101.photobucket.com/albums/m54/martin-w/Ho...

[DownUnder.]

Nobby Diesel said:

DownUnder. said:

Finnair also fly out there. Good service on the economy and all!

As far as I know, you have to fly London-Helsinki-Bangkok and then reverse on return.
If the OP is happy with indirect routes, there are hundreds to choose from.
As I said, the only LHR-BKK non stop, direct carriers are BA/Qantas, Thai and EVA.
I would welcome being corrected though, as it would give the family Diesel more choice!!

Fly manchester as well.

[anonymous-user]

At Ao Nang the best place is the Beach Terrece, you can bock direct it has web site it is on the N end of the beach and has direct access to the beach, it is the only Hotel in Ao Nang that has all, the otheres are on the town side of the road.
It is a local Thai hotel cost around 20 pounds a night for two people with breakfast 30 high season, a bit more for the better rooms, it has a pool etc,
I've been staying there for 15 years or so and it is really good value, and as I say has beach access. I never book if I go to Ao Nang, (its 9 hours on the bike, for me ride up Saturday, back Sunday somtimes), at the S end of the beach just where the road turn inland of the beach there are loads of good value hotels and small resorts if you can't get in the Beach Terrece.
Ray Lia Bay is finished now, was good but about 5 years ago it started to all multi floor developments and swiming poools and comletly lost it, Ok for a day visit but as aplace chill out it is gone.
Krabbie town is a Thai town and a dump, no point to stay there.
South of Krabbie is good to chill out no big resorts but great beaches, Pak Meng beach just south of Sadau, and about 100km South of Krabbie is great, it is like Ray Lai was 20 years ago,