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I'm back in the Asia forum for now. It has been about a year and a half since you Fodorites helped me put together an oustanding trip to SE Asia.
This time I am helping my daughter and her husband put together a December trip to the area. They will be starting in Bangkok, then Chaing Mai, Phuket and Siem Reap. She is having trouble finding airlines without returning to Bangkok to go to the next place. Also she tells me that Bangkok Air is pretty pricey to Siem Reap and again it is through Bangkok. Last year we flew the Bangkok Air Discovery pass with Siem Reap Air as part of the ticket. Siem Reap Air is no longer flying due to maintenance issues.
What are your thoughts on how to make this work for them and at a reasonable price? I am going to start looking at airline schedules also.
Thanks to all of you and have a safe and healthy holiday season.
Bangkok in December
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unfortunately most flts require a tranverse through bkk...
to SR bkk air is about your only choice unless you fly to the capital and go on from there...
can she find a hotel in SR at this late date??
air asia is not good for SR but is good elsewhere in thailand
Air Asia doesn't yet fly to Siem Reap from Bangkok. They're ramping up plans to turn Phuket into a second Thai hub, but I don't think they have any plans to fly to SR from there either. They recently said something about "respecting Bangkok Air" too much to complete with them.
There are direct flights from Chiang Mai to Phuket, on both Bangkok Air and Thai, but not many flights a day. Traversing Bangkok may be the cheaper option, as well as more convenient for flight times.
Thanks you two.
Has anyone hired a car in the capital and driven to SR? How long did it take? Do you have the names of drivers or a firm that can set it up? In Vietnam we used Vietnamstay who made those type arrangements for us and it worked really well. Hopefully, there is a similar company in PP they can contact. Any idea of cost? I talked them into Angkok Wat and I think they really want to see it. My daughter tells me flying from BKK to PP then to SR by plane or car is considerably cheaper than flying BKK to SR. I suggested a car thinking it might be faster when you consider plane schedules etc.
The overland journey to SR from BKK is arduous. I would either fly on Bangkok Air or skip it. As noted above, you would have to check to see if you can get a decent hotel in SR before booking the flights.
As an aside, many on this forum have visited schools in SR through the auspices of thePLF.org. It was started by a Fodorite, Offwego. Your daughter might like this.
You don't want a car to drive from Bangkok to SR, you want two. Thailand drives on the left, Cambodia on the right. The roads are better than they used to be, but in the current political climate I wouldn't plan on doing this trip overland. A better option, if you simply don't want to pay Bangkok Air's price, would be to fly to Phnom Penh and take car from there to SR. The time required is much less than Bangkok - SR and there's less chance of any problems.