Returned from Phuket, Krabi and Bangkok trip (5th Feb 04). We stayed at the Meridien Yacht Club (MYC) in Phuket, Rayavadee in Krabi and the Shangri La in Bangkok. Flew EVA air from London Heathrow B747-400 to Bangkok (arriving Terminal 2). Thai air run B777s from Bangkok/Phuket (upgrade to business class cost me 15 uk pounds each way! - do it). Run hourly most of the day. They also run B737-400s to/from Bangkok/Krabi. Domestic flights are from Terminal 1 (a long walk, or a short free bus ride from outside Terminal building).

Our personal experience is that the "Land of smiles" is still very much just that. Had a great time, so many friendly people, just cannot do enough for you. Just smile, you can't go wrong.

Le Meridien Yacht Club
MYC was very good, very friendly staff with good service. Manager knew us by name the day after we arrived. Had a Dlx sea facing room with Kingsize bed. Good size room with tv, cd player, fridge (bar), good storage, walk in shower (deep, 2 steps so could be used as bath too). The room had a massive private balcony with it's own 3 piece lounge suite, dining table with 2 chairs and 2 lounge beds with table and umbrella. You want privacy - you got it. (all this on the balcony with plenty of space too).

Food excellent, high quality buffets each night at 1200 baht in the Quarterdeck restaurant (wine a bit expensive - even the Shiraz and that didn't have to travel far), but reasonable house wine by the glass was available. Also has 2 other restaurants to choose from (Regatta-Italian and Promenade-Seafood). Regatta is recommended in "Where to eat in Phuket guide". We had dinner at Mom Tri's Boathouse in Kata on a couple of occasions, excellent setting, food and service with an extensive (but expensive) wine list.

Spa very good with all the usual treatments, so easy to indulge yourself. A small pool by comparison to many we have stayed at, but not busy (probably due to the huge balconies), with good views over the bay. We were there for Chinese New Year (21st Jan) and the buffet and entertainment was just stunning.

Set on Nai-Harn beach (way down South, below Kata so took a while to get there - 50 mins from airport, but had private air-cond car pick us up from the airport, well worth the 280 baht). Clean white soft sand beach (walk in almost anywhere, no ugly hidden rocks to hit toes on!), hotel beds & umbrellas available and large roped off area for swimming. A few long tail boats (3 per day doing trips), so nice bay and quiet compared to Krabi.

Four small bar/restaurants close to entrance of hotel, so if you want a cheaper drink (Singha Yai-large beer), only 100 baht at Shady restaurant. We had 10 nights there then onto Krabi. Did a deal with the MYC car pool manager to take us in one of the Mercs to Krabi (it's a 2 and a half hour drive).

Rayavadee
On a peninsular only reachable by boat. We were met at a small beach where we boarded the speed boat (all luggage handled by them-didn't touch it from the point it was picked up from our room in MYC), and it was heavy too!

Well, the wife does not like boats, but is was an easy 15 min trip in their speedboat. Depending on the tide, the speedboat may be met by a trailer to take you in the last part... (tide goes out a long way).

Rayavadee is quite stunning, A la James Bond type cliffs around you and set in "lush" gardens (take plenty of insect repellent for early morning and late afternoon/evening walks etc.). Has access to 3 beaches (Nammao - where you arrive, not really for relaxing, more of a functional beach. Railay - Fairly large bay with powder white sand, some rocks so watch the toes, very busy with lots of Long Tail Boats (LTBs) and therefore noisy. Phranang - small, very nice white powder sand beach and would be inviting except for the LTBs. Remember they are all public beaches though and are very busy with LTB traffic which make them very noisy and very busy!! (probably its only real criticism).

All beaches have vendors, but a smile and a no thank you and they move on quietly (disappointed but quietly).

This is another high class hotel, once again service impeccable, food excellent with 3 restaurants to choose from. Thai restaurant, beside Phranang beach -excellent menu with outdoor, indoor or air-cond dining. International restaurant, beside Nammao beach - small (but very good) menu, Lamb chops and Lobster were very good. The third restaurant was located down by the pool bar on Railey beach (this is a very busy beach), but nice bar with more of a snacks menu. (Satay, Kebabs, Burgers etc.), but if that is all you want for dinner, it can make a nice change.

Not much in the way of evening entertainment, but the lounge is nice for a few after dinner drinks and to feed the mosquitoes (if your not careful). Dlx Pavillions in the grounds are very nicely furnished, with a down stairs sitting room and cloakroom, bedroom upstairs (both with tv's). Large bathroom/toilet with walk in shower and big round bath. Lots of hanging space, a few shelves, but strangely no drawer storage for shirts etc.

Amazing Spa, big "WOW" factor with stunning entrance. A bit on the expensive side with treatments starting at 2500 baht, but still indulged. Large pool area (which is where we spent most of our time), well maintained with pool staff for laying out your bed and providing cold bottled water or iced teas (foc) all day, or beer and cocktails if you prefer. Stayed 7 nights, and took the speedboat back to the Krabi town pier where we were met by Rayavadee staff who took us to Krabi airport for return to Bangkok. Once again, they handled all the luggage and even took the tickets and got us our boarding passes. Didn't touch the luggage until we picked it up in Bangkok.

This is an amazing hotel, with outstanding service but very expensive and I think the beaches are spoilt by all the noisy long tail boats.

Picked up at Bangkok (Terminal 1 - domestic terminal) and taken to Shangri La hotel. Big hotel on the river. This is probably a good location if your staying for a few days in Bangkok, nice river view and next to a station, so easy to get into town centre. We were only staying the 1 night and then flying back to the UK, so I think a more central hotel would have been better for us. The manager at the MYC recommended a restaurant on the 61st floor of the Banyan Tree hotel. It's called "Vertigo", it's open air ON TOP of the hotel, WHAT A VIEW. Recommend making a reservation.

Have fun, we did and remember to smile a lot. Regards, Juan (actually John, but the name was used).