nbarton

Hello fellow travelers,

Now that I have time to plunge back into planning our family trip to Thailand this summer, I have many questions for anyone with experience. Thank you for the airline tip, I will definitely research the airlines you listed independently to compare airfare. You're right, as of tonight on kayak, the lowest airfare from NYC- Bangkok on Aeroflot for $1200 has really long lay overs in Moscow.

Other questions:

Is it better to go to Thailand in June or August? I've compared airfare prices and it is much cheaper ($300/ per person) to fly in June rather than August. However, I'm concerned about the monsoon season? Unfortunately we can only travel during the summer between June- August.

Also, If we fly in/out of Bangkok, and have about 19 days to spend.. how many days in Bangkok are recommended, then where else and for how long?

These are places have been recommended: Ko Samui, Ko Phangan, Ko Tao or Ko Phi Phi...

We've found that 3-4 locations within 2 1/2 weeks is usually a good match, since we're traveling with our daughter.. more can become really exhausting...

So including Bangkok... where else is recommended to go, limiting it to either 2 (maximum 3) other locations and for how long at each location?

We're looking for a combination of culture, food, shopping, and beach... I know it's a tall order...

Thanks for any help or insight!

Kathie

There is less rainfall in June than in August in all four locations I checked (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, Phuket). So going in June makes sense. For the beach you will have better weather in the Gulf of Thailand than the Andaman Sea, so think Koh Samui.

Three locations: Bangkok, a beach and somewhere in the north, Chiang Mai or the Chiang Rai area. How old is your daughter? Is she interested in elephants? There are places to interact with elephants in the north - Elephant Nature Park, Thai Elephant Conservation Center (both near Chiang Mai) and outposts of the TECC such as the one at the Anantara at the Golden Triangle. Avoid the commercial elephant camps.

If you give us a per night budget, we can suggest hotels.

This will be a wonderful family trip!

Hanuman

To add to Kathie's comment. Regarding the Aeroflot flight, Emirates is offering return tickets from JFK to BKK for only $1,300. IMO Emirates is way better than Aeroflot and the transit time is not that much. I recently did a dummy booking in reply to another thread and here's the information I posted there:

<i>1. If you and your husband like nice planes then I suggest you fly with Emirates from JFK via Dubai to Bangkok. Choose the flights using A380s super jumbo and I just checked the price and it's only around $1,300 for a return ticket. Dubai airport is like one big shopping mall and the A380s is very nice.

Sample booking:

JFK - DXB (Dubai) on EK 0204 using the A380 plane.
Transit in Dubai = 1.50 hours.
DXB - BKK (Bangkok) on EK 0372 using the A380 plane.

BKK - DXB on EK 0373 on the A380.
Transit in Dubai = 2.25 hours.
DBX - JFK on EK 0203 on the A380.

nbarton

Hello, Thanks so much for your input... it's so helpful! My daughter is 10 years old, a tomboy and LOVES animals and anything science related. She also loves exploring beach coves and any water activities. It's really helpful to hear we should focus on June travel, rather than August.

So, it looks like we should plan our trip NYC- Bangkok- Chiang Mai- Koh Samui- Bangkok- NYC. How many days are recommended for Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Koh Samui?

Also I checked on the Emirates airline site and couldn't find that airfare? On the main page, when I searched flights for 3 passengers from NY- BKK with flexible dates, the Dubai route came up, but the price per person is 1716 each/ 5158 total? Perhaps the price difference is due to the end of June dates? I'll keep checking in, hopefully I'll catch a deal!

Thanks again for your input!

Hanuman

Sorry about that and you are right that the air fare is much higher for June!

kmkrnn

Have you looked into Finnair thru Helsinki? It might be worth a little mor money to fly an airline with better and more comfortable planes. There are not a lot of tide pools at the Thai beaches , like those in New England area. Snorkling might be of interest. She is a good age to travel to a place like Thailand with.

rhkkmk

Korean air is another great flt from jfk using the A380.

personally I would avoid china air and Aeroflot no matter what the cost savings.

I like about 3 days in bkk to adjust from the long trip... then either north or beach, followed by the other and finally 3-4 days back in bkk.

IF IT WERE ME I WOULD SKIP THE NORTH AND DO JUST BKK-BEACH-BKK.

make sure all hotels have a nice pool.

june is a perfect time to go imo.

bkk hotels: anantara riverside, Marriott sukhumvit park, chatrium riverside, royal orchid Sheraton to name a few

beach---hua hin (no flight necessary)--hyatt
samui--anantara, renaissance
jw Marriott khao lak--my personal fav---1 hour north from Phuket airport.

airlines---air asia, nok air, and Bangkok air, within Thailand.

BillT

The Anatara Riverside has the best pool in BKK. You and your family will like riding the hotel boat to the skytrain.
As a bonus the hotel boat stops at Asiatique- an evening venue for shopping and eating. It also caters to kids so its a great pick for your BKK hotel. If you plan on spending a few days on the back end of your trip in BKK then I suggest a hotel in town so that you are close to all the shops. Plaza Athenee or the Westin Sukhumvit. ( the Westin has the skytrain right out front and across the street is Terminal 21 - a mall.

nbarton

Thanks so much for all the helpful tips.

Now we've got the task of packing ahead... is anything we need to be sure to bring along that we might not be able to find there?

Prachuap

June is the best time. Been heaps in June and normally great weather, fewer tourists and low season prices.

In the south Krabi and Trang are good. Koh Chang near Cambodia is another great spot.

Samui will be much busier on the east coast so go for north west area if you go there.

I usually stay for 5 nights or more in good areas.

Yourkrabi.com is a good site for that area.

Check out KB Resort for Chang. Excellent value resort.

Prachuap

Best pool in bkk? How do they measure that?

Kathie

Anything you might want/need you can get in Thailand so don't worry too much about packing.

Kathie

In terms of weather, I use www.weatherbase.com for info on weather patterns. In June, Koh Samui will have half as much rain as the greeter Phuket area (including Krabi, Khao Lak, etc), Koh Chang has an average of almost 20 inches of rain in June, so not a great time for a beach vacation there. Hua Hin will also have good weather.

Prachuap

June is a great time for Koh Chang. Spend 15 days there in June and it hardly rained at all. Rooms are half price and the beaches are quiet.

When it does rain its night time and 4am. One day after another was sunny.

Samui has nice beaches but rooms and tours are close to double the price and much more busy.

But it depends what you want. Samui is a lot more commercial with more activities.

Food - Chang wins easily for Thai food. Samui would have better pizzas though if you want western food.

Prachuap

Hua Hin has ordinary beaches and the beachfront is totally built out. Also bad traffic with a major road thru town. It would be one of the last beach places I would recommend. The US has better beaches than HH.