Worried30

Hi all. My friend and I are travelling to sydney via a 2 week stop over in thailand. We are leaving london 13th dec and eventually arrive in bkk 14th. It's our 1st time in Thailand, so we are quite excited and want to do loads but also want to chill. Our plan is to book into a hotel in bkk for say 2 or 3 nights then who knows, our flights are all booked and paid for, now it's just the rest we have to organise. As we'll be out over xmas what's it like round then? Any recommendations as to tours we could pick up, or accommodation to stay in? (elephant rides are a must on our list) and would it be worth booking them now from london or waiting til we get there? thanks and sorry for the shopping list of questions.

Gpanda

Christmas is the busiest season to be in Thailand. i strongly recommend that you make your plans and book hotels and internal flights promptly. We were there last Christmas and while there was no overcrowding, the hotels did seem to be full.

For elephant rides and trekking, you should go to Northern Thailand. Chiang Mai may be best. The Elephant Conservation center has been favorably reviewed (check other threads). sergeant Kai, at ChiangMaiTours.com, has helped us twice. There are many BKK-CM flights.

rache2000

I was in BKK last Christmas and will actually be there again this Christmas. Its is a very bizzy time there, its during their high season of tourism. I was actually quite surprised. Even though they don't "officially" celebrate christmas it very festive, lots of shops and markets decorate. Our hotel bar even had a very lovely christmas nite sing along thing. They had karaoke for christmas songs, it was really very fun. It is very crowded that time of year so I would take the advice and start getting everything booked now.

have fun,
rachael

Worried30

Thanks both of you for the advcice so far, am looking into flights and stuff now. Ooh can't wait.

Rachael did you do any tours? and where did you stay in BKK? Gpanda, did you do the tour? this is such a good website . Thanks

Jacqui

Kathie

Any tours you decide you want (or you may just want a car and driver) can be arranged once you are in Thailand.

You need to give us more info so we can be helpful. How much do you want to spend on a hotel room? What places in Thailand do you want to visit? What kinds of activities are you interested in?

Gpanda

In BKK, instead of a "Tour", you might consider a guide such as Tong. Many have liked her. we're using her for a day in November. The sights a fisrt-timer should see are standard, The Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Chinatown, Wat Arun, Jim Thompson House, Suan Packard Palce. Viranamek Palce. Most of these can be done in a very long day. You might enjoy going to some of them with aguide the first day and doing the rest on your own the second day.

For out-of-town tours, the most common are Ayutthaya and the Floating Market. Both can be arranged when you get to BKK.

rache2000

we have friends there so we did not do any tours, but we did hire a couple of private drivers to take us to a couple of places. And we hired someone to take us to a moi thai (sp) boxing event, which by the way was really really fun. I'm not a huge boxing fan, but the thai boxing was very kewl and the guys are so in shape.

You can really do a lot in BKK without having to do a tour. there are taxi's everywhere, and your hotel should have plenty of brochures and information for various outings and event. We stayed at the Bangkok China Princess. They have really good Dim Sum. But we went all over BKK, From China town to the weekend Market, to the Central World Plaza. We rode the Sky Train there, which was really fun. Here is a website, that I found to be pretty helpful:

http://www.bangkok.com/

Better get your flights soon. This is a very bizzy time for BKK. I usually fly EVA out of LAX, and several of their flights are already booked, specially leaving BKK. We were actually wanting to stay through New Years like we did last year, but all of their flights from the 31st of Dec - 5th of Jan are booked. So we are having to leave out on Saturday Dec 30.

You'll find plenty to do, and once there, you will prolly even find tours out of your hotel if you want to go on one. Other than the Temple's, and the Palaces, which are a given that you must see them. I would make sure that you get to the Weekend Market in Chatuchak. We paid the tolls, so the taxi driver took us by expressway, which is a lot quicker if you don't want to have to weave through the traffic of the city. If you plan on buying a lot, you may either want to hire a car, or make sure you bring a rolling bag or something you can carry all your finds in. Its hot and crowded, and you will have lug anything you buy around with you. When we go back this year I am defiently hiring a car. Also stroll through China Town, Also take one of the Canal Tours. That was really fun, it was like the one I that took in Mexico City, you float along and then there are other boats that come buy with food and drinks and stuff. really fun.

There is just a ton of stuff to do. And eat an ice cream cake at Swensons ice cream parlor. OMG they are so delicious. We used to have Swensons here in the staes but they left along time ago, but they are thriving in Asia.

Anyway its a fun place you'll find lots to do

rache

Worried30

Thank you for your help so far.

I've been doing a lot of thinking and reading.

My potential itinerary looks something like this, but it is open to changes and suggestions.

Day 1
arrive bkk check in to hotel TBC possibly Bel Aire Princess? chill and get used to surroundings

Day 2 - half day jim thompson house
Day 3 - floating market and river kwai
Day 4- Royal Palace, Wat Phra Kaew incl. Wat Po (Reclining Buddha) or Wat Trimitr (Golden Buddha)
Day 5 - flight from Bangkok to Chang Mai - dinner and hill tribe show that night
Day 6 - elephant conservation centre and ride
Day 7 - day at leisure
Day 8 - 13 flight chang mai to phuket
Hotel royal paradise?
day 13 - flight phuket to bkk one night in bel aire princess.
day 14 - flight to singapore, then sydney.

I like this idea, but may change flight destination from Phuket to Krabi.

My friend who works in a travel agents put this together for me, and said she could get us a guide for each of our tours, is a guide a good thing to have or should we try things on our own?

Thanks again
J

Gpanda

The rough outline of your itinerary looks good. BKK-CM-Phuket is the usual order for a whirlwind Thailand trip. The Jim Thompson House will not occupy even 1/2 day. You can combine this with shopping or gawking at MBK (a mall) and Siam Square and a quick visit to the Suan Packard House.

JamesA

Forget the Royal paradise Hotel unless you want a high rise tower in the middle of the nightlife area, if you want a nice reasonable priced places in Patong the Cocounut Village is one of the best baragians, nice grounds, short walk to the beach, walking distance to everything but not right in the hectic centre, but choose your beach area on Phuket depending if you want busy and lively or relaxed and quiet.
There are so many places in Patong but having lived there several years I would rate Cocobut Village as one of the best in terms of reasonable price, distance to beach, tropical atmosphere

http://www.r24.org/patong-beach-hote...llage/details/

Do you need to get back to Bangkok for Singapore because it is ticketed that way ? There are between 5 and 7 flights from Phuket to Singapore everyday, takes about 1 hr 30 mins.

I noted that you will be leaving bankok perhaps around 27th/28th, do note that is 'absolute peak' travel time so you are wise to settle dates as quickly as you can and make sure you have flights fixed.

If you are going to do bangkok-Chiang mai-Phuket-bangkok check the Thai Airways pass as that works out a good deal if you are using the chiang mai to Phuket non stop flight ( 2 hrs ) just the one flight per day and it's Thai Airways.

Worried30

Hi JamesA,

Thanks for your advice.
We have now had a it of a re-think and have decided to visit Krabi for the whole 7 days instead of doing Phuket, and we may stay at the Ao Nang Villa Resort! Heard its meant to be lovely.

We have already booked and paid for our flights from London - singapore - BKK and from BKK - singapore - sydney. and the return flights, and have gone for a round the world ticket which will take us out of Sydney to Auckland and then onto LAX so we ahve 2 days there before we fly home. It's a 3 week whistle stop trip, packing in loads but with a bit of down time aswell. So I can't wait.

It's just the things to do while in Thailand we hadn't booked but are hopefully nearly sorted.

There are soo many opinions and choices and comments on this forum that it is difficult to know what to do. But thanks to all of the info on this site I have got a lot more knowledge that will help me to have a wonderful safe trip.

I will report back when I come back, but definitely know where to look for any more info should i need it.

Cheers and happy travels
J