More help please for trip getting very close and not organised.
Have booked accommodation in Bangkok for 2 ntsand Hua hin for 5 nts to visit our daughter who will be working at hospital there for the month of February.
What is easiest way to get to Hua hin from Adelphi suites?
After that I think we will return to Bangkok to travel north to chiang mai-is it best to book flight there and if so where in bangkok or book before we go ?
Any itinerary ideas there for chiang mai, chiang rai etc?
Also do we need to book cheaper hotels this time of year.
Any help much appreciated.
We are active 60s and prefer mingling with locals and exploring rather than staying touristy places!!!

You'll want a car service to take you from Adelphi Suites to Hua Hin. There are many, I've used AAC limo [email protected] You can get a car service in Hua Hin to take you back to Bangkok. Or, if you are looking for less expensive, there are busses.

If you know when you want to fly, it doesn't hurt to make plane reservations in advance. Air Asia is the cheapest, and their prices go up as you get closer to your flight date. If you want more flexibility than a budget airline allows (Air Asia allows no changes, no refunds), Thai Air is excellent. Both can be booked online from anywhere.

Not knowing what your interests are, it's hard for any of us to suggest an itinerary. Do you have a guidebook? Fodors has a very good one as does Lonely Planet.

Think about whether you want to visit a big city in the north, Chiang Mai, or whether you want small towns, such as Pai.

You'll probably do ok not booking hotels in advance unless you are visiting very small places with few options. Everyone's idea of "cheaper" is different... are you talking $20 guest houses or $60 hotels or is $100 still in your cheaper range? Do check out hotel booking sites, as the prices there are often betetr than walk-up prices. www.sawasdee.com is my fave for Thailand. Remember you can make reservation from the booking sites even after you arrive in Thailand.

Any taxi guy in soi 8 would most likely arrange for a car to take you to Hua Hin for about 2500Baht.

A very cheap way to get from BKK to Hua Hin is to wait until you're in BKK and book a van through TAT. This is the Thai tourist agency. They will pick you up at your BKK hotel and drop you off at your HH hotel. There are many offices scattered around BKK. Just pop in on your first day and book. You can book return as well. We did this in 2003 and paid about $10 US. It will be slightly more as a result of the falling dollar.

There are lots of taxis that park on soi 8, right in front of the Adelphi area. Some of them have signs on the side of the vehicle that tell you what places they will take you to. The front desk at Adelphi will also arrange something for you, no problem. But don't take the hotel "limo" because the price is at least twice what it should be in a metered taxi or a pre-arranged driver.

CAUTION: The best thing is to book a one-way driver and then get transportation back to Bangkok from Hua Hin. We had bad luck with taxi drivers who were supposed to come back and get us a couple of times, and didn't show up. Just a word of caution for you.

Carol

many thanks to all. Yes I have lonely planet-just hoped to get a rough guide to how long to spend in places north and what not to miss. Will keep reading.
Accommodation we would like cheaper eg 1500 night-like small and interesting places meeting local people more than expensive hotels as budget limited.

For flights, I recommend you check out the websites

http://www.airasia.com (approx $40)
http://www.fly12go.com (approx $40)

these are 2 budget airlines that do regular flights.

if you prefer more expensive flights http://www.thaiair.com ($80)

I hope that helps a bit.

Suksan
http://guides.suksanvillas.com