Bangkok - Ibrik Hotel on Chao Prya
Oct 5th, 2004, 12:00 PM
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Bangkok - Ibrik Hotel on Chao Prya
I thought I would share a new hotel I stumbled across on the internet. The Ibrik www.irbrikresort.com. It describes itself as a boutique hotel, right on the river, just across from the Grand Palace. It apparently just opened this spring. It seems a bit out of the way for dining or shopping, but maybe with what I have heard about redevelopment along the river, there is more here than a typical guide book might give. Would love to hear from anyone who knows this new hotel or the neighborhood. If this gives any more clue, the little map on the Ibrik website shows it is between the Patravadi Theater and the river and next to the Patravadi Restaurant.
Oct 8th, 2004, 05:24 AM
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SidB is probably like us, we prefer a bit of the local "color", we prefer the personal service of a smaller B&B style place and we are always looking for something new. SidB, or anyone else who knows this area share what you can.
Oct 8th, 2004, 08:31 AM
#5
Laurie ann- the correct address is www.ibrikresort.com
It looks really nice...I would love to try it myself.
I can see that the location might pose challenges to transportation, but the view must compensate for that!
I look forward to your report!
Lucy
It looks really nice...I would love to try it myself.
I can see that the location might pose challenges to transportation, but the view must compensate for that!
I look forward to your report!
Lucy
Oct 9th, 2004, 09:34 PM
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Just wanted to say that I stayed at the Ibrik last week and loved it. I'll post a full report in a few days, but too busy to do so right now. If you like small, cozy, unique places to stay, then this is the place for you. Full details coming.
Oct 11th, 2004, 06:30 AM
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Can't wait to hear the details! I like to mix my hotels up, too. I always add some new hotels to stay at along with my favorite...Four Seasons...I seldom stay at only one hotel on visits to Bangkok. Variety is the spice of life! Happy Travels!
Oct 11th, 2004, 06:36 AM
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the location is good if ya want too be next too most of your tourist sites. and the dinning, night life, and shopping is not bad.. your sorrounded by china town and banglanpu (SP) backpacker ghetto pluss the river. Kha san(SP) has been changing A lot in recent years it's not your grubby armpit smelling backpacker place anymore. So far this year it is actually the HOT spot for clubbing and chilling out for expats and locals.
the part the sucks about the area is that it is not serviced by any mass transit means (BTS, subway) so you may be stuck having too deal with hustling taxi and tuk tuk drivers often...
the part the sucks about the area is that it is not serviced by any mass transit means (BTS, subway) so you may be stuck having too deal with hustling taxi and tuk tuk drivers often...
Oct 12th, 2004, 11:09 PM
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Too late to change my mind. I've booked 2 rooms for April 2005. It might be on the "wrong" side of the river, but hopefully it'll be away from the serious hassle you get from Tuk-tuk and taxi drivers. We can cross the river easily enough though, and we don't mind a bit of walking. We've done the big hotels and they really don't appeal. They're too impersonal. If you check out the website the rooms are very different to a bog standard hotel room. If we like the rooms we'll spend more time relaxing there. If not we'll just use it as a place to base ourselves. What appeals is the views over the river. My only real concerns are the noise from river traffic and the smell. I'll post a review when we've been.
Oct 19th, 2004, 04:36 AM
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Can anyone help with a link to the Boston Globe feature on line? I couldn't find it by searching the archives or the travel section at www.bostonglobe.com.
Oct 26th, 2004, 06:49 AM
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o.k. mealea, we can see you haven't been on this forum since you posted the above message, but when can we expect your comments on the Ibrik? Please help us Fodorites who are anxious to give a boost to small local tourism but don't want to bet our entire vacation on an unknown.
Oct 26th, 2004, 11:04 PM
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Back again and sorry for the long delay. I was moving and that turned out to be a pretty huge and time consuming project. As promised, here is my report on the Ibrik Resort. I stayed at Ibrik in early October and chose it since I knew it's a new boutique place in Bangkok. The pictures on their website showing rooms with balconies right on the river looked very enticing and I always like finding undiscovered little gems.
Ibrik is a small house located on a small lane near Wat Rakang. It's a very atmospheric location, right on the river. I wondered if the taxi could even find the place, but we found it. Getting there is an adventure. You drive down the narrow lane of Soi Wat Rakang next to the temple of the same name. It's a lively temple and when I was there on the weekend, it was bustling with activity. Pretty soon your taxi will be almost on the middle of the temple grounds and you may wonder where to go next. The secret is to immediately turn left when you get to what looks like a dead end at the temple complex. Then you go down an even smaller lane. Finally, there is a very small discreet sign that says Ibrik. I think they only really put out the sign when they are expecting guests. It's a pretty hidden location and I liked that.
I was welcomed by the owner and the manager, a Thai woman and Thai man. The owner is Gobe and she was very kind and welcoming.
There are two floors in the house with just three rooms. You really feel like you're staying in your own private Bangkok home. They give you a key for the front door as well. On the first floor is the small reception desk and a very small lounge/cafe that serves coffee and desserts. A very simple and short menu, with maybe only a few items to choose from.
Guests are asked to remove their shoes before entering the main part of the house and guest rooms, a nice touch I thought. The room called "River" is on the first floor. It has two twin beds and a private balcony right on the river. I didn't get to look at the room, but I think the second floor rooms would be better since they offer a little more privacy. "River" is right at the water level.
The second floor has the "Moonlight" room, spacious, but without a river view as far as I could tell. There is also "Sunshine" - where I stayed and probably the nicest of the three. They both have queen beds and a lot of privacy up on the second floor. There's a huge balcony and terrace right in front of the Sunshine room that's really fantastic. It could possibly be shared by Moonlight, but it looked to me like it was really just for the Sunshine room since it opens directly to this room. In fact you can relax in your bed with the huge windows opened right up to the river. I sat out on the terrace a lot and thought it was both fun and magical just to look out at the passing river boats and all the river life. It is a really unique setting and you get a totally "I'm in Bangkok" feeling that's special and couldn't be anywhere else in the world. That's why I chose this place.
They will give you a small map of the area, showing restaurants, markets, and the ferry boat stops. There are a few Thai restaurants nearby on the river that seemed to be popular with Thai people on the weekends. It's a pretty mellow area from what I could tell, very local feeling and untouristy. On one side you have the Wat Rakang temple complex to explore and on the other side, you have an open air market with fruits and trinkets leading to the express stop boat. These places are all within a 5 min. walk from Ibrik. I didn't explore further, but it didn't seem like there was a whole lot to do in this area except just to soak up the local atmosphere. The main reason to stay here is to be right on the river.
Across the lane from Ibrik is the Patravadi Theater, home to the Fringe festival and other performance art type of events. It looked cool. They didn't have any shows going on when I was there, but seems like they often have special events.
I had been to Bangkok a few times before and had already done all the touristy things. On this trip, I just wanted to relax and be in a really unique and mellow location. Ibrik turned out to be just perfect for this. It's near the express boat pier, so very easy to get around by river transport. The Grand Palace is almost directly across the river from the Ibrik and you can actually see it from the room. I went down to the Shangri-la to try their new Chi Spa and it was a quick and easy express boat ride away. If you stay at Ibrik, you'll probably be going everywhere by river boat or you could transfer to the sky train on the other side. From the airport took only about 30 mins., even though they had told me by e-mail it could be longer.
If you want to be in a big hotel with extensive concierge services, a variety of restaurants, room service, and a business center, then Ibrik is definitely not the place for you. Not near any big shopping centers either. No internet available, but they said there was a place nearby. Never did check this out. Rooms are very comfortable, but a little on the small side. I think if someone really planned on lots of shopping and nightlife, then this might not be the best place to stay. But for soaking up the atmosphere in a unique location, it's perfect.
A word about the rates. On the Ibrik website, they advertise a special internet rate of 2500 Baht if you stay at least 2 nights. Around $60 per night. This is a little on the high side. I think if they keep the price around $40-50, it would be fine. More than $60 would be really overpriced for what it is, in my opinion. The one night rate is currently 2600 Baht or $63. The rate goes up in the winter. Considering the rates available in Bangkok at luxury places, again, this is probably rather overpriced. I think they really need to get a computer for e-mail for guests since there's really not much around this area. The price includes breakfast.
Also, be aware at any given time, there may only be one or two staff members around and mostly they don't know very much English. Only the owner is fluent in English, but that didn't bother me at all. I liked the local and down to earth feeling of the place.
Overall, I'd really recommend the place for a unique experience in Bangkok. I liked it a lot, but hope they don't raise their prices any higher. I also hope they get internet access for guests. The place was always full, so I'd suggest to book early. Let me know if you have any questions.
Ibrik is a small house located on a small lane near Wat Rakang. It's a very atmospheric location, right on the river. I wondered if the taxi could even find the place, but we found it. Getting there is an adventure. You drive down the narrow lane of Soi Wat Rakang next to the temple of the same name. It's a lively temple and when I was there on the weekend, it was bustling with activity. Pretty soon your taxi will be almost on the middle of the temple grounds and you may wonder where to go next. The secret is to immediately turn left when you get to what looks like a dead end at the temple complex. Then you go down an even smaller lane. Finally, there is a very small discreet sign that says Ibrik. I think they only really put out the sign when they are expecting guests. It's a pretty hidden location and I liked that.
I was welcomed by the owner and the manager, a Thai woman and Thai man. The owner is Gobe and she was very kind and welcoming.
There are two floors in the house with just three rooms. You really feel like you're staying in your own private Bangkok home. They give you a key for the front door as well. On the first floor is the small reception desk and a very small lounge/cafe that serves coffee and desserts. A very simple and short menu, with maybe only a few items to choose from.
Guests are asked to remove their shoes before entering the main part of the house and guest rooms, a nice touch I thought. The room called "River" is on the first floor. It has two twin beds and a private balcony right on the river. I didn't get to look at the room, but I think the second floor rooms would be better since they offer a little more privacy. "River" is right at the water level.
The second floor has the "Moonlight" room, spacious, but without a river view as far as I could tell. There is also "Sunshine" - where I stayed and probably the nicest of the three. They both have queen beds and a lot of privacy up on the second floor. There's a huge balcony and terrace right in front of the Sunshine room that's really fantastic. It could possibly be shared by Moonlight, but it looked to me like it was really just for the Sunshine room since it opens directly to this room. In fact you can relax in your bed with the huge windows opened right up to the river. I sat out on the terrace a lot and thought it was both fun and magical just to look out at the passing river boats and all the river life. It is a really unique setting and you get a totally "I'm in Bangkok" feeling that's special and couldn't be anywhere else in the world. That's why I chose this place.
They will give you a small map of the area, showing restaurants, markets, and the ferry boat stops. There are a few Thai restaurants nearby on the river that seemed to be popular with Thai people on the weekends. It's a pretty mellow area from what I could tell, very local feeling and untouristy. On one side you have the Wat Rakang temple complex to explore and on the other side, you have an open air market with fruits and trinkets leading to the express stop boat. These places are all within a 5 min. walk from Ibrik. I didn't explore further, but it didn't seem like there was a whole lot to do in this area except just to soak up the local atmosphere. The main reason to stay here is to be right on the river.
Across the lane from Ibrik is the Patravadi Theater, home to the Fringe festival and other performance art type of events. It looked cool. They didn't have any shows going on when I was there, but seems like they often have special events.
I had been to Bangkok a few times before and had already done all the touristy things. On this trip, I just wanted to relax and be in a really unique and mellow location. Ibrik turned out to be just perfect for this. It's near the express boat pier, so very easy to get around by river transport. The Grand Palace is almost directly across the river from the Ibrik and you can actually see it from the room. I went down to the Shangri-la to try their new Chi Spa and it was a quick and easy express boat ride away. If you stay at Ibrik, you'll probably be going everywhere by river boat or you could transfer to the sky train on the other side. From the airport took only about 30 mins., even though they had told me by e-mail it could be longer.
If you want to be in a big hotel with extensive concierge services, a variety of restaurants, room service, and a business center, then Ibrik is definitely not the place for you. Not near any big shopping centers either. No internet available, but they said there was a place nearby. Never did check this out. Rooms are very comfortable, but a little on the small side. I think if someone really planned on lots of shopping and nightlife, then this might not be the best place to stay. But for soaking up the atmosphere in a unique location, it's perfect.
A word about the rates. On the Ibrik website, they advertise a special internet rate of 2500 Baht if you stay at least 2 nights. Around $60 per night. This is a little on the high side. I think if they keep the price around $40-50, it would be fine. More than $60 would be really overpriced for what it is, in my opinion. The one night rate is currently 2600 Baht or $63. The rate goes up in the winter. Considering the rates available in Bangkok at luxury places, again, this is probably rather overpriced. I think they really need to get a computer for e-mail for guests since there's really not much around this area. The price includes breakfast.
Also, be aware at any given time, there may only be one or two staff members around and mostly they don't know very much English. Only the owner is fluent in English, but that didn't bother me at all. I liked the local and down to earth feeling of the place.
Overall, I'd really recommend the place for a unique experience in Bangkok. I liked it a lot, but hope they don't raise their prices any higher. I also hope they get internet access for guests. The place was always full, so I'd suggest to book early. Let me know if you have any questions.
