crosscheck

I posted an inquiry last week about Cambodia/Vietnam with teens and got many helpful responses. We're now trying to spend less time traveling around and are considering:
4 nights bkk
4 nights cm
3 nights hua hin
is the above too touristy? we are used to very off-the-beaten-track adventures in latin america, but they always involve several days of just chilling. we decided to add the beach time because the boys, 13 and 16, were once great travelers but lately have become very resistant to sightseeing.

if we were going without kids, we would do:
4 nights bkk
4 nights luang prabang
4 nights sien reap
we started to check into flights and connections and this itinerary seemed too ambitious for 12 days.

comments?

Gpanda

First of all, if the boys are sight-seeing challenged, skipping Angkor Wat is a good idea. there is little to do but tour the temples.

You might consider spending the beach time in Phuket rather than Hua Hin. It's a better beach and there's more to do. It is more touristy, but it's a trade off. There is a direct flight from CM to Phuket on Thai Air that makes that triangle easy.

rhkkmk

that is a perfect mix, imo....you could even trim one day from CM and add it to HH..

the important thing i think is to give the boys a good swimming pool to hang out at...

in bangkok i suggest the marriott resort and spa....they will love it and the mini mall next door with vidoe games and some shopping and mcdonalds and burger king.....alternative would be center point serviced apartments with the skytrain and the robinsons store next door...

in CM the nice pool might be harder to secure but not impossible....YCV often mentioned here might work..

in HH there are many more options: marriott, hyatt, sofitel, anantara---all have nice pools and there is the ocean too...

ccc

Do not underestimate your kids. I would vote (strongly) for your second itinerary. We did a similar itinerary - including Sri Lanka - with our four kids last summer and it was awesome. Nothing against Chiang Mai and Hua Hin, but they are not LP and SR. Believe me I totally understand the resistance to sightseeing issue, but our children - three of whom are teens - really loved those two destinations.

rhkkmk

i agree with ccc but i thought you had ruled it out....they are both fantastic places and totally different from thailand and from each other

crosscheck

thanks, everyone. now i'm thinking of itineray #2 again. ccc - if you were to do just luang prabang or siem reap, which would you chose? or do you think we should just go for it and do bkk, luang prabang and siem reap...i believe there are now flights so that we could do a triangle...

KimJapan

I'd do the triangle. I'm eager to see about the nonstop flight between REP and LPQ as we are considering similar triangle, though beginning in Singapore and ending in BKK. If there is no nonstop flight though, it'll take the better part of the day to get to LPQ from REP, and in that case I don't know if we'd do it then...we're still thinking about that scenario. Good flights, though, do it.

ccc

Both are wonderful. SR is a bit more hard core sightseeing - although there's plenty you can do to tone it down. Angkor is obviously also one of the wonders of the world. LP is more laid back, which was more to my childrens' liking.