i have learned so much from you seasoned veterans here at Fodors - i hope someone can help me here again. I have reserved a 2 bedroom suite for 10 days at the Rajapruek Resort on Samui in late December for myself, husband and our 11 year old daughter. Cost is about $1300 for the 9 nights. We chose Koh Samui because two sets of close friends have been there and loved it. But now i am wondering if we should stay on a different island. I see that Phi Phi is absolutly beautiful and it seems less expensive. And what about the other islands on the west side of Thailand? Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Our vacation goal is to rest and relax, snorkel, get PADI certification and rest and relax some more. I am sure we will get bored so i liked that Samui has bowling and stupid touristy stuff (elephant rides, butterfly farm) to see and do in case we do get island fever. We generally are NOT tourist trap types so we tend to want to be where locals are and stay away from the crowded tourist spots. And finally the Rajapruek was the only affordable resort that I could find a family suite with two seperate bedrooms!! Maybe i just have too much time on my hands and am being too anal about all of this. It does not help that i could not find ONE review on the Rajapruek Resort to save my life...any thoughts are appreiciated.

When you say 'reserved' do you mean booked and paid for or you are just holding a booking ? Who did you book with?

Sorry I should have elaborated, have you actually booked and paid for this already because we don't want to go down the line of cancelations etc etc so if you can tell us that we can go on from 'there', it's night but I'm working ( no rest in Paradise )!

I have paid the inital deposit, about $400USD but purchased the cancellation insurance they offer for an additional 500bht. Booked online through r24.org

I don't know the place but looked at some pics, on price I think you probably got a very good deal, they say
the 2 bedroom family suite has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room and balcony/verandah, price wise that sounds quite good for that time of year.

Samui has lots to do and weatherwise you should be ok, Oct/Nov are the rainy months on Samui. There 'are' lots of touristy things to do so you shouldn't get bored, snorkeling and PADI is really done around the offshore islands such as Koh Tao.

Location wsie it is on the west coast of the island, the main resorts like Chaweng and Lamai are on East Coast, Bophut north east. I don't think you would find cheaper on Phi Phi at all at that time as only limited accommodation, and there is very little to do there except beach and snorkel, you would head to other mainland areas for activities.

I think to summarise it is not in the normal part of Samui that most would go to so it is certainly going to be a far quieter area than the busy resorts, it is certainly going to be 'less touristy' than the busy main resort areas and more local orientated, you are also on the sunset side, I do not know that part of Samui but the pics make it seem a quiet place, whether that is a plus or a minus, the price seems good for what you are getting, Phuket is very expensive at that time.

I also checked on Yahoo Thailand and nothing about them, note that on the current airline schedules they do not show as flights or anything, are you in TPE? If so simple thing is to call TPE Airport authority, or perhaps try another travel agent, no disrespect to t/agents but sometimes they might be using old information.

Sorry disregard that last message, I posted on the wrong thread!!

JamesA,

Thank you for your thoughts. I always appreciate reading your posts. Sometimes a girl just needs a person with a clear mind to say 'you done good!' Yes, I think we have made a good choice with Samui and the Raja has all the 'perks' we were looking for in our vacation - two rooms, pool for the kiddo, sunsets at night, restaurant, massages... blah blah blah. I think I have just read too much and scoured too many Thailand articles in old travel mag's and my mind was getting muddled. My husband - bless him - doesn't care where we go or what we do really, he's pretty easy to please. It's ME - I just want it to be right, heaven knows we have spent enough on the airfare alone!!

Thank you again for your insight and clarity! You have been a huge help in settling my mind!

Now - go get some sleep and don't work too hard!!!

Heather

You may have seen this already, if not this is superb local information for Samui so you can browse through all the things to do whilst there.

http://samui.sawadee.com/

( Sawadee/R24 Head office is on Samui !! )

JamesA,
One more thing if you don't mind...is it necessary to purchase our airfare tickets for Samui before we fly to bangkok or do you think it is okay to buy them once we are in BKK? It seems like there are flights every hour or two from BKK to Samui... doesn't seem like it is too big of a deal to get the tickets after we arrive but i don't want to be left in the lurch! What do you think?

Look at it another way, there is no reason 'not' to book now, if you know your dates then certainly book now, when you say 'late december' what dates are you talking about, anytime though from around 20 Dec to 10 jan I would certainly get booked 'today', which country? We can advise best how to book.

we will be flying on Dec 18 from BKK to Samui then back to BKK on Dec.27. We fly back to San Diego from BKK on the 28th. Our long haul tickets are already purchased and in hand it is just the short hops between Bangkok and Samui that we have yet to arrange.

I suppose i could just let the agent that booked my flights to BKK arrange the flights from BKK to Samui. I think I was just wanting to have some flexibility in case we wanted to spend one more day in BKK we would not be tied into our flights already. Are short flights like this easily changed once booked??

Well certainly for your return on 27th for a flight to SFO 28th you 'have to book that' right away, it will be a peak time and you don't want to get caught out. As for going down should not be too bad but again you save nothing by not booking ahead. Only Bangkok Airways does the route so you are stuck with their fares.

Let me have a look...

Ok some flights on 18th showing full, on 27th just 1 showing full at the moment, that comes out for 3 adults ( sorry, their child age limit is up to 11 ) including taxes/surcharges but exclduing about USD 8 each for Samui departure airport tax at THB 22,200 ( that is about USD 555 return ( not cheap !! ) That is a 6 month return ( you don't need the more expensive 1 year return ), can't see anything about change of flight but on that fare you should be ok. You can get a cheaper fare that works out for 3 of you for about USD 375 but you have to take a 6 am flight down and a 6 am back, so that means being up at 4 a.m!!

Maybe give them a call to ask about changes though it should be ok:

1 866 BANGKOK

That's from their website, I think Bob or others may have the actual number

www.bangkokair.com

Flight takes 1 hr 10 to 1 hr 30, some flights are Boeing 717 twinjets (717) or ATR 72 Turbo props (AT7)

Anticipating your next question, no, the fares won't be any cheaper in Bangkok.

Oh Gosh! Yikes - i didn't anticipate that the cost would be that high for the three of us. I better book those tickets yesterday huh?

This 'cheap' trip to Thailand is turning out to cost a bundle!!

Three weeks ago my agent said 'no big deal, we can book those short hop tickets a little later down the road...' Sheesh!! I wonder if she make more money on me if she lets me wait till the drop dead date! Nevertheless - thank you James for your thoughtfulness in checking prices for me. I could have done that myself i suppose. I will get right on this first thing in the AM...speaking of AM - what are you still doing up? At 3:30pm California time you said you were still up...working. If you are in Thailand (which i think you are) it is now - what, like 10am??? Did you ever go to sleep?? you workaholic!!

Bangkok Airways does a Discovery pass which is USD 50 per sector plus taxes/surcharges etc, you have to buy a minimum of 3 sectors, but it seems to me that 3 x 150 = 450 so even adding taxes and surcharges it would be a little cheaper than just a Bangkok-Samui return, call and ask them.

The only other alternative would be to fly to a place called Surat Thani on the mainland with Thai Airways, that would cost for the 3 of you B 16,470 which is just on USD 412 return including taxes etc, that saves you overall USD 143, but then you have to get to the boat ferry and about 1.5 hrs on a boat each way, you might save 100 bucks but the hassle factor really isn't worth it.

There is also train to Surat etc but I doubt you want to go thru all that, another option is an express bus/jet catamaran combination, that is an overnight or daytime bus trip from Bangkok to Chumphon and then an island hoping Jet Catamaran via Koh tao and Koh Phangan to Samui, now that is about USD 30 each way, so that would be USD 180 return, you might love it or hate it!!
Dep BKK 0600 get to Samui 1645 or dep BKK 2100 arr Samui 11.30

her's an idea, why not take the Lomprayah sounthbound for USD 30 and then take the flight back!

That would give you some adventure but not jeopodise you return fligth connection!

That would cost you total about USD 368, saving USD 187, anyway take a look at what the southbound with Lomprayah involves

http://www.lomprayah.com/E/route.html


http://www.lomprayah.com/E/route.html

Fantastic idea James!!

I broke the news to my husband this morning about the cost of RT tickets for the three of us to SAmui. I was trying to think of another (more adventurous) way to get to Samui and i think you have found it for me!! Sounds like a blast. I will look into it later today but will book our return flights right away.

James - do you work for Fodors?? Well,if not, they should pay you!! You are worth your weight in gold for the wonderful insite and wisdom you offer to others on the site. Thank you!!!! XOXO

Heather

We have caught the train down to Samui and the bus/boat option via Chumphon before. If you don't want to fly, I'd opt for the train. The bus option gets you into Chumphon in the middle of the night (say 2am) and you have to wait in an eerie deserted hut for the boat to leave at 6am!

I am off to sleep now ( that's about 38 hours now...have to pay the bills in paradise too! )

On the Lomprayah if you take it as a 'blast' it will be, make it like a day out, the bus is a double level bus so you are high up, you would I guess have to cab to their BKK depot,

http://www.lomprayah.com/E/bus.html

They show movies on TV screens on the Jet-Cat, it's like airline style seating:

http://www.lomprayah.com/E/boat_gallery.html

It's a budget way to travel but for $30 each not bad!

Note: For diving you would be going around the islands so it gives you a bit of area orientation on your way.

Have you sorted your BKK hotels yet?

yes we have. We are staying at the Elegance Hotel in Silom. I think it is a small suite with three beds for about $160.00 for three nights. Including all taxes and fees and the typical American (read: boring) breakfast.

We are meeting up with friends in BKK who are teachers in India. They plan to stay in a different (less expensive) hotel since they are backpacking for quite a few weeks after we meet up. On the way out of BKK we plan to stay a night at the Silom Serene, it is a bit more expensive and for our first stint in BKK we would rather spend less on a hotel since we will be recovering from jet lag. That way we can spend more on fffoooOOOddddd!

Really, i think i am MOST excited to eat my way through Thailand!! Any hints on your favorite hole in the wall, off the beaten path eating haunts? Do tell!!