I'm planning a trip to Thailand in August and would appreciate any suggestions for traveling to Krabi and/or Sukhothai. I'm looking for 4 or 5* hotels in Krabi - can anyone recommend a good one? Also, is Sukhothai worth a visit and if so, for how long? Thanks very much in advance!

Krabi is a fairly big area. The first thing you have to decide is where, exactly, you want to go. The major choices are: Ao Nang, Railay, Phi Phi and Lanta. I'm actually on Lanta right now. The place is very quiet, with many shops and restaurants closed for the low season. But, I have to say, the Langham Place where I'm staying is very nice.

Railay has a little more to offer. I was there last August, and although it rained a little, the scenery was still fantastic. Ao Nang and Phi Phi are more developed.

Sukhothai is worth a visit, but you can get a similar experience, with a lot less hassle, with a day trip to Ayuthaya from Bangkok.

Sukothai has more extensive ruins than Ayuthaya, though if you just want a sample of a ruined capital, Ayuthaya is a much easier visit as it can be done as a daytrip from Bangkok. Sukothai will take up several days getting there, a day to explore, and then getting back or onward to your next destination.

If you have a real interest in history and archaeology, your time would be better spent on a trip to Angkor. You need a minimum of three full days just to see the "major" temples, so you would have to devote some time to the trip. But Angkor is truly one of the wonders of the world.

sorry Michael, this time I cant fully agree with you. IMO Phi Phi and Lanta islands have almost nothing to do with Krabi. Besides Aonang and Railay there are Nopparat and Krabi town.
For me a real dream hotel is the Rayavadee on Railay but it has his price. Others are Sheraton Krabi, Layana, Pimalai and some more in the 5star range.
There is a direct flight with Bangkok Airways from Bangkok to Sukhothai. The ruins are worth a visit and they are older than Ayutthaya. But the main area isnt very big and so 1 day should be enough. Agree with Kathie, its nothing compared with Angkor. Anyway, its another style and if you dont have the time to visit Angkor it will be ok.

Lanta & Phi Phi are in Krabi province, so when someone asks, they're part of the complete answer.

No sure why Kathie says it takes days to get to Sukhothai. There are flights by Bangkok Airways to their airport in Sukhothai, as well as other airlines' flights to Pitsunulok - whose airport is about the same distance from the historical park. In fact, with early morning and late evening flights, you could conceivably do Sukhothai as a day trip from Bangkok, albeit an expensive one.

Michael, my post was not well-worded. My point was that a round trip to Sukothai with sightseeing time takes probably three days: to get there from somewhere (Bangkok if you want to fly), stay a day and get back - I count three days if you time the flight right. Last I checked Bangkok Air only flew the route three days a week. So it takes three days away from the rest of the itinerary. While it is technically true one could do Sukothai as an expensive day trip from Bangkok, if that's all the time one wanted to spend there, they might a well go to Ayuthaya as a quicker and less expensive day trip. Your point about Pitsunulok is well-taken. I'd forgotten about those flights.

Well, that makes more sense. Sukhothai deserves more visits than it gets, but the infrastructure just isn't there, even with BA's new airport.

I would highly recommend the Rayavadee Hotel in Krabi.It is expensive,but the accommodations and service were incomparable.We also visited Sukhothai.We flew in and spent 2 nights in a charming guest house ,The ruins were very interesting and we had some very good meals as well.If your trip includes Angkor, go to Sukothai first.
Enjoy your trip.

i'll be at the sheraton krabi next month and will be writing about it in early july or late june....

We have stayed at both Rayavadee and Sheraton Krabi.

Rayavadee... not as exclusive as you may think. Excellent accommodation, but that's where the praise ends. Large areas are public access.

Sheraton Krabi... very nice, but, for us, maybe, a little too corporate.
We didn't like the golf-carts driving us for fifty yards. They wouldn't take 'No Thank-you' for an answer

Both hotels first class, but neither can hold a candle to Holiday Inn, Phi Phi. But then, it depends what you are looking for.

And of course, Phi Phi is a valid destination for any enquiry about Krabi.

Thank you to all of you for your thoughts, opinions and suggestions. As we've already been to Angkor and Ayutthaya I think we'll pass on Sukhothai. I'll certainly look up the recommended Krabi hotels. Has anyone stayed at the Koyao Island resort? My Fodor's Thailand book claims it has "arguably the best view of any beach resort in Thailand". My only concern is that it may be: a.) too out of the way (altough we're looking more for relaxation than nightlife or sightseeing but we don't want to feel too far removed or stranded) or b.) too hot (I read that it has no airconditioning). Also, we're spending 13 days in Thailand and are definitely returning to Chiang Mai (a favorite destination of ours) for a week. Is five days too long for the Krabi area? Thanks again to all who wrote!

We are leaving Wednesday for our 1st trip to Thailand. We will be spending time in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Krabi. We decided to stay at the Amari Vogue in Krabi...booked directly with them and got a great price. Also looked at the Tubkaak but decided on the Amari. We are spending 6 nights in Krabi....mainly to relax and enjoy the scenery!

Hello kfl1111. Enjoy your trip - we've been six times and love Thailand. Chiang Mai is wonderful -where are you staying? We've stayed at the Sheraton and the Chiang Mai Plaza (would not recommend the CM Plaza) but the Sheraton is now a Holiday Inn so haven't decided yet whether we'll stay there or not. Will check out the Amari in Krabi - stayed at an Amari in BKK years ago and it was fine. Safe journey!

Hi Sandkitty....we are at the Amari Vogue right now and love it here! This places is wonderful and the staff is so attentive (but not overly so)....my husband travels a lot and says this is one of the nicest hotels/resorts he has stayed at. It is out from the main town area but we love it. Very relaxing. We looked next door at the Tubkaak Resort and are happy that we picked the Amari Vogue. It's definitely a 4-5star resort! We loved Chiang Mai...we stayed at the Baan Oraphin and it was great....small and quaint B&B.

We stayed at the Rayavadee and found the accommodation,service and location stunning, we also thought they kept the hotels' areas pretty exclusive as they didn't seem to let any non guest just wonder around.
However we found the food woefully disappointing, esp for Thailand

My husband and I were also planning to travel to both Ayuthaya and Sukhothai. We intend to take the day trip from Bangkok to Ayuthaya, but thought that we could travel to Sukhothai via train, staying a night and then heading to Chiang Mai. Does this make sense? Is there a better way? Should we make other stops along with way before arriving in Chiang Mai? We will be in Thailand for 3 weeks and plan on doing Bangkok and the northern region. We'd love to get to Angkor Wat as well, but I think we will likely run out of time and have to do that on another trip. We'll likely miss out on the beaches which aren't as important to us since we live in Florida. Incidentally, we will be in Thailand in late January.

Personally, to miss Ankor Wat in favour of seeing somewhat secondary areas in Thailand is not something I would do if this were my trip. If you think you would be going back to Thailand, then perhpas you could justify skipping Ankor Wat, but if you think you will not be in that area again in your life, I would not miss Ankor Wat. It really is one of the world's great sights. Ahhythia and (even Sukothai really) do not even begin to compare. Ahhyuthia esp is quite small and not at all well preserved IMO, I have trouble making sense out of what is there. That is not the case, at least for me, for Ankor which is much larger and the parts that have been preserved are on a grander scale and much better preserved.

We are already planning another trip as we plan this one. Next year I am trying to decide whether we should do Cambodia, Vietnam & Laos or China. No matter what, we plan on doing both in the next few years and I suspect we may even want to get back to Thailand. So much to see...so little time!

So...if we concentrate on Thailand now, which stops should we make on our journey up north? I don't hear anyone mentioning Lopburi or the national parks on the way up towards Chaing Mai. Is it best to take the trip up to Ayuthaya on the way up towards Sukhothai or should we do Ayuthaya as a day trip and then take a train to Sukhothai later?

Any help would be appreciated.

June