Hello everyone, first just a thank you too all who respond and have in past, and really helped me plan my honeymoon with such great advice. A travel agent suggested some of the following things to do and places to stay and i just wanted anyones opinions before we book it! i didnt include the days we have for travelling as whatever time is left on those days is free time..Thanks.
Bangkok (3 full days)
stay: JW Marriot Resort & Spa,
to do: grand palace, emerald buddha, floating market, rose garden, thonburi canals, wat arun, dinner cruise on chao princess
Koh Samui (2 days)
Stay: Central Samui Village
to do: Tour island (mummified monk, waterfall, big Buddha, Hin ta/Hin Yai,
National Ang Thong Marine Park
Phuket (3 full days)
Stay: Baan Yin Dee Hotel
to do: Phi Phi day trip, day at leisure, Phang-Nga day trip.
Railey Beach/Krabi ( 1 day)
Stay: Sand Sea Resort
To do: relax!

SO how do hotels sound? anything we are missing or should skip? Thanks!
Rebecca
Honeymoon is July

July can be rainy in both places, with Phuket getting about twice as much rain in July on average than Koh Samui. You may want to add more days to Koh Samui from Phuket, or skip Phuket and either spend more time in Bangkok or go to the mountain areas of Chiang Mai for a day or two. Take a look at worldclimate.com for historical rain and temperature information.

If you go to Phuket, I am not sure it is worth going to Krabi for one day. It is not far, but for one night it may be more hassle than it is worth. You could either spend two days there, or skip it and just do a long day boat trip where you can see the Krabi area. Just a thought.

As for Bangkok, I am a huge fan of the JW Marriott; however as this is your honeymoon and as tourism is so down in most of Asia, it would probably be worth looking at some of the luxury hotels up the river to see if you can get a deal. My favorite is the Peninsula (peninsula.com) . The Oriental and the Shangri-La hotels are across the river in the same neighborhood and are also world-class luxury hotels that are popular on this site. I would suggest you contact the hotels directly by phone, fax or e-mail and see what kind of deal they could offer. Have your travel agent check as well. (You may in fact get a better deal yourself.) It may be worth going through this same exercise at luxury hotels in Phuket and Koh Samui. In Phuket two great hotels are the Amanpuri (amanhotels.com/puri_m.html) and the Chedi (chedi-phuket.com). I also like the Banyan Tree and the Sheraton, although they are larger hotels. There is a Marriott as well which is beautiful, but may be too family-oriented for a honeymoon. In Koh Samui, my favorite hotel is the Le Meridien Baang Thaling Ngam. Their website is at http://www.meridien-samui.com.

Cicerone:
I am going to be in Samui for my honeymoon in June. I know you like the Meridien, but I am wondering that if the beach is significantly better at Santiburi, is it not worth staying there instead?

may i suggest that going to all of those beach resorts for a very short time is nice, BUT i would think that you might want to concentrate on two at the most and spend more time there, especially if it is going to be rainy????? i think a couple of days in chiang mai would be rewarding.....completely different and less hot---although not much....

i would find 3 days in bangkok not enough...i think a min. of 5 is essential....there is lots to do....the floating market for instance takes the better part of one day if you go to the good one which is a long ride....

the long boat through the canals is fun but that takes about 3 hours too...shopping in unbelievable and getting around is difficult....

i would look into the peninsula as well---perfect for your honeymoon...rate at them moment is $140....i too stay at the jw marriott and like it for its location and for its lux feeling, but it is just another american hotel...the pen on the other hand is fabulous!!!!! you could't touch it here for over $500 day (usa)....

there are 2 marriotts in bkk: the marriott resort and spa and the jw marriott...which one are you scheduled for??? the resort and spa is on the river and it is my favorite all around hotel although it is not elegant---just nice with the best pool area in bangkok (and you need and will use it)....the jw is on soi 2, sukumvit rd in the middle of the business district...i like it too but for different reasons (shopping and restaurants nearby)...their pool is small and more of a lap pool---great fitness club however...overlooking the pool

try looking at the peninsula web-site and click on bangkok...

have a great time....

take the dinner cruise on one of the marriott's boats...smaller and much nicer....

I would tend to agree with the above on staying longer in Bangkok, especially with the things you plan to do. Traffic congestion is unbelievable unless you take the Skytrain or scooter-taxis(very dangerous). There are two floating markets, the better one several hours outside of Bangkok even in a private car. But Bangkok has a lot to offer. As for the southern islands, we too are going to Krabi and Phuket in July depite the rain. Bear in mind that last year in July we were in Phuket and spent a total of 2 hours on the beach- it was closed due to the weather- so we had a great time at the pool instead. It really didn't rain that much. As for Krabi, well one day may not be enough. If the seas are rough, you might not be able to see much of the nearby islands. We plan to spend 3 nights there and another 2 in Phuket this July. I'd check out the place your agent suggested at: http://andaman-island-hopping.com
Have a great time.

Try the Indra hotel. They are 4 star, usually have excellent rates and they are quite nice. The disadvantage is that they are away from the shopping districts.

My wife, 8 year old daughter and I stay there every time we go to Bangkok. Rates the last time for the three of us in a nice room was about $40 a night. They have a site on the net.

A few phrases:

Kaa (used by women when addressing others)

Khup (used by males)

Sawadee Khup (Kaa) means hello. Place your hands together and bring them up to the tip of your nose. This is the "Wai", a very respectful form of greeting.

Khop Khun Khup (Kaa) = Thank you

Khop Khun Mak Khup (Kaa) = Thank you very much.

Dee = Good.

Mi Dee = not good (bad) or not acceptable. Mi is No.

Thailand is known for good reason as the Land of Smiles. Most Thais are friendly to a fault. I think that the slogan "Smile and the Whole World Smiles With You" was invented just for Thailand.

By the way, if money is no object, I do recommend the Oriental Hotel. It is expensive, but it will be an experience that you will never forget. The Oriental is a Grand Hotel in the European sense of the word. They claim that they have two employees for every guest. That might be a slight stretching of the truth, but when you stay there your every request is handled quickly and efficiently.

Enjoy

Paul
The Old Sarge

just too clear things up a bit the JW is NOT in the business distict unles your in the tourism and prostetution game.. NANA plaza will practically next door .. Sathorn and Silom are the business distict s in town....

if this is a honeymoon trip might as well stay near the river.. I'm not too sure if you find 80 year old 300 pound germans walking hand in hand with some pretty katoy (lady boy ) all that romantic.

have a great t ime in town cider..

You've got too many days planned for beach areas, especially since you'll be in rainy season. For that many beaches you can just as well go to Hawaii or the Caribbean.

Would stay at The Peninsula in BKK, they's got great rates. All rooms face the river and all are at least a minimm Jr. Suite and very large, especially their bathrooms. Easy enough to get across the Chao Phraya River by ferry in less than 3-minutes. They have pool and top notch spa. Hotel can arrange to pick you up at airport and schedule your tours.
You can add another day in BKK, then fly up to Chiang Mai area and even further north to Chiang Rai/Golden Triangle. You'll have great shopping in Chiang Mai (we stayed at a trekking lodge N of Chiang Mai right in middle of a Hilltribe village - wonderful mattresses and linens, a true experience and in Chiang Sean on Thai/Laos border stayed at Baan Boran, has a great spa) and get to see the hilltribe people, have an elephant ride, possibly even cross into Myanmar (Burma) - get to see Thailand, for total of 3-4 days.

Air is about $50 + tax each leg. Or you can inquire about an Air Pass thru Thai Airlines, which must be booked before arriving Thailand.

Then return (via BKK) to Koh Samui to relax for balance of your time - less rain here. We did Phuket, but that was Oct, so have no hotel recommendations.
Enjoy your holiday, but be prepared for Heat & Humidity.

HI- just wanted to thank everyone for their advice. we did a lot of talking with our agent and changed some things. we added a day to koh samui, took out krabi all together and added a day in bangkok. luckily we will have a private driver/tour guide to make getting around a little easier. we are staying with the marriot resort and spa but upgraded to a river view room. in koh samui we are staying at tongsai bay cottages (just to take a bath outside! on our deck) and in phuket we upgraded to honeymoon package at Baan Yin Dee. I would have loved to travel north but we just cant do everything this time around and after all this wedding planning i think i will need some beach days.. and i'm sure they will be different then the caribbean!! Thanks again.

July is the monsoon season in Phuket, but you can still get some sunny days, surprised you are passing Krabi and choosing Phuket, krabi is overall much nice, I would have spent longer on Koh Samui as the weather will be much better. If you are in Koh Samui around 20th July you can enjoy the Koh Samui Carnival, good fun, an experience. If you are booking Phuket you should get very cheap deals though as many hotels say they are running 80% or more empty and some are reducing staff even so you should get a bargain. A good 4 star place should cost about $50 in July as it is their low season, Koh Samui maybe $70-80 for a good place. Anyway have a great time.

If I were on my honeymoon again, I would skip Phuket. It's just not worth the time to get there, especially at that time of year. It's not like there is anything unique about it compared to Koh Samui. If you think you will get bored of where you are staying on Koh Samui, try the Laem Set Inn on Koh Samui, Honeymoon Suite www.laemsetinn.com then you won't have to waste precious honeymoon time traveling to another place. If it were my honeymoon though, I'd spend a couple of days up north--have you checked out the Regent?--would be great for a honeymoon.

Hi. Just returned from 3 week honeymoon in Thailand. I would recommend spending as little time as possible in Bangkok. Our trip consisted of: Golden Triangle (www.baanboran.com), Koh Phi Phi (Phi Phi Princess), Koh Lanta (I would skip this island) and Koh Samui (First Beach Bungalow - S. Chaweng). We did spend first and last night in Bangkok mainly due to late/early flights in and out of Bangkok. Stayed at 5 star Conrad for $87 in Bangkok.

For bangkok I would agree with TheOldSarge that Indra hotel has a lot to offer, value for money wise, and you could even consider have a second ceremonial there. (http://www.indrahotel.com/wedding.htm) I bumped into a japanese couple in beautiful thai costumes there and according to them you do not need to follow the standard packages at all, especially now that things are more quiet. As for the dinnercruise I recommend Loy Nava (http://www.loynava.com), because of their beautiful teak boat. Don't tell anyone, but I know from personal experience that prices below 1000 baht pp are very possible!