Penang - Krabi dilemma…assistance & recommendation Appreciated
 

How would you spend 14 days in between, if you landed in Penang on the 15th September & flew out from Krabi on the 30th September to connect with our homebound flight from Bangkok?
We don’t know whether to split our time 50-50…7 days Penang & 7 days Krabi
What are your recommendations for budget accommodation?
(Our budget approx. 80MYR or 1000THB per room per night)
What are the options of travelling between the 2 locations?

We’ve visited many other locations in Thailand previously such as Phuket where we did a day trip to Phi Phi, Koh Samui, Koh Tao, Koh Chang, Koh Maak, Koh Kood & also spent 10days on Langawai. And as you can gather love Thailand having repeated visiting some of the above locations.
What’s the must do’s for both places?

Many thanks in advance to your replies

Karen

Well, they are both great locations, but neither is worth 7 days. Why don't you do a little more hunting around?

You could cross over to the East Coast of Malaysia and travel up by bus to places on the east coast of Thailand (policital system and your travel style dependent). Or go south to the Perentians (season and travel style dependent).

To get from Penang to Krabi there's bus and train, and for all I know, you could fly. Can't you find out this sort of stuff on the internet?

Suggest getting a guide book and checking out an atlas and enjoying learning about it all. Then come back with as many questions as you like.

Buses are brilliant in Thailand - so easy to travel around.

Are you planning on spending all of your time at beaches?

Penang beaches are not very good. The old Georgetown area of Penang is really delightful, though. Lots of historic and cultural things to see and do. And of course, there is the famous hawker food. You might want to read my report on our stay at the E&O in Georgetown
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34904681

From Penang, you can fly to Phuket - Fly Firefly is a low-cost subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines based in Penang. They also fly to Samui and Langkawi.

One thing you might consider is island hopping. From Penang, you can take a boat to Langkawi, and from there a boat to Satun in Thailand. From Satun, you could stop at Koh Tarutao for a few days before moving on to Krabi. There are also some nice islands in Trang province, south of Krabi. Search on Koh Mook or Koh Ngai. From Koh Ngai there are boats to Lanta Yai.

Thank you Kathie for the link to your Penang trip & reply in general to our questions. Much appreciated.

as for "afterall"
Who do you think you are? Some smart ar#* wise guy. If you don't have any constructive additions to this forum why bother replying!
For your information we have travelled extensively the world for the past 18 months, know how to get and read both maps & guide books. The one positive thing you've said is maybe 7 days is too long for each place...but bearing in mind we've been on the go for 18 months travelling to Greece & many of it's islands, (Rhodes, Crete, Santorini, Milos, Sifnos, Kos, Corfu) Croatia, Italy, UK, Portugal, Turkey, Cyprus, Egypt, The Red Sea, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia etc etc we were looking for a little laid back time in 2 different locations we had picked to chill out before returning to work & reality. Thanks for nothing

Exatly as Michael says, I would have suggested exactly the same, do check the weather though as you are right in the heavy rainy season.

Your budget of B 1,000 should do you ok at the moment as there are plenty of off season deals. If you choose to head to Phuket Sugar Palm Kata and Sugar Palm Karon ( both 3 star hotels) are as low as B 750/800 at the moment !! Sugar Palm Kata better of the 2, in Krabi Ao Nang Seafront resort about B 950, Lanta island resort B 750, Koh Mook Charlie resort 1,000, Koh Ngai Resort 950, many of those are special reductions at the moment.
http://www.beachsiam.com

But again, check the weather with care as getting to/from the small islands will be a problem if the weather is bad, to koh Lanat the ferries that take cars would tend to operate unless weather 'real bad'.

Hello to MichealBBK
Thank you for your suggestions. Very interesting and along the lines of what we'd like to do. We have found out we can go by mini bus but this is approx a 9 hour journey & island hopping sounds a great way to see more of the coast & surrounding areas. We've island hopped for 6 weeks around the Koh Chang area and loved every minute of it. Do want to have some down time as well and not on Langkawai as last year we had 10 days there.
Will check out your suggestions on the internet (on my notebook computer that we carry with us) That was for the benefit of "afterall" Many thanks again

Hi James, Thanks very much. We will take care with the weather. In the good season we took a boat from Koh Kood to Trat & that was 2 hours of scary hell. Recently went across the Lombok straight in small boat & that was none too pleasant either.
Looking on the map it's a long way from Penang to Langkawai! Need to check out the boats.

I have to chuckle about your trip to Lombok. The first time I went there, we got on the boat and there was a basket of something sitting on a table. I asked what it was and it turned out to be seasickness pills! I thought that wasn't a good omen for the boat trip, but we actually had pretty calm waters (for that strait).

I had missed the info on when you were going - James' warning about the weather is right on. You'll want to be flexible about where/when you take boats to various islands.

You may find some help on the link below. In particular, at the bottom of the page I have directed you to, there is some good island hopping info.

http://tiny.cc/UGnLU

You can take Firefly from Langkawi to Penang, you can check what fares are still available. Malaysia also do I think 1 flight a day, it's a very quick 'hop' on the plane.

i just paid £24 for 2 flights Langkawi to Penang BARGAIN (it is in Nov) so definately worth a look. Am nervous about their record they seem to cancel a lot of flights, it is a morning flight so i figure if they cancel i could get the ferry in the afternoon!