Meeting up with family in Bangkok and we are thinking of heading out to a beach for a couple of days together. Would prefer not to have to get on a plane and a location within a couple of hours vehicle drive from the city.

We'll be traveling in November, so weather should be considered also.

Any advice of some locations that would allow for the a more rural/relaxing pace? A bungalow on the beach would be great, but know that might not be likely to find.

Thanks!

Oh, and don't want the crazy madness/sleeziness of Pattaya. Smaller town with restaurants and some activites (water, sight seeing, shopping) preferred.

You could try the little towns of Si Racha and Bang Saen which are passed through on the main road down to Pattaya.

Si Racha is probably the better of the two and there are ferries from here over to Koh Si Chang island. You can get there in a bit over an hour and a half from Ekkamai bus station at the eastern end of Sukhumvit Rd in BKK.

Harzer

I'd recommend Hua Hin, about a 2.5 hours drive from Bangkok. There are lots of lovely hotels to choose from, good restaurants, etc.

Do a Google search for sunset village chonburi, it's the nicest beach resort I know of that's not far from Bangkok

I like the Tide Resort at Bang Saen Beach.

i too would suggest hus hin because it is so easy to get to: taxi, car, train, bus, van, etc...

it has all levels of accomodation available and tons of choices for meals...

the beach once out of the downtown area is quite wide and nice...there are waves and the water seems very clean...

i like the hotel booking site:
www.huahin.20m.com, but at the moment the rates are not available for most places in HH...they tell me they will be available in september...

there are a decent amount of activities in and around HH as well....it is the "oldest" beach resort in thailand and also the place the king choses for his beach residence...can't be all that bad...you might see him poking around in the nite market