First a big thank you to everyone who posts -- I've really enjoyed reading them !!

We're flying into Chiang Mai and staying out in the Mae Rim Valley at the Four Seasons Resort. Our hotel offered to get a car for $30 from the airport to them. I'm sure that's exorbitant -- as my locally arranged car hire for a whole day is just a bit more. Does anyone know what it should cost?

Sorry, this is not a specific answer. We hired a car and driver in CM (12-2005) and he transported us to the Royal Princes (a much shorter trip), gratis. So, you might ask your hired driver how much he'd charge you for the trip.

Twelve hundred BAHT for a private pick-up does not sound unreasonable, however.

We had hotel-hired cars in Koh Lanta and Ao Nang. Checked the posted taxi rates while strolling around and found them to be comparable to the hotel-hires in both cases.

ty -- we're going to go with the hotel transport. Someone else had a post of things like this a few days ago and consensus was it made sense -- thanks for taking the time to answer !!

Other hotels in the area charge B 600-800 ( USD 15-20 ), from the Four Seasons they no doubt will be sending a nice car, sure a local taxi would be cheaper but you are paying for a service level which is probaly of a high standard and makes it easy on arrival. If you are paying for the Four seasons I would just go for the $30 quality service.

Ok. This makes me mad. the FS wants to charge us $110, plus tax and fees for roundtrip airport transfer.

How did you get the $30 rate? What time of year are you staying? We are staying in low season (June). Did you book with the hotel directly for your room?

SJ

Ken got the 30 dollar rate (1 way) from the airport to 4 Seasons Chiang Mai also (our conversation about this is in another thread -- they do also charge tax, they charge tax on *everything*.) We are going in January. Ken said he's going in March.
As to booking, not sure how Ken booked but my hsb is a 4 Seasons employee in NY and we got our room through the hotel. The one 'day' tour we booked through them is at the standard rate they charge everyone. Are there more than 2 in your party? Maybe that's it?

I had found a web site that wanted 1000 baht ($25) one way from the airport to the Mae Rim Valley).

JamesA -- we're using our complimentary employee nights to stay there -- not rolling in the dough It's the one employee benefit I adore -- makes up for never having a hsb at home for any given holiday and most weekends.

hey everybody... I booked the hotel directly through their website after emailing back and forth with their front desk. They offered the US$30 car at end of the confirmation email (which was sent months ago), along with other offers of spa packages, cooking school, etc.... I didn't actually take them up on the offer until very recently when it appeared (after a few posts on these boards) that it was, in fact, not a complete rip-off. Ken

a quick question - I posted another Chiang Mai question the other day (about side trips) but no one responded... so I'll repost it here.

If we hire a driver (like Poon or equivalent), is it possible to see Doi Suthep, the Elephant Conservation Center, and maybe check out some of the craft areas in one day?? How far is Doi Suthep from the Elephant Conservation Center?

Thanks everybody... Ken

khtodd, It will make a very long day, but it is doable. The elephant conservation center is about an hour south of CM, and Doi Suthep is about 20 minutes or so north of CM. Crafts on Sampankaeng Rd are south, between elphant CC & CM. If you decide to do this, you should get to the elephant conservation center by about 9:00 or 9:30 I think to see the elephants bathing, and then plan to spend the rest of the morning there for a brief elephant trek and to see th elphant "show." Then, you can head back to CM passing through San Kampaeng Rd to stop at the shops/craft stores where you can see the laquer boxes and umbrellas being painted and have lunch. Then end the day at Doi Suthep.

Ken

Have you ordered Nancy Chandler's map of CM? I found it really useful to see where things were in relationship to each other.

We're doing two day trips. One with a Karen guide to Hill Tribe villages north of Mae Rim towards Chiang Dao. The other with a hotel arranged guide and short flight to Mae Hong Son (seems more remote than CM and felt I needed a bit of that). We'll be back before you go -- I'll let you know what we did and managed to work in and anything special that caught our eye.

I just enquired about the $30 transfer rate at the FS and the reason why we are being charged $110 round trip. I was informed that the $30 rate is being increased to $55 on February 1. Ok.

Here is my question - do we book it at this rate? I KNOW it is exhorbitant, but this is our honeymoon. We are staying at fabulous resorts and having private cars from every hotel pick us up just so we don't have to deal with it. I am leaning toward's the philosophy of spending the extra just to not have to deal with reserving a private car. Normally I would not do this, but we are really splurging on this trip. It is already costing us a ton of money, so why not spend the $50 extra?

Or, is this just highway robbery and I should, out of principle, hire a private car?

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Sara

I'd hire a private car and spend the money elsewhere. But make sure you book one - from memory, I don't think there are lots of taxi cars at CM airport as you would find at Bangkok only songthaews. That was a few years ago so maybe it has change dthough.

Just there, no shortage of taxis at the CM airport. CM is, after all, the 2nd largest city in TL.

Now, taxis might be a problem at the Krabi International airport. We didn't any, not booked or on assignment.

jenskar, yes I did order the Nancy chandler map, but it hastn' come in yet (any day now, I hope).. but I have also gathered from the boards that they're not necessarily to scale...

I'd love to hear about your experiences though! I'd also like to hear your take on restaurants... we are both foodies and good food/dining experience are important to us - maybe more than the actual sights!!

CFW - thanks for the reply - I assumed it would be a pretty long day if it was doable at all... I just wanted to know if I should schedule 2 days with drivers or if I'd be ok with one...

Thanks everyone! Ken

I will be in Tland Feb. 22-Mar. 4.

I've already arranged to stayed in BKK until the 27. I'm trying to decide the itinerary for the rest of my trip, whether I stay in BKK for the extra days, go to the beach or Chiang Mai.

I'm originally from the Caribbean and I live in Miami, so I can enjoy beautiful sunny weather and the beach pretty much all year round.

Given my situation, are the beaches in Tland worth seeing? If I go for the beach, which one should I go to? Keep in mind that I'm a 35 yr old woman going by myself.

If I decide to spend the rest of the days in CM, what can I do there?

Or would you suggest that I just stay in BKK for the entire trip?

I will highly appreciate your suggestions and I thank you for all your posts and tips, which have been pretty helpful so far!