Thailand Honeymoon in August
 

This is a great website! I am going on my honeymoon in August 2006 and was sooooooo dissappointed to find out that its rainy season in some parts of Thailand (Phuket, phi phi island). So I have started to look at other places to visit in Thailand during that time of year since I can't change my wedding date! Basically I have 3 weeks (21 days) to spend in Thailand (this doesn't include the travel time it takes to get there from Toronto). My question is - what is the best order and the best way to get to these places (do I have to keep going back to Bangkok to fly??)

5 nights Koh Samui - either at the Amari Palm Reef or the Muang Kulaypan
3 nights Hua Hin - Aleenta Resort and Spa
2 nights Hua Hin - at a resort less secluded more in town
5 nights Koh Chang - Amari Emererld
5-6 nights Bangkok - the Peninsula


What's the best order to do the trip and the easiest shortest travel time (flying obviously)?
I was told by a travel agent in Thailand that Koh Chang in August is windy and cloudy. My fiancée and I are sun worshippers, we definitely want to go where there's sunshine!
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

Stephanie

Koh Samui has very nice weather in August, I suggest you drop Koh Chang altogether and spend 10 nights at Samui, I don't see anything gained from traveling all the way from Samui to Chang, just extra expense & wasted travel time for what? Otherwise the order is OK, it's good to start your honeymoon with a tropical island, and good to finish up with BKK so you can get your shopping in at the end.

fyi, bkk air has a flight a couple of days a week from samui to koh chang....the amari in chang is very nice, the best on the island...i have only eaten there however...it is remote, so that with aleenta should be your down time stays...

you might also look at the pansea at samui....

we thought chaenwg (sp) beach town was far too commercial, although there are some good hotels there...

the rest of the trip looks great but it is a lot of moving around....hua hin and aleenta you drive to...each move will take up to 1/2 day....myself i would stay at the hyatt in HH and skip aleenta...

As Koh Chang is so far east, I think it the first of the islands in the Gulf to get the winter monsoon so it is rainy in August, take a look at weatherbase.com, use Chantaburi as the locator. I have not been to Koh Chang so cannot say for sure, but based on weatherbase.com I think you might want to skip it and stay more south and west in the Gulf of Thailand. (Hua Hin and Koh Samui, which are a bit further south and west, get a lot less rain in August, it's just a function of the monsoon pattern as it moves west across the Pacific; there is also a monsoon moving off the east coast of India which brings rain to the west coat of Thailand, e.g. Phuket in August.)

You can't fly to Hua Hin, you have to drive from Bangkok, about 3 hours. I don't see the point in moving hotels in Hua Hin. I actually am not that big of fan of Hua Hin, I don’t think the beach is pretty and the various towns are really kind of dumpy, a very down scale Miami beach, high rises and a lot of average restaurants and girlie bars. The only thing I like about Hua Hin is the Chiva Som resort, which is where I would stay, even on a honeymoon. 5 stars, great treatments, fitness classes and great food. Take a look chivasom.net

If you want pretty beaches and don't want to spend all your time in Koh Samui, then take a flight and head further south to the gorgeous beaches of east coast Malaysia, specifically the areas around Kuala Terrenganu or the Redang islands. A great hotel in the Terrenganu area is the Tanjong Jara Resort.
Take a look at http://www.tanjongjararesort.com or the website for Small Luxury Hotels of the World at: slh.com

If you end up going to Koh Samui first, if your international flight to Bangkok requires a transfer in Hong Kong, you might see if you can connect directly from your international flight to one of the new non-stop flights from Hong Kong to Koh Samui, a service just started on Bangkok Airways which has several flights a week, departing at around 1:30 pm. Take a look at http://www.bangkokair. Also, as you have such a long honeymoon and may need an alternative to Koh Chang, you could also consider taking a few days in Hong Kong first to relax, recover from the flight and see the city, and then going non-stop to Samui, then flying to Bangkok, hop in a car and go down to Hua Hin, back to Bangkok for a few days, and flying out of Bangkok for home.

There are 4 daily flights from bangkok to Hua hin with SGA but it's expensive, but good if you enjoy scenic flights as stays pretty low for the short hop.
To get from Samui to Hua Hin it's ferry to Surat Thani and then 4.5 to 5 hours with car+driver, your Samui hotel will sort that, easier than going via Bangkok.
There are actually some quite good beaches around Hua Hin heading south from town, but the beach drifts off around the Aleenta, but it has great service and atmosphere, though expensive. Hua hin is expanding south to Suan Son and new low rise resorts going up, a lot of housing/retirment villas etc being built and is way busier these last few trips than ever before. Around Suan Son and Pak nam pran there are several very sandy wide beaches with hardly anyone on the beaches with just a few laid back boutique resorts/spas, these days I drive straight through town to the Hyatt area and beyond.

Bangkok to Trat ( for Koh Chang ) is now 3 flights per day, from Samui to Koh Chang you can also go on twice daily flights Samui to U-Tapao (Pattaya) though several hours from there to the pier for Koh Chang.

I notice that you did not mention Phuket at all. Is there any reason why you would not visit Phuket? One of the best (IMO) honeymoon places would be the very luxe Mom Tri's Villa Royale overlooking Kata Noi beach. August would be the low season so you might just get a fabulous deal on a villa which would normally cost $600+ at peak season, for $150. Worth a look, at least??
Carol

Cicerone - tell me more about the islands/beaches in Malaysia, that sounds like a good idea - what is the best way to get there from Thailand? I'm no longer considering Phuket just because I'm concerned about the rain

The weather you would get arounbd Phuket/krabi at that time of year is going to be very close to what to expect in Langkawi and Penang, langkawi geographicaly is off the south west Thai coast.
I think choosing Koh Samui and the Gulf coast in August is ideal as that is where you will get the best weather.

One of the months that I vacation in Bangkok is August and it's not that bad. I have yet to get caught in a downpour although once I looked out my hotel window and once I looked out the skytrain window noticed a sudden downpour.It was over by the time I reached the next skytrain station. They are usually short and you just do what the Thais do and wait until it stops before leaving cover. Happy Travels!

You could consider the islands down the eastern coast of Malaysia as opposed to Penang and Langkawi (off the west coast). You might want to consider flying into KL and out of Bangkok to visit these islands more easily.

Take a look at Perhentian, Redang, Terengganu. You might want to try doing a new post on the Malaysia board with this question in the title also.

Cicerone is right on suggesting Tanjong Jara. This is the only luxury resort on the east coast and the only one that I would consider for a honeymoon. Redang has beautiful beaches, but the hotels are not wonderful. There is a lovely very small romantic hotel near Terrenganu, The Aryani, which would also be honeymoon worthy.