Thailand in April
 

We will be visiting Thailand in April - our itenerary is

Bangkok - 5 days (Rembrant Hotel)
Chiang Mai - 3 Days (Tamarind Village)
Phuket - 7 days (Dusit-Laguna)


If anyone has any suggestions on 'must-see' places to visit, eat etc in these places or any comments on our hotel choice then please let me know?

Thanks!

in the rembrandt there is a wealth of eateries...the indian restaurant on the top floor is excellent, especially the brunch on sundays--reserve....
the mexican restaurant on 4 is also good...i hear the italian is also good, but have not tried it...

you are on soi 18---on soi 12 there are two good restaurants side by side---the famous cabbages and condoms and crepes and co....we prefer crepes, although it is western food....we found cabbages to be only average...

off of soi 39, on another soi which begins with "P" there is a great restaurant called gourmet gallery which is excellent...western again...

we love biscotti in the four seasons hotel as well...spice market there is good for thai

we also like harmonique on soi 34, new road, near the oriental and shangra-la hotels...great thai food, service is slow...

April will be pretty hot in Bangkok so be prepared.

I like Eat Me (the Art gallery/ restaurant) off the Convent road. It is cool, chic and the Asian fusion food is good too. If you want to blend in with the surrounding, wear black or white, or both.

The brunch at Sukhothai hotel on Sunday is good too, live jazz music and sumptuous buffect(Oyster, lobster and a big selection of both eastern and western food). It is very popular with the locals, so book in advance.

La Dalat Indochine at Soi 23, Sukhomvit serves very exceptional Vietnamese food and the decor is interesting especially the men's toilet.

Harmonique is run by two Chinese Thai ladies which serves Thai cuisine for the westerners. If you can stand the plastic flowers adorned the restaurant and the piped Chinese music, the food is worth worthing for.

When in Phuket, make sure you take a trip to Phang Nga Bay to see the limestone karsts. Seacanoe.com does a great job. In BKK, the flower market in the morning and Wat Prayoon (across memorial Bridge)are off the usual tourist track.

Nats. will you be in thailand durring the songkron celibrations in mid april ?

As Orgy says, Songkran / Thai New year 14-17 April but the celebration days for the 'Water throwing' varies from place to place, Chiang Mai would be good around Sonkran. They are just about to start Seaplane flights from Phuket over Phang Nga and Phi Phi, not cheap, but looks fun. My opnly hesitation would be the Dusit Laguna. The Laguna area where you also find the Banyan, Sheraton etc is located quite a distance from other beaches, if you just want to enjoy a nice resort hotel, swim, laze of the beach then fine, but if you also enjoy going out in the evenings, shopping from street stalls, getting more 'into' the local atmosphere it is quite remote, not 'knocking it' but the Laguna area is mainly high priced resorts and even the few local shops charge way over the odds. So it's an OK choice for that type of resort area if that is what you want but if you want more 'life' then maybe one of the other beaches might be better, up to you.

Well be in Chiang Mai from the 15th to the 18th - any suggestions on how to make the most of the Songkran celbrations??

JamesA - thanks for the tips on the 'Dusit-Laguna - will it be hard to make our way into Patong beach in the evenings?

NATS

check out www.whatsonwhen.com.

Apperetnly this year the celebrations are from the 13-15. along with seeeing some bieutifull perades.. you will get soaked with water. and other things.. so dress appropriatly for 3 days straight..

be carefull though. There are thousends of motervihicle accidents durring this peried especialy with motercycles.

Getting to and from Patong will take 40-45 each way, hassle and can be expensive(relative about $15+ o/way). During Songkran you 'will' get wet, very wet. I would avoid any raod travel over the period as the amounts of accidents defy belief, we are talikg tens of thousands, most a kids on m/bikes smashing into eachother and people when water is thrown, it is a far cry from what the Water 'festival' part of Songkran is supposed to be about. Though in Chiang Mai it will be very festive, you will enjoy.

Take a look at the Kata Thani resort and adjacent properties at Kata, very nice.

We will be speniding one last night in Bangkok after Phuket before heading back to Europe. We were thinking of staying at the Banyan Tree ... but have also been considering the Penninsula? any suggestions?