Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Thailand-Singapore

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Thailand-Singapore

My wife and I will be travelling down from Thailand to Singapore during December and would like some advice on the following questions. 1. We have four days available after seeing Bangkok, before we go down to Phuket/Krabi. Would that be enough time to go up to Chiang Mai or should one rather take the scenic route down to Phuket (what is worthwile along the way)? 2. We also have about 5 days between Phuket and Singapore and are thinking of spending it in Langkawi. Will we be missing out on anything really special which we should rather look into. 3. Should we book beforehand or could one book on arrival. Any suggestions for accomodation in Langkawi - maybe a good website to book through. Would welcome any response Regards

Hi Pieter, firstly unless you want low budget accomodation I would suggest you book ahead, although bookings could be down around 10% most 2/3 star hotels and upwards may well be almost full. If you want to do Chiang Mai quickest is to fly from BKK and then fly to Phuket. I would suggest heading out to Kanchanaburi from Bangkok, just a few hours, to see the River Kwai area, spend 1 night there ( but if the historical factors of River Kwai are of interest then give it 2 nights ), then road to the coast around Cha Am or Hua Hin for say 2 nights of beach. You can overnight bus then to Krabi or Phuket, or you can road/train to Chumpon and pick-up a flight to Phuket. IF you can afford it I would say do the road journey to River Kwai, then Hua Hin, then take the plane ( 60 mins ) to Koh Samui, then a 50 min flight to Phuket. I think you need to decide the imporatnce of Chiang Mai with such a tight schedule, it is nice but if it's temples and scenary you want they can be found in many locations such as Ayuthaya ( incredible temples and culture ) just a few hours by road from Bangkok. Flights from Phuket to Langkawi and Penang have ceased. From Phuket you would need to bus to Saturn and then take the boat across. Langkawi is very quiet but relaxing, I might venture to suggest however that if you 'island hop/beach hop' south from Bangkok planning to 'end' trip in Phuket it is then an easy 1hr 30 minute flight south to Singapore. With your 5 days between Phuket and Singapore you need to decide to see Langkawi, Penang and other places in Malaysia, from a purely 'personal' point I would take those 5 days and add them to the time you have in Thailand, you would then have masses of time to do and see a great deal more. James (BKK)

James, Thanks for your help. I think due to the time constraints I should give Chiang Mai a miss. However that still leaves me with more choices to make on filling the gaps. Some pro's and con's would be useful. 1) Hua Hin/Kanchaniburi or Koh Samui 2) Krabi or Langkawi (after being to Phuket) 3) Any feedback on the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia.

I'd try and do Kanchanaburi ( 3 hrs ) and then road to Hua Hn (3 hrs ) then pick-up the 1 hr flight to Koh Samui. You could then go to Krabi on the way to Phuket, by road/ferry from Samui Krabi is about 5 hrs total, by air 40 minutes. From Krabi to Phuket is just a few hours. Cameron Highlands are 'ok', but I personally would not go 'out of my way' to visit. Hotels are pricey or you have backpacker places, not much price-wise in between. Which airline are you using for your long-haul sectors as it is worth looking into adding some flight sectors as these can often be a bargain.(?)

1.It really is worth going up to CHiang Mai if you have time- flying is incredibly cheap, or you could take an overnight aircon train one or both ways which takes a while but goes through beautiful countryside and is really clean. There's so much to see in Chiang Mai - trekking, khantoke dinner, doi suthep - all really worth seeing. 2. Hua Hin is probably al ittle less touristy than Samui, and if you're pushed for time then it's easier to get to, it has a really great atmosphere. If you go to Samui though, consider staying somewhere other than Lamai or Chaweng and you'll have a much more relaxing time - Bophut in the north of th island is really peaceful and has some great places to eat too. 3. Personally i much prefered Langkawi to Krabi - I stayed in Ao Nang in Krabi which seem a bit souless and just full of bars serving western food playing videos all night, whereas Langkawi is much more 'real' (I know that sounds like a bit of a cliche) Malaysian food is fantastic and the island has lots to do. Pantai Cenang has some good reasonably priced places to stay like Semerak, and there are also quite a few 'resort' type places round the island - Berjaya is excellent if you want that kind of thing. I think www.langkawi-online.com has info. It's peak tourist time there in december though so you should book. 4. Cameron Highlands - really interesting and worth visiting - take something warm though - I was taken completely by surprise by the temp drop up there. Tea plantations to visit and walks to do. I think the only was is in a bus along miles and miles of windy roads, so it does take a while. e-mail if you want anymore recommendations etc!

Chaing Mai and surrounding area are really worth it if you can spare the time. Penang is very interesting-a fascinating mix of colonial and modern architecture, buddist, hindu, and moslem cultures. Go if you can get there easily from Phuket. We flew from Phuket to Penang. A previous post mentioned there are no longer flights between the two. The Cameron Highlands are worth a visit, blessedly cool - only needed a light sweater in the mornings in December-and restful. Stay at the Olde Smokehouse - it's a taste of olde England in the tropics, with wonderful rose gardens. The golf course across the road is worth visiting, if you golf. Do not stay at Strawberry Park - it was recommended to us but we checked out after one night. Crowded with noisy schoolkids on holiday with their families, logging trucks grinding their gears past your windows all night. Have fun!

I just returned from 18 days in Thailand. I would suggest flying to Chaing Mai & then fly to Phuket or Krabi. The hill tribes are interesting & is a great change after being in Bangkok. You can do elephant treks, rafting, see the hill tribes & lots of interesting things. I understand Phuket is much more crowded than Krabi. We liked Krabi, but would definitely stay a couple of night on Phi Phi if I had it to do over. However, Krabi was a good location to do tours to James Bond Island or wherever you wanted to go. We flew to Chaing Mai, rented a taxi to do the Golden Triangle & then flew to Krabi from Chaing Rai. I also agree about going to Bridge On The River Kwai. I just took a day trip there due to lack of time. I spent 4 days in Bangkok, of which I went to the bridge one day & Ayathaya one day. 2 days was enough time in Bangkok to see most of what I wanted, but I could have used one more day there. Let me know if you need any other help with your plans. This web site helped me a lot.

Pieter - I was in Thailand this fall and did 3-4 days each in Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai. I would highly recommend going to Chiang Mai. We arrived on a Monday morning, left Wednesday afternoon and were able to tour the old city, see an elephant camp, go on an elephant ride, go to an orchid farm, visit the wats, go to the night market and so forth...we opted not to do a trek, but could have done that as well. Our vacation was very leisurely and not rushed.