Thailand

cikearney

Hey i'm going to Thailand in September. Flying from Darwin to Bangkok and my girlfriend, who I wont have seen for 9 months, is flying Dublin to Bangkok. We're there for 18 nights before we each split ways again.

We plan on doing three nights in Bangkok on arrival and maybe two nights on the back. We would like to hit chang mai, an island or two, and see a bit but nothing to hectic. We'd like to see elephants, tigers, typical wild life, do some diving and snorkelling, bit of partying and a full moon party.

What im looking for is a nice/ good area in Bangkok to start off, if anybody could recommend a hotel would be great, to many to filter online. which direction to go, head north and travel down ko samui before heading back to Bangkok or vice versa. Which pros and cons about island i.e which to go see krabi, phi phi, ko pha ngan, or samui keeping in mind we'd love to do them all and probably will again but for the moment we're just going to wing it and the happier we are the longer we'll stay.

We have friends saying go here, go there and im trying to do as much research as I can but it all seems beautiful and just cant make decisions and don't want the same holiday they have all done. So any recommendations wmay be considered.

Thanks.:)

roberb

I'm looking at the same kind of trip. Have been told the shangrai la bangkok is the place for a bit of luxury

OneColdHand

cikearney wrote: »

Hey i'm going to Thailand in September. Flying from Darwin to Bangkok and my girlfriend, who I wont have seen for 9 months, is flying Dublin to Bangkok. We're there for 18 nights before we each split ways again.

We plan on doing three nights in Bangkok on arrival and maybe two nights on the back. We would like to hit chang mai, an island or two, and see a bit but nothing to hectic. We'd like to see elephants, tigers, typical wild life, do some diving and snorkelling, bit of partying and a full moon party.

What im looking for is a nice/ good area in Bangkok to start off, if anybody could recommend a hotel would be great, to many to filter online. which direction to go, head north and travel down ko samui before heading back to Bangkok or vice versa. Which pros and cons about island i.e which to go see krabi, phi phi, ko pha ngan, or samui keeping in mind we'd love to do them all and probably will again but for the moment we're just going to wing it and the happier we are the longer we'll stay.

We have friends saying go here, go there and im trying to do as much research as I can but it all seems beautiful and just cant make decisions and don't want the same holiday they have all done. So any recommendations wmay be considered.

Thanks.:)

For 18 nights that seems a little ambitious, especially if you don't want it to be too hectic. Chiang Mai is class, I'd recommend that. When it comes to the islands, you might be better off not trying to do them all. This will give you a bit more time to relax. Maybe stick to ko Pha Ngan, Samui and Koh Tao (if you want to go diving snorkelling this is the place to go).

The direction you do it might have to tie in with when the Full Moon Party is on. Bear in mind there is also half moon parties, and also you can do the Full Moon Party from other island - boats go to it from Samui and Koh Tao on the night of the full moon party. This is handy if you are happy on Samui and don't want to up sticks and go to Ko Pha Ngan just for the Full Moon Party (accomodation is a pain to get around this time).

fifib

hi cikearney, did you narrow down your schedule? planning something similar for December and would love to hear what you ended up deciding on!

TourRadar

Hi there,

Sounds like you have a lot planned! I would recommend taking a look into some tours before you go so that you can plan your timing well and not be too stressed out when you get there! Hilltribe Trekking in Chang Mai is a must!You can also do Thai cookery courses when you are there for something a little softer!

It is probably a bit too ambitious to try get the Southern Islands and the Northern cultural aspects in and my assumption is that if you haven't seen your girlfriend in 9 months you won't want be up for too much partying, so therefore I would recommend to focus on Northern Thailand for some unique experiences together!

boredatwork82

If you go to Chiang mai I would recommend a place called rustic Guesthouse. Only a few months old but fantastic. Staff are excellent too.

In Bangkok I stayed in aloft hotel. About 5 minutes walk from the sky train and real nice and reasonable enough for what you get.

fifib

question on chiang mai - where is the center? Is it the big square north east of the airport? reading some reviews and they say a bit out from the center...does this really matter? whats transport like? especially at night?

cikearney

Sorry folks for not replying

I arrived in bangkok the 4 of sept we done 3 nights here bombarded with tuk tuks to go to a place called TIT to book everything which didn't end up too bad.

From there we went to Chang mai to do the elephant trek, waterfalls and white water rafting,

Then on to Phuket for 1 day,

The to phi phi for 2 nights, amazing spot,

Then to Krabi for one, we were situated in a mountain resort, not to good be needed the relax time anyway,

Then on to Samui for one night to travel to Koh Tao for two nights to experience the diving, great spot

Then back to Samui for 3 night, which I'd where I am now, love this place

We boat to and from the full moon party on the 19th

And then back to bangkok for two nights

Then home !

I'd like to say I spend longer in each place, but we made the most of it and really enjoyed the place and if I were to do it again I would have left out Krabi, done a night in Phuket, and done a longer stint in Samui, boat to koh Tao and then boat back to phangan before flying back to bangkok!

Before coming, a lot of people told us both to stay away from bangkok but as it happens we both loved it, great food, great banter and loads of friendly people, the only thing is, unless you want one, as soon as you shake that guys hand hell pull you into his shop, size you up and pretty much force the suit on you! Just say no thank you and keep walking and definitely don't say maybe tomorrow, you'd think the wont remember but they will and if they're not working they'll have someone who the obviously decribed you too, to pull you in!

All in all, thumbs up!!!!!

cikearney

Oh yeah, done a cooking course today in Samui.... AMAZING

porter shark

I'm planning a honeymoon in April. I've been to thailand before backpacking so I've no idea wat the cost would be if staying in decent accommodation.
As backpackers we stayed in cheapest possible and it definitely wouldn't suit wife!
Can anyone give me a rough idea of prices related to specifications etc?