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We just did something similar in August.
Singapore 3 nights
Flight to BKK, transfer to Kanchanaburi
Kanchanaburi 2 nights
Transfer back to BKK, flight Koh Samui
Koh Samui 6 nights
Fly to BKK
Bangkok 3 nightsWe also considered Chang Mai with the sleeper train being a big pull but we ultimately swapped it for Kanchanaburi because we felt it offered something different to the other destinations.
There was a fair bit of travel but we got to see so much and enjoyed book ending the trip with the two cities.
Evening all been busy enjoying other holidays but now looking at locking this down. Thinking:
Arrive SIN 16-55 stay 2 nights
Early flight to BKK stay 2 nights
Fly to Chiang Mai stay 3 nights
Fly to beach (tbc ) stay 6 nights
Fly back to SIN on day of travel as per @SamG’s suggestion, fly home 23-15.Now…I know it’s a lot (!) but thinking I can rest on the beach (and when I’m home). What do you think? Too much? I was thinking about cutting out Chiang mai but didn’t fancy more than 2 nights in Bangkok or Singapore? I was also thinking about the sleeper train but would rather have the extra night in a hotel I think …
Lastly – I did think about doing Chiang mai first as furthest away but understand that the floating markets are on the weekend in Bangkok ?
Looking forward to your comments 😁
Personally I’d say it’s one too many – airports and travelling around takes up a lot of time! there is plenty to do in Singapore to fill 3 days, then you could do 4 nights Chiang Mai and 7 beach for example.
But it’s doable. I’d book a tour in Bangkok – Tour with Tong is great I’ve used them a couple of times.
Thanks all – just quickly reading whilst at work but didn’t want to seem rude! Will peruse later and come back .
Out of interest where have people stayed in Koh Samui? We’re hoping to be there for 5 nights early next year and were thinking of the Melia.
We’re just doing 5 nights in each of Hua Hin and Koh Samui and 3-4 nights in Bangkok so more of a relaxing break this time, and visiting a couple of places we haven’t been before!
So I should also ask where is recommend in Hua Hin- we were looking at the Anantara or the Hyatt but haven’t really started planning that but of the trip.
@Keely, my personal view would be to do either Bangkok or Singapore on this trip, I think trying to see both could effectively end up in not really seeing either and they are both, in completely different ways, amazing cities!@wanderlust thanks! Problem now is people keep adding extra suggestions in! In reality, had BA flown to Bangkok we probably wouldn’t have bothered with Singapore at all..
@wanderlust We stayed next door to the Melia at the Royal Muang Samui Villas. It’s on a really nice beach, never overly crowded, with a decent array of shops and restaurants nearby. Easy striking distance to Fisherman’s Village but far enough away to offer a more relaxed experience. A great location.
Afternoon starting to book hotels – where is the best area in Bangkok to stay please? Sukhumvit? We will be doing the usual suspects tourist wise as first time visitor. Any recommendations also gratefully received although I have zero status with any hotel chain.. generally prefer a smaller non chain hotel anyway.
Afternoon starting to book hotels – where is the best area in Bangkok to stay please? Sukhumvit? We will be doing the usual suspects tourist wise as first time visitor. Any recommendations also gratefully received although I have zero status with any hotel chain.. generally prefer a smaller non chain hotel anyway.
If you are going to stay just a couple of nights, then proximity to the BTS or Metro would be useful to help you get to the many touristic spots as quickly as possible so you don’t lose too much of your limited time.
Sukhumvit is a vast area by the way, but is perfectly acceptable so long as you are within a few minutes walk of stations.Thanks @Aston100 – hadn’t actually realised it was a large area!
Out of interest where have people stayed in Koh Samui? We’re hoping to be there for 5 nights early next year and were thinking of the Melia.
We’re just doing 5 nights in each of Hua Hin and Koh Samui and 3-4 nights in Bangkok so more of a relaxing break this time, and visiting a couple of places we haven’t been before!
So I should also ask where is recommend in Hua Hin- we were looking at the Anantara or the Hyatt but haven’t really started planning that but of the trip.
HuaHin – I stayed at The Standard recently – very nice, art deco feel – very instagrammable. Everyone tells me the Marriott is the best hotel, but I didn’t see it other than from the road. I went to the Hilton to look – very big – looks like a traditional Hilton – bit like an office building lacking in character from what I saw in short space of time. If you like the look of the Standard, there are some good deals if you go through a travel planner.
Koh Samui – I stayed at the Melia. I liked it – especially the pool access rooms. Beach very nice. The clientele there was much more European than I’ve seen elsewhere in Thailand. The pool was big, but always busy – and family oriented. As a result, we spent most of the time in the pool by the room. If you have Amex gold(?) I think you get Melia gold which gives you some 20% off vouchers. However…. if your budget allows, the Kimpton at the other end of the beach felt much nicer.
Afternoon starting to book hotels – where is the best area in Bangkok to stay please? Sukhumvit? We will be doing the usual suspects tourist wise as first time visitor. Any recommendations also gratefully received although I have zero status with any hotel chain.. generally prefer a smaller non chain hotel anyway.
I would look on a BTS (skytrain) map.
BTS Nana is where the nightlife/gogo bars are, although there are respectable bars and hotels there too.
Unless that’s what you are looking for, suggest you choose somewhere a bit further down, between BTS Asoke and BTS Phrom Phong
The closer you are to BTS is better for getting around the rest of the city (Sukhumvit is generally only for bars/hotels/food – the other tourist attractions are elsewhere in the city)For hotels… always worth checking Agoda. It’s originally a Singaporean company, but has big presence in Thailand, and now owned by Booking.com. But Agoda seem to have good deals that might be relevant if you aren’t tied to a chain.
As for specific recommendation… I like the area around Phrom Phong – very nice shopping malls, a bit less chaotic, some great sky bars and both the Hilton and Doubletree get good feedback.
Afternoon starting to book hotels – where is the best area in Bangkok to stay please? Sukhumvit? We will be doing the usual suspects tourist wise as first time visitor. Any recommendations also gratefully received although I have zero status with any hotel chain.. generally prefer a smaller non chain hotel anyway.
What category would you like? There’s so much choice and the higher end places can be very reasonable compared to UK prices although they are higher than pre covid like everywhere, Sukhumvit is a good choice but echo the suggestion to stay near a station.
Afternoon starting to book hotels – where is the best area in Bangkok to stay please? Sukhumvit? We will be doing the usual suspects tourist wise as first time visitor. Any recommendations also gratefully received although I have zero status with any hotel chain.. generally prefer a smaller non chain hotel anyway.
My quick tip would to be stay west of the river – on the same side as the Airport. I’ve stayed in the Peninsula and the Mandarin Oriental – they are across the river from each other and close to a bridge, but getting across to the Peninsula added over an hour due to horrendous traffic.
Hi @Keely
Sorry, late to the party here. Love what you are planning, and as @SamG says, it’s totally doable. Like @BJ and l say, the bus between Bangkok and CM, or to HKT, is an amazing experience, but plan that for another trip. Beach is an easy one, local flights within Asia cheap as chips, and nothing more than a couple of hours away. The only bugbear is the amount of time hanging around airports on so many days of your trip. It’s why we now cut down on too many flights within a given time. 2 weeks is quite tight,
We are also flying to SIN Jan 29th, on to HKT, but staying in SIN the last week of our trip. Jetstar are direct between SIN and HKT. They gave us a voucher to use in FEB for our now cancelled SYD DPS flts.
We have had to cancel our lovely SIN/SYD/BALI trip due to fly last Thursday. OH ill health, but hope Feb trip happens. So we are busy re scheduling atm.
It’s a lot of fun planning, and you have such choice and great ideas from the gang on here. Enjoy!
Currently in Luang Prabang touring SE Asia. A lovely town. Definitely add to your list for future visit! We flew a couple of weeks ago on BA flight. Definitely stay overnight. We had thought about leaving same day but a very good thing we didn’t. Although BA flight arrived in Singapore air space on time had to wait to land because of storm. And then immigration! I won’t ever complain about UK airports again. It was bad last year but new barriers being introduced and very few. It was chaos and took 3 hours from getting off plane to baggage hall. Fortunately we’d booked CP at airport. Very likely you will need to change terminals too. But that’s easy.
Having used buses, trains and planes to travel, we would say think carefully about timings. As @Polly says you can spend an awful lot of time waiting. It’s easy not to factor in eg if you only intend to stay somewhere for 2 nights and you arrive after late afternoon flight and then take midday flight after second night, you only actually have one day in the place you’re visiting.Having visited Thailand many times, you will have a lovely time. Do spend a few days in Bangkok. My daughter hated it, but at least she had the opportunity to visit!
Thanks all, haven’t been here for a couple of days but still planning. @LD27 A colleague told me today that she hated Bangkok too..! Which means of the people I know personally more hated Bangkok than loved it!
Definitely staying at least the first night in Singapore. I’m still intrigued by the sleeper train to Chiangmai – but only if we can get the first class tickets..I felt that Bangkok takes a few visits to love. I haven’t been for a while, and am planning my next trip now (hence me appearing here so late), but the first couple of times I travelled through, I wasn’t keen. However, after a few visits I had a favourite restaurant, a favourite area to stay (not mentioned yet here, but I loved Soi Samsen for the old wooden guesthouses in a quiet area by the river, with good access to the boats) and I’d been to the Chatuchak market, the palace, the temples, I’d found a favourite place to get a massage…
Bangkok is a city many people learn to love as they get to know it.
Hey all just to update…I’ve taken onboard the comments about doing too much and taking the time to enjoy where we are are and have dropped Chiangmai and am now doing 2 nights in Singapore, 3 in Bangkok (this has caused fierce debates in our house!) and the rest in Phuket.
Just one question, as per @SamG’s advice we are planning to fly from Phuket to Singapore on the day our flight is leaving (we leave Singapore for UK at 23-15) ..please reassure me this isn’t too risky …?!Hey all just to update…I’ve taken onboard the comments about doing too much and taking the time to enjoy where we are are and have dropped Chiangmai and am now doing 2 nights in Singapore, 3 in Bangkok (this has caused fierce debates in our house!) and the rest in Phuket.
Just one question, as per @SamG’s advice we are planning to fly from Phuket to Singapore on the day our flight is leaving (we leave Singapore for UK at 23-15) ..please reassure me this isn’t too risky …?!Hi Keely, we are doing the same thing going from Phuket to Singapore for the same BA flight and have done it many times in the past. We are flying with Singapore airlines this time because they have lots of flights to choose from and if our one got cancelled hopefully it means they will put us on the next available one. We always get to the airport with plenty of time to spare. We were going to go to Krabi for a few days but I could only see one flight a day going to Singapore on our dates and decided not to bother because if that was cancelled on the day we’d definitely be stuck. Have a great trip.
Just one question, as per @SamG’s advice we are planning to fly from Phuket to Singapore on the day our flight is leaving (we leave Singapore for UK at 23-15) ..please reassure me this isn’t too risky …?!
You haven’t told us the time between flights! Changi airport is very efficient, though the usual complaint is the security check at every gate.
Thanks both, we haven’t booked it yet ..I was just getting nervous …will take the tip regarding Singapore airlines.
Thanks both, we haven’t booked it yet ..I was just getting nervous …will take the tip regarding Singapore airlines.
Just back from Phuket where we got an excellent deal at The Slate (NaiYang beach) through OnTheBeach. It was half the ‘normal’ rate we pay and I thought it may be the hotel equivalent of a mistake fare, but all went fine.
Regarding Singapore, yes there’s 4 or 5 a day from Phuket. We booked the 1010 from Phuket in Economy as that’s all that came up for use of United Miles and the later ones only went up in price, so we ended up with 8 hours to kill at SIN before the BA flight home. As Singapore Airlines are happy to through check the bags to LHR and print boarding passes (you need a real printed BP to get through security at SIN, self-printed or App weren’t accepted) you can either try all the lounges at SIN when they open (at least 4) or get a Grab taxi somewhere downtown. The kids wanted to do the Grand Prix circuit – taxis are happy to oblige – and Marina Bay last time and this time we went to the Air Force Museum.
So yes, caution advised due to Thunderstorms but it’s their normal. Look at Flightradar24 delay stats for reassurance? Singapore economy is good, free food and booze, only bit I was surprised at was Xmas decorations all the way along our 737Max….29 Nov a bit early in my book!
Thanks both, we haven’t booked it yet ..I was just getting nervous …will take the tip regarding Singapore airlines.
Just back from Phuket where we got an excellent deal at The Slate (NaiYang beach) through OnTheBeach. It was half the ‘normal’ rate we pay and I thought it may be the hotel equivalent of a mistake fare, but all went fine.
How was the Slate? Looks great online… Looking to book it next year for family trip before heading up to Khao Lak.
Been going to The Slate on and off for years – it was previously Indigo Pearl but is exactly the same – and only ever stayed in Pearl Bed Suite rooms which are the second cheapest. Not that they are usually ‘cheap’ but in May-23 when we were planning our 30th wedding anniversary trip for Nov-23, a room was £140/nt BB via OnTheBeach with no prepay which is roughly half the normal rate that requires immediate payment. So we booked for 2 weeks.
As ever, hotel recommendations are always subjective, but this is our logic for staying there.
Obviously a 5* hotel is a nice place, but we rather like the architectural design that is a nod to the tin mine that was previously here. Like most similar hotels, breakfast is great, the beds are comfy and swimming pools (there’s 3, two of which are adults only) are good.
My wife is a swimmer so likes doing lengths for 40mins at 0800 before breakfast with nobody else in the pool. She is also a retired beauty therapist that loves a massage so she knows what a good massage feels like and one of the main reasons for staying is because a few years back she found the best massage she’s ever had in the (expensive, naturally!) Coqoon Spa, so we pre-book massage therapist Sarah every other day when staying. It may be 3x the price of the numerous alternatives on and around the beach but it’s not ‘massage by numbers’ in the Spa.
We have eaten in the restaurants on site and sat by the pools on site in the past, but these days we use the lovely room for sleep and chill, eat the breakfast but then move to the beach across the road. Sun beds there are 100THB (£2) a day and a large Chang the same bought from the sun bed ladies. These days the beach is clean and tidy and the sea fairly clear with no jellyfish. The main advantage is that there’s usually a breeze on the beach which there isn’t by the pools, although we usually cause amusement by still having portable USB 5″ fans running wherever we sit (also very useful for airline travel btw as cabins always too warm esp on BA).
We skip lunch as such, evening we eat on the beach and as the Good View restaurant has never poisoned us, we tend to eat there. Meal for two with starter, beer, mains and veggies around 1000THB. If having a whole fish it’s 400-500THB more. Followed by a roti from one of the stalls, Jay Roti is just one, 50THB. Then maybe pop in the supermarket for cheap beer/sprite (or pop in the pharmacy to stock up on meds which you may require a prescription for at home and cheaper anyway).
Apart from our liking for The Slate hotel’s design, wife’s love of Sarah the massage therapist and the empty pool, our behaviour is fairly standard wherever we go, i.e. use the 5* room, stuff ourselves on breakfast but then use the beach, eat on the beach and use the supermarket. Others may prefer the restaurants on site which are admittedly pretty but we’re not foodies so I can’t comment on how nice the food is as we just love normal Thai fare.
Nai Yang beach is quiet; this trip, we met friends in Patong which is where we were married 30yrs ago….Patong was very busy and chaotic by comparison to Nai Yang. You can walk to the end of the airport runway to get very close to the planes, it takes 30mins each way, for the ‘St Maarten’ experience. Take some water! Nai Yang beach also has a turtle release – but I can’t remember which days – which everyone will appreciate. You may be aware that vapes are illegal in Thailand but cannabis isn’t, so there’s plenty of cannabis shops around, but they were almost always empty and no problem.
When we stayed in Feb-23 after a walk to the local temple and the twice weekly market, I thought we deserved a foot massage in one of the shops at the very southern end of the strip. Wife and daughter we placed on beds close to the window and me (male) on one a few beds away and curtained off. You can guess what ensued, or at least what was offered for 500THB and ‘not tell wife’, but according to my wife I may have given the wrong signals by removing whatever clothing my massage person requested. Suffice to say afterwards my wife said ‘what sort of idiot ends up stark naked on their back for a foot massage??’ Me.
@Metty Thankyou so much for that detailed report. My wife is a working beauty therapist so always finds herself “marking the work” during a massage… so we will definitely seek out Sarah. We will be with our 10 and 12 yr olds, so love the sound of the turtle release and the runway experience.
We are foodyish but really want the kids to experience real thai food, as well as some meals in more clinical hotel restaurants…. Also want to have a cookery lesson for us all at some point.The massage shop visit sounds hilarious – and something I can imagine happening to us !!
The Slate does sound ideal for us – we want to flop by the pool for the first few days of our holiday – the 2 bed Pearl shell suite looks great.
There seems to be such a wide spread of hotels and prices at the higher end in and around Phuket – The Slate seems a lot of bang for our buck. We want 5 star, a huge suite/villa, and something that feels Thai, not just another Western resort… An hour north in Khao Lak prices seem way way cheaper for some reason too.
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