Originally Posted by
rbAA
While I'm not the expert on SIN, only have been there a handful of times, both the Andaz and IC soon to be a Marriott LC, are great and the Bugis area is worth seeing. There's a banana leaf restaurant near Chinatown, near the metro from Bugis, that is pretty good, across from the IC there are some interesting local places, and of course there's the Circus-Newton Food Circus- made famous in the movie Crazy Rich Asians. It has everything. April/May is not the best season in Bali so expect some rain. My friends stayed at Railey near Krabi recently and liked it more than Phuket but it depends on what you like. Last time I was in SIN, stayed at a HIX near the Indigo, that was good and cheap. Interesting area too. Going to the Botanical Garden, especially the orchid gardens, is interesting.
3 days in Bangkok means you need to pick one area, either the riverfront or Central area, as a base for exploring. Last time I stayed in Bangkok was at the StandardX near the river, Wat For, Palace, and Khaosan areas which was very convenient. Otherwise not so great for the other tourist areas. Great food and beverages at their restaurant and plenty of other places to get good F&B.
rbAA Just coming back to this, I think the StandardX looks perfect. Reviews suggest it's walkable to lively areas (Kaoh San Road sounds interesting, I'm all about the street food, although Mrs RC perhaps a bit less so...) and generally accessible while still being in a quiet-ish area. We like walking. Plus the picture of the view from the pool over the river looks great.
Looks like there are direct flights from Bali (where we'd be coming from), albeit to DMK not BKK, which sounds like what LTN is to LHR... but it will do.
20% Quidco cashback on hotels.com today, so another booking spree coming up. Next is to check out any good beach spot that is a direct flight from Bangkok and also has a direct flight back to Singapore. Probably Phuket or Krabi. Any suggestions for rustic/traditional beach places welcome, doesn't need to be luxury but has to be good quality
ETA: found a place called Sawasdee Village near Kata in Phuket - not directly on the beach but looks lovely. Thrown a booking in there for a few nights...