onlysuites

Hi all,

I am going to be in BKK for 4 days and 3 nights. Landing at 5ish on a Friday morning and coming back monday night at 6ish. I was wondering what and where are the best places to visit? A good hotel in the centre?

Will i have enough time to visit Pattaya? As i really want to see some beaches. Or is my time better spent just in Bangkok. Not really interested in doing much shopping, more about seeing the culture and tasting the food

Can extend the trip by maximum one extra day if I have to. Can't get any more free time from work then that. I will be travelling on my own.

Any advice would be appericated.

Thanks

NorthOrSouth

Although Thai beaches are nice they are very busy. For such a short trip I'd stay in Bangkok.

Bangkok is that great for shopping anyway and there's plenty to do without going near a shop.

Start off with a Thai massage inside the Wat Pho area. This isn't the dodgy Thai massages but the school which trains people in it. I think an hour is about 250 Baht and it made us feel much better after an overnight flight in. Wat Pho is definitely worth a look at too for the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.

Also worth seeing are the Grand Palace which is really impressive and Jim Thompson's House (used to be owned by a silk merchant who disappeared in mysterious circumstances) which is an old house on one of the canals.

Then you can take a day trip to Ayutthaya, the old capital, up river.

You can stay in either the city centre or by the river. By the river is nicer and good options here are the Peninsula, the Oriental and the Shangri-La. A good hotel with a pool and a spa is probably more relaxing than the beaches which tend to be busy in Thailand.

jagsbb

Well,

4 nights in BKK, for me would be a wild time. I would likely sleep all day, and party every night. The nightlife is to die for. I do not like going to the seedy redlight district of Patpong or Nana. I would suggest you check out one of the Gentlemen's Clubs, my fav is Piano, or Violin. They are both located on soi Ekamai (63) in Sukhumvit. You can buy a bottle of Black for about 3000Baht. If you do not finish it you can always come back for until about 3 months. Be careful about the lady drinks, as you have to pay about 200bt for every drink that they drink. I reccomend this place to unwind and relax with the VERY pretty hostesses.

For food i would check out seafood market on soi 24.

Have fun,.

onlysuites

Thanks for all your advice.... But if possible i really would like to hit a beach just to see it. I am the kind of person who gets bored in one place after a day or so. I know there is probably loads to do in BKK but as i will be travelling by myself i don't really fancy hitting clubs on my own. Will probably attract the wrong type of crowd

Any advice on close by Beaches?

BangkokTraveler

Attracting the wrong crowd is what Bangkok is all about.


Recommended beaches:

Phuket - 1 hour 15 minutes by plane
Koh Samed - 3 hour bus to Ban Phe
Koh Chang - 1 hour plane to Trat

And there is always Pattaya. Less than 2 hours from Bangkok, but more of a nightlife place than a good beach. Jomtien Beach (next to Pattaya) has an OK beach.

onlysuites

Is that 2 hrs in a taxi? How much should that cost?

Jaimito Cartero

You can bargain with the taxi drivers at the airport. I would probably head to Pattaya first, and then come back to Bangkok. Go upstairs to the departures level, and grab a taxi that has just let someone off. (This saves you the booking fee in the taxi que downstairs). 800-1000 baht ($20-$25) is the normal negotiated price. They may try and ask for 1500 or 2000, but just choose another taxi.

You should also clarify if the taxi you're getting in is the one you're going to the beach in. I was handed off one time to a private car, which was not what I was looking for.

Scandalous

.....

mongatu

If it was me, I would head down to Pattaya and just hang out there for the four days. Beaches there aren't anything to write home about, but there are various other attractions, and it is more relaxed, and everything (hotels, massages, girls, food, drinks, etc.) generally costs less than in BKK. If you can handle driving on the wrong side of the road and can ride an automatic (no gear) motorbike, they can be rented for a couple of dollars or so per day which gives you a lot of freedom.

Sam - DFW

I'm sorry to hear that...

I went to Asia for 12 days last summer (2003) and stayed for 47 days - Thailand, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Thailand, Japan.

Thailand was definitely the highlight of the trip.

I went to beaches in the south: Koh Samui and Koh Phangan. I didn't go to Phuket but heard great things about it.

BKK is a GREAT city. The BTS Skytrain makes it VERY easy to get around. Take a water taxi up and down the Chao Phraya River, ride a motorcycle (taxi) through traffic (keep your knees in), and make sure you take a tuk-tuk (just get ready for "the hard sell" once the tuk-tuk driver has you as a captive audience.

Have fun.

Sam

tfong007

pattaya is a run down dump. I do not advise you go there.

onlysuites

So shall i invest my extra pennies and buy a ticket to Phuket then? Is that a better bet? The price will be around $100 more for that ticket.

Will it be worth my time heading back to the airport and wasting a few extra hours for the flight there? Or is it a better place?

Jaimito Cartero

If you fly from BKK to Phuket, check out Air Asia. You can get a round trip for $30-$60. Nothing is free on there, but the service is good, and I've never had a problem with the flights.

onlysuites

I guess in a hours flight you don't really need anything much. Thats a very cheap fare though.

francophile

Here is another low fare airline flying within Thailand:

http://www.nokair.com

It's the low-fair airline of Thai Airways. They offer business class for only THB500 more each way.