soulseven

Hi all-

This is my second post on the same trip, but a bit more focused now. My wife and I leave for Thailand April 25 and will be there for only 2 weeks. The first week will be spent in Bangkok, Chang Mai, and either Mae Hong Son or Pai. The second week we want to spend on a beautiful island.

Question 1) What Island?
I am still trying to decide which island to go to as a base location; Ko Chang or Ko Samui?! Here are our goals: Beautiful beach and sea to swim in, the option to go on day hikes to waterfalls or secluded coves, scenic beauty, snorkelling, Spa visits and possibly classes at a wellness center, authentic Thai food & drink. This week is more about relaxing; more zen than zoo

Question 2) Accomodation recommendations?
Our total budget for the 2 weeks is a mere $2,500 USD. We plan on spending that on travel from location to location, accomodations, and food. We will do a little shopping but don't plan on spending a large amount on this.

We will need places to stay in:
a) Bangkok - Night 1 by the airport because we get in at midnight. Just want a cheap, safe place to get us to morning. Ideas?
Night 2,3 and 14 we were thinking of treating ourselves to the Magestic Grande.

b) Chang Mai

c) Mae Hong Son or Pai

d) Our island destination ( Ko Chang or Ko Samui)
We are looking to stay at a beach front location but our budget only allows for mid-range accomodations ($50-$150/night) I was thinking maybe 3 nights at a really nice spa/resort and 3 nights at a more charming/quaint place.

Question 3) Island hopping & motion sickness
My wife has been known to get motion sickness on rough waters. Will this be a problem for her in the gulf? I was thinking the gulf would be more calm. If we decide to go for Samui we would like to take trips to Ko Tao and Ko Pha-ngan. If we went for Ko Chang we would like to visit smaller outlying islands. Are the seas different from each other in these 2 ares?

I think that is it for now. We leave in 2.5 weeks so I'd like to get any neccessary reservations made this week.

Thanks again
SS

rhkkmk

i am not sure either chang or samui meet your requirements....they meet parts of them but not all of them...

given your budget, spas may be a luxuary...thai massage on the other hand can be had on the beach for 200-300 B for an hour or so...

all waters can become rough quickly with little notice...

getting to either island will not cause any motion sickness i do not believe...

with your limited time you must fly to each location i feel...

i also do not see how you can possibly do bkk, Cm and one or two other places in a week and get anything at all out of any place...

also why not consider hua hin instead of an island...you get there via auto..

travelduo

I can only speak about koh chang, so I'm not sure how much help I will be. We stayed @ barali and really liked it. We had a beach front bungalow that was around $100 US a night. But if you are leaving in 2.5 weeks I'm not sure about vacancy? You probably won't find much of the wellness center type of thing on KC. We had both oil and thai massages everyday on the beach for the 300B that bob talked about. We rented a motorbike for the week and drove it everywhere. One day we did a hike to the waterfall, that was cool. Not sure about the secluded coves, but several times we were the only ones on the beach. There is also a little elephant camp there that we checked out one day, that was fun also. We went to several other little islands for diving and the seas were not too bad, but we were only out there a couple days. I hope you can find availability in the places you want to stay on short notice jeffrey

soulseven

I have been told by many people that I wouldn't need reservations at this time of year for all our accomodations. That we would have no problem.

Was I lead astray? You guys have me a little concerned.

Kathie

You really do need to make reservations in advance if you are at all choosy about your accommodations. You can wait and just wing it, but do you want to use up your precious vacation time wanding from one place to another? And you'll get a better price by booking ahead on one of the websites that includes tax and service.

rhkkmk

i would not go anytime without reservations....are you just going to arrive and start searching?? waste of time...
you will also not save money generally by just showing up....often it is more expensive...

soulseven

Thanks all. I've got some work to do I guess.

rhkkmk, why do think that neither of the island destinations will meet our requirements. Can you give me some specifics based on your personal experience please.

Thanks
SS

rhkkmk

i have been to both....hikes to waterfalls and the like....there are very limited hikes on samui....the national park on chang is also limited and is a malaria area and i believe access is limited...you can do an elephant trip into the park however...

i do not find the beaches all that nice...they are ok but not fantastic with soft sand...i do not mean they are not fit but just that many parts of the world have far nicer beaches...

i am unaware of any "wellness centers" on either island....massage and spa yes but not wellness centers....

travelduo

Also I wanted to add that if you plan on going to KC, you need to start planning how you are going to get to the island. If you fly to trat from bkk u have to take a taxi to the ferry, then the taxi again to your hotel.
We really liked KC when we were there 2 years ago, and from talking to bob I think he liked it also. Just not sure if its exactly what you are looking for. I have a lot of pics from the island if you want to see them let me know.
Also when we went to see the waterfall, it was a long hike to actually get up to it, I think you need to be in descent shape to do it. Or as bob said you can see the park on the back of the elephant.