Fiancée & I are planning a 10 day honeymoon, going to Thailand late September.
What islands would the STW massive suggest adding to our shortlist? I'm getting confused by all the options, but don't want to do Phuket or Koh Samui.
We want easy access to a beach/water activities/bit of food & drink options, but don't want to rough it like a backpacker too much.
The Travelfish website & STA Travel have been good, I think we will probably use STA Travel to book unless we find an all-in package elsewhere.
You need to be careful as end of September you will still probably be in the rainy season, which ends, end of October. we went to Thailand last November into December and had THE best holiday i've ever had.
can you scuba dive? Does it interest you? I definately recommend doing your OW diving, you can do all the paperwork and classroom stuff before you go and then just dive in Thailand, so none of this diving in the rainy UK!
We did 2 days in Bangkok, hated the city on landing! I think being tired and it being very humid and manic didn't gel with it too well! Flew up to Chiang Mai in the North which was fantastic, 3 day trek through the tribe villages which was brilliant then flew down to Phuket and went over to koh Lanta. I can definately recommend Koh Lanta. Also before christmas it's better to stick to the Andaman Sea side, ie Koh Lanta, Koh Phi Phi (where The Beach was filmed) rather than Gulf of Thailand which is Koh Samui and Koh Tao. On Koh Lanta we stayted at Castaway resort in the Tropical Daze rooms, here:
http://www.lantacastaway.com/
did the diving herE:
http://www.diveandrelax.com/
which is based out of Castaway Resort, if you look at Dive and Relax reviews on Trip Advisor they are 100% I think. They were phenomenal, own speed boats so quite trips (do snorkelling as well).
When I get home later I'll see if I can find some pictures for you to put up on here. Feel free to e-mail me if you want any more help/advice, I spent 5 months researching it of which I did start a thread on STW which got me going.
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/thailand-and-diving
I can recommend Khao Lak area. Beaches and diving and access to reefs.
Mrs S and I spent our honeymoon (about 4 wks) in Thailand in December 2007. It was cut short by a [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tsunami-c4#post-980007 ]Natural Disaster[/url] that we dont talk about much, but before that happened it was a fantastic holiday.
We had a few days on Ko Phi Phi. It's a bit touristy due to 'the beach' but there is a good reason they chose that location, it's stunning. The main town is small enough to be quaint but it still has a range of shops and bars. It's a bit backpakery in the centre but there are some lovely hotels further round the coast. It's also pretty cheap, a lot of the more remote posher locations really sting you on beer and soft drinks.
You need to be careful as end of September you will still probably be in the rainy season, which ends, end of October.
Doesn't it depend on where you are when the rain is expected?
Spent my honeymoon here 8 years ago.
[url] http://www.rayavadee.com/ [/url]
Highly recommended. Water sports/climbing etc.
MM
MountainMutant that looks fantastic, will definately look at that when we next go, hoping to get back out there in 2014!!!! We couldn't climb when we went Nov 2011 as Mr MC was recovering from surgery (ruptured tricep tendon) hence the diving and non biking.
Mastiles .... ???
Weather breakdown: http://www.estateagentsthailand.com/weather.html
Munqe-chick - Member..
THE best holiday i've ever had.
can you scuba dive? Does it interest you? I definately recommend doing your OW diving, you can do all the paperwork and classroom stuff before you go and then just dive in Thailand, so none of this diving in the rainy UK!
You got bitten by the dive bug then? AOW lined up yet? Looking for a made to measure membrane suit? or just drooling over computers?
when i was there (2005) koh samui and phuket were both pretty grotty - koh tao and koh lanta were much nicer, as was railay (krabi) which is particularly good if you like climbing.
Dave
just seen the rayavadee link above.... i stayed just up the beach from there in a cottage for 250 baht per night (at the time, that was about £2.40) 🙂
Dave
Spent a week in Koh Lanta 10 years ago - it was amazing.
BigButSlimmerBloke... yes yes! Egypt this year when we plan to do AOW, Mexico probably 2013, then back to Thailand 2014 but maybe Koh Tao side instead! Mr MC already bought a dive computer!
Thailand is still cheap when you are out there, yes for people who went 10 years ago it's "expensive" (Compartively) but we were staying in hotels for £20 a night in Bangkok and they were great, could get stuff which looked ok for £15 but I was scared and didn't want to slum it. Castaway at £50 including breakfast was gorgeous and worth way moer than that in our eyes!
I've heard Koh Tao is beautiful, I'm really sad I didn't go when I was out there.
Wallop.... excuse to go back?
A few snaps for you...
Koh Lanta
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Trekking in Chiang Mai, last night accommodation:
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Landing at Phuket
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Leopard shark:
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Koh Lanta is amazing.
Chiang Mai has a nice big hill you can throw yourself down...
I can highly recommend Koh Tao. We stayed in this hotel http://www.sawadee.com/hotel/kohtao/thipwimarn/
We stayed there about 5 years ago, not for honeymoon, but thought at the time it would have been a good choice.
Wallop.... excuse to go back?
Stunning photos... I don't need an excuse, just need to persuade th OH!
interesting info all, thanks! Sadly we can only muster about 10days or so there and are struggling to decide how much travel we want to do versus just hanging around on one or two of the better islands!
Definitely avoiding minging tourist areas, Bangkok might be amusing for 1 day but by most accounts that'll be enough.
I would agree with that, I thought Bangkok was busy and smelly - others might disagree though.
I found Bangkok to be two entirely different places, depending on your skin tone. Fresh off the plane you get pestered every single step of the way down Khaosan Road. We hated it with a passion. Then, with 5 months of suntan helping us blend in, we were left in peace and it was more like the Khaosan Road we'd heard so much about, i.e. magical.
Koh Samui can be dreadful in the touristy bits, but the southern coast of the south-west corner (think it's called Thong Krut) is absolutely stunning. There's a straight bit of road next to the beach. Maybe 3 guesthouses on the inland side of the place and 5 bar/restaurants on the beach side. Pretty much zero holidaymakers, friendly locals, amazing food and a fisherman rocked up on the chance we might go out fishing/swimming/snorkelling with him. £10 for the boat for the whole day, and we caught our supper which was cooked for us at no charge by one of the beachfront bars.
People do say that Koh Pha-ngan and Koh Tao are better than Koh Samui, but you have to go to Samui to travel onwards anyway, so it'd be rude not to explore a little. You could easily scooter/drive around the island in a couple of hours, and just turn up somewhere you like the look of for the night and get a room.
Some bang tidy lady boys too! 😀
Wallop ;... persuade the OH! Man if Mr MC said "shall we go" I'd be booking a trip instantly!
The thing about Bangkok is when you get off the plane it's horrific, we ended up spending a day there on the way back from our trip and I loved the place, the hustle and bustle it was fantastic.
If you only have 10 days I would suggest a day in Bangkok at the start, then just go to an island for say 7 days, are you planning on diving? Then do another day at Bangkok at the end, you will find you have 2 completely different experiences of the City, it's amazing really!
Apologies for the thread hijack
m_c - have you looked at Malta for occasional diving trips? easier to get to for a long weekend and some spectacular diving (can't do youtube at work, but look for vids of tugboat rozi). water's warmest in september, air temp is more comfortable and less crowds
BigButSlimmer .. possibly next year for Malta, hoping to do Egypt in October! Cheers for advice though. x
We went to Thailand last September for our homeymoon, had three days in Bangkok and a week on Koh Samui.
I wasn't too fussed about going to Bangkok, I don't really like city breaks, prefer tranquility etc, and when we first arrived (jetlagged and tired) I hated it. Noisy, smelly, so busy. It really grew on me though, and in retrospect I think I prefered Bangkok to Koh Samui. It's hard to explain why, but I have friends that have had a very similar experience.
I would strongly recommend "cooking with poo" (google it) as something to do whilst in Bangkok. She's amazing, and you get a glimpse of the real world that you so rarely get on holidays.
As for the rainy season thing, we had a bit of rain in Bangkok, but very little in Koh Samui, apparently it's not so rainy there in September (more so in Phuket though.)
We found Koh Samui to be fairly touristy and a bit grubby, not quite the tropical island that we (naively) expected. It was still a great holiday though.
HTH.
We've just come back from a glorious week in Phuket. Villa, beach club, great food not rough ot grotty at all. You just need to know which part to go to, and that part is the North-West coast at Surin and Bang Tao beaches. On honeymoon I'd def want to do a few days out on the little islands doing some diving.
We spent all day, every day here
http://www.blissbeachclub.com/galleries.html
I love Thailand. People are lovely, the country is beautiful and its still cheap.
'Rainy season' sounds a bit off-putting but you'll find over there that it monsoons for 10 minutes at a time. In some places it runs like clockwork the same time every day. The rest of the day tends to be dry as a bone.
The humidity is intense though! And it's not always greatly sunny despite the blistering heat.
I completely agree with Grizla about Bangkok!
Bangkok is great, just dont under any circumstances go anywhere nere the sex-tourist traps. Stay at the Conrad.
me and my partner venture there every year for a month always at Pattaya most of the time
wonderful pace so much to do.
