Ubon Ratchathani with a 3-year-old

[tfranz]

We will spend a weekend in Ubon with a 3-year-old soon.

Won't rent a car this time so plan on staying more or less in the city.

 

Do you have any recommendations for a kids-friendly hotel, guesthouse etc?

 

Is there a playground for kids in Thung Si Muang Park or somewhere else?

Any other ideas about what to do for the kids in Ubon?

 

Thank you very much

[NiwPix]

Yes, Thung Si Muang has a small playground on the southside of the Park. Another idea may be at Central Plaza...they have a kids play area on the third floor.

Sheep vil may be fun for a 3 year old, however slightly out of town, but taxis are dirt cheap here.

https://www.facebook.com/1425485321067635/

[tfranz]

Great idea. Thank you.

I was also thinking about going to Ubon Zoo.

 

Any ideas about accomodation? In what area of Ubon should I look for a hotel?

[MeMock]

Stay at Sunee. Great for young kids.

[Brunolem]

Just coming back from Ubon city: super hot and massive traffic jams! 

 

Central is indeed the place to be, cool and a great fun park for the children on the third floor, next to the food court. 

 

You could find some place to stay not too far from Central and thus avoid the traffic... 

 

[beavenlen]

usual expat suggestions on here the sunnee hotel ok as stated and pretty central the park is only short taxi ride from sunnee also great for kids and within easy reach of the river,, central i would steer clear of very pricy and not the place i would take kids,, from sunnee you are close to the big c retail park and very close to lotus,, traffic usually busy at prime times as in most cities, the mian chaiunprum road i think i spell right runs from end to end so you wont or shouldnt get lost be sure to ask staff about the ltous lily lake and other entertainment in the area great city for whole family in my opinion,,

 

[SantiSuk]

Do you want a pool at your hotel? [there are a small number - lack of pools is a blind spot in the available Ubon portfolio]

Do you want breakfast inclusive?

Do you want a budget hotel* - say less than 750 baht including breakfast, or are you willing/wanting to pay more (typically for bigger room/better breakfast/more style?)

 

Answer these and I could narrow down recommendations. I have stayed in many Ubon hotels over the last 10 years. You do not have to spend around 1,500 baht a night in the stereotypical 4 star business hotel (Sunee Grand Hotel & Convention Centre), of which I have had a bad service experience (they populated the rooms you are likely to get via Booking.com/Agoda etc with degraded rooms, non-flat screen TVs with atrocious reception and could not care less about this customer's complaint 5 years ago - may have improved now).

 

*Budget hotels are not to be sniffed at - Ubon has a large range of modern budget/budget plus hotels that are clean, reasonably well appointed and with room sizes in the range 15 to 20 sq metres (ie not small).

[tfranz]

Thank you for all your answers.
Unfortunately I am reading a couple of them only now since I was in Ubon this weekend already.

 

Nevertheless I will leave this post here. Maybe it helps whoever else is going to Ubon with kids.

 

Stayed in the Sunee Grand Hotel and it was great. Great room on the 11th floor. Nothing to complain about.

Didn't even have time to check out the hotel pool since the little one always wanted to go to the water park.

Pool looked great though.

But the water park is more or less in the same building on the 4th floor. Kid loved it.

 

Shopping mall in the same building is nothing special but convenient if you need something and don't have to leave the building.

 

Went to Ubon Zoo with the little one and she was pretty happy. It's a nice thing to do for max half a day.

 

Always took taxis to get around. You must be lucky to flag one down but the hotel calls them for you. Didn't try Grab Car though.

 

@SantiSuk 

Sorry to hear about your bad experience with Sunee Hotel. I booked via Agoda too. I have to say I was really impressed by this hotel. I hope this wasn't a one-time luck.

Anyway .. I will be in Ubon again with the little one. So I am still interested in alternatives, hotel-wise or activity-wise (NiwPix mentioned SheepVil)

[ubonrthai]

Sunee is a customer service disaster. I have guests stay there several times a year for the convenience of people not used to getting around Thailand on their own. Problems nearly every single time and it’s always simple stuff. Doesn’t matter how the booking is made. I had an invoice from the hotel once and they tried increasing the price at check in.

[SantiSuk]

Interesting that I'm not the only detractor of Sunnee then Ubonrthai. Considering the number of me-too trophy mid-range hotels that have opened in Ubon in the last 10 years - very good value it has to be said - it is extraordinary that no new higher-end hotels (ie genuine 4star plus) have opened.

 

Laithong is a hotel that I also had customer service issues with ten years ago* but, having been given better reports on it, I tried it again 4 years ago as a result of which I would highly recommend their very comfortable and well-appointed 'executive rooms', priced then at about 1,600 baht (standard rooms were then 1,200 baht - I didn't retry them) and I thought that their included Chinese-Thai orientated breakfast buffet was excellent too; strange though that they offered no western-styled breakfast options at all back then - I suspect they have corrected that by now.

 

 

*In room wi-fi not working, the 2 desktops in reception labelled as broken and front desk disinterested; male staff staff had no info on where to find an internet caff and could not care less about my problems with that. Since then the reception has been remodelled, new helpful, bright and breezy young lady receptionists and decent in-room wi-fi installed.