Lamphun Hotels & Scooter Rentals?

[scooterboy]

Hi!

Planning to go to Lamphun (near to Chiang Mai) next month (July) for a few days. Can anyone recommend a hotel or guest house of the inexpensive variety (will only use it for sleeping)?

Too, anyone know of a shop in Lamphun that rents out Automatic Scooters (Mio, Kick, Step, Nouvo, Fino)?

ANY input would be much appreciated - thanks!

[chanchao]

As Lamphun has very little in the way of tourism aimed at the Western traveller market, it's probably far easier to rent in Chiang Mai. Hotel should be possible but again of course the selection in Chiang Mai is far far greater. So you could consider to stay in Chiang Mai and commute; it's about 30-45 minutes drive depending on the type of scooter.

[higgy88]

Most people make day trips out of Chiangmai as there just isn't much more than one day's worth of sightseeing, and they pretty much roll the sidewalks up at 9 pm. The only hotel is across from the Northern Region Industrial estate near the superhighway, and that is a pretty far distance from town and not that cheap. There are three guest houses I can think of that may fit your needs, one across from Lamphun Hospital, one across from the Governor's house, and one behind city hall. There is one place about 2 kms south of town that you may be interested in. Huan Samunprai It looks pretty good and I have been told that you can just rent their rooms without doing any of their packages. I do not know, and have never even heard of, any place here that rents out motorbikes of any kind so I think you may be out of luck with that.

[scooterboy]

Hi higgy88 & chanchao!

Yeah - I figured it would maybe be difficult to rent a scooter in Lamphun, so I already warned the gf about having to go to CM - but many thanks for your informative replies!

Heh heh - we ain't your average tourist people and steer well clear of the normal "touristy" things. The town closes down by 9pm - suits us fine, as we're out from early morning!

Reckon we'll get a bus to CM (from Pattaya) and I'm told that there's a direct bus, though have no idea (yet) where the bus station is in CM that it stops at.

You guys happen to know where there's a scooter rental place near to the bus station in CM ? Would sure save a lot of scouting around after we get there!

Found a bunch of hotel/guesthouse names in Lamphun but don't know where they are or even they really exist -

84 Hotel, ATM Hotel, Chit Ari Hotel, Happy Inn Hotel 1, Huean Da La Hotel, Krung Thong Hotel, Ksy Hotel, My House Hotel, Ok Hotel, Rim Nam Hotel, Than Thong Mansion Hotel, The Regent Lam Phun Hotel, VIP 89 Hotel, VP 94 Hotel

- but I reckon there still ought to be one or two places we can use.

Cheers & thanks kindly for your info

Scooterboy

[Ulysses G.]

Heh heh - we ain't your average tourist people and steer well clear of the normal "touristy" things.

Tourists that aren't touristy.

Isn't that special?

[Blinky Bill]

Found a bunch of hotel/guesthouse names in Lamphun but don't know where they are or even they really exist -

84 Hotel, ATM Hotel, Chit Ari Hotel, Happy Inn Hotel 1, Huean Da La Hotel, Krung Thong Hotel, Ksy Hotel, My House Hotel, Ok Hotel, Rim Nam Hotel, Than Thong Mansion Hotel, The Regent Lam Phun Hotel, VIP 89 Hotel, VP 94 Hotel

- but I reckon there still ought to be one or two places we can use.

Most of these sound like they charge by the hour.

[chanchao]

> Reckon we'll get a bus to CM (from Pattaya) and I'm told that there's a direct bus,

> though have no idea (yet) where the bus station is in CM that it stops at.

It's on the main Highway #3 (Sukhumvit) outside Pattaya, near Central Pattaya. This is NOT the North Pattaya bus station where buses to Bangkok leave. Tell the baht bus driver to go to Khonsong Nakhon Chai Air. 'Nakhon Chai Air' being the company that runs the direct bus, see here for contact details: www.nca.co.th

Now, while that bus is 'direct' in that you sit in the same vehicle all the way, note that it does stop at MANY provinces along the way and takes the older Highway #11 North, so that's like a Grand Tour of Thailand visiting such exotic places like Nakhon Nayok, Saraburi, Singburi, GodknowsyetanotherBuri, Chachoengsao, Phitsanoloke and on and on and on. Heck, if you ask them they'll probably stop in Lamphun too, which would be JUST the deciding factor to actually go for this bus; For sure they'll let you off the bus in Lamphun, and might even do a stop at the Lamphun bus terminal. Call and ask.

I've done that bus a couple times (It comes from Rayong so is an actual direct connection between Chiang Mai and Rayong (Ko Samet), but it takes a looong time... It's actually significantly faster (by 1-2 hours or so) to take the regular bus to Bangkok (TO MO CHIT, not Ekamai!!!) and then connect on any of the Chiang Mai buses from there. Those will also let you off at Lamphun, but on the main highway only.

> You guys happen to know where there's a scooter rental place near to the bus station in CM ?

Yes, there isn't. They're all in the tourist area around Thapae Gate and towards the Night Bazar.

> Would sure save a lot of scouting around after we get there!

I like the little Mr. Mechanic shop in Moon Muang Rd Soi 5. The 'Kafe' restaurant at the corner is a good place for breakfast or lunch. (Both Thai or Western food). But many other places along Moon Muang, and elsewhere in that area.

Edited June 24, 2007 by chanchao

[higgy88]

Yes, you have a pretty good list of the local short time hotels. Are they advertising down there? Business must really be bad. You do have a couple of names that are not. The Regent Lamphun is the only real hotel here, and it is the one I said was across from the Northern Region Industrial Estate. Rooms start from over 1,000 baht a night. Here are my recomendations for places to stay.

Huen Samunprai. Traditional medical clinic and spa, but they will rent out just the rooms. About 2 km south of the old city. I gave you the link for their website.

Klum Chao Hotel. Small hotel behind city hall.

Thanthong Mansion. New 2 story guest house behind Jahkham School, one of the biggest secondary schools in Lamphun.

Supamith Holiday Inn. 4 story guest house across from Lamphun Hospital.

Bann Kusonsong. Guest house across from the governor's house.

But you still have the problem of transportation. There are just no places to rent motorcycles. There are busses and songtows that run on the main road, but the only thing that can get you around town are the samlors, which are all over the place, or motorcycle taxies, which I have only seen next to the main bus stop. Tuk tuks are not allowed here.

[scooterboy]

Short time hotels? Well, that's fine by me but maybe the gf ain't so happy about it . Long trip by bus to CM from Pattaya? If they have a night bus it would suit us fine - we'd arrive in the early morning (?). Yeah, I'd prefer to use the BKK route, too, but the gf hates having to set her dainty feet anywhere in BKK.