Cheaper Alternatives To Bangkok?

[morky]

We are hoping to book return flights for June/July, Manchester - Bangkok but I want to try to keep the travel expenses down as low as I reasonably can. Is it worth trying to fly to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or somewhere else and then going by train or Air Asia, or should I just bite the bullet and book these flights (£479 with Etihad) and know that we are on our way?

Six and a half months left, and counting every day!

[ClaytonSeymour]

We are hoping to book return flights for June/July, Manchester - Bangkok but I want to try to keep the travel expenses down as low as I reasonably can. Is it worth trying to fly to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or somewhere else and then going by train or Air Asia, or should I just bite the bullet and book these flights (£479 with Etihad) and know that we are on our way?

Six and a half months left, and counting every day!

Are you serious? Surely not, but seeing as I've nothing better to do I'll play along. I'd be very surprised if you can get flights to SIN or KUL much cheaper. Even if you do, you'll have the hassle of collecting your luggage and having to check in again with Air Asia, potential excess baggage charges, missed connections between a LCC & a FSC etc. Only worth it if you're planning stays in SIN or KUL in the process.

I wouldn't even consider land transport unless you've unlimited time &/or your desperate for the experience. I once did Singapore > Korat overland, taxi to Johor Bahru, coach to Penang, boat to Langkawi, boat to Satun, coach to Phuket, coach to BKK, coach to Korat - never again unless I'd time to do it at my leisure.

£479 isn't bad, pay it and save yourself a load of hassle.

[johnnyk]

Any money you save on airfare will be eaten up by other costs not to mention wasting time in airports, taking taxis, finding your way around etc.

Not worth it to save a few quid on airfare.

[morky]

Yeah, you're right.

It's as much trying to see another City as it is trying to save air fare, but with only three weeks for this trip I'd better just make the most of the time I've got. No point wasting days in transit for the sake of it.

I'd better just get it booked asap.

Thanks.

[enyaw]

Yeah, you're right.

It's as much trying to see another City as it is trying to save air fare, but with only three weeks for this trip I'd better just make the most of the time I've got. No point wasting days in transit for the sake of it.

I'd better just get it booked asap.

Thanks.

Anything less than £500 from manchester to Bangkok is good value and it has always been that way for the last 10 years or so at least.

[PhilHarries]

For a three week visit why, as others have said, waste a chunk of it (two in fact as it is a return trip) somewhere you don't want to be? £479 sounds a good price and probably hard to beat, only alternative suggestion from Manchester would be KLM via Schipol. You will not get better prices going via KL or Singapore as these are not major tourist destinations. AirAsia KUL-BKK return is, from memory, around £130 but the price depends on how far in advance the booking is made.

To be honest I would not spend any time out of a short visit in either KL or Singapore unless you are mad keen on shopping. There are the tourist attractions but none are what I would term "must see" and certainly not enough to justify the time and hassle. To even fit in the basics would require a minimum of one full day. So outbound you spend best part of a day travelling to KL, a day in KL and then half a day minimum KL to wherever in Thailand. Then add in the return leg additional travel time and it just doesn't make sense. Not only that but you are hauling a55 around town under peak jetlag in sweltering conditions. I spent 18 months in KL and really liked the place but would not use it, nor recommend it, as a stopover en route to Thailand, same for Singapore unless you have time to kill and money to burn as neither are exactly cheap places.