Jan - Need To Book Or Not?

[mike140586]

Hi all,

Thanks to everyone for great posts on thsi forum, its been very helpful!

Myself and my girlfriend are traveling to Thailand the first 3 weeks of Jan. We will be doing bangkok - Phuket & Phi Phi - Koh Samui & Koh Tao - Bangkok. I have travelled around a couple of times before at less busy times of year and made no pre bookings for flights or hotels and was wondering if this was possible in January?

I will book the first night or two in bangkok so there are no problems. We are looking to spend 2000-3000baht per night for a nice hotel, is that possible this time of year?

Also I have searched around for pre booking internal flights and can book online for roughly £40 each flight, is that recommended or again can we book whilst we go without an increase in price?

Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks.

Mike.

[jdinasia]

get rid of all the empty space between lines .... and it wouldn't be a long thread.

If you want to be in a better place and you want to be sure of it, book in advance

[onzestan]

get rid of all the empty space between lines .... and it wouldn't be a long thread.

I don't agree !!! There would be just as many words

cheers

onzestan

[mike140586]

Thanks for the replies, before I posted the lines were not there! I will take your notes on board and I guess try to book more for the first week or so. Only problem is I when I have been to thailand before the prices I paid when there were a lot less than on the internet (asiarooms etc). Are the prices online similar to how they would be in January if i booked whilst travelling?

I have read that on the islands if you turn up early in the day from your flight/boat then there is much more choice of hotels - as your the first people to arrive on the island that morning, which makes sense. Has anyone had any experience of turning up early to phi phi/koh tao etc and being able to get accomodation in Jan?

I know it would be recommended to book everything but I don't want the holiday to lose flexibility. Guess it would have helped to go another time of year!

Thanks,

[Hairy]

This year may be a lot slower than previous years, but last time I went in December/January, I had a very difficult time finding midrange rooms in Bangkok and Pattaya on a walk-in basis. In December, I had to take a side-trip to Pattaya to find a nice midrange place, which was fine since I got to see a bit more of Thailand. On my January trip, I ended up staying in a roach motel because the decent midrange rooms were gone in both cities; maybe if I'd wandered around for a day, I could've found something, but the few I checked were booked solid for the duration of my trip.

So, I would suggest booking ahead.

[geriatrickid]

Book all flights in advance if possible. I'm jammed up big time while I wait for cpacity to open up for Phuket. TG on its website advises it is sold out 27 Dec, 26, 28 dec have crappy departure times to phuketa. I'll try in a day or so in case they change equipment. smaller destinations are served by small sized aircraft and are less likely to get increased size equipment so be careful for that.

You will find slim pickings until Jan 10 or so for lodging if you don't pick something. It's peak of the peak.

ps. Baggage weights are actually verified at this time at check in so pack carefully. Nok does it most times I fly.