Thailand's Recent Floods Helped Enhance Hua Hin's Profile

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Thailand's recent floods helped enhance Hua Hin's profile

BY LUC CITRINOT, ETN

Hua Hin, file photo. Source: wikimedia

HUA HIN, Thailand (eTN) - If Pattaya has not always had a very good image for travelers or even Thai locals, Hua Hin has, by contrast, always been considered as Thailand’s chic resort station near Bangkok. The fact that the city has long been a favorite for Thailand kings, from Rama V to the current Rama IX, certainly helped to protect the seaside destination’s image. The city is indeed Thailand’s oldest resort as it started to attract its first vacationers in the 1920s, helped by the opening of one of the country’s oldest rail links.

Today, it is still worth taking a train to Hua Hin just for the pleasure of arriving in an old wooden rail building. Even if this is not an original – it used to be a royal pavilion in Sanamchan Palace in Nakhon Pathom province and was rebuilt in Hua Hin only in 1968 - it exults a nostalgic atmosphere.

Hua Hin beachs are clean, the small town has a high density of chic and trendy shops, while boutique hotels are now spreading in any corner of the city. In the nineties, Chiva-Som spa and resort gave a new fame to the city as a spa destination.

But in contrary to Koh Samui, Phuket, or Pattaya, close to 70 percent of the tourists in Hua Hin are locals, or 714,000 over a total of 1.04 million guest arrivals in hotels in 2010. “And among foreign travelers coming to the resort, at least 20 percent of them are expatriates,” indicated Mrs. Pinnat Charoenphol, Director of TAT for Hua Hin and the province of Prachuat Kiri Khan. Finland, Norway, and Sweden [more...]

Source: http://www.eturbonew...ua-hins-profile

RELATED LINK: all you need to know about Hua Hin

http://huahin.thaivisa.com

-- eturbonews.com 2011-12-13

[jehricaholic]

The beaches may be clean but they are not very attractive, but the day trips are quite nice from there unlike Pattaya which really only has Koh Larn as it's diamond.

[landslide]

We've been vacationing in Pranburi, 30km south of Hua Hin for the last 4 years. i have seriously been thinking of acquiring a vacation home there. It is quiet and relaxing, prices are reasonable, and while the beaches are not that spectacular, there is plenty to do and see. Frankly, I would just as soon see the area stay the way it is now, and not get more crowded or developed.

Edited December 31, 2011 by landslide

[mythril]

The beaches may be clean but they are not very attractive, but the day trips are quite nice from there unlike Pattaya which really only has Koh Larn as it's diamond.

We've been vacationing in Pranburi, 30km south of Hua Hin for the last 4 years. i have seriously been thinking of acquiring a vacation home there. It is quiet and relaxing, prices are reasonable, and while the beaches are not that spectacular, there is plenty to do and see. Frankly, I would just as soon see the area stay the way it is now, and not get more crowded or developed.

It is true that the beaches are not very attractive, but they are relatively clean, unspoilt and vast. We first visited Hua Hin 6 years ago to stay at Chiva-som and immediately loved the laid back relaxed atmosphere of the place, we have been back multiple times since and have seen huge changes in the area with a lot of development and a very marked up tick in the number of foreign tourists visiting and expats taking up residence. In fact we will be taking ownership of our own villa on our next visit next month and just like landslide, we wouldn't really like it to get too much more developed and certainly not to start trying to compete with the likes of Pattaya or Phuket, though as long as the King has a residence there it is unlikely that would be allowed to happen.

[hands22]

I have just returned from Hua Hin and the beaches where I have been were dirty and full of litters and not at special at all. I won't be going back soon.

[huahinjoe]

I agree, Hua hin is very dirty, not about the beaches but overall everywhere... The roads full with smoky bikes, dirt everywhere around the road and outside the city the areas also look like a deserted place.

Anyway, food is cheap, life as usual as most big cities in Thailand, but hate when someone try to hype the reality and come with hiso resorts and over expensive accomodations, restaurants as a good example to sell the crap in a shiny box.

Thailand is a 3rd world country, somebody like it, somebody cant accept it. There is 2 kind of ppl, one who used to do it and the other who escape. It's all depends on your budget what u get. You can stay in a very nice place if you rich, but if you a backpacker dont except anything must just smiling people and good street food

However I think large number of tourist come to thailand because they like nature, beach, easy lifestyle and cheap things (girls? haha),so for them its perfect for sure.