Any Cheap But Nice Hotels Near Chiang Mai Centre?

[Plucky]

Hello there and apologies if this has been asked a thousand times but I did the forum search and did not find what I am after.

Usually I would research hotels online like mad before getting somewhere but this time I literally came off a ship after 2 months at sea (with no internet) and then hopped a flight to Chiang Mai. I am looking at settling here but need somewhere to stay just for now.

Currently I am staying for three nights in the Baam Pin guest house which is cheap but not quite what I am after to be honest.

All suggestions are gratefully received and for a budget I guess anything around 500 THB would be ideal as I don't know whether I will be staying for quite some time in a guest house/hotel. Obviously if I was only staying for a short time the budget would rise drastically but I really don't know how long I am here, hoping for a month!

Nearly forgot to mention if anybody fancies a beer let me know etc.

All the best

Dave

[WinnieTheKhwai]

If you know you're going to be staying for a month then some hotels and serviced apartments will do a monthly rate that's significantly below 500/day. (Say in the 6000-8000 baht range for the whole month).

And in terms of what you get it's similar to a 500-700 baht hotel room by the day.

[jamesbrock]

Have a look at Veerachai Court. My gf & I are planning to move up there shortly, and we've decided on that after reading some reviews here on TV; at least till we get the lay of the land a bit better.

We have been quoted:

Fan room = 4,000 Baht / month

Air con room start from 5,000 - 7,500 Baht / month

1 month deposit is required and returned when you checking out .

Extra charge : water 15 Baht / unit

: electric 7 Baht / unit

: cleaning charge when you checking out = 300 Baht

[hellodolly]

Have a look at Veerachai Court. My gf & I are planning to move up there shortly, and we've decided on that after reading some reviews here on TV; at least till we get the lay of the land a bit better.

We have been quoted:

Fan room = 4,000 Baht / month

Air con room start from 5,000 - 7,500 Baht / month

1 month deposit is required and returned when you checking out .

Extra charge : water 15 Baht / unit

: electric 7 Baht / unit

: cleaning charge when you checking out = 300 Baht

My boy stayed there the last time he was here and got the one with a aircon for 5,000 baht a month he says he had to fiddle with it and the hot water heater a little to get them to work but no big deal.

Not sure what they would have done if he had gone to the manager.

Personally I think for the price it is in a great location. Walking distance to the old city to the night Bazaar and Wharort market. And right next door to a great little western restaurant Suni's

Sorry about the misspelling on the market name and the restaurant name. Stupid spell checker connected to a bad speller.

[jamesbrock]

Have a look at Veerachai Court. My gf & I are planning to move up there shortly, and we've decided on that after reading some reviews here on TV; at least till we get the lay of the land a bit better.

We have been quoted:

Fan room = 4,000 Baht / month

Air con room start from 5,000 - 7,500 Baht / month

1 month deposit is required and returned when you checking out .

Extra charge : water 15 Baht / unit

: electric 7 Baht / unit

: cleaning charge when you checking out = 300 Baht

My boy stayed there the last time he was here and got the one with a aircon for 5,000 baht a month he says he had to fiddle with it and the hot water heater a little to get them to work but no big deal.

Not sure what they would have done if he had gone to the manager.

Personally I think for the price it is in a great location. Walking distance to the old city to the night Bazaar and Wharort market. And right next door to a great little western restaurant Suni's

Sorry about the misspelling on the market name and the restaurant name. Stupid spell checker connected to a bad speller.

Yeah, the location's pretty good, and the price is good too - so long as the aircon works, and it's QUIET!

[bristolgeoff]

good choice veerachai court central and reasonable.you can not go wrong if you stay there

[NancyL]

Verrachai Court is a good place to stay if you want short-term accomdations while you look around for something else and/or take in all the tourist attractions. However, it can be very depressing if you plan to be long stay. It's full of older expat men who start their evenings drinking cheap beer at the bars on the soi (or even at the benches in front of the hotel) and then move onto the red light areas to score their evening comfort. Then they return to Veerachai and start their days over again with a high-fat breakfast at the nearby restuarnt. All this is done with loud discussion in some form of English. I know because we lived on this soi for two years and got very tired of hearing every words shouted by the expats in the area -- and they are noisy, acting like everyone should be on holiday. Also, I learned every creative use of the "F" word.

A much more sensible location for long-stay is The Dome on Huey Kaew. Yes, it a bit more expensive, but at least you don't have to listen to the sexpats every evening.

Edited April 1, 2012 by NancyL

[bristolgeoff]

nancy veerachai court is a mix of thai couples,plus thai and farang.they all live happy among the building.i meet some english ladies mother and daughter living there quite happy.the walls are not too thick but the people are happy and they is only one bar oasis bar on the soi.maybe you had a bad experience their and you had to move somewhere else.it is full pretty much all of the year so they are doing something right

[Ulysses G.]

My boy stayed there the last time he was here and got the one with a aircon for 5,000 baht a month he says he had to fiddle with it and the hot water heater a little to get them to work but no big deal.

Not sure what they would have done if he had gone to the manager.

Personally I think for the price it is in a great location.

Veerachai Court are quite good about fixing things - at least they were when I use to stay there - and you will probably be spared most of of Nancy L's problems as the vast majority of rooms are not directly on the main road as (I am told) the place that she rented was - right next to two bars and several other businesses.

Edited April 1, 2012 by Ulysses G.

[jamesbrock]

Thanks for all your comments guys. And, Nancy, thanks for your warning - it is intended to only be a short stay, how short though, depends entirely on how long it takes us to find something more permanent.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

nancy veerachai court is a mix of thai couples,plus thai and farang.they all live happy among the building.i meet some english ladies mother and daughter living there quite happy.the walls are not too thick but the people are happy and they is only one bar oasis bar on the soi.maybe you had a bad experience their and you had to move somewhere else.it is full pretty much all of the year so they are doing something right

I think Nancy is right on the Money. I resisted putting in a similar rant, but I think we can all agree it's a bit of a scene there.

Which may or may not be bad; it's an excellent location for a downtown pied a terre. (for those who don't speak French, that means a f#ck flat). It serves that purpose very well.

Edited April 2, 2012 by WinnieTheKhwai

[jamesbrock]

Well, we're moving from Lamai, so it's not like Nancy's version will be a shock to the system!

Besides, I'm pretty sure we'll be out and about exploring all the amazing rings Chiang Mai has to offer, and not hanging around with the sexpats...

[NancyL]

Yes, indeed, we were right on the soi and the area in front of our unit was used for motorcycle parking by the bar patrons, which meant we got to listen to the sounds of motorcycles revving up about the time they closed. Also, some of the regular patrons must have been trained stage actors in an earlier life because they could project their voices very well. Too bad, they weren't saying anything worth hearing -- mostly conversation with the lavish use of the "F" word and anti-American rants.

But, in all fairness to Veerachai court, the owners maintain the buildings and the grounds and do try to intervene when there are arguments in their parking lot. We stayed there a time or two when we had problems with electric or water in our unit and we found the rooms to be clean and a good value for the money. No problems with the aircon -- worked better than the aircon in our rental unit. Just try to avoid rooms that overlook the parking lots and soi because there is a lot of late-night motorcycle traffic.

Edited April 2, 2012 by NancyL