Hi.

My friend has come over for 2 weeks to LOS for Songkran, and as we know, that is now done... So now we are going to take him to other parts of Thailand.

I live in Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat). and we are going to have a look at Krabi... Now we have already booked the hotel for 4 days from Thurs 18th which according to most of the tripadvisor reviews is a really good hotel, but is very remote and is very costly to get to civilization, on top of which, the bar and restaurant close at 9pm.. which is not really good for us, as we like to get the most out of the time we are there, not to mention what normally would be a 100 baht tuk tuk ride in Korat, is a 500 baht fare from the hotel to get anywhere decent.

We were going to drive from Korat to BKK and park the car and fly to Krabi which is about 18,000 for the 3 of us. So what I have decided is the best thing is to instead of driving to BKK and take the flight, we will leave on Weds 17th and drive to say Hua Hin and stay at a hotel there, then the next morning, drive the rest of ythe way to Krabi, then on Mon 22nd drive back up to BKK, but spend 2 days doing it and stay at hotels on the way.... we only need to get to BKK on Weds 24th, and drop our friend at Sauvanabhumi for his flight home, after that we can make our way back to Korat at our own leisure.

So basically, what we save in the 18,000 in air fares will cover the petrol costs and most of the hotel bills, but will give us 3 extra days holiday, allow us to see a lot more, and I really don't mind the driving.

What I want to know, is, can anyone please recommend where to stay en-route on the way down to krabi (1 night) and from Krabi to BKK (2 nights). We really want to show our friend some of the best parts of Thailand while he is with us. The main reason for turning this into a driving trip, is so we have the convenience of the car while we are in Krabi.

Thanks in Advance.

Edited April 15, 201313 yr by klubex99

I know that Khao Lak is supposed to be a very beautiful part of the South to stay in,not overun by tourists like Phuket.It is very close to Krabi and it's on the West coast so you'll probably pass throught here anyway on the way from Hua Hin to Krabi?
Ah,I've just seen you'll be coming back up but I would still recommend it,here's some of the hotels there,I know Agoda sponsor Thai Visa anyway so the link should be ok :
http://www.agoda.com/pages/agoda/default/DestinationSearchResult.aspx?asq=bs17wTmKLORqTfZUfjFABrJnPe20O%2ftmYrRXOaZ877HVeTL3rd16SJ9bp34qkoagvAE%2fbaq%2fUiH4CQj28c9K4%2b4zfq8pkoaMpcy7sIc2UgCZdKAkRVT5G%2fOzan8m99LRiCDjixmwSWXx3VYqgH1%2brEEtKxeWpL2DkLkewld2ZWc%3d&tick=635016735151

Ranong , about 300km north of Phuket .

cha-am on the way south/north is as nice and quieter than hua hin but close enough to go there at night to party. we stayed at Bannpantai Resort last time we went and really liked it - booked thru agoda or similar and got good rates.

Edited April 15, 201313 yr by GooEng

It's about 5 hours from Khorat to BKK, then another 2 (or so) to Hua Hin/Cha Am. Not a bad stopping point. But if you want to continue a bit further, you might try Bang Saphan. Or even Ban Kruit. Both have fantastic beaches. I stayed here several years ago and it was fantastic.

http://www.rachavadee.net/site/

Unfortunately, if you are just traveling through, you won't get to enjoy these areas very much. Khao Lak is also a great place to visit. But I've never traveled that way.

Have fun!!

I would use trip advisor and browse the reviews whilst travelling, never had a bad referral from them.

Sounds like a nice trip, please post your report and experiences when complete, have fun, good luck.

Edited April 16, 201313 yr by CharlieH