Thailand

Guest1 · Thailand

Whats the flying time and time difference to the UK anyone know?

shorty

Sunbear will know, as soon as he gets back!

laws1

guest

Its around 12 hours flying time and 7 hours in front of UK time

Guest1

Thanx, Laws.

sunbear

My flights took a little longer this time as I went via Abu Dhabi...quickest I've done it is 10 hrs 30 mins going out...its usually slower coming back due to the headwinds.

lawz

I Wen't To Thailand .... Really Nice People Lovely Gold Statues

I Went To Bangkok It Was Lovely There ... 1 Of My Best Holz

sunbear

My last holiday there was our tenth visit...been all over the kingdom...never had a duff holiday (although we did head out of Pattaya pretty darn quick).

Cadge

Hi Lawz and Sunbear

What part of Thailand would you recommend for a family holiday (ie 15 & 12) and who would you book with?

Thanks

sunbear

Cadge,

Depends what you want from your family holiday as Thailand is much more than just a beach destination. It certainly would be a shame just to visit the beaches and ignore Bangkok or Northern Thailand. Bangkok is easily added as you will have to fly via the capital any way.

Bangkok is an exciting city...with many sites worth visiting (temples,floating markets etc), exciting modes of transport (tuk-tuk's, sky train,underground, river boats), great eating and shopping.

Northern Thailand can be a mix of city and country with chances for visiting hill tribe villages, elephant trekking (some hotels even run mahout classes). Lots of interesting trips to do.

Of the beach resort areas I would go for Phuket or Krabi in our winter, Koh Samui on our summer just because of the weather patterns. Hua Hin/Cha'am is also a possibility in our summer. Some people like Pattaya but it was not for us, too built up and the sex tourist industry is very much evident.

Have travelled with a number of the major ops (Kuoni, Hayes and Jarvis, Premier,Colours of Asia) they are all very good because they use the local ground handling agents. In my experience its a better quality product than you tend to get with the more standard tour op packages. Also its fully flexible...no 7 or 14 nights you can go for a long as you like because you are using scheduled airlines which in many cases fly every day of the week. Its also easily done DIY.

Cadge

Thanks for your quick response sunbear

Would you recomend for the October 1/2 term, am I right in thinking this is the monsoon season?

Also, how long are the flights likely to be. We are only able to travel for a maximum of 10nights owing to mr cadge's business.

What board option would you recomend and what sort of food is on offer?

Sorry for all the questions

sunbear

October...just about the worst month to go I'm afraid.

Direct flights thake about 11 hours...10 nights is feasible.

I would recommend B & B...you very rarely see AI being offered (or even Half board or full board)...the reason being is that people eat out a lot in Thailand, The prices outside the hotel will be a lot less and the food just as good if not better. We were budgeting £20 a day for lunch and dinner with drinks for two of us. Restaurants vary from the very simple to the very sophisticated.

Most resorts will offer all kinds of food...Thai, Chinese, Western (especially Italian). There are a fare share of fast food outlets should that take your fancy. A lot of restaurants will have mixed menus so one of you could be having Thai, another in your party a western meal.

Cadge

Doh

Looks like it's back to the drawing board for me then

Thanks for all the information - might see if we can look towards Thailand possibly next easter now.

sunbear

I use this site for Thai weather stats...its Climate for Tourism link is quite useful
http://www.tmd.go.th/index_eng.php

Pam7

Couple of years back we backpacked Thailand. Brilliant - DIY! Just got flights out to Bangkok....Qatar Airlines- 6 hours to Doha..quick turnaround then 5 and half hours to Bangkok.....airport hotel for that night as we arrived early evening....street market for dinner....bed..early call at 3 and taxi back to airport for first flight out to Koh Samui. Was heading for Lazy Waves beach huts..but they were full so the taxi just drove us until we found one we liked. Chaweng Gardens Beach Resort 850 Baht (£12 per room per night) - stayed there for a bit..then onto Koh Lanta.....next Phi Phi (LOVED Phi Phi)....then moved onto Krabbi - then Phuket....then back to Bangkok just off Koh San Road. Three weeks travel. I've got a travel diary if anybody interested - prices etc.