Family holiday to Thailand

mrs_mum_3

I'm thinking of taking the family ( me, DH, DS age 9 and twin DDS age 5) to Thailand in 2013 but I have a few questions.

1. What is a good time of year to go - obviously would prefer school hols so are we looking at July/Aug or December or even Easter 2014?

2. Where is the best place to go - a bit of beach and a lot of pool (swimming)

3. Can anyone recommend any airlines?

4. How expensive is it e.g to eat out as a family for a 2 course meal with a bottle of wine

5. Are visas or jabs needed?

6. Anything else I should ask/think about

Thanks in advance

Jo

melx

I last went to Thailand in 2010 with my children. We flew with Emirates from Heathrow to Bangkok and then with Thai air to Phucket where we stayed in the Patong Village Suites for approxamately £20 a night. The beaches are incredible and every hotel/apartment has its own pool. We went for a month starting the 5th Dec till the 5th jan and stayed in Phucket for three weeks and bangkok for the first few and last few days....Bankok is amazing so much to see and do!!! It was in the high 90's every day. Eating out is very cheap, a meal for four wont cost more than £25 including drinks a lot less if you eat in more "local" places. I hope you have a amazing holiday...we cant wait to go back

zagfles

Yes Thailand is very cheap for accomodation and eating out, but wine is expensive IME. Remember we once had a 3 course meal for 2 of us and the total was £20, £5 for the food and £15 for the wine!!

Watch out for the jewellery scam in Bangkok - if you're headed for the Grand Palace or some other major attraction ignore all the tuk-tuks telling you it's closed!

Mr_Wang

Aerosvit is consistently the cheapest airline to Bangkok.

Thailand is as expensive as it is cheap, by that I mean if you head out to Phuket (Which imo is one of Thailands worst Islands for everything, including beaches) and expect to pay much higher prices that if you were in say Koh Lanta.
By far the most expensive general Thai isle (other than excursions i.e James bond) is Koh Samui, but unlike Phuket it is partially justified as Chaweng beach is beautiful and the sea perfect. A quick boat ride to Ko Phan nan will drive costs down from Samui and give you unspoilt beauty in some parts - Avoid the Full moon party.

The best thing to do is travel around Thailand, Khao San in Bangkok is cheap, Sukhumvit is reasonable. Ko Samet just down the road is amazing through the week.

But in terms of where to stay - Krabi is most peoples choice since your not that far from most of Thailands best Islands.

Food - I always eat local and so noodles is about £1 and a beer about the same.
Plenty of 7/11's and Tescos and local food on every corner.

socrates

With a family I would spend 2 days maximum in Bangkok either at the start or at the end of the holiday then head to Koh Samui

Avoid Chewang in the evenings its like being in Magaluf (unless thats what you like) - daytime it has the best beaches

Be aware that Koh Samui can be expensive - Bo Phut is a nice place for families as well as Lamai - taxis are not cheap and I avoid car hire - the drivers over there follow no rules

I disagree with people telling you to move around too much - its not fair on kids

Your other option is Pattaya - it has a reputation for being the sex capital of the world - (it has a very European influence to it) - if you can navigate around this and stay in Jomtien (nice beaches) then it is cheap, has loads of family attractions and touristy things to do (elephants, tigers, temples, water parks, island trips, zoos, lake fishing and loads more) - if you stay in the Central parts of Pattaya you will experience some bad smells from the sewers (this is common for Thailand in general) and the sex industry - so best to be avoided for any length of time

The taxis known as Baht buses are dirt cheap, hotels, restaurants, shopping - in fact everything is cheap - you can get a large bag of laundry - washed and ironed for around £4 - for example.

Make sure if you go to Pattaya you have lunch at least once at the Hilton - its an all you can eat Buffet for around £7 per head excluding drinks with fantastic views

The other advantage is that Pattaya is 1.5 hours drive from Bangkok whereas the staying on one of the islands makes the entire journey extremely long

I would advise on direct flights if you can afford them

As for clothes for the kids take a small amount with you and buy there - you can pick up holiday clothes for them at real bargain prices - and remember to negotiate for everything

There is plenty of shopping to be done

You are issued 1 month tourist visas on arrival

Easter or Summer holidays are fine avoid Xmas time altogether - but I would say Easter is best

Jabs - I would look into some Malaria related jabs

Doshwaster

zagfles wrote: »

Yes Thailand is very cheap for accomodation and eating out, but wine is expensive IME. Remember we once had a 3 course meal for 2 of us and the total was £20, £5 for the food and £15 for the wine!!!

Yes, wine is one of the most expensive items in Thailand as it's all imported and has high duties. Everyone drinks the local beer, though there is also the domestic whisky which is a *very* acquired taste!

Otherwise Thailand can be as cheap or expensive as you want. £20 a night will get you a perfectly decent room. £50 will get you somewhere fantastic.

As for where to go, it's hard for me to recommend as I don't go there with kids and there are many places in Thailand which aren't particularly child-friendly - so I'll leave that to others. But,as others have said, Phuket and Samui are the two most expensive beach locations. If going to either I would suggest avoiding the main resort (Patong and Chaweng respectively) and go somewhere a little quieter such as Kata/Karon or Lamai- though each can be a little too quiet out of season. It depends what you are looking for.

One thing though is to get out and explore. Thailand is a long way to go just to lay by a pool. Both Phuket and Samui have plenty of places near them for day trips and many of the excursions are child friendly.

Incapuppy

socrates wrote: »

Jabs - I would look into some Malaria related jabs

I would consult a website such as this for general advice:

http://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/destinations/asia-%28east%29/thailand.aspx

and then make an appointment with your practice nurse closer to your date of travel who will be able to advise of current requirements and recommendations for the area/s you will be visiting.

mrs_mum_3

Wow - thank you all so much for taking the time to reply. Looks like some great ideas there, plenty of meat to chew on over the next few months.
I'll get a bit of a detailed map so I can check out the places you are referring to and start looking at prices.

I agree that I don't want to travel too much once we get there, the kids are OK on a plane but not so good in a car!

Looks like we'll also be taking a couple of bottles of wine with us

Once again, many thanks for your time

Jo

bylromarha

Hi Jo
We're off to Thailand (and other parts of SE Asia) this summer on a DIY holiday with our littlies aged 6 and 7.

By far the best place to answer all your initial questions is a guide book - we borrowed Lonely Planet Thailand from the library as our starting point. You can use it to get a feel for the country and the islands, then from there you can sense where you fancy and ask more pertinent questions to where you've narrowed it down to - everyone else will view things differently to you, so one mans paradise could be a families nightmare!

FWIW - we looked at all the islands and knew our kids would want a bit more than a sun/sand holiday, so chose Kata in Phuket for the daytrip possibilities, and we're staying here in a pool access room. Getting a room where all 4 of us could sleep together was not straightforward, so for the 5 of you (assuming you're looking at a family room) make sure you can get all the details, as a lot of non package holiday hotels don't offer rooms for 4/5 people without a bit of digging.

Enjoy the prep.

Voyager2002

socrates wrote: »

I would advise on direct flights if you can afford them

SNIP

You are issued 1 month tourist visas on arrival

Easter or Summer holidays are fine avoid Xmas time altogether - but I would say Easter is best

Jabs - I would look into some Malaria related jabs

Lots of good advice in this post (which I have snipped), but a couple of points I would question:

Our Summer is rainy season in Thailand, so visitors generally avoid going then (high season for tourism is around Christmas and New Year). I visited in August once: I arrived at the airport in Bangkok with no plans, and the tourist information man told me to avoid most of the places I had thought of seeing because of flooding. I took his advice and went to Kho Samet (a little island not far from Pattaya) and actually had a good time with reasonable weather. The advantage of being there in our Summer is that rooms and things are always available and prices are generally lower than in 'high' season, but be aware of issues around climate;

There are no 'jabs' for malaria (you take pills to prevent it) but in fact malaria is only present in the remote border regions of Thailand and so is not an issue for most tourists. Take medical advice about other vaccinations, but in general it is such a clean and healthy environment that I would not be too concerned about this;

Visa rules changed fairly recently, so the stamp they give you when you arrive at the airport may not be for a full month. Check with your airline when you are ready to book.

Voyager2002

socrates wrote: »

I would advise on direct flights if you can afford them

SNIP

You are issued 1 month tourist visas on arrival

Easter or Summer holidays are fine avoid Xmas time altogether - but I would say Easter is best

Jabs - I would look into some Malaria related jabs

Lots of good advice in this post (which I have snipped), but a couple of points I would question:

Our Summer is rainy season in Thailand, so visitors generally avoid going then (high season for tourism is around Christmas and New Year). I visited in August once: I arrived at the airport in Bangkok with no plans, and the tourist information man told me to avoid most of the places I had thought of seeing because of flooding. I took his advice and went to Kho Samet (a little island not far from Pattaya) and actually had a good time with reasonable weather. The advantage of being there in our Summer is that rooms and things are always available and prices are generally lower than in 'high' season, but be aware of issues around climate;

There are no 'jabs' for malaria (you take pills to prevent it) but in fact malaria is only present in the remote border regions of Thailand and so is not an issue for most tourists. Take medical advice about other vaccinations, but in general it is such a clean and healthy environment that I would not be too concerned about this;

Visa rules changed fairly recently, so the stamp they give you when you arrive at the airport may not be for a full month. Check with your airline when you are ready to book.

Personally, I prefer indirect flights. That way you get off the 'plane and have a chance to stretch your legs on the way, but of course tastes differ.