A few questions about Thailand

holidaysforme

For all you people out there who know/ have been to Thailand, can you answer any of these questions please?

We are thinking of going in December '16 for 12 nights 14 max. Have never been before so all totally new to us.
I know it's a long time away, but need to get planning/ saving, and also narrow down our holiday choices. Also looking at Cape Town or Cancun in Mexico. No idea if these would be good choices for December or if affordable at the moment.

We have around 160,000 ba airmiles which we would want to use towards any flights which could help bring the cost down.
we want to fly to Bankok for around four days, and then do a beach resort for say 7 days, and then somewhere else for the last few days.
Can anyone reccomend a good beach resort. I hear Phuket is tacky and a but sleazy, not what we are looking for at all. Would like to stay in clean decent accomidation,- not 5 star hotels, but not slumming it either.
Where could we finish off our holiday and fly back to the UK from? or should we stick with two centre?

Finally, what about costs? I mean for everything, flights to Bankok, plus internal flights, accomadation, either hotelscor self catering, general costs for things like trips, car hire if applicable, food etc.

obviously, I have done some initial research on all of these things, but finding it hard to get a feel for everything as it's a completely different holiday to the type we usually take. Usually stick to Europe and the states.
Is December a good time to go weather wise? We are celebrating two big birthdays then, so would like the holiday to be then as well to mark the actual birthdays. We would want to go as soon as schools break up around 18th December coming back around two weeks later.

There will be two adults and one teen.
Any advice about any aspect of this trip would be very welcome, particularly a ball park figure for cost of the whole trip. We are definitely on a budget.

richardw

You want to go at peak time so to be able to spend your avios you'd have to be very quick and book them on the day they are released and even then there may only be limited availability.

Avios are best spent on reward saver fares in Europe, the scheme becomes less favourable if you book after 28th April this year.

holidaysforme

richardw wrote: »

You want to go at peak time so to be able to spend your avios you'd have to be very quick and book them on the day they are released and even then there may only be limited availability.

Avios are best spent on reward saver fares in Europe, the scheme becomes less favourable if you book after 28th April this year.

Usually use avios for Europe. However, as this trip will involve at least two flights, probably three, I would like to use avios if I can. Maybe for internal flights if that was an option.
I know about the changes after 28th April. Have booked our summer flights recently.

richardw

Log into your account and check avios availability to BKK in May.
Note the total amount.

Then use skyscanner and check the cost if you just paid cash on a generally cheaper airline.

The Far East has cheap internal flights on Air Asia, Nok Air, Jetstar etc, no point wasting avios on BangKok Airways.

laurabllue

If you're looking for a third place to visit I'd definitely recommend Chiang Mai. We stayed for two nights between Bangkok and Koh Samui and really loved it. It was a great change of pace after Bangkok. We did an excellent cooking class there which was great value for the amount we got to eat!

holidaysforme

richardw wrote: »

Log into your account and check avios availability to BKK in May.
Note the total amount.

Then use skyscanner and check the cost if you just paid cash on a generally cheaper airline.

The Far East has cheap internal flights on Air Asia, Nok Air, Jetstar etc, no point wasting avios on BangKok Airways.

Just been looking at internal flights with air Asia. Very reasonable cash prices.

holidaysforme

Malcnascar wrote: »

Its a while since we were last in Thailand.

Weather in December is excellent in Bangkok, your in the tropics so is will be hot and dry. In the main tourist island resorts it will be hot and dry in the western islands but less dry in the eastern resorts. We had a fabulous holiday on Phuket, went for my wifes 50th birthday. Patong was not a favourite but Karon beach looked OK we stayed in Kata a smaller resort. Food was excellent and inexpensive. People really friendly.

Thanks. Good to know December is a good time to go weather wise. Would you reccomend Phuket.?We are really just looking for a lovely laid back beach holiday ( after we've been to Bankok) where we can enjoy some lovely food and drink, experience some local culture, perhaps some water sports for DD. Would also love to do some boat trips as well.
Also, what kind of prices for a decent hotel for around 9 nights. Are there AI resorts in Thailand or is it mainly bed and breakfast.?

holidaysforme

laurabllue wrote: »

If you're looking for a third place to visit I'd definitely recommend Chiang Mai. We stayed for two nights between Bangkok and Koh Samui and really loved it. It was a great change of pace after Bangkok. We did an excellent cooking class there which was great value for the amount we got to eat!

Thank. All of this is really useful for a complete novice;) So say we went to Bangkok first, spent Four days there, then flew to Phuket spent about a week there, would Chaing Mai be a good place to end our holiday. Does it have an airport, or would we need to fly back to the UK from Phuket or Bangkok.?

richardw

Khao Lak is north of Phuket and is a laid back resort.

Some of the Middle East based airlines fly to both Bangkok and Phuket from the Uk via their ME bases, so you could fly to one and return from the other.

eDicky

December is the Thai "winter" - that means cool enough to wear a shirt comfortably! So, perfect weather in northern and central parts, dry, sunny and not sweaty hot like other seasons. The south is less dry.

For a quiet family style beach resort, inexpensive, zero girlie bars etc, I can recommend Laem Mae Phim, near Klaeng, Rayong province, east of Bangkok. I sometimes go to visit an old friend and his family who run a nice little resort, Villa Bali. Various tours, turtle sanctuary island, mountain waterfalls, etc.

agrinnall

Mexico is also good in December (I personally wouldn't go to Cancun but if that's what floats your boat then it should be nice), and I would expect Cape Town to be good then too.

Chaing Mai does have an airport but I suspect there won't be any flights to Europe from there, you'd probably have to connect either through Bangkok (but be careful, some Chaing Mai flights use the old Don Muang airport in Bangkok) or another regional airport such as KL or Singapore.