Thailand

[user593]

We’re going to Thailand over Easter. We’ll do 4/5 days in Bangkok but that still leaves us 9 days elsewhere. The hotel I normally book in Khao Lak has sold out, which might be a good opportunity to go somewhere different. Any recommendations? Kids are 5 and 2. Four star or higher. Budget is generous but not unlimited 😅 Thanks!

Koh Lanta is great! Lots of lovely beach front hotels, Koh Yoi Noi is not far so you could do both, or you could go to Koh Toa and either Phangan or Samui? Do you want a big pool or a lovely beach more is what I ask when looking at hotels in Thailand, I alway swim in the ocean if I can but on Koh Lanta the water can be rough so a pool is essential. Pimalai on KL is very expensive but unbelievably good service!

DC will prefer a pool but I prefer a beach (although easy either way!). We’ve actually stayed at Pimalai before (pre DC!) but my recollection was it might not be terribly child friendly. I also remember it being a little hard to get to. I’ll look up those other suggestions, thanks!

Pimalai is stuck out at the end of the Island away from other shops/hotels/restaurants. My DC are adults but we saw lots of kids there :)
If you can afford super-luxe I had 3 nights at six senses Koh Yoi Noi and they run a lot of kids programmes, its the best resort I have ever stayed at. We went in 2022 and they seem to have doubled the prices so I will not be going back! 😂

@upstairsdownstairscardboardbox Six Senses looks lovely! But it’s saying we need two one bedroom villas (circa £17,000 for 9 nights). One would possibly be doable price-wise. I’ve come across this a lot. We’d be perfectly fine in a regular room with a sofa bed (given the DC are so little) but they seem to be insisting in a lot of places we need an extravagant villa or two rooms!

Klong Dao Beach in Koh Lanta is family-friendly. The water is shallow and calm, there were other children about and some child-focussed activities nearby. It’s harder to get to from the airport but it feels more authentic and quieter.

We are doing similar - 3 nights Bangkok and 10 night koh samui at the Holiday Inn (which I wasn’t convinced about but actually looks brilliant). It’s walkable to fisherman’s village and if you sign up as an IHG member you get better rates. I totally sounds like a holiday inn rep - I promise I’m not - I just did a lot of research and landed on this as a really good option

@LittleBrownBaby Did you need to book two rooms? I just looked at the Holiday Inn and it’s asking me to book two rooms.

We did. We have requested they are next to eachother so will have little one in with us and older kids next door but they are teens

We love the area around Ao Nang (fly BKK to Krabi) and also second Koh Lanta. You could easily do both. Do you need to be in a big hotel? There are some amazing boutiquey type places - can’t recall the name of the one we stayed in in KL but it was high up in trees and we had monkeys swinging about outside. They’re often locally run instead of by big multinationals, and therefore cheaper.

Ah, makes more sense with teens. 5 and 2 seem tricky! I’d really rather not have DP in one room with one DC and me in another with the other DC but may be unavoidable it seems.