Best place inThailand for Family Trip

[DKO]

I am planning for a trip to Thailand around April 2009 along with my family. I have shortlisted 4 destinations in Thailand- BAngkok,Phuket,Pattaya and Koh Samui and we plan to visit one of the places. Pls guide what is the good time in the year to visit these places? and Which of these four places would be great for a family holiday?

With apologies to residents and lovers of Pattaya:
I would never consider Pattaya suitable as a family resort. It is for me very much Bargirl city and "in your face".

I would never take my current wife there after my first wife took me there and I was unaware of its reputation and felt very uncomfortable at times there with my wife (to be honest I would have been uncomfortable there anyway as it not my scene ) .

The beach is very narrow, out of town scenery is not great either.

I'd target Phuket (one of the main beaches). Patong is famous it has a great beach, beautiful scenery, great island visits such as Phi Phi Island sand James Bond Island. A Fantasea small theme park close by with a somewhat uniqully Thai show is well worth a visit for most (bit pricey for Thailand but my family loved the show. You cna go on skin diving and diving trips if you are into that (I was not )

My current wife and I visited Phuket and did trips to the fantastically beautiful Phi Phi Islands (stayed over one night), One beach on Phi Phi was sued in the film The Beach with Leonardo Di Caprio), on another day we did a trip to James Bond Island, once again beautiful as was the trip there past mangrove swamps (past a village floating on the water (which our tour boat stopped at for a meal on the return trip) . My wife and I moved on to Koh Samui for a few days before heading back to Bangkok. Once again beautiful but I found a little tame having been to Phuket first but still beautiful.

There is definitely more to see and do in Phuket than Koh Samui and there is something for all tastes.

I would be ///// if I did not say Patong (especially) does not have its bargirls scene as well) but I did not find them as much "in your face" as with Pattaya and there are plenty of other act ivies and places to suit all tastes.

In my opinion Phuket is pretty good place for a family holiday. Beaches are great if you like beaches many restaurants and trips to islands or surrounding countryside. If Patong is too noisy there are other great beaches resorts very close by.

If you come to Thailand during the Songkran Festival approx 11 April to 15th be prepared to get soaked with buckets of water EVERYWHERE you go, Open sided Tuk Tuks or mini buses, and motorbikes are NOT spared. Keep your valuables, mobile camera passports in a plastic bag.

If you have never visited Thailand you need to understand Thais do not know what the highway code is or if they do, then it is only for others to obey. Trust me I exaggerate NOT. There are no rules or correct sides of the road for the majority of swarming masses of motorbikes. You need to assume a vehicle will come down the wrong side of the road or turn into a main road from a side rod without thinking of looking first.

Hope this helps and have a wonderful holiday wherever you choose. You will not be disappointed.
Dave

[stilljustbrowsing]

DKO, you are too nice! You have fallen for a trap. Read the opening post again, carefully!

[DKO]

Yeah my fault guys & gals. Thanks for pointing the motive out to me . I never bother to read the bits at the bottom (will try to remember do so in future). Too trusting and naive (story of my life).

Anyway, I came to Thailand 3 years ago and had never visited South East Asia not Thailand before. Pattaya, Koh Samui. Krabi, Patong Beach James bond Island were just names that I had never heard of . I had heard of Phuket but knew nothing about it, and of course everybody has heard of the huge city of Bangkok.

Hopefully some tourists not aware of this beautiful country as was when I first arrived, have some extra useful info now. Even now there is so much of Thailand I have not seen yet. Did visit Chung Mai for couple of days only regretfully, which I liked very much.

[hidalgo]

I am planning for a trip to Thailand around April 2009 along with my family. I have shortlisted 4 destinations in Thailand- BAngkok,Phuket,Pattaya and Koh Samui and we plan to visit one of the places. Pls guide what is the good time in the year to visit these places? and Which of these four places would be great for a family holiday?

With apologies to residents and lovers of Pattaya:
I would never consider Pattaya suitable as a family resort. It is for me very much Bargirl city and "in your face".

I would never take my current wife there after my first wife took me there and I was unaware of its reputation and felt very uncomfortable at times there with my wife (to be honest I would have been uncomfortable there anyway as it not my scene ) .

The beach is very narrow, out of town scenery is not great either.

I'd target Phuket (one of the main beaches). Patong is famous it has a great beach, beautiful scenery, great island visits such as Phi Phi Island sand James Bond Island. A Fantasea small theme park close by with a somewhat uniqully Thai show is well worth a visit for most (bit pricey for Thailand but my family loved the show. You cna go on skin diving and diving trips if you are into that (I was not )

There is definitely more to see and do in Phuket than Koh Samui and there is something for all tastes.

I would be ///// if I did not say Patong (especially) does not have its bargirls scene as well) but I did not find them as much "in your face" as with Pattaya and there are plenty of other act ivies and places to suit all tastes.

In my opinion Phuket is pretty good place for a family holiday. Beaches are great if you like beaches many restaurants and trips to islands or surrounding countryside. If Patong is too noisy there are other great beaches resorts very close by.

Hope this helps and have a wonderful holiday wherever you choose. You will not be disappointed.
Dave

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->>>>

Hello "waytovietnam", you must be in Thailand now!! How is it going? Hopefully you have taken Dave's advice at least partially or you would be probably fussy by now!!

I agree that Phuket is probably the best place in Thailand for a family. My Thai wife would also agree to that even though she is from Bangkok. Of course Bangkok is the best place for my mum since she assures me that it is THE best place for shopping in probably the whole world.

Pattaya is much better nowadays if you are discreet. I lived in Thailand for 11 years, but went to Pattaya just 3 times in the first 8 years. After living in Banchang, Rayong, we used to go there every fortnight. But Rayong, Ko Samed, Ko Chang are very good family destinations. I would personally say that the waters in Ko Samed are very clean to swim just like in Phuket (Karon and Patong; NOT Kata).

Ko Samui is a different type of nice place.

Anyway, it all depends how many days or weeks you plan to tour Thailand. Do let us know.... for our future plans.

[stilljustbrowsing]

Hi FOS, DKO said a long time ago that he would not post here again. Never mind. The three rivers in Nakon Sawan are a special sight to see, especially when they are having the "dragon boat races."
Ayuttaya has the old temples, and nearby, the palace, also lovely to go and see.
Also Nakon Naiyuk, magnificent water falls and scenery. I sat at one waterfall and saw 21 different types of butterflies (I wasn't actually looking for them, I was sat in one place while the children swam in the river, clear mountain water BTW) within 3.5 hours, absolutely beautiful! The nearby temples have trees full of fruit bats, or "flying foxes" Go in the early evening for the best views.

[stilljustbrowsing]

Scy is absolutly correct on this one. I have been here too long perhaps to make accurate assesments on what foreigners expect. I suppose age of children should also be taken into account.
For example, take De Mull (The Mall) Bangkapi. It is a large shopping complex near the centre of Bangkok with a large play area and several swimming pools on the roof! Really nice place for a family for a day trip.

[stilljustbrowsing]

Cheers scy, yeah, so sad hey? But that's what makes some people happy!

[ATM]

the times i went there it was always full of thai people and i mean full i always went to the sushi train place across from it much better than Mccrap