Nice hotel, Bangkok (centre) for 3 nights...

JohnCleary

Hi folks,
Following on from this thread: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056387578

I am planning on staying in Bangkok for 3 nights (2 of us) to start off our Asia travels. There are so many hotels I don't know where to start

Can anyone recommend a nice hotel in Bangkok (as central as possible) to stay? We want something nice and can budget up to €100 per night.

I'm about to e-mail a few places with an itinary and would like a foundation when seeking a hotel

Cheers

Glowing

We stayed in Aryiasomvilla which was AMAZING! (http://www.ariyasom.com/) About 100 ish a night including a fabulous breakfast. This is very central and close to the skytrain in the Sukhumvit area. Highly recommended!

We also looked at the Hansar hotel which looked stunning also, but slightly more expensive! (http://www.hansarbangkok.com/)

Bear in mind that although Sukhumvit is central, it's quite far from Koh San - but to be honest that's not much of a loss. It would be enough to head there for an evening via taxi - they're dirt cheap anyway.

JohnCleary

Thanks for the info. I don't know anywhere locationwise in Bangkok. Basically we're both mid 20's going on an epic trip round Asia and want to start off in Bangkok.

We like the hustle and bustle of city, and want to see all that Bangkok has to offer, but we also appreciate just sitting back and enjoying a view in the evening.

We were looking at the Tower Club at Lebua which has mixed reviews, but i'd love to splash out on the Tower Club Suites for the view

bohsfan

Stayed at the Bel- Aire Princess before which is in the Sukhumvit area. It's pretty central and has the SkyTrain nearby. Facilities were good and it had a pool. Was a good base to start from.

A budget of $100 a night will get you fantastic rooms in Asia. I have usually found that the best value is to be had by just rocking up to hotels on the day and asking for their best rates. It will always be lower than the on-line price, sometimes by quite a margin.

And don't be afraid to pick up your bags and say you will look for somewhere else if you don't like the price. More often than not this will lead to a reduction!

Although, if this is your first visit to Asia then having somewhere booked for a couple of nights before you go is probably best. After that, my advice would be to wing it (Tripadvisor will be your friend)!

SkrApsAK

in my opinion, defo stay away from Kosan Road..... its a horrible place.

Sukhumvit is the nicest place to go in BKK by far.
Nice restaurants and close to all the best clubs in RCA.

Iv stayed in the JW Marriot on soi 4 and the Grand Millenium near soi 21 i think.

Both are beautiful hotels and are in your budget of 100 per night if you want to spend that.

The Marriot is a very luxurious hotel and very nice but the better value for money is Grand Millenium imo. Both are 5 star though I think.

If you want to move down to lower star, the Grand Mercure is a handy 3 star for about €30, in a good location.
Not a great hotel, but cheap if your trying to save a bit.

I lived over there on business for a while so if you want any suggestions on great restaurants/bars/places to go, PM me and ill give ya a heads up

6ix

Stayed in the Amari Watergate a few years ago with the girlfriend, it was nice, a 4 star place but it lacked a bit of atmosphere and any extras (like internet, or drinks at the bar) were pricey compared to just going to an internet cafe/bar.

Stayed in the Centrepoint Petchburi upon our return to Bangkok. Which we actually preferred - good facilities in the room and quite a bit cheaper than the Amari. You could go much more luxurious than either of those though.

Like you said, there are hundreds of good hotels in Bangkok, but I would just note that both of the above hotels are in a really good area - it's central and it's good for shopping and sightseeing. Khao San is well worth visiting but I wouldn't be as keen to stay on the road itself.

I'm using Agoda.com for the links by the way as I found it a pretty good site for hotels in Asia. Some of the best 5 star hotels in the world are in Bangkok so you can definitely get some bargains.

Bohsfan is right about rocking up though. I'm actually heading back to Asia for 2.5 months shortly and I'll be doing that. I've decided to mostly stay in decent guesthouses/hostels rather than hotels though as it'll give more of an opportunity to meet people and it's quite a bit cheaper too.

JohnCleary

Thanks so much for the info guys. Would I be silly to stay at the Tower Club at Lebua? The Tower Club Suites look savage, but the only thing really attracting me is the rooftop bar which the public can go to anyhow.

The site states that people staying in the Suites allows Access to the Tower Club Lounge which offers free drink - I could get my moneys worth

6ix

JohnCleary wrote: »

Thanks so much for the info guys. Would I be silly to stay at the Tower Club at Lebua? The Tower Club Suites look savage, but the only thing really attracting me is the rooftop bar which the public can go to anyhow.

The site states that people staying in the Suites allows Access to the Tower Club Lounge which offers free drink - I could get my moneys worth

I've no doubt it's an extremely good hotel, and the views look spectacular but it's difficult to say if it's worth it or not - it really depends on how much you (or your OH) value the hotel experience.

I've only been to Bangkok once before but I found that I prefer to spend my money on activities and entertainment and very little time in the hotel so I wouldn't really value a really expensive hotel. Having said that, it's a great place to sample proper 5* luxury at a fraction of the price you'd pay in Europe or the US - whatever suits.

I'm heading in 2.5 weeks time actually, and I've booked the first couple of nights in Bangkok in a decent guesthouse that's only about €17 a night. You can get places for about €5 a night but I'm willing to settle somewhere in the middle.

Bannerman7

We stayed here and would recomend. Its fairly central, is near Sky Train Stn and around your budget.

http://www.landmarkbangkok.com/

JohnCleary

That's a very good point actually. We're going travelling to experience the culture, not 5* treatment.

That's given me food for thought!

wallpaper12

I been to Asia a couple of times and I definately wouldnt be wasting my money on fancy hotels. Staying in smaller family run guesthouses gives you a much better feel for the culture. The people that run these are usually so nice and helpful and I feel its good to give money directly to these Thai people as oppose to big fancy places. On my last trip I think the most I paid for a room was 30 euro and that was between 3 of us. The only reason it was so expensive was because it was full moon time.
Saying that Bangkok is a massive culture shock and maybe staying in a fancy place the first night or two might help!

6ix

JohnCleary wrote: »

That's a very good point actually. We're going travelling to experience the culture, not 5* treatment.

That's given me food for thought!

I don't want to come across as one of these who scorn luxury in search of the ultimate authentic cultural experience . You can probably have a bit of both - enjoy the culture during the day, and have bit of 5* luxury at night. Like I say there's no better place to give it a try for a couple of days.

If you're going for a few months around Asia you won't be staying in 5 star all the time anyway, you won't even have the option in a lot of the places you'll visit even if you could afford it.

pancakes101

hiya! im just back from thailand, stayed in the chatrium riverside for 70e a night for a suite, really nice hotel located on the river, had great views of the city, easy to get around, theres a free boat that goes all day and drops you up the river ( 5 min trip) to the pier and theres a sky train station there and a ferry pier so super easy to get around the city, night time we paid abt a fiver to get home by taxi or tuk tuk n we were probably being ripped off a bit! if you're looking at staying at the lebua id honestly say go for the chatrium instead, we could see the lebua from our room , you will get much nicer views from the chatrium, the lebua is really expensive and to be honest a bit poncy, we went for drinks in the sky bar, deffo something to do while in bangkok but its not something you would be doing every night, well unless you want to pay 8e for a beer every night! also from speaking to people there the restaurants are really expensive and they are very strict on dress code tho it doesnt seem that strict for the bar, security wont even let u take photos looking down on the bar!

JohnCleary

Thanks for the info.

We've decided against Tower Club because it's too expensive for what it is. At the end of the day the whole attraction is the roof and the public can get there anyhow.

We're pretty much set on www.sivatelbangkok.com unless something more suitable comes up in the meantime