Save The Date | Tai & Ben | Bangkok Travel


Bangkok/Thailand Travel Information

 

Welcome to Bangkok! We hope the information below will be useful for planning your trip. We’ve listed some travel/touring options below. Once you figure out what you want to do, please send us your itinerary and we can help arrange hotels, travel, and sightseeing tours.

 

We look forward to having you in Bangkok and please let us know if there is anything we can do to help make your Thailand travel experience fun and memorable. Please do not hesitate to email us if you have any questions!

 

Sample Schedule

Date

Location

Activity

December 25, 2010

Bangkok

Arrive in Bangkok(BKK)

December 26, 2010

Phuket

Fly from BKK->Phuket (HKT)

December 27, 2010

Phuket

Phi Phi Island “The Beach” Tour (inc. snorkeling)

December 28, 2010

Phuket

Phang Nga Bay “James Bond” Tour (inc. snorkeling)

December 29, 2010

Phuket

Relax on the beach

December 30, 2010

Bangkok

Fly from HKT->BKK

December 31, 2010

Bangkok

Bangkok Tour Day #1

January 1, 2011

Bangkok

Bangkok Tour Day #2

January 2, 2011

Bangkok

Wedding/Reception

 

Save The Date!

Date: Sunday, January 02, 2011

Swissotel Nai Lert Park Bangkok,

2 Wireless Road, Pathumwan,

10330 Bangkok, Thailand.

Tel: +66 2 253 0123

Fax: +66 2 253 6509

Email: bangkok-nailertpark@swissotel.com

http://www.swissotel.com/bangkok-nailertpark

 

Getting to Bangkok

Bangkok has two airports but all international flights only operate from the new international airport, Suvarnabhumi Airport (pronounced “soo-wan-na-poom”). When booking flights to Bangkok, look for airport code BKK. The airport has ATMs and currency exchange counters – most of them are open 24 hours. Please exchange some Thai Baht (THB) as you will need it for taxi and for travel around Bangkok. The exchange rate should be around $1 = TBH32.

 

Ben will pick up all international guests at the airport. However, if you want to try getting around on your own, here are the options.

·         Metered Taxi: Follow sign for public taxi on the 1st floor. There’s a surcharge of THB50 per taxi and it should cost around THB300-400 to downtown Bangkok.

·         Limousine Taxi: A more expensive option - around THB900.

·         Airport Rail Link: This is the new high speed train from airport to downtown Bangkok where you can connect to Bangkok Skytrain or taxi which will start operating in August 2010 and costs a flat rate of TBH150. This should be the fastest way to downtown (20 mins).

 

If you are connecting directly to domestic destinations such as Phuket or Chiang Mai, you should be able to connect directly from BKK airport EXCEPT if you connect to domestic airlines Nok Air and One-Two-Go which still use the old airport Don Muang (allow at least 3 hours ground transportation between BKK and Don Muang Airport).

 

Accommodation in Bangkok

The best option is to stay at Swissotel Nai Lert Park which is the venue for both wedding ceremony and reception. It is a 5-star hotel in the center of Bangkok close to Skytrain and shopping center. We are negotiating for group rate for our guests so this should be cheaper than other 5-star hotel in the same area. We will let you know the rate once we have it finalized, but it should end up around TBH3,800 per night ($117 per night).

 

If you plan to stay in other hotels, we suggest you use this map to see the other hotels in proximity to the wedding venue and tourist attractions. In general we suggest staying close to BTS station because you can easily hop on the train to shopping and tourist attractions. Besides the city center, on Chao Phraya river bank there are many good hotels, ranging from the world’s most renowned hotel to budget hotels, for you to choose from. Taking a taxi to the venue from there can take anywhere from 30 mins to one hour depending on the traffic. If you want to stay in a fun and crazy Khao San road, it is a good option as well but it can also an hour long the taxi ride to the venue.

 

Getting around Bangkok

Bangkok Skytrain (BTS) is the best option to get around Bangkok. Although its coverage is quite limited, it runs through the business and shopping areas and should cover a good portion of the attractions you are planning to visit. Swissotel Nai Lert Park Bangkok (the reception venue) is about 5 mins walk from Phloen Chit station. You can get the route map here. Another option for public transportation is Bangkok Metro (MRT) which runs underground. It interchanges with BTS at three stations: Sala Daeng, Asok, and Mo Chit.

 

Taxi is another convenient way to get around town when traffic is not too bad (avoid taking taxi during rush hour). Insist the driver to use the meter (starting at THB35). Another fun option is Tuk-Tuk (motorcycle taxi), if you go a short distance and we recommend that you negotiate before you get in (usually can work them down to TBH100).

 

Bangkok Tourist Attraction

Kratai and Ben will be arranging a two-day city tour on Dec31 and/or Jan1 with transportation and tour guide for those who are interested. If you want to tour Bangkok on your own, we found this page on wikitravel.org to be quite informative and insightful. You can click at the page for each district to see a more detailed recommendation. We recommend that you spend at least a day exploring old Bangkok (UNESCO World Heritage Site) and visit beautiful palaces, temples and old residences. Bangkok is also famous for shopping – you will find Bangkok is full of (very nice) shopping malls, street markets, and the weekend/night markets. But if you plan to spend more time in Bangkok and would like to explore more of Bangkok and nearby cities, please email us and we will give you more specific recommendations.

 

Beaches/Sight-seeing/Thailand Attractions

If you plan to take a trip prior to or after the wedding, there are a lot of options. If you want to see the beautiful beaches of Thailand, we recommend Phuket, Krabi, Koh Samui which are fun, beautiful and easy to get to. Flights from Bangkok to Phuket or Krabi are 90 minutes in duration and can run between $200-300.

 

For Phuket we can help organize a 4-day tour with day trip to Phi Phi island (as seen in the movie The Beach), Phang Nga Bay (as seen in James Bond movie). If you prefer a more quiet vacation relaxing on the beach, we recommend Krabi. Both Phuket and Krabi are on the west coast facing Andaman sea while Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan (known for the infamous full moon party parties) are on the east coast facing gulf of Thailand. Kratai is a good girl and has no knowledge of the east side beach towns :)

 

If you want to explore the northern Lanna culture and experience the beautiful scenery of northern Thailand, we highly recommend Chiang Mai (where Tai’s family is from). We can also help arrange tour and accommodation here as well. Flights from Bangkok to Chiang Mai are 75 minutes in duration and can run between $200-250.

 

Links

http://wikitravel.org/en/Bangkok - Bangkok info

http://wikitravel.org/en/Chiang_Mai - Chiang Mai info

http://wikitravel.org/en/Phuket - Phuket info

http://www.bts.co.th/en/map.asp - Bangkok Skytrain route map

http://www.swissotel.com/EN/Destinations/Thailand/Swissotel+Nai+Lert+Park/Hotel+Home/Hotel+Description Wedding Venue

http://www.hotelthailand.com/bangkok/swissotel-nai-lert/map.html - Hotels around wedding venue