Kids: Big Sister 5y and twins 2y6m; Big Sister 7y10m and twins 5y4m
Flights / booked through: booked promotional fare online through / with Cathay Pacific (2009); booked promotional fare online through / with Thai Airways (2012)
One of the greatest cities in Asia for many different reasons. The first time I visited I was a teenager, in 1990 after a 2 week holiday in Malaysia (KL & vicinity and Langkawi, in the only 5* hotel Langkawi had at the time ... times have certainly changed). We stayed in the Shangri-La right on the river front, and I have fond memories of the Thai restaurant, called Salathip. I've been back there in May 2009 and recently in April 2012 and I still like the food, but find it relatively overpriced now and not as easy going and relaxing as back then, but it could as well be the changed "me".
In May 2009 we went back with the entire family, booked some fairly inexpensive tickets over a long 4-day weekend. Since the twins were still young, I was looking for serviced apartment options as most large cities tend to have those. I came across a very reasonably priced (and brand new at the time) Sathorn Vista Marriott Executive Apartments with nice facilities and a nice location. The Baan Khanitha restaurant is across the street and offers nice Thai food (slightly touristy, but kid friendly including Thai high chairs). Marriott also had its own MoMo restaurant downstairs where they served breakfast (not included in the room rate) and also had great and very affordable lunch specials (busy place with plenty of business people popping in from the offices close by). Plenty high chairs, Disney plastic cutlery and plates.
We paid around US$175 for our 3-bedroom suite. It came with a well equipped kitchen, living & dining area, washer & dryer (took some washing powder to do some kids laundry), 1 master bedroom with ensuite bathroom (separate shower / bath), 2 bed rooms with 2 single beds and another bathroom with a shower, toilet and sink. Laminate flooring throughout the suite, modern and new decor, really fantastic value for money. They have a salt water pool with a small kiddie pool, there was a little play room (which wasn't used when we were there but we were within weeks of the opening). We hired a baby sitter in the hotel (was a first for them, that's how new it was), and one of the house keeping girl just sat around in the living room while the kids were sleeping. Very reasonable charge. I couldn't fault much at all. I recommended it to a Dutch friend of mine who lives in Manila and they also had a great experience. More space and some extra facilities just make life a lot easier.
The second time (officially third) we went back with my parents over Easter break in combination with Hua Hin. As a sweet reminder of our early travels we went back to the Shangri-La in Bangkok after 22 years. Me now with 3 kids and a husband. As my parents were taking our oldest daughter in their room I only need a room for 4 and Shangri La actually has these really nice family rooms for about US$175 a night. It's regular room with a small ensuite (living room area) which has a queen sleeper sofa where the twins could easily sleep. The rooms weren't particularly updated in terms of modernization (still a very similar look and feel to 22 years ago), but everything was in good working condition, service was excellent (my twin girl got sick and vomited about 5 times which required the necessary changes of bed linen), the pool really nice, the location on the river is great (get a little bit of a breeze) although f&b prices are fairly steep compared to the rest of the city, like you would kind of expect in a 5* hotel, especially alcohol was significantly more expensive.
As far as Hua Hin goes (we chose it because it was easy with my parents, could combine it with Bangkok, etc.), never again. The Hyatt Regency Hua Hin in Hua Hin is really nice and would recommend it (just read my Tripadvisor review to which the hotel actually responded as well), but Hua Hin isn't for me (goes for all of us, even though the kids loved the hotel slide). The hotel is simply in the wrong location, would it have been elsewhere, I may have gone back. Hua Hin is an easy 2 1/2 hour drive from Bangkok which is nice (but also has disadvantages as it makes it easy for lots of other people too) but it's too touristy, bad urban planning, too big, too busy, nothing special around to see ... Asia, including Thailand, has much nicer places to offer (more expensive but also cheaper), even if you don't plan to leave the resort at all. Personally, I'd say, avoid!
To travel from Bangkok to Hua Hin and from Hua Hin to the airport we used Hua Hin Taxi. Transfer to Hua Hin was fine, transfer back was too, except they turned up 30 minutes late, and they were actually the ones who said very specifically that it can be really busy on Sundays and earlier was better. So we moved it forward, and then they were still late, due to some traffic problem in Hua Hin, actually close to the hotel. Van was fine, drivers friendly, so other than the late departure (still plenty of time at the airport, went very smooth) no complaints. They were also the cheapest I found.
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