Castle Howchow Beach Resort Hotel, Khon Kaen

Castle Howchow Beach Resort Hotel, Khon Kaen

This is a special place. A beach resort in Khon Kaen? Yes indeed, the owners of this family style resort have build their own beach near Khon Kaen.

The resort is located in the tranquil countryside of Amphur Kranuan in the District of Khon Kaen, in North East Thailand, or possibly better known as Isaan.

What makes this resort so special is that they have divided the resort in three main areas;

Garden 1. -5 rai, represents the South of Thailand with a beautiful man made beach and a big saltwater chlorinated swimming pool, surrounded by 16 new Luxury Bungalows.

Garden 2. -10 rai represents Central Thailand with its (Klongs) Waterways in its fully matured landscaped surrounding, bridges leading to a lake with , walkways bridges and salas to sit in and relax.

Garden3. -5 rai represents Isaan with its orchard and mature trees. There is also housing in this garden for another 66 persons.

In total the resort boasts 39 Luxury Bungalows in total, plus 4 Suite Rooms and a new block of rooms in Garden 3 with solar heated hot and solar pumped cold water, cable TV, broadband internet connection in every room and air-conditioning.

If you're in for a country side holiday and are looking for something else, this may be exactly what you're looking for. This place is special in many different ways.

Booking by Agoda

Suite chalet

Deluxe chalet

Guest room

Superior pool

Pool

Ocean Breeze Resort, Khao Lak

Ocean Breeze Resort, Khao Lak

This resort is straight on the beach in Khao Lak and during my recent, December PADI IDC which I conducted in Khao Lak, I had the opportunity to visit this lovely resort.

The resort has recently been renovated and it makes it even more enjoyable to sit at the secluded and pristine beach in front of the hotel, looking at a sunset!

The resort is family friendly and has a good restaurant on the premises but nearby plenty of other options can be found.

31 wonderfully designed private bungalows and 14 superior rooms are available. The resort embraced a beautiful contemporary Thai style, featuring both finest cultural and natural elements of Thai design, making your stay very comfy and memorable.

Booking by Agoda

Deluxe beachfront bungalow

Deluxe room

Swimming pool

Pristine beach

Sunset

Tinidee Hotel Phuket

Tinidee Hotel Phuket

Whilst teaching a PADI IDC in Khao Lak in December 2011, I noticed that there was an 11km run in Kathu during a day off of said IDC. This was an event that I would like to participate in but now I needed a place to stay. A quick search on internet delivered a great deal on rooms at the Tinidee at Agoda.

It was well worth the money! Located in-between two golf courts, the Loch Plam Golf Club and the Red Mountain Golf Course, it's idyllic and quiet. The rooms are nice, 32 superior rooms measuring 36 square meters and 15 deluxe rooms measuring 44 meters, divided over four buildings. There's no pool (I guess that's not the reason for visiting here) but therefor you're right in the middle of a beautiful gold course, still within 15 minutes of all the hassle that Patong has to offer or 10 minutes from Central festival shopping mall.

If you arrive by car, the hotel is located inside the golf course premises!

Especially if you're a golf buff, this is very convenient and nicely priced.

Booking by Agoda

Booking by Hotels Combined

Entrance sign

Superior room

Deluxe room

View from the balcony in each room

Club house/restaurant with the golf court in the background

Airport Resort & Spa Phuket, Airport

Airport Resort & Spa Phuket, Airport

This hotel is located within 5 minutes of Phuket airport and is ideal for spending a night in transit or transferring. Don't confuse this hotel with the Phuket Airport Hotel, where I stayed previously. The latter raised their price to the same level as the Airport Resort & Spa and to be honest, the Airport Resort & Spa wins that contest easily, hands down!

Once you pass the village near Phuket airport, you immediately reach this resort and that's immediately the only downside, if you would like to stray from the resort, you have about a 5 minute walk into the village where there are plenty of other restaurant options besides the resorts restaurants.

Other than that the resort is just fine, nice rooms, friendly staff, free transfers between the airport and the resort, the only real minus I could find is that wifi is only available for free next to the pool.

Booking by Agoda

Booking by Hotels Combined

My room

Bedroom

Bedroom

Suite

Swimming Pool

Windsor Suites hotel, Sukhumvit, Soi 20, Bangkok

Windsor Suites hotel, Sukhumvit, Soi 20, Bangkok

We're staying here with the whole family for 5 nights in October 2011 and we enjoy it. It's an older style hotel but it's big, there are 460 suites which suits our family just fine. The kids can sleep on an expandable couch and this all at a decent rate. Two TV's, wi-fi in the room is a good start. It's not modern but all works and the staff is very friendly and helpful.

There's a fitness room, a nice swimming pool that the kids enjoy and various restaurants inside and near the hotel, from simple street food to excellent diner options.

The location is also excellent, within walking distance to Asoke Sky train and Subway station which makes it easy to get around Bangkok.

A good deal can be had here and for future reference we might find ourselves back at this hotel.

Booking by Agoda

Booking by Hotels Combined

Diplomat one bedroom suite

Counselor one bedroom suite

Family two bedroom suite

Swimming pool

Hotel exterior

Haad Son Resort, Haad Son, Koh Phangan

Haad Son Resort, Haad Son, Koh Phangan

This resort is located on Koh Phangan in it's 'own' exclusive bay; Haad Son. Nicely nestled between Haad Chao Phao and Haad Yao, just North of Thong Sala.

The resort boosts a great variety of accommodation, from relatively cheap bungalows to an exclusive penthouse suite with private pool. It's a family run resort and Haad Son is one of the few undeveloped bays. Although small, the beach is some 300 meters long it's a lovely setting with some spectacular sun sets.

There are 3 restaurants and 2 bars on the premises to cater to all your needs.

A quiet and relaxing area on Koh Phangan with a lovely location, catering to various budgets.

Booking by Agoda

Booking by Hotels Combined

At the entrance

Deluxe Ocean Villa

Deluxe Beach Front Hotel

Standard Garden Villa

The beach

Swimming Pool

Convenient Resort, Bang Na/Suvarnabhumi Airport

Convenient Resort, Bang Na/Suvarnabhumi Airport

Once more a hotel near Suvarnabhumi airport. This hotel is just a 5 minute ride away from the airport and is very cheap. They offer free transfers but be careful with these transfers since they most likely run just once per hour and if you just missed it by a few minutes you will have to wait. A taxi that has been waiting in line for a long time and is hoping for a ride downtown Bangkok will not be happy or plain refuse to bring you to this hotel.

The hotel offers free wifi and there's an outdoor restaurant offering Thai and Western dishes until 5am. Ideal for later arrivals! There's also a Thai massage place in the hotel which offer 24 hours in room service.

Convenient Resort is a modern four store building which opened in 2006), the hotel offers 67 en-suit bedrooms, and for comfort and safety aspects it's completely non smoking, which is pretty unique in Asia!

For short or longer stop overs near Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport, an ideal choice at amazing rates.

Booking by Agoda

Booking by Hotels Combined

Superior room

Deluxe room

Deluxe corner room

Exterior

View by night of the airport from the hotel