Phetchaburi – Thailand

Posted on Aug 5, 2016 in Places

Phetchaburi is the northern most province before you hit the outskirts of Bangkok and the influence of a major international airport can quickly be seen in the surroundings. Being only 2-3 hours from Bangkok, local tourism is also big in this area so if you’re only staying for a short time, avoiding weekends will mean less congestion and potentially a saving of money.

Hotels and resorts are dotted along the coastline from Pranburi to Cha-am and the highway is never far from the coast so a visit to other beaches, villages, restaurants, etc means just a quick hop on to the very commercial main road (think factory outlets!), a short trip north or south and then a detour off again. The city of Hua Hin has shopping malls, department stores, walking streets and markets so if you don’t want to stay in the resort for the entire stay, it will probably be your first excursion. If you’re not driving, all hotels will arrange taxis and many have shuttles.

The beach along this stretch is a bit hit and miss – some stretches are fine and others are almost non-existent. Most resorts along here have a pool for a reason so if it’s beach you’re looking for, choose your hotel wisely.

We chose to stay at The Regent Hotel in Cha-am. Given the size and clientele, it’s not normally our kind of beach hotel but it was terrific value and a nice change of pace for our road trip (Hotel review >here)

Food:
We took some time out from restaurant food and stopped at Makro to pick up some supplies for lunch but dinner was a restaurant in the village just near The Regent, a little surprise called 3Pinong… delicious!!

Who would it suit?
This is not really an independent traveller sort of place, it’s more suited to couples, friends and families… package tours or ‘fly in and flop’ type travel.

Travelled August 2016