We were lucky enough to spend 10 days here in 2009. It is a couple of hours from Bangkok by car or you could take the train. There are several trains a day leaving from Bangkok’s Hua Lamphong Station. The train takes around four hours to cover the 120 miles from Bangkok. We stayed at a beautiful spot near the town and surprisingly a quiet little oasis. The hotel is located away from the busy main resorts on the other side of the town.
Where we stayed
We stayed at the Putahracsa Hotel for 9 nights at the end of August and early September in an Ocean villa. The hotel is split in two with a road to cross to get to the beach which is the side we stayed. This was not a problem. The villa had a lovely private outside space and a jacuzzi which runs on cold water too! The food was fantastic and we had several evening meals overlooking the beach. What was great is watching the lightning storms as well as the bizarre sight of several naval vessels lit up like Xmas trees. They are their to protect the King who resides just five hundred metres up the beach. We spent a lot of time by the pool which we had mostly to ourselves and the staff provided brilliant service.The hotel provided complimentary wireless which was great for keeping in touch with people.One small gripe I is that breakfast was not included in the room price so we found a place in Hua Hin which allowed you to make up your own breakfast called Sweet Oasis. Just turn left as you come out from the hotel on the ocean side of the road and turn left at the first road you come to and Sweet Oasis is around 50 metres on the right side of the road. My wife was unwell so we took it mostly easy beside the pool aside from one trip. My trip review of the hotel is below:
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g297922-d613761-r40077811-Putahracsa_Hua_Hin-Hua_Hin_Prachuap_Khiri_Khan_Province.html
What to do in Hua Hin
A few tips are the hotel provides a golf cart to take you into Hua Hin one way which does save a bit of time walking in the heat. It not that far to walk around 10 minutes or so. My wife and I had several foot massages which were wonderful in several places in Hua Hin costing between 200-300 Baht or around five pounds. In the town we wandered around a lot and ate at several restaurants during our stay and visited the Hua Hin Night Market a few times. Of course there is the beach although it is a bit crowded along the resorts and their pools were extremely busy. We were so happy we stayed where we were as it was like a little oasis with the pool mostly to ourselves.
We visited the famous Phraya Nakhon cave in Khao Sam Roi Yot Marine National Park. It was a great day trip and not hard to climb the 430 odd steps to the cave from the beach. An excellent description of how to get to the caves is described in the blog below:
http://www.eatprayflying.com/phraya-nakhon-caves-khao-sam-roi-yot-national-park/
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- Relaxing in the pool
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- Loved that pool
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- Our villa was lovely
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- Visiting Phrayanakhon cave
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- A hot walk up the hill to the cave
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- A bit about the cave
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- Inside the cave
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- Beautiful beach at the bottom of the hill where the cave is located
I hope we have time on our trip next year in Thailand for a short stopover in Hua Hin.
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John is right, I was sick as a dog, but the staff made me special meals and it was a beautiful place to stay. There was also a very convenient laundry place just down the road from us, who did an excellent job of washing our stuff. It just looked like a shack on the side of the road, but they did an excellent job of it and was very cheap.
Also, the trip John mentions to the cave was well worth it, we had it to ourselves, which was nice. There were a few others in the cave once we got there, but it seems not a lot of people take the time to go there. It’s a space which has been used in a lot of movies, so since having seen the caves, I have seen them again and again in films – just love that!
Loved Hua hin and its so close to Bangkok, but feels a lot further away once you are there.