It appears that Hua Hin has a good tourist infrastructure and caters
mostly to Asian tourists or western mass tourists. There are for
instance night markets and some fun fairs. But Hua Hin also has a
surprisingly good beach and to the south there is the Sam Roi Yot
national park.
Costs
Costa are moderate and in line with other Thai beach resorts.
Food
There are plenty of eating opportunities, ranging from small and large
restaurants and food courts in shopping malls. The food in general is
very good.
Accommodation
We stayed in a relatively simple place. The international hotel booking
portals list hundreds of hotels in and around Hua Hin.
Money / Exchange rate (August 2018)
1 Euro = 38 Baht
For current exchange rates check the
Universal
Currency
Converter.
Mobile phones and prepaid cards
Easy to buy a Thai SIM card everywhere in Thailand.
Weather
It was mostly overcast, with some rain every now and then. Not too
hot (top temperatures around 31°C - 33°C).
Health / Vaccinations
The standard set of "tropical" vaccinations, although Hua Hin is a
relatively low risk area.
VISA / Entry requirements
Visa on arrival available for visitors of western and other developed
countries.
Security
Overall Thailand is a very safe place.
Getting around
We mainly relied on taxis to get from one place to another.
13.8: Hua
Hin
Hotel The Herbs, Hua Hin.
Weather: mostly overcast, with the sky from time
to time becoming more blue or having some blue patches. No rain the
whole day. Not too hot (top temperatures in the 31-33°C range).
Day spent touring the area with a car+driver (1500 Baht + 200 Baht tip).
Basically this guy picks us up at 10am, brings us to a number of places
and drops us off at the Hua Hin Market Villa shopping mall at 5:40pm.
The impression I get from Hua Hin is that it has a nice white sand
beach, the seawater is not perfectly crystal clear as on an island, but
is clean enough that you would swim in it (although when I'm at the
beach at 5pm I see nobody swimming in the sea and also no water sport
activities).
Hua Hin has an impressive tourist
infrastructure.
Shops, convenience
stores, restaurants, cafes in large numbers. Several attractions, theme
parks, things to see and do, even if many of them are very
artificial. Basically a beach vacation place for the family, for
people who do not expect the best possible sea water quality, but who
enjoy eating, shopping and lots of attractions.
Leaving the hotel shortly after 10am the driver brings us to "Mercado de
Plearwarn". This is sort of a night market place, with countless food
stalls and shops. A very fake place, but you could come here in the
evening and have some food and shop some nonsense.
I manage to get the ladies moving out of this place after 20 minutes.
Then we drive to the next place, the
Mrigadayavan palace, the former summer palace of king Rama VI built in
1924 (entrance fee: 30 Baht/adult, 10 Baht/child). This is a series of
wooden buildings in a park. Moderately interesting place.
Around 11:40am we drive to a roadside
restaurant where we have some lunch until 1:10pm. Then we drive to
the Santorini theme park.
Entry fee of 150 Baht/person which includes one activity. Additional
activities cost 120 Baht (or more, depending on the activity).
Surprisingly lots of people in this place, even western tourists.
These are all people who for a reason or
another don't spend the day on a beach or visiting some national park.
Many families with kids.
We are here until about 3:20pm, then drive to the old Hua Hin railway
station. This is supposed to be a historic, photogenic place. And in
fact it is quite cute.
We stop there for about 10 minutes, then continue driving to the Takiap
promontory. There there is a Buddhist temple on a hill with a nice view
of Hua Hin and its beach. Large number of monkeys living there.
Then we drive to the Hua Hin beach. Nice sandy beach, and the seawater
is reasonably clean. Horses on the beach for rent. Finally we drive to
the Hua Hin Market Villa shopping mall.
This ia a nice mall with many eating opportunities. Not too many shops,
but lots of restaurants and a good food court. This is a good place
where to have dinner. We are back in the hotel at 8pm.
14.8: Hua
Hin -> Sam Roi Yot national park -> Hua
Hin
Hotel The Herbs, Hua Hin.
Weather: overcast the whole day. Some brief heavy
rain at 1:40pm (20 minutes). A bit sunny every now and then, not too
hot.
At 10am we leave
for the Sam Roi Yot national park with the driver, arriving there
shortly before 11am (60km drive). The driver brings us to a small
settlement on a beach (the Bang Po beach). This seems to be one of the
access points of the Sam Roi Yot national park.
From here you could walk
in the mud to the boats (it's low tide, the boats cannot make it to the
beach) and take a boat to the Laem Sala beach (400 Baht for a boat with
up to 6 people). A bit expensive, given that it is a very short boat
ride.
The alternative is to walk over a promontory to the Laem Sala beach. By
the way, the entry to the national park costs 200 Baht for the adults
and 100 Baht for the kids. From the Laem Sala beach to the Tham Phraya
Nakhon cave it's a 500m walk.
The mother of Shirley decides to stay behind because she can't walk so
much. So the five of us start walking across the promontory. It's a good
trail with steps, not too tiring and not that long. In fact we arrive at
the Laem Sala beach almost at the same time as other people who took the
boat. Walking slowly, we are there at 11:40am.
At the Laem Sala beach
there is a restaurant and toilets. From here we continue walking to the
cave at 11:45am. Initially the trail is flat, but soon we start
climbing up the cliffs. Quite steep in some sections, but in the end we
reach the cave in a bit over 20 minutes. Everybody is sweating due to
the heat.
The cave is impressive, breathtakingly scenic. Very big, partially open
on top so that the light comes in. Actually it's two caves, connected by
a short tunnel. A very rewarding place to visit. The final climb is a
bit tiring, but the cave is beautiful.
We spend quite some time in the cave. In fact we only start walking back
to the beach at 12:50pm. We reach the beach around 1:20pm and have a
rest at the restaurant. Right when we are about to continue walking back
to the Bang Po beach, it starts raining. Quickly it rains so heavily,
that we have to take shelter for a while under a roof.
When the rain is over, we walk back to the Bang Po beach.
Because Natasha is a bit
too bold and walks where she shouldn't walk at one point she falls on
the stones. Luckily nothing broken, only several scratches.
Between 2pm and 3:15pm we have a lunch at the Bang Po beach (there are
several simple beach restaurants). The beach itself is not terribly
impressive and not really suitable for swimming because it is too
shallow.
At 3:15pm we drive back. On the way the driver stops at the Rajabhakti
(Ratchapak) park where there are the statues of seven Thai kings. Then
we drive back to Hua Hin and don't do much for the rest of the day.
15.8: Hua
Hin -> KL
Flat of Sarah in KL
Weather: overcast first, then some rain before
12pm, then sunny but with lots of clouds in Hua Hin. Tropically hot.
In KL sort of blueish sky (with a thin clouds cover), hot, but not too
hot (comfortable to walk on the streets). No rain.
We leave the hotel at 9:30am, then drive to the airport. Short drive of
6 km, which the driver does in minutes.
The Hua Hin airport is very small and at the moment only one
Airline flies into it (AirAsia, KL-Hua Hin flight). Only one check-in
counter.
So we check in and wait for the
flight. This is delayed. We were supposed to take off at 11:30am, but in
practice only start boarding the plane after 12:10pm. The plane starts
rolling after 12:30pm and takes off shortly after that.
The plane, an A320-200, is half-empty, which is unusual for an Airasia
flight.
We land in KL after 3pm, then have something at the airport. I get some
cash and a Celcom SIM card (65 MYR for 10GB over one month with 25
minutes of local calls). Then we lose some time getting a taxi. The
first Grab car we call (a 6-seater) does have six seats, but no space
for the luggage. So we call two Grab cars for 72 MYR each (including
toll). We reach the flat of Sarah around 6pm. In the evening we don't do
much.
Copyright 2019 Alfred Molon