Cha Am advise please.

Maybe this should be in a travel thread but I thought it'd get more exposure here, fell free to move if you think necessary DD.
I'm taking the missus and kid to Thailand for a week in late October (Cheap as chips airasia airfares).
I was thinking Hua Hin but came across this nice little hotel in Cha Am where I can get an advance booked room for 1,200B a night for the 3 of us.
Eurasia Cha-Am Lagoon Gallery - Cha-am Thailand online Reservation Service
I would prefer bungalow style on the beach but don't know where to start and I am on a budget.
Anyway, any ideas, opinions, experiences of Cha Am?
Nice place to chill out with the family for a week?
And if anyone has a better idea or recommendation please let me know.
I just know I want somewhere within easy travelling of BKK.
I assume Cha Am, (looking at the map) would be a car ride from BKK airport.
Thanks.

I am more of a Hua Hin person myself :) and I have only been in Cha Am for a few hours at a time, but I would have thought there is more to see and do in Hua hIn than Cha Am, especially when you are a family.

Others may differ, though.

It is about 3 hours drive from the airport (200 km to HH), and the roads are pretty good. There are plenty of good petrol stations along the way if you feel like stopping for a coffee or a bite.

Price for a taxi from the Airport should be around 2500 one way.

I always stayed at Cha Am (The Cha Am Polo Resort) when I stayed in the region and travelled to Hua hin for restaurants and night life.

Nicer beaches and quiter for the family!

cha am is ok daytime, good beach with beach road restaurants bringing food onto the beach. lively at weekends when the place fills up with pickupfulls of thai daytrippers. excellent seafood restaurants over the concrete bridge.

the place dies at night though, with only the zombie like resident expat crowd (hardly a crowd, more like a few dozen) and the chain smoking scandinavian pensioner brigade shuffling around the place in search of a beer or the jaded smile of an ageing masseuse.

hua hin is far more cosmopolitan and hence, more expensive with a lot more going on after dark in the way of shopping, restaurants and bars. fills up with weekend thais, but they come to hua hin in mercedes, not pick ups.

cha am is southend, hua hin is (well, tries to be) a bit more upmarket.

nothing wrong with either of them.

october you say ? bring your umbrella, lots of rain.

slightly further than Cha-am is Dolpin BAy resort, they'll help do a transfer, and perfect for a young family imo

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Originally Posted by Dug

Nice place to chill out with the family for a week?

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I agree with Taxexile and his assessment.
Next stop south of HH is Pranburi which is OK
Blue Beach Resort : Prachuap Kiri Khan , Thailand

Thanks for all your replies.
Nightlife is the last thing on our minds.
Inexpensive is the first. (not backpacker inexpensive)
Mostly it's about a nice place to just lie around for a week.
Some elephant/monkey action would be nice for the young fella (3)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dug

Thanks for all your replies.
Nightlife is the last thing on our minds.
Inexpensive is the first. (not backpacker inexpensive)
Mostly it's about a nice place to just lie around for a week.
Some elephant/monkey action would be nice for the young fella (3)

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In that case, I would take KW's advice and check out the Dolphin Bay resort. It is probably the best value for money I have ever had in Thailand.

Chaam is great for the family Dug. Have been there twice.

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Originally Posted by Whiteshiva

In that case, I would take KW's advice and check out the Dolphin Bay resort. It is probably the best value for money I have ever had in Thailand.

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WS: don't see how you can say that.. I checked their website and their rooms start at 1490 Baht ++ and not including breakfast...

ring them, rather than checking the web.

$50 a night aint so bad. i think Thai residents get a 50% discount, which does make it pretty reasonable.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by klongmaster

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Whiteshiva

In that case, I would take KW's advice and check out the Dolphin Bay resort. It is probably the best value for money I have ever had in Thailand.

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WS: don't see how you can say that.. I checked their website and their rooms start at 1490 Baht ++ and not including breakfast...

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Ahem:rolleyes: - I haven't actually been there for 4 or 5 years - and I believe it was considerably lower back then. I loved the place, the wife hated it - due to the lack of shopping opportunities, basically....:)

Everything you wanted to know about Cha am.

Just go there, switch off the laptop and throw away the guide books. Much more fun.

Firstly, Cha-Am is only two hours drive from the airport with the new highway. I make this drive pretty often and door to door from my house just south of Hua Hin (30 minutes further than Cha-am from Bangkok) to the parking garage of a hotel off Sukhumvit takes me around 2:20 unless there is a big traffic snafu due to an accident or traveling royals.

Cha-am is great if you want lower prices and a quiet beach holiday, much more to do in Hua Hin, but as another poster said it's also much more expensive.

Dolphin Bay is even quiter than Cha-am but beautiful and uncrowded so if you just want to kick back that may be ok too but you mentioned distance to drive and Dolphin Bay is about another hour further south than Cha-am.