This was round two of Bangkok for me. I had never stayed in Sukhumvit before so I was quite excited about my stay in Solitaire Bangkok Sukhumvit. And I was not disappointed!

The location

The hotel is located in the trendy neighborhood of Sukhumvit, in Sukhumvit 11. This area has a ton of nice restaurants, and surprisingly most of them are actually not Thai. It is one of the few places I’ve seen where there are a lot of options when it comes to food: Japanese, Peruvian, Mexican, Italian, burger joints, and the list goes on. I even found an Argentinean grill! The area is very alive specially at night, where you’ll see a lot of tourists from everywhere in the world enjoying themselves. There also are many cool rooftop bars a short walk from the restaurant. As a warning, it’s a pricy area for eating out specially if you are aiming for nice places but there are are cheap options if you look around and there are many street food stalls where you can get cheap Thai food if you just want to get a quick meal.

I stayed in The Coast Resort Koh Phangan for two nights when visiting Koh Phangan. This is everything you need to know about the hotel.

Getting there

We arrived to the Tonsai Pier in Koh Phangan in the last ferry from Koh Tao at 16.30. We then grabbed a taxi from the pier for 100 baht per person which dropped us directly in the hotel. Upon arrival, we were received with a refreshing welcome drink!

Our second stop in our Thailand trip was Chiang Mai. We arrived via night train to Chiang Mai station, we walked for a few minutes and stopped by Shewe Cafe were we had brunch and a cappuccino where the barista drew our faces on the foam (for real). We walked for a few more minutes and we arrived to Baan Saen Fang.

The location

The hotel is located right outside Thapae Gate, the Eastern gate of the Old town, the tourist epicenter of Chiang Mai. There are lots of great restaurants to have dinner in around Thapae Gate. It’s also quite close from the train station, and really close to the Night Bazaar. While staying at the hotel we did not take a songthaew (red taxi) or taxi except for visiting the temple of Doi Suthep. We walked everywhere!

I arrived, together with my photographer and friend Sofia, to a hot, hot Bangkok. Took the city line train from the airport to Masakkan and then the metro to Hua Lamphong. After a short walk we arrived to an oasis: Baan 2459. This hotel is truly an oasis within a messy but wonderful city. We were greeted with a welcome drink and soon were invited to our room.

The hotel

Part of what I love from Baan 2459 is that it’s full of history. Built in 1916, Baan 2459 was to be the home of the respected muslim Vadanyakul family for many decades. Within their history, there is a Romeo & Juliet love story as one of the men of that family married a woman from a conflicting muslim clan, against all odds. The Vadanyakul family had to relocate in WWI and Baan 2459 was then rented to a Chinese printing press, which was then shut down. I can’t even begin to imagine everything that happened in these rooms in the past! The hotel is now fully refurbished with a simple but elegant, unique and vintage decoration style.

The hotel is enclosed within gates. Inside it’s full of greenery and so well taken care of you forget for a second you are actually in Bangkok as everything is absolutely polished. Every detail has been thought of.