Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The
train station
(Th Narathip)
is west of Phetkasem Hwy. From Bangkok's Hua Lamphong
station trains go to Cha-am and continue on to Hua Hin. Note that Cha-am is listed in the
timetable only in Thai as 'Ban Cha-am'.
Getting Around
From the city centre to the beach it's a quick motorcycle ride (40B). Some drivers may try
to take you to hotels that offer commissions instead of the one you requested.
You can hire motorcycles for 200B to 300B per day all along Th Ruamjit. Cruisy bi-
cycles are available everywhere for 20B per hour or 100B per day, and are a good way to
get around.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Hua Hin
POP 98,896
Thailand's original beach resort is no palm-fringed castaway island and, arguably, is better
for it. Instead, it is a delightful mix of city and sea with a cosmopolitan ambience, lively
markets, tasty street eats, long beaches and fully functional city services (meaning no sep-
tic streams bisect the beach like those
other
places).
Hua Hin traces its aristocratic roots to the 1920s when Rama VI (King Vajiravudh) and
Rama VII (King Prajadhipok) built summer residences here to escape Bangkok's stifling
climate. The more famous of the two is
Phra Ratchawang Klai Kangwon
(Far from Worries
Palace), 3km north of town, which is still a royal residence today and so poetically named
that Thais often invoke it as a city slogan. Rama VII's endorsement of Hua Hin and the
construction of the southern railway made the town
the
place to be for Thai nobility, who
built their own summer residences beside the sea.
In the 1980s, the luxury hotel group Sofitel renovated the town's grand dame hotel and
foreign tourists started arriving. Today, all the international hotel chains have properties in
Hua Hin, and a growing number of wealthy expats retire to the nearby housing estates and
condominiums. Middle-class and high-society Thais from Bangkok swoop into town on
weekends, making parts of the city look a lot like upper Sukhumvit.
There's a lot of money swirling around but because this is a bustling Thai town, sea-
food is plentiful and affordable, there's cheap public transport for beach-hopping and it
