Well Hulls, I have visited Thailand at least 10 times, I have stayed in some of the very best 5 star hotels there, including the Shangri La Bangkok and the Anantara Lagoon Suites in Hua Hin, believe you me , they are the absolute business.......saying that I was just as happy in the 500 rupee per night room we stayed in Arambol in December, basic is par for the course with a lot of Goa hotels ....Are you going for Xmas ?

Staying at Royal Orchid in Bangkok and Bandara resort Koh Samui.

Arrive in Goa early hours of Dec 31st. Gives us full day to recover before NYE Shenanigins

Hulls it'll be nice to hear what you think of K/S Thats a place i'd like to visit actually the same hotels we'd choose so i'll wait to hear your opinions on them..

sleeps

been to phuket and pattaya. If its as nice as phuket i will be happy

koh samui is far nicer than phuket

we were at the Bandara in the summer. Nice place. Plenty room round the pool and a short walk to Fishermans Walk

We have just got back from our first visit to Thailand, after holidaying for years in goa,and WOW i`m hooked,i couldn`t get over how clean it was,and each place we visited was more beautiful than the one before,the standards of the hotels were amazing and everything was so easy,they really have got the tourist industry down to a fine art, however i have to say i really missed the social side of goa.

Love both places but for different reasons.
Off to Goa in a couple of weeks, a place where i feel totally relaxed among all the sights, sounds, smells, hustle and bustle and whatever else Goa can throw at you. But still need my Koh Samui/Koh Tao fix in June with crystal waters, beautiful beaches and sealife, with the added touch of luxury.
Could never advise one against the other, you just gotta try both.
Eddie

agree Eddie

Bangkok - Kanchanaburi and Koh Samet this year.

I love Goa, despite the dogs, rubbish dumps and the dirt, I've gone there every year for the last 8.
However looking at prices for winter 2012/13 - they really don't want us now, in my opinion.

So I've booked a package to Phuket in Thailand for November, a nice 4 star hotel thro Hayes and Jarvis. I've been to Thailand a couple of times previously, love the food and find them the most polite people on the entire planet.
Decent scheduled flights with Qatar (where one gets great IFE, nice prebookable seats, good luggage allowance, and great food, all included at no extra cost)
- and it actually came out lower cost than going to Goa!
AND they threw in free use of the executive lounge at Manchester AND they included US$ 100 to spend in the hotel bars.

I just checked the cost of my past trips to Goa since 2005 - (yes I'm a real Nerd with a spreadsheet)
Total holiday costs (flight, flight extras, hotel, food, visas, alcohol etc, etc) on a per day basis
have DOUBLED over that period.
Sorry Goa - goodbye.

Hi Betty, we included 4 days in kanchanaburi as part of our trip and it was for the four of us our favourite area, it was breathtaking, we did Hellfire pass and the death railway which was so moving. Enjoy your trip.Also loved phuket and Bangkok

Hi Debs...did you did it on your own or with a company? Did you visit the Tiger Temple? Been told that part of the original wooden bridge is in the museum in Kanchanaburi. We're there for 3 nights.

We did the Tiger temple a few years ago,fantastic experience not to be missed.

John

We too visit both Goa and Thailand every year, and love them both, for very different reasons. We've always ignored the dirt, the garbage, the inferior accomodation, the dirty beaches, and what not in Goa, it's people and places more than made up for all it's shortcomings. It was also, by and large a "budget" destination. You put up with the visas and Monarch flight because the price reflected all that hassle.
However as others have pointed out, Goa is slowly but surley pricing itself out of business. Despite no improvements in it's infrastructure, their prices now compare very unfavourably with other destinations such as Thailand. Instead of encourageing tourists, all their petty rules, 10 sunbeds , no return in two months, liquor bans and on and on and on, simply discourage return business. If anyone doubts the negative effect all this is having, just compare the posts on a comparable day on this site five years ago to today, and its plain to see that Goa is slowly dying as far as UK visitors go.
Alan

Well said gramps
Really sad but true for those of us who really loved India and specifically, Goa.
Maybe in five years it will come back. Maybe.
But for now, it's very,very broken. The big UK tour Ops Thomson and Thomas Cook are really cutting back.
And - I do not think India really wants Brits.
Yes the local Goan folk do - but the Indian Government do not.
For me, going forward,
China, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam for the culture.
And Mexico and other Caribbean for 4/5 star comfort at great prices.
My winter holiday choices.

Re Tiger Temple Kanchanaburi
http://www.wspa-international.org/whoarewe/wspaasia/tiger_temple_thailand.aspx

Sorry gone a bit but I went and didn't feel happy about it at all

Yea, echo all your thoughts.
For all i'm not pulling the plug on Goa just yet, can't help but hear the death knell tolling in the not so distant future. Pricewise, pound for pound, Thailand has it's nose in front nowadays. Without even shopping around i can do 2 weeks B/B in Thailand £100 cheaper than what package companies are asking for the same at the Highland Beach. Add that to the Monarch debacle, the visa headache and some of the head shaking regulations of late, it does make you ask yourself, why bother.
Food and drink, both quality and price, pretty much the same in both places.
Can't be the beaches in Goa, they don't compare to those in Thailand, and certainly not the infrastructure that caters for tourists.
But Goa still has it's unique charm, for me the warm and open friendliness, whereas, Thailand is more "polite". Sometimes wish i could fall out of love with Goa and get a quicky divorce, or maybe in the near future Goa will turn its back on me.
Till then i'm back there in a couple of weeks time for my 24th visit, (i even done a head roll typing that)
Eddie

I think thats it for us and Goa as well.

Lots of people have been telling me the same.

Its all the obvious reasons.

Visa nonsense, Dogs, poor quality accomodation but most of all its turned into a rubbish dump.

Thailand by comparison is paradise.

Only problem is its further to go and nowhere near as cheap.

The Goan tourism minister should take a trip to Thailand and see how its done.

A lot of great comments on here and I am beggining to think the same way Goa is fantastic, relaxing and inexpensive but it does seem they do not want us there, I don't think it is the Goans but the indians with their rules and regulations that are spoiling Goa. I don't think it will be long before Goa will be a thing of the past for me (SADLY).

Mike