Hey,
I am going to Bangkok 1st Feb for a visa run blah blah… can anyone recommend any cheap accommodation near the TECO office?
Where is the TECO office in Bangkok?
The TECO office in Bangkok is located on the 20th floor, Empire Tower, 195 South Sathorn Rd., Bangkok, Thailand.
Stay near a sky train station or in a guest house or motel in the Khao San Road area and take a river taxi first thing in the morning to a sky train station. The TECO is very close to a sky train station. (There’s a few threads about it on forumosa. Do a search). It’s more difficult to find expensive accomodation than cheap in Bangkok.
The Suk 11 comes highly recommended by the good folks at BootsNAll.com as a comfortable yet budget hostel that’s both reasonably accessible to the new airport and near a Skytrain stop.
There are both cheaper and more expensive hostels available around Khao San Road (and “Khao” is pronounced “cow”, not “coe”, dammit!). Khao San Road has its advantages and disadvantages.
Define cheap. Some people consider US$50 to be cheap. Others are looking to spend less than US$5.
Few cities in the world could rival Bangkok for the variety of accommodation. From flea-pit guesthouses to the world’s best hotels, you can find it all in Bangkok.
Silom and Sathorn Road are the areas closest to the TECO office. There are lots of hotels in this area, but not much budget accommodation.
The best range of budget accommodation is around Khao San Road. A basic room with a fan there will cost about 150 baht. As matchstick man suggests from there you can take the river ferry to Thaksin Bridge and then a short ride on the sky train or motorcycle taxi to the TECO office.
If you want to spend a little more I highly recommend Soi Kasemsan 1. This is next to the National Stadium BTS Station, MBK and Siam Square. There are a number of small guest houses and hotels there in the 500-1000 baht price range. More details here.
The Four Brothers Hotel is right across the street from the Phra Atit river taxi pier (on Phra Atit Road). This is near Khao Sarn Rd, but behind the big temple in the “quiet” area of the tourist ghetto. It is very clean, secure and still very cheap. I now stay there every time.
The advice about taking a river taxi in the morning is good. Get off at the MRT station that is right on the big river in the downtown area. I forget the station name, but it is the last MRT station on that line. Then, go just two stops (I think) to get off near Empire Tower.
Get to the office as early as possible! Then, you should surely get your visa in the same afternoon.
Charlie House
1034/36-37 Soi Saphan Khu, between Lumpini Tower & Soi Ngam Duphli, Rama IV rd.
0-267983301
http://www.charliehousethailand.com
email: Charlie_h_th@yahoo.com
I stayed at this guest house for part of my last visa run to Bangkok. It is very cheap (450 Baht), clean, and has a decent restaurant downstairs. Rooms have AC, a TV, a mini fridge, private bathroom, and linens. It is 5 blocks from the TECO office - you can walk it on a cool day…or just hop on a taxi and zip you are there.
I always stay in the Khao Sanh area when I’m in Bangkok (about 20-25 times over the past 10 years, ranging from 2 days to 2 weeks, although only once as a visa trip). Getting to TECO is easy as mentioned above. I actually took a cab when I did a visa run there, it wasn’t much more than 120 baht. Which is about NT$100.
One advantage of the KSR area, especially if you’re a reader, is the number of used bookstores. I always bring back 20-30 books whenever I go to Thailand - much cheaper than buying books at Page One or Caves.