The area tour: one day, Cha-am to Pranburi
A day out along this coast, with at least three houses folded into it, planned around you rather than run off a fixed script. Part of it is sightseeing, because you should enjoy the place you are thinking of moving to. The rest of it is the quiet work of finding out whether you actually want to live here, and if so, where.
Why the day exists
Most people choose a Thai town from a fortnight's holiday and a property listing. They arrive in January when the weather is perfect, stay near the beach, eat out every night, and sign a year's lease on somewhere thirty minutes from the hospital.
This day is the other way round. You see the coast properly — the parts worth seeing, and the parts nobody photographs — and you stand inside at least three real houses in three different areas so the difference stops being abstract.
The shape of the day
What follows is the shape a typical day takes, not a timetable we hold you to. No two of these days run the same way. Tell us before we set off what matters to you — a budget, a school run, a golf course, a hospital you want to be near, a beach you have read about — and the route changes to suit it. If you would rather spend the whole day in one area and see six houses there, we will do that instead. Times are indicative, we move at the pace of the group, and if somewhere holds your attention we stay longer.
| 08:00 | We collect you from wherever you are staying in Hua Hin. |
| 08:30 | Cha-am beach. Twenty-five minutes north, and a different proposition to Hua Hin — quieter, cheaper, more Thai, and where a lot of people end up once they have done the arithmetic. Coffee on the front. |
| 10:00 | Back into Hua Hin for the markets and the old railway station, which is worth ten minutes of anyone's time. This is also where we talk about what a normal Tuesday costs. |
| 11:30 | House one, in or around Hua Hin town. |
| 12:30 | Lunch somewhere good, and not somewhere on a tourist circuit. |
| 14:00 | Khao Tao and the Khao Takiab viewpoints. The best view on this stretch of coast, and the clearest way to understand how the town is laid out. House two here. |
| 15:30 | Pranburi and Pak Nam Pran. Thirty-five minutes south, and the answer for people who want space, pine trees and an empty beach. House three. |
| 17:00 | Back to your door. |
The houses
Three is the minimum, not the maximum. We choose them against what you tell us before the day: your budget, whether you want to rent or buy, and how you actually live. Three houses in three different areas usually tells you far more than six houses in one — but if your mind is already made up about the area, we will fill the day with that area instead.
You are not expected to like any of them. Ruling somewhere out is as useful as ruling somewhere in, and it is cheaper to do it now than after you have signed.
What is included
A private van with a driver for the day, and us with you the whole time. Lunch. A snack box for the road. Something to take home. And the follow-up afterwards — a written note of what we saw, what each area costs, and what we would do in your position.
Not included: anything you buy for yourself, and any accommodation.
What it costs
฿18,000 for the day for up to three of you. A fourth and a fifth are ฿1,500 each. The van seats five passengers comfortably, so five is the limit.
One price whether you are one person or three — the van, the driver and the day cost the same either way.
Practical notes
Wear something you can walk in and take off at a door. Bring a hat. The viewpoints involve some steps and the middle of the day is hot from March to May.
Tell us in advance if anyone in the group cannot manage stairs or a slope, and we will plan around it rather than apologise on the day.
Book at least a week ahead if you can. Houses have to be arranged with owners and agents, and the good ones are not available at a day's notice.
If you go ahead afterwards
Most people take this day and then decide. If you go on to use us for the housing search, the day has already done half that work — we know what you liked, what you did not, and why.