UKC

Hi Guys,

My girlfriend and I are looking at going rock climbing to Thailand and have come across a company called Rock & Sun who offer a 10 day guided tour, including 12 nights half board accommodation including 4 nights in Koh Lao Liang & 8 nights in Ao Lang for £949 per person.

http://www.rockandsun.com/climbing-locations/asia/thailand/

Do you think this type of trip offers value for money or do you think a similar trip could be planned by ourselves for much cheaper?



Thanks

In reply to Ianwesterby:

Do you have to buy flights there and back or are they included ?

In reply to Ianwesterby:

If this includes flights I think that would be cheap or good value. If it's not including flights, it's quite expensive!
Accommodation and food is quite cheap out there (unless it's xmas)
H

In reply to Heike:

Hi Guy's,

Thanks for the replys. This package does not include flights unfortunately. Had a quick search for flights from Manchester and they are between £500 - £600 per person.

In reply to Ianwesterby:

Thats really expensive. If you go by yourself you'd be ab l e to do it for half the price and stay in good accommodation. If you mean ao nang instead of ao lang, it is a cery cheap and short boat ride to tonsai. Also lots of crags inland near there. Just get the latest climbing guide book. I think the latest one is the 7th edition 2014. If you just want to climb you won't need sonebody as a guide.

Also check out nam pha pa yai camp. It's about 3 hours from Bangkok. Really nice little place with nice climbing.

In reply to Ianwesterby:

Don't they include coaching? If so then it's a good deal. I met some of their clients out there and they had very good things to say about their experience. They had a tour of the climbing at railay, tonsai, "mainland" ao nang area, plus koh yao and koh yao noi in 10 days...all the logistics and transport was sorted for them and lots of good coaching to improve their climbing. I think that's pretty good for the price. Try arranging your own private longtail to Koh Yao paradise wall from Ao Thalane for the day and you'll probably find out that what you're paying for is someone to make it all happen in 12 days. Most people out there have longer trips so for them it doesn't matter if travel and setting things up takes time. If you only have a 2 week holiday the rock and Sun fee would be money well spent.

In reply to Ianwesterby:

Thailand is very pretty and exotic but for me the climbing was rather polished and sweaty.

In reply to Ianwesterby:

As the others have rightly said, organising accommodation yourself would be cheaper, but you'd be missing out on having a guided tour, and coaching too.

Having someone to guide you away from the worst polished honey-pots would be a good thing for sure!

Going out to Lao Liang isn't cheap either - so budget that in when comparing the cost of self-organised and guided trips.

In reply to seankenny:


Sounds like you may have stuck to the honeypot areas! Did you go to Koh Yao?

I agree that most of the crags in Tonsai and Railay have gotten very polished but there are new areas and crags popping up close by that are great.

In reply to 1234None:



No, I only had a short trip so was limited to Tonsai and Railay. I just wasn't that impressed!

In reply to seankenny:

Hi guys, thanks for the reply's.

Yes, rock and sun do provide coaching which would be of real benefit to both of us. I'm very tempted by this sort if trip but your obviously paying a bit of a premium for having everything laid on for you.

In reply to seankenny:

Fair enough! For what it's worth I think the best bit about Tonsai and Railay is the multi pitch sport climbing. The single pitch stuff is OK (with a few really stand-out single pitch routes - Cat Wall is one place that really sticks in my mind!), but I thought there was something really special about the big routes on the Thaiwand, Ao Nang Tower, Monitor Wall etc. There are some truly amazing 5 or 6 pitch routes from 6b upwards with very little polish and in a great setting by the beach. Climbing through a huge roof 4 or 5 pitches up above the sea, on huge jugs with big exposure would appeal to many people, I'd have thought. It's a shame you didn't get to experience this!

If you do ever go back let me know and I'm fairly confident I can give you a tick list that wont leave you disappointed.

In reply to 1234None:
Hey, that's what I thought! The multipitch was brilliant. An lao liang

In reply to Heike:

Lao Liang is an absolute must...I need to go back soon!

In reply to Ianwesterby:

Looking at this agan: 949 GBP for a 12 night guided trip, including half board accommodation and coaching, is absolutely brilliant. Even if you're just paying someone to guide you, that still works out at just less than 80 quid per day, which isn't that bad at all, is it? Consider that you get digs and some food, plus all transport between locations thrown in too and I'd say anyone who considers that expensive must be living somewhere where things really are very cheap indeed.