This is a very late JBR - hence the title Not Just Back Report
We booked a car with driver and set off from Bangkok on the trip and had a bit of a look at Cha Am on the way to Hua Hin.
We thought it looked ok and made a mental note to call in on the way back to Bangkok.
The trip took over 3 hours.

We couldn’t help but notice how much development has occurred since our last visit to Hua Hin about three years ago. Hotels and condo developments have popped up everywhere with lots more at various stages of construction. There are lots more shops too. All along the road to Takiab Beach, there are now lots of restaurants, bars and shops where there used to be little shops and hut type bars.
Prices for accommodation and restaurants have also gone up accordingly.

Although there are hotels in town and a beach too, we wanted to stay in Takiab Beach area. Prices were pretty high in February and although we fancied Wora Bura, we didn’t fancy the price (around 7000 baht.)
We chose another hotel, Napalai, that looked to be in the right location but seeing it was rather new, we couldn’t find any reviews.
We realized our mistake when the car headed right at the fork in the road and away from the beach. From our hotel, we needed to cross the road, walk for a few hundred metres to a side road and walk down that for several hundred metres more……….. all up between 10 and 15 minutes’ walk to the sand.

The hotel itself was nice enough – central pool rather small but ok. Rooms were very nice – ceramic tiles on the floors, good beds with nice linen and silk runners, very good aircon and nice bathroom with big bath and walk-in shower. Our balcony overlooked the pool – and had a distant view of the see.

There were a couple of small restaurants across the road – both good for breakfast. The pub further down the road was a good choice for evening meals too.

The beach at Takiab is very popular – lots of little beach bars dotted along the sand and all of them had their own sunbeds and/or deckchairs – 100 baht a day seemed to be the norm. After we chose our spot, the guy asked if we wanted “sun or shadow” and brought the umbrella over. During the day he came back to adjust the umbrella so we had more shade.
We spent a few afternoons lying about on Takiab Beach.
The Anantara resort is on this stretch – it looked a nice enough place and you could walk straight out of the hotel onto the sand, where they have sunbeds. This stretch of sand outside the Anantara is ‘reserved for guests’

One thing about this area ………… whatever it is you need or want, you don’t have to go anywhere to get it because it comes to you!! During the afternoon, I actually counted how many vendors came along asking me to buy something…….30! They had sunglasses, caps, sarongs, shirts, ice cream, sandals, tshirts, shorts etc. etc. I ended up buying a beach wrap and had a pedicure.

For our trips into town we used songtaews (public open-sided vehicles with bench seating in the back) These generally cost 10 baht for short trips around Hua Hin or to and from Takiab into town.

We visited “Market Village” – a multi-level shopping complex with a lot of small stands and stalls as well as some midrange ‘name’ shops and restaurants – then went to the beach opposite this complex.
There were a couple of beach bars on the sand with lots of sunbeds and deck chairs set up. Some people were lying on sunbeds and having massages.
One night we went to a restaurant recommended to us by a guy in our hotel. It’s called Take 5 and is near Smor Spa resort. This place offers good Indian, Western and Thai food and you can sit outside in the garden or inside. Very nice.

We took a sontaew into town and went to the night market which we found a bit of a disappointment - nothing different to what’s available in the shops or on the beach but several small seafood restaurants and bar areas.
After dinner at a small place in the town and walking around the shops we decided to head back to Takiab. All the songtaews cease to be public vehicles after a certain time at night and become available for private hire, charging 100-150 baht back to Takiab area.
Outside the main department store near the market we saw a guy holding up a Taxi sign and he wanted the same price as the songtaews, so we opted for the comfort and aircon and went with him.

On the way back to Bangkok we stopped at Cha Am for lunch. We thought it was a good spot and think that if we visit this part of Thailand again, we’d stay in the central part of Cha Am (not where the big hotels are) as it seems pretty quiet and has a more laid back feel to it than Hua Hin which seems to have lost something as its grown bigger and bigger .
Many people like Hua Hin and would disagree with what we think, but we prefer our beach holidays to be a bit less 'tourist town'.