Royal Princess Larn Luang Hotel Bangkok

Warm Welcome

Ambience of the hotel was excellent. The staff of the hotel was friendly and helpful.

Excellent value

Stayed here to start a Kumuka tour. This hotel is excellent value - recent renovations are very good, the Superior Room was fine although the pillows are a little ordinary. The Princess restaurant has a very good breakfast and the Chinese Empress and Mikado Japanese restaurants attached to the hotel offer very good food at fair prices. Good pool. The only (slightly) adverse comment would be that the hotel's location is good if you want the old, Government part of the city but it is a fair distane to Sukhumvit Road and MBK/Siam Centre/Central World where the great shopping centrres are located - although Khao San Road is a short walk away. WiFi internet is at a reasonable price and the staff is extremely courteous. All in all, I will stay there again

Upgraded for the better.

We have stayed at the Royal Princess over a number of years and it is great to see the hotel get a much needed facelift. Back for a 7 night say for the first time in 18 months we were pleased to see the public areas, reception, restaurant, bar and pool have had a full makeover and are now modern, clean and inviting. The pool is still big and located on the ground floor but now includes a kids pool and spa area. The gym once located in a spare bedroom is now adjacent the pool and new and uptodate equipment have been installed. Having stayed so many times management always give us a room upgrade to a deluxe room. The Deluxe rooms are a big by hotel standards, overlook the pool with an outside balcony and feature king sized or two double beds. My wife loves the two doubles as they help with the snoring problem. The room and bathroom have had a refresh too but unfortuantely they stopped short of complete bathroom rennovation which really would have allowed a 100% recommendation to everyone.The hotel is located on the "wrong" side of town for tourism and near the UN Centre and many goverment offices so perhaps more of a business hotel. But we love that it is located where the locals live and close to BoeBae markets, Khao San Road (the backpackers area), a short taxi ride to Chinatown and near many of the most spectacular temples. Hard to find restaurants catering for tourists nearby but plenty of street food especially near BoeBae and a short taxi ride to our favourite Crown Kitchen, near the UN centre, or the highly rated Somboon for great seafood. Kick boxing stadium close too if that is your thing. Food in the hotel is good and cheap by western standards. They also have upmarket Chinese and Japanese aimed at the business man. We prefer the hustle and bustle and prices of a visit to Chinatown.
Large buffet breakfast caters both for Western and Asian and they have a range of cakes and pastries half price in the afternoon to take away that always tempt us for an afternoon treat.On the concierge desk we have had wonderful help from Nong, Neung and Thani who make the difference between an ordinary stay and a great one. Seven relaxing days spent by the pool and meeting friends from Phuket who came for the weekend. Free shuttle to MBK for a bit of shopping. The biggest problem was planning where to eat each night! Always seem to get a great rate from Flight Centre.

Upgraded, though difficult location some times

I have stayed here every time I go to Bangkok since late 2005, and my previous trip before this one was in 2008, so seeing all the renovations was great, though I later saw was that renovations were partial and many places in the hotel still had the same stuff. Anyway, the more important things (the nicer rooms, the breakfast room, etc) were the ones renovated so it was pretty nice.
If you are going to this hotel because you want to see the Wats (temples) and the classic Bangkok (the island of Rattanakosin), you are staying in the perfect place. But if you want to go to the more modern Bangkok (Silom, Sukhumvit, shopping malls, etc) be sure to have your own car or somehow find a way to get back to the hotel if you are staying late outside. Getting a taxi to take you there is almost impossible, and this is something that I have proven many times before and this time as well. Since there is no mass transit (skytrain or metro) to go there, and the canal boats don't provide a service after dark, you're basically stranded if you go shopping until late.
I've asked myself if I would stay there again next time, and I've decided that I will, because I don't really like the shopping experience in Bangkok and I'm always amazed by the temples. I would rather stay here and be close to the temples (and be able to visit them by walking) than stay in Sukhumvit and think about shopping. Also, the rates are pretty good!