The hotel is situated right on the old 101 road in the middle of Phrae, ie not the new by-pass road, also called 101. It is a fair sized budget hotel with both fan and air-con rooms, we had two air-con rooms. The rooms were a decent size and although unfortunately fairly minimalist did at least have one picture. The rooms had high ceilings so gave a good impression of spaciousness. The twin beds were good size singles but unfortunately were extremely hard so not at all conducive to a good nights sleep, and indeed bad for one's back unless you are a fan of hard mattresses. However, I have slept in hotels with worse mattresses and I did eventually get to sleep. Lighting was reasonable though the one wall light above the bed had a tiny shade so shone a bit too much into one's eyes. The room had 2 spare electrical sockets for guest use as well as a shaver point in the bathroom – great. TV was a decent size and there was Cable TV though I couldn't find any English language channels on it. We were on the 2nd floor in 308 & 310 and the view was of the main road below and a building opposite so not great. Also it was fairly noisy at times when some of the bigger lorries passed. The rooms on the opposite side of the corridor overlooked the car park which whilst not great either would have been at least quieter. The rooms and hotel in general were fairly clean, no issues there. Free internet access was available, get the ten number password from Reception. Connection speeds in our room were slow and sometimes failed but it was OK for checking e-mail etc.
The bathroom was a decent size with a shower, toilet and washbasin. The shower was typical old Asian style without a shower curtain or shower stall so one had to make sure anything liable to be affected by water was removed from the bathroom before taking a shower. Water pressure was OK, no hot water tap in the washbasin so you had to use water from the shower if you wanted warm/hot water. No toiletries apart from soap.
We ate in the hotel restaurant in the evening and although we were the only customers there, service was friendly and the food quality perfectly fine. Menu was nearly entirely Thai but there were a few European & Japanese dishes available. Prices only about double what you would expect to pay in a local food shop, so for a hotel meal that was perfectly acceptable. Breakfast however was very poor, with the only food being provided buffet style was Kow Thom (Thai rice soup) and 2 fried rice, one egg and one chicken I think. There was also some slices of pineapple and watermelon but nothing else, not even any bread/toast which is so common in most Thai hotels. Also available was the usual jars of coffee, coffee-mate, tea and sugar plus hot water.
Service was generally fine with the staff being polite and helpful. English understanding though was very limited so don't expect to get an answer to any complicated questions - or better still, bring a phrasebook. Parking was plentiful and accessed from either the main road or the side road which goes past the side of the hotel at the traffic lights. Although reasonably central, there was not much to see within easy walking distance of the hotel apart from a few temples, and for the main sights one needs a vehicle, or else really enjoy walking. There were a few food stalls and food shops nearby but there wasn't a great selection close by. The hotel is handy though for the main road in or out of Phrae!
One interesting fact is that in the hotel car park is the Museum of the Free Thai Army, which operated from their bases in the Phrae area during WWII. It is open 0800 to 1700 and although small, is interesting to visit to learn about this little known aspect of the war in Asia.
Although there were some drawbacks, the hotel was very good value for the price that we paid and if we came back to Phrae for a short visit we would probably use it again.
