July 2012
My room at the Nakhon Phanom River View hotel in Nakhon Phanom
The Nakhon Phanom River View hotel is one of two large hotels sited right on the river a short distance south of the town center. The hotel's design means that most rooms have a good view of the Mekong. Although I don't think the hotel is very old, it sports a frumpy design typical of provincial hotels, and is already looking quite threadbare. Of course, getting mobbed by bus-loads of Thai tourists almost every day probably doesn't help.
I got assigned a front corner room which had great views of the river from the large windows on two sides. The room was a good size, with a desk, sitting chairs and mini-bar. The television was old and only had one English language channel. While the hotel sported free wi-fi, my room was too far from the floor's wireless base station to get a reliable signal. I ended up sitting in the lobby to get a good connection.
The hotel has a large restaurant where breakfast is served. The breakfast buffet is rather basic, and it's worth noting that tour groups blow through here like a plague of locusts, devouring everything in sight within seconds.
Hotel facilities include a restaurant, swimming pool, gift shop
Rooms feature air conditioning, hot and cold water, television (few channels), telephone, mini-bar, and wi-fi Internet access.
Pluses: On the river
Minuses: A good distance from the sights (although walk-able); gets huge tour groups.
Rooms at the Nakhon Phanom River View Hotel may be booked through Agoda or you can use Hotels Combined to find the best deal by searching dozens of booking sites at once.