For a while we’ve wanted to stay in an apartment where we could cook our own food and enjoy a bit of privacy with some space of our own. Shama Sukhumvit Bangkok gave us this chance during our first visit to Bangkok.

We can’t deny that sometimes it is nice to go to a restaurant and choose a dish that you feel like trying from a menu full of choices. But we’ve been travelling for a long time, and since the US, where we stayed with our friends in Florida and California, we haven’t been able to cook or to stay somewhere with a living room, a kitchen and all the amenities to finally feel at home.

We got a nice surprise when we saw our apartment at Shama Sukhumvit Bangkok – lots of space, a fully equipped kitchen, a large room … It was a modern one-bedroom apartment where we could definitely stay for a few days in comfort without any problems.

That’s what guests are looking for when staying there: a large, comfortable, modern apartment where they can spend at least 2 nights. Well, we had 3 nights there, and didn’t stay longer as we had other places to go in the 1½ months remaining of our world trip.

Our apartment at Shama Sukhumvit Bangkok

As we entered the apartment it really reminded me of an apartment we lived in when we were in Valencia a few years back. It had the same kind of furniture and was large and modern.

The kitchen was the first place we saw. An oven, a stove, a fridge, a large table to handle food … There was even a washing machine. Score! Over the past months we’ve had to send our clothes to laundry services that have often ripped us off and done a bad job, or go to self-service launderettes and wait for a couple of hours until the cycle has finished. Now we got to wash our clothes in the comfort of our own home (home – I miss this word …)

The weather was warm enough to dry the clothes the same day on the terrace located next to the living room.

The living room, by the way, apart from the large screen TV and nice couch where Noah was jumping around all the time, had a DVD player with an awesome Home Theatre. Score for Noah now! This year, since we started our journey, he’s only been to the cinema 3 times. The equipment available in our apartment was good enough to feel like we were in a cinema.

The bedroom was also very spacious and gave the privacy that we needed at night. As we normally stay in hotels, we have to put Noah to bed early and then work in the dark until he’s asleep. In an apartment, on the other hand, we simply let him sleep in the bedroom and then we stayed in the living room, spending some time together working or watching a film.

Finally, the bathroom had a very, very large bath and a separate shower. It was good to be able to choose between relaxing in a bubble bath or taking a quick shower to refresh in the morning.

We were also shown other apartments with two and three bedrooms. Both had the same amenities as ours, with the major difference being the size of the apartments.

Other facilities at Shama Sukhumvit Bangkok Serviced Apartments

I believe that the place that we loved the most was the swimming pool. This wasn’t just because it was a nice big pool, but because of the views of the city. The surroundings are full of tall buildings which give a very nice perspective of Bangkok at night, but there are also points from which you just see the horizon. In the morning the sun rises from the side of the pool, but we were too lazy to make a time lapse video for that one 🙂

The views at dusk with the different colors on the horizon and the buildings lighting up were just beautiful.

On the floor below the swimming pool there was a fully equipped gym and a fitness center for yoga and meditation, with stairs outside for access.

Again, since guests are coming to spend their nights in a serviced apartment, having a place to exercise in the same building is of great importance. Whether on holidays or business, who doesn’t want to get fit or lose some weight in a gym? If you aren’t doing that (like us 🙂 ) then that’s another story, but at least it is nice to have the option. In our defense, we’ve been travelling, walking and carrying our luggage so much, that we’re already pretty fit. Noah’s need to run around all the time means it’s like having our own private gym 🙂

Then there is the Shama Den, a room for adults and older children with flat screen TV and sofas, billiards, portable mini golf, Wii and PlayStation 2 with a selection of popular games.

But Noah didn’t agree that the above were the most important facilities at Shama Sukhumvit Bangkok. As well as the swimming pool, he also really enjoyed the Shama Kids club.

That one was, by the way, on the same floor as our apartment, just a few meters away. I believe that having a young child the staff thought that it would be a good idea to be on the same floor. Just a guess of course. 🙂

Finally, just next to the reception there was a dining area where they would serve breakfast in the morning. The catering is provided by an outside company, but the standard of food for breakfast was high.

Services and the team at Shama Serviced Apartments

Speaking of the staff, even though the country is going through a difficult time recently with the loss of their beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej, there was still time to give us a smile and show that respect that is so characteristic of Thai people. It is not always fair to mention names (as there’s always the risk of forgetting someone) so we just have to say that – from the moment we entered Shama Sukhumvit Bangkok and were welcomed by the hosts to the very last minute with the very friendly security officers waving goodbye – we were treated better than we could have expected.

One clear example of the respect and the outstanding efficient service there was on the second night, when we wanted to use the washing machine. The machine was somehow not working properly. We called Housekeeping and they immediately sent two guys to have a look at the machine. Since they were not able to make it work immediately, they excused themselves, asked us for our patience for about 10-20 minutes, took the machine away and 20 minutes later brought a new one (either new or they were able to fix the other one quickly).

When we called Housekeeping we really thought that they would take the machine away and come back with a solution in the morning (the incident happened at 8pm, so it was already late …). But this wasn’t the case. We can confirm that they prioritized their guests and made sure we were staying comfortably there.

If you want to book a tour or simply want to get more information about what to do in Bangkok to be able to plan your time, there’s a local agency with staff who are happy to help you plan an itinerary or book activities through them.

Location and surroundings

There was an international hospital nearby, so it was not difficult to spot a doctor from the first night onwards.

Apart from that, while walking around the area we saw several hotels from major chains, which confirmed that this is a prime location.

Almost right in front of Shama Sukhumvit Bangkok there was a shopping mall with stores, restaurants, a hairdresser, an ATM, a supermarket, a pharmacy, etc. The supermarket, incidentally, had lots of imported products as well as local ones, and we found some ingredients to cook at home during our time there.

A few minutes away there is a BTS Skytrain station, which connects passengers to the metro.

Final impressions about Shama Sukhumvit Bangkok Serviced Apartments

As we mentioned above, we were dying to stay in an apartment as we haven’t had space and a place to cook for a long time. Shama offered all that and much more.

This is really a place for individuals, couples and families looking to live a normal life as they would do in the comfort of their own homes. But getting this with a housekeeping service thrown in is a big advantage.

The location helps even more, with supermarkets, shopping malls, a pharmacy and an international hospital nearby. It is definitely a well serviced and connected location.

On top of all that, Shama enhances the residential experience of its guests by introducing the hidden gems of the city so that visitors can make the most of their time there and live like locals.

We thank Laura and the whole team at Shama Sukhumvit Bangkok Serviced Apartments very much for having us and are certain that we will come back in the future.

Family Travel Secrets stayed at Shama Sukhumvit Bangkok as guests. All opinions and the oodles of pictures remain our own.