But Hua Hin's best hotel may even yet reassert itself as a prime destination for stressed-out Bangkokians.

CNN: The Grandes Dames

Hua Hin no longer attracts hunters to "shoot leopards, deer, hares and doves, " as a 1920s guidebook put it.

CNN: The Grandes Dames

Plearn Warn is designed to emulate the Hua Hin of old, and it includes reproductions of traditional Thai wooden houses.

WSJ: A Newer Nostalgia

To keep protesters at bay, the annual meeting, originally to have taken place in Bangkok in December, has been shifted to the seaside resort of Hua Hin.

ECONOMIST: But there are many more to come

Among the other choices is a popular 1950s-themed amusement park called Plearn Warn, near the beach resort city of Hua Hin, where King Bhumibol maintains a residence.

WSJ: A Newer Nostalgia

The Hua Hin resort is the ideal place to lie back and relax, best savored by clinging couples, families with young children and retired folk, a large percentage of them from northern Europe.

CNN: The Grandes Dames

They tend to prefer the high-rise glamour of the Melia Hua Hin Hotel next door, though Thai families do enjoy the bungalows on the Sofitel's adjacent property, called Central Hua Hin Village (Central comes from the hotel's management by the Central Group).

CNN: The Grandes Dames