Much to do -- family venues and nightlife venues. Not expensive unless you choose to make it so.
Spent 4 nights at the G Hua Hin Resort & Mall. Pricey, but worth every baht. Tight security, helpful English-speaking staff and spacious, comfortable rooms with wonderful views. Mini bar is all complimentary. Large balconies overlooking the pool also have a huge day bed for lounging and watching. Huge bath/shower facilities. Free wifi. You cannot even use the elevator without your key card. Very nice, secluded and quiet. I will stay here again. It's also only two blocks from Bangkok Hospital - Hua Hin.
http://www.ghuahin.com/
The hotel is not far from Soi 80, one of the nightlife streets that is about as long as two Soi Sampans end to end with bars, bars, bars and girls, girls, girls with very reasonable prices. Lots of places to go in both the afternoons and at night. You can't miss it with the 7-11 right on the corner of the main strip Hwy 4.
Great little restaurant in Soi 80 called Bon Appetit Pizza & Grills. Thai guy and his wife run it. Very small, but excellent food and great value. They worked on the Gulf Coast in Texas for a cruise line for three years. Their English is excellent, and they understand western food. I had a salami sandwich the first night that was excellent and returned two nights later to share a calzone of 5 different cheeses, 3 different mushrooms and moo sop for 300 baht. It can easily feed two people -- maybe even three. They also have take-out and delivery, so I may have one sent to my hotel the next time I am there.
The nightlife area between Hwy 4 and Beach is packed with bars in a walking-street type venue. There must be 80 bars in there side-by-side. Here is a map of that area. Every bar in there was full of girls.
I found the prices in there to also be reasonable, but there were a few places that were higher than others. As a drinker of red wine, I did not have one glass that was more than 90 baht, and it was full and ample. In Udon, I usually pay 100 baht or more for the same glass of wine.
As far as driving a car or riding a motorcycle, the highways are all 4-lane, 6-lane or 8-lane all the way from Udon to Hua Hin. Took me 10.5 hours to make the trip. Road signage is good, too.
.Hua Hin is good for everything else,even good at learning to speak Scandinavian small talk =D>
