Any Phuket recommendations?

[Lisafuller]

Hi everyone, I’m headed off to Phuket this week for vacation. Wondering if anyone has any interesting recommendations? Will be staying in the patong beach area and do expect to see quite a bit of rain, so it would be nice to have some ideas of what to do indoors. Any interesting food spots or must sees are also welcome. Thanks!

[YYCole]

Indoor activity is a problem (nothing very memorable vs outdoor). Much lesser things to do. Chalong Bay Rum Distillery is something u can consider for indoor. Raya Restaurant is the one i remembered the most when i was attending my mate wedding in phuket. He organized a welcome dinner there for all his guests. Good quality homely thai food

[PNGMK]

Avoid Banyan Tree resorts unless you want to be surrounded by dozens of Russians hiding out from Putin.

Actually they're all over Thailand anyways.

[Lisafuller]

Avoid Banyan Tree resorts unless you want to be surrounded by dozens of Russians hiding out from Putin.

Actually they're all over Thailand anyways.

LOL! We’re not staying there, is this true?

[Lisafuller]

Indoor activity is a problem (nothing very memorable vs outdoor). Much lesser things to do. Chalong Bay Rum Distillery is something u can consider for indoor. Raya Restaurant is the one i remembered the most when i was attending my mate wedding in phuket. He organized a welcome dinner there for all his guests. Good quality homely thai food

Will keep the distillery in mind, any night market reccomendations?

[malcontent]

Hi everyone, I’m headed off to Phuket this week for vacation. Wondering if anyone has any interesting recommendations? Will be staying in the patong beach area and do expect to see quite a bit of rain, so it would be nice to have some ideas of what to do indoors. Any interesting food spots or must sees are also welcome. Thanks!

After many trips to Phuket, we finally settled on Le Meridian Phuket Beach Resort as our favorite place to stay on the island. We love the location… near Patong, yet far removed, with a semi-private beach (no pesky vendors) and just about everything you can think of on the resort - archery, mini-golf, driving range, 3 different swimming pools (just too bad they don’t have a water slide).

They have a 10 min shuttle to/from Patong (price per head or per van price depending on your group size).

One tip, even if you’ve already booked another place, you can “visit” large resorts like this posing as guests who have already checked in. We do that all the time to get a feel for what it’d be like to stay there. In fact, we did that at the Phuket Marriott Resort the last time we were there — spent several hours there. They have similar set-up as Le Mid (see it on Google Maps and you’ll know what I mean).

[malcontent]

One other thing — if it’s really raining, one option is the mall. Central Festival Phuket is the largest mall on the island, and is relatively new — definitely a big improvement over anything they had previously… but not so different than the malls you have here. Just a diversion/break if you need it.

[Lisafuller]

Hi everyone, I’m headed off to Phuket this week for vacation. Wondering if anyone has any interesting recommendations? Will be staying in the patong beach area and do expect to see quite a bit of rain, so it would be nice to have some ideas of what to do indoors. Any interesting food spots or must sees are also welcome. Thanks!

After many trips to Phuket, we finally settled on Le Meridian Phuket Beach Resort as our favorite place to stay on the island. We love the location… near Patong, yet far removed, with a semi-private beach (no pesky vendors) and just about everything you can think of on the resort - archery, mini-golf, driving range, 3 different swimming pools (just too bad they don’t have a water slide).

They have a 10 min shuttle to/from Patong (price per head or per van price depending on your group size).

One tip, even if you’ve already booked another place, you can “visit” large resorts like this posing as guests who have already checked in. We do that all the time to get a feel for what it’d be like to stay there. In fact, we did that at the Phuket Marriott Resort the last time we were there — spent several hours there. They have similar set-up as Le Mid (see it on Google Maps and you’ll know what I mean).

Sounds awesome! We already have a place to stay but might see if we can take a couple hours to explore Le Mid (we’re 10 mins away by car according to google maps). Our hotel is pretty basic, booked it for the proximity to the beach.

[Lisafuller]

One other thing — if it’s really raining, one option is the mall. Central Festival Phuket is the largest mall on the island, and is relatively new — definitely a big improvement over anything they had previously… but not so different than the malls you have here. Just a diversion/break if you need it.

Funnily enough I had been worrying about flooding prior to arriving as we’re in the middle of monsoon season, but it hasn’t rained once since we’ve been here. Such a relief!

[Lisafuller]

Also, just in case anyone knows the answer - is there a reason why the traffic police randomly show up and start stopping random motorists for checks? What are the checking for? They seemed to only stop European tourists on motorcycles.

[leahna]

Would love to see some trip itineraries if anyone has some... Planning a 3 week honeymoon there and don't really know where to start!

[Lisafuller]

Would love to see some trip itineraries if anyone has some... Planning a 3 week honeymoon there and don't really know where to start!

I didn’t really use an itenerary as my family tends to prefer a more “free and easy” approach to traveling. If you’d like any specific recommendations I’m more than happy to help though

[malcontent]

Would love to see some trip itineraries if anyone has some... Planning a 3 week honeymoon there and don't really know where to start!

For a honeymoon, I definitely recommend the Rayavadee near Krabi. We did our pre-honeymoon there, it was absolutely mind blowing, stunning and surreal.

At the time there were no flights to Krabi so we had to catch a 2 hour taxi ride from Phuket. It was totally worth it. Best resort I’ve ever stayed at… in my life.

[Lisafuller]

Would love to see some trip itineraries if anyone has some... Planning a 3 week honeymoon there and don't really know where to start!

For a honeymoon, I definitely recommend the Rayavadee near Krabi. We did our pre-honeymoon there, it was absolutely mind blowing, stunning and surreal.

At the time there were no flights to Krabi so we had to catch a 2 hour taxi ride from Phuket. It was totally worth it. Best resort I’ve ever stayed at… in my life.

I think they are intending to visit Phuket, so Krabi would be quite a bit out of the way.

[x9200]

Would love to see some trip itineraries if anyone has some... Planning a 3 week honeymoon there and don't really know where to start!

Not knowing your budget and preferences would be hard to advise.
Phuket is to get spoiled mostly in a beach-like resorts with the comforts that the city can also provide. 3 weeks there would probably kill me. But if you want to stay within this area, I would spend one week in Phuket, one week in Krabi and one week in Koh Phi Phi. In Karbi and Phi Phi you can rent boats and do islands hopping. Unless something has changed, to Phi Phi you can get from Phuket by ferry, but it was also possible to get there and back by a hydroplane.