Phuket and Phi Phi: Where to stay?

[SimonR32]

Me and the girlfriend are going to head there in middle of July, aiming for about 4-5 nights in Phuket and Phi Phi for about 10 nights...

Anyone been to any good places, does not have to be great and don't want crap but air-con, decent location, TV, clean etc etc are required.

Been to Thailand before but over the other side, was just going to check reviews on trip advisor but thought you pingpingpingpings might know somewhere decent?!?

[stumps.]

The Kee Resort, right in the middle of the action. I stayed there last year and will be going back this year.

Do the Go Karts while you are in Phuket. You will see them as you come down the hill into Patong.

http://www.thekeeresort.com/index.html

[SimonR32]

Just looked it up Kee Resort... Looks good, will put that down on the list for sure.

[coFF33]

i have been there multiple times

use www.agoda.com.au

hotel : Baumanburi

end thread.

[Macca]

depends how much coin you want to shell out but we stayed here:

http://www.moevenpick-hotels.com/en/pub/hotels_resorts/worldmap/phuket_karon_beach/welcome.cfm

[SimonR32]

Phuket seems to be spoilt for choice... Anyone got any recommendations for Phi Phi?

[UXX127]

we stayed at the holiday inn in phuket in the busakorn wing. top hotel. top service, good location but was pricey compared to others

[TheChad]

i was there in December, we booked up everything and it came to about 4.2 for flights, accomodation, and flights to samui etc.

if i was going to do it again, my advice is this:
Find a hotel you like online, book it for the 1st 2 nights.

sort flights, then during your 2 nights in phuket have a walk around, find a baller hotel, and walk in and ask them for a room. without all of our australian taxes and agents its often close to, or more than 50% cheaper there and then.


we stayed at the bandara and the banthai, dont remember which was in samui and which was in phuket, both were nice, phuket is awesome.

phiphi is really small, and not much there, 10 days will be far too long there unless you are old and fat and want to sleep and go to spas all day every day.

my advice would be go to samui/phangan and stay there for some time, kind of like a chilled phuket, but still entertaining. phiphi can be seen in a day, we went on a speedboat trip out from phuket and tbh i was bored of phiphi after about an hour, just wanted to get back in the ocean and look at more fish.


bonus of samui is phangan is not that far and full moon party fucking rocks, we also took another day trip to mushroom mountain that was one of my personal best mushroom experiences.



Phuket: stay in Patong Beach,
Samui: stay on chaweng beach (like a mini patong)
PhiPhi?? i dont know really, its not that big...

[SimonR32]

Been to Samui, Phangan and Tao twice... They are great but doing something different, staying on Phi Phi for a while for the diving :)

[colt75]

was there last month.

stayed at a place called C&N Hotel, which is literally 30 second walk from bangla road. (The main action strip in patong)
cost was 1250 baht per night . which is like 40 bucks. had pretty much everything you needed and clean good service

[vk-308]

Atlas patong hotel in phuket

Best value for money hotel I have seen there and I have been 5 times in last 2 years. Have stayed at holiday inn and alot of others

Will be in off season to so will be like less than $30 a night, is new clean very modern and 5 mins walk to bangla and 5 mins walk to jungcyelon shopping centre.

Owned by a swedish guy and the staff are great. Was a massive suprise for the price

Has awesome reviews on trip advisor to.

[SimonR32]

Ended up going Kee Resort, then JJ residence while diving in Phi Phi and Holiday Inn Phi Phi in a beachfront bungalow for the last few days of chillaxing!

Will let you know how we go:)

[Firstround]

for a romantic getaway in Phuket would have to be the twin palms in surin beach, have stayed in a different few places over the past anniversary's birthdays ect. twin palms definitely takes the cake

[31-EVO]

Ban Thai Beach Resort fucken hands down, stayed there for a week, it was unreal, service was above any expectation you could imagin, and the price was excellent considering breakfast every morning an clean towels and sheets every day. Thats Patong however, but I loved it as did the misses, we will be going back eraly next year I hope. Absolutely loved it

[TheChad]

mrs and i were on the bottom floor at the Banthai, literally walk out of room into the pool. was awesome!

[Fukushima]

Yeah banthai was great

Our routine was:

9am Omlette station breakfast at ban thai

10-1 Karts/shooting/shopping/massage

Lunch somewhere near hotel with big changs

2pm - 5pm pool bar

5pm hour or so in the bedroom

6pm dinner

8pm bars

10pm fireworks on the beach


Gooood times

[Sack]

Stayed in the king beachfront bungalow at holiday in earlier this year with the fiance. Walk out of the room and the beach is 15m away. People do sit in your view but. There is heaps to do on phi phi. We stayed for 3 nights but wish we stayed for 8.

[shifted]

Anyone stayed at the Sea Pearl?

http://www.phuket.com/seapearl/
http://www.seapearlvillasphuket.com/

Mrs and I are going next year June/July (breaks from Uni) for 2 weeks, Qantas quote came to $800 return apparently for flights at the moment. Also any recommendations around this area to see, shop, visit etc.?

[vk-308]

Yeh I have stayed at sea pearl before.

It is pretty luxury, most rooms have there own outdoor jacuzzi (coldwater) and the staff there are very nice and helpful

They also have a fleet of mafia-spec Mercedes limousines that they will drive you round in for cheap.

We were lucky when we went they had a special on Agoda and got rooms for $66 a night.

Its about a 5 min scooter ride out from the main strip up the hill which is nice to be away from it while your hungover but also means you cant stumble home. But if your going with your mrs may not be an issue.

The security Guard on the gate is funny as there, especially when you swing in the 7/11 and bring him some beers home every night :P

[shifted]

Fantastic, thanks mate! Doesn't sound too bad.

Did you visit anything around there yourselves? Anything worth seeing in the area?

[Satan]

i have been there multiple times

use www.agoda.com.au

hotel : Baumanburi

end thread.

nice! booked in there for a week beginning of october

[vk-308]

Um not really anything around it. Its sort of on the top of the hill by itself.

Its close to the best go-karting on the island. If you head away from Patong from your hotel and head over the hill its about a 5 min ride/drive

When you see the big go-karting place on the right look across the road and there is another one up a side street.

Its 10 times better and they let you loose on the 125cc water-cooled race karts.....most fun you will have in Phuket! costs about 1200baht for 10 mins definitely worth it!

Anything else you want to do there just ask a tuk tuk driver and they will take you there. Plenty of places worth seing

[31-EVO]

Just remember, the further are you are away the harder it is to get into town etc

[Reverb]

Indigo pearl if you feel like been a getaway presenter. Stayed there for 8 days with my missus, absolutely amazing hotel.

[colt75]

whilst on topic of thailand.

what airline are people flying with?

booked with thai airways for end of this month, was 950~ return

[mod]

For a quick comparison on flights I've been using this website very very useful http://www.skyscanner.com.au/

[SimonR32]

whilst on topic of thailand.

what airline are people flying with?

booked with thai airways for end of this month, was 950~ return

To Phuket Virgin on the way there direct and Jetstar on the way back with 1/2 day in Singapore... I think it was $800ish all up

Last time I went I got flights, Perth to KL to Bangkok to Koh Samui to Signapore to Perth all for $600, that was a fucking bargain!

[SimonR32]

For a quick comparison on flights I've been using this website very very useful http://www.skyscanner.com.au/

Just checked that out, not too shabby, thanks for the heads up... I always take a fair bit of time searching individual airline sites for best times/prices

[shifted]

Travelling to Thailand tomorrow - staying at Novotel in Patong. Going to do some touristy thing around Phi Phi Island on one of the days but otherwise nothing is planned.

What's there to watch out for, any recommendations, can you really just walk up to people in Tuk Tuk's and say "I want to go go-karting" and they'll take you? Never travelled to Thailand previously...

[volt_bite]

I came back from Phuket about 2 weeks ago now and I stayed at Holiday Inn which is in Patong as well.

Yep, you can do day trips to Pi pi island which is cheap. Its very awesome too and costs about $80 for the day, food included. We also booked ATV, white water rafting, elephant riding - ATV (quad bikes) are awesome! Costs about the same and we booked it through our hotel/resort. So for both, it costs $150 included transportation. Make sure if you go to pi pi island you get a proper jet boat so its quicker there and back.

Watch out for lady boys! Especially along Bangalore road which closes up to cars during the night.

Lots of massages places asking you to get massages. There is this one place which is actually proper decent and there are no girls out front pestering you: its called "Let's Relax". No dodgy there.

Also, we found the best exchange place was a place called "the best exchange rate" lool. Just shop around, it changes everyday.

We took a taxi. Key things, negotiate prices up front always. We never took a tuk tuk but you can if you want. They are apparently owned by all the mafia though.

There are also the markets in the city on Sat nights, very cheap to buy there. The markets along the beach are the most expensive (besides the actual shopping centres which sell legit stuff). Always bargain too. Some places you can bargain up to 70%. Dont be afraid to ask.

Don't do jetskis, apparently run by the mafia too and they try to scam you. My advice is dont do it but up to you. They try to make you pay for damage to the jet skis you didnt even do and there is nothing you can do about it.

Go karting, there is this place just outside patong which has the fastest karts! 1000cc cost me about $30 for 10mins. 2000cc costs double that!

Shooting, again another place just outside patong and it has AK47s and M14a (? I think?) assault rifles. Looking at about $30 for 10 bullets so it gets expensive quickly....

[HANS YOLO]

Shooting, again another place just outside patong and it has AK47s and M14a (? I think?) assault rifles. Looking at about $30 for 10 bullets so it gets expensive quickly....

thats farking expensive. me and 5 other boys are heading there at the end of July and were keen on some shooting. anyone know of anything cheaper?

[shifted]

Anyone have recommendations for suit places? Had a look at Prince Fashion which seemed fantastic, had a cashmere suit on offer for approx 12000 Baht with a shirt, horse hair lining and that white thick stuff along with another jacket in linen with the same lining. Trying to find some reviews.

Always hear about "$40, $80 suits" but quality costs... not keen for cheap shit that will fall apart...