Phuket Travel Forum

Hi All,

Firstly, thanks to those who responsed to a previous post.

My partner and I have decided that we will most probably go to Phuket for 7 days in July/August. Which is the best tourist area to stay in in Phuket? We want to be walking distance to beaches, shopping, restaurants and daily activities. We're not overly in to the nightclub scene, however happy to experience some of the nightlife.

Does anyone also know anything about "Sawasdee Village" accommodation in Kata and does Kata have shopping, restaurants, daily activities etc?

I've always wanted to stay in Bungalow accommodation. Can someone recommend Bungalow accommodation walking distance to main tourist areas and are they secure?

Thanks

Lisa

Hi Lisa,
It would be nice to know what your budget is...??..You are very fortunate as we are too in that we are also going in July/August which is the cheapest season.
Which is the best area to stay in Phuket..??..It all depends what you mean by best..!!??..Best for shopping..??..best for swimming/surfing..??..Best for nightlife..??..
I have not stayed at sawadee village..sorry..!!...But my choice would be either Kata or Patong to stay at....
Tropica Bungalows would be my pick for bungalow accomodation in Patong because they are reasonably priced and situated directly across the road from the beach,altho' you cannot see the beach from your bungalow(the bungalows are down a small lane at the rear of the restaurant...But it is central to everything...Perfect position as you can walk anywhere within a short distance...Bangla Road for nightlife is just around the corner...
Kata Beach has shopping,restaurants,bars and surfing too but not as large as Patong...
Check Tropica Bungalow reviews...!!!

Thank you for your response.

From what I have heard, Bangkok is the best place for shopping in terms of being cheap (despite hearing it's dirty and smelly). I hear the tourist destinations are a little more expensive for shopping so we will probably plan to do about two days of shopping in Bangkok and not so much in Phuket.

My idea of a relaxing getaway is unwinding by the pool and on the beach sipping cocktails, daily massages and spas, dining at beach restaurants, taking tours of the island, some shopping, some nightlife with today's music and dancing, snorkelling, parasailing etc.

Accommodation, we are looking at spending no more than AUD$100 per night. Whilst I like the idea of our accommodation being right on the beach and walking distance to everything, it doesn't look like we can really do that unless we stay in Chaweng on Koh Samui island.

I've also heard that in July/August, Phuket gets a lot of rain and more so than other Thai tourist destinations, is this correct.

Hope this helps a little more with what we are looking for. Thanks

Lisa

Hi

Not bungalow accommodation but the Patong Bay Garden Hotel may be even better - http://www.patongbaygarden.com. Location in Patong is excellent and their website is showing a Junior Suite on your budget. This hotel and the Impiana are right on the beach at the quieter end of Patong. Shopping in Phuket is cheap but yes apparently Bangkok is cheaper according to our friends. We did most of our shopping at the excellent Jungceylon shopping centre (particularly Robinsons) but the shopping is even cheaper in Phuket Town. The Central Shopping Centre there is meant to be excellent. Please note that you are going in the wettest time of the year. We went in the second half of September. The weather was excellent and prices are still low. I would suggest re-scheduling your holiday to that time if heavy rain bothers you.

Hi, a good accommodation site for Phuket is sawadee.com Many hotels at great prices, this is the low season. My husband and I are going to Phuket again the end of July for three weeks. We went there also last April. Stayed that time at The Front Village. Up graded when we were there to the spa area, was not much more and we had a beautiful chalet. This is at Karon Beach. We have stayed at Karon twice now. We are staying at Patong for a week (with friends) then going to Phi Phi island for a week and then back to Phuket for another week. We won't book that accommodation until we are there so that we can get better last minute deals on the net.

Thanks for the posts. It's great to get so many different opionions.

I have actualy been looking at the Sawadee maps and have breifly viewed the Sawadee Village accommodation. I will have another look at accommodation though through this website.

From a google earth perspective, Koh Samui seems to be more greener in terms of trees and serenity particulary more so around Lamai (Chaweng looks green but I hear it's quite busy). Phuket from a google earth perspective doesn't look like it has any greenery in the accommodation/tourist areas at all.

As for wet season, we're more after a warm holiday and not so much a wet holiday so there is a chance we may change the time of the year. Although we were looking at Phuket, Koh Samui may be back on the cards again if Phuket doesn't have so much greenery.

Lisa

Lisa, Phuket is indeed quite rural... but in the big tourist towns it's true that it's mostly buildings. If you want a beach without much construction around it, you can't also want easy access to lots of restaurants, tour agencies, massage places, and shopping. They are simply a contradiction in terms.

On Phuket, there are smaller tourist areas that might meet your needs. I'd recommend the Nai Harn/Ao Sane area. There is limited shopping, a number of places to eat, availability of taxis to other beaches, and there is also a bamboo-beach-bungalow place at Ao Sane. It's called Ao Sane Bungalows.

The weather in July and August on Phuket tends to be one of sporadic heavy rain with strings of sunny days and no rain. Even on rainy days, it usually rains only for an hour or two. You can come to Phuket with a pretty fair expectation of decent weather, though we can't promise anything 100%!

Thanks for your response.

After much more research yesterday, I realised that if I want something serene I need to be looking at different holiday destiations, however other places won't be as cheap as Thailand. So with more thinking and more talking with my partner we will probably most likely go to Kho Samui and stay in resort on the beach (I am such an indecisive female haha). Now we just have to pick dates and accommodation.

When staying in Chaweng, which is the best part chaweng beach to stay on, north, south or middle of the beach? Our budget is around AUD$100 per night.

Thanks again

Lisa

You are in the Phuket Forum, Lisa. You should try your questions in the Samui Forum.