Tchiowa

I'm not much of a beach person so Phuket doesn't have that much of a draw to me personally. My wife goes a couple of times a year.

Apparently the weather was good yesterday as she posted a bunch of pictures from the beach.

jxd

Have 7 nights in phuket next march. Is it too long? Planning to drive over to krabi for 3 nights (3 nights krabi - 4 nights phuket), Any comments?

Also, how's the hotel rates like in March (Looking at hilton / DT surin - hhonors gold or pullman - accor plat.)? Prices for next year are pretty steep for now, will wait for awhile before booking, just want to plan out the budget!

Thanks!

Mattyb44

My wife, 2 children and I will be making our first visit to Thailand next May. We have 11 days to fill and are looking at the very rough plan of spending 3-4 days in each of Krabi, Koh Samui and Phi Phi. Is this a reasonable plan?

papyPiHi

hmmm...having been to Phi Phi 2 years ago, I don't think it's a good place for families: Phi Phi , in my opinion, is one of the most touristic islands I've ever been to, crowded with heaps of partygoers on the beaches. It can be very noisy at night
OK, the scenery is stunning, but you'd be better off in Koh Lanta or Koh Yao Noi in my opinion

xolinlevh

Question about the logic of renting a car:

Visting in December, 4 nights at the Le Meridian and 3 at the Banyan Tree. Figured with that many days we would want to explore some on our own, and cars are cheap enough to rent for the duration of the trip. Is there actually any logic to this? are there enough tourist destinations that are drivable?

jordandawg05

so jealous, we miss banyan tree !!! its such a great place to be, we loved it !

you can always take hotel car for a fee but renting wasn't an option for us because of the risk if we had an accident and dealing with police there. from what i read here , the police always sides with locals...

we were on our honeymoon so didn't go 'out' too much

xolinlevh

I am really looking forward to it! Got gifted 2 nights in a basic villa there, upgraded so we now have 3 nights in the Sanctuary Villa (wanted to do the double pool ones but.....$$$$$$$$$). Its my birthday during the time we are Banyan Tree so dont figure we will be going out quite as much while we are there Im just figuring there will be times we want to go out for food in town, rather then staying purely at the hotels. Hertz prices out at something like 200-250 for the week, and i have a 100 gift cert for them......Taking a hotel car would be possible but assume that costs something each time, its not always available right when you need it, taxis i never really trust either. ~$150 out of pocket to have a car for the week is a fair deal to me, but I've got no clue what driving in Phuket is like, is it rather sane, or is it crazy? We also have to be back to the airport in phuket at something like 5-6AM the last day to fly to BKK to get on a 10AM flight to paris =/ So having a car would be helpful then....

jordandawg05

very nice, sanctuary villa !! you will have a blast , the staff at banyan tree will make it an enjoyable time.

its probably cheaper if you rent but maybe some others can advise on how easy /hard to drive in phuket.

danhunterpost

Arriving in Phuket for 2 nights in late August/early September from Singapore. Looking for a nice 4/5 star hotel to stay at with my girlfriend, what any suggestions on the best place to stay? Will most likely want to spend little time at the hotel and hope to take a boat trip and possibly sightsee the other day we are there but want to be sure we have a nice place to go back to and relax. Would like to have a nice size room / suite with nice views of the ocean. Looking to spend $250-$350 USD per night.

6 months ago stayed at the Le Meridian in Siem Reap, Cambodia and was very enjoyable but the Le Meridian in Phuket does not seem on par with the one in Siem Reap.

Crazy4Rewards

I'll be in Phuket in two week and would like any recommendations for activities and restaurants. I'm going with my husband and another couple and will be staying in the Marriott Phuket Beach Club.

One of the things I would like to do is an Elephant Safari. Any good place to do this?

Thanks in advance.

papyPiHi

Pullmann?

Maji

From what I have read, Kok Chang Safari Elephant Trekking is one of the better ones in Phuket. It is located around the Kata Beach.

Enjoy.

arlflyer

Just curious if anyone could provide any reports from on the ground out there. CNN/BBC report was getting some good airtime here this week, showing photos of vastly cleaned up beaches and en masse shutdowns of illegal development. And the operations against the taxi folks seem to have stuck. Looks all positive in my book - just curious if anyone who is actually there has anything of interest to add. I trust the words of a Flyertalker over mainstream news sources any day!

Headed that way for the first time at the end of this year and between these actions and the much-covered slowdown in Russian tourism, I'm hoping it might be like a throwback to the old days!

minhaoxue

Is there any concerns about taking a taxi from HKT airport to a Hotel? We will be staying at Le Meridian.

seanthepilot

PROVIDED you are not flying in between 23:00 and 07:00 or in the middle of high season after a lot of other arrivals, there should be no problem at all.

Taxis in Phuket are a reasonable value compared to the hotel pickups. They are terribly organized and act like a bunch of thugs. But they have clean cars and (usually) drive safely.