Phuket is one of the most amazing places that I have ever been to. Between the night life, the beaches, the turquoise waters, and the food - this is one of the best all-in-one destinations!
Living in Texas, it's nice having quick access to islands in the Caribbean for fishing, diving, and relaxing on the beach, but nothing quite compares to the experience that we had in Phuket, Thailand. Usually I book all of my trips myself, but we went through a travel website called Affordable World and I'm so glad that we did! I'll make sure to have a separate post about our experience with them in the future.
The Thai province of Phuket includes the country's largest island (Phuket) and 32 smaller islands off the coast and is relatively small with an area of only 222 sq miles total. On the west side of the island, you have the Adaman Sea and the east is Phang-nga Bay. We were told that there are only two real seasons in Phuket, dry season (Dec-Mar) and the rainy season (Apr-Nov) with an average temperature of 90 degrees. We luckily went at the very beginning of December barely missing a week-long rain fall.
Let's break down some of the top reasons why Phuket, Thailand needs to be added to the top of your list of destinations right-away.
Stay
We were lucky enough to have a hotel that was right on the beautiful Mai Khao Beach, but there are beautiful beaches all over the island. Our 4-star Holiday Inn Resort (yes it was a Holiday Inn and yes it was unbelievable) had direct view and access to the beach, but was positioned just far away from the beach so that you feel like you're in the jungle. None of the hotels in the area were over-running the beach, but were a little further back so that you can really enjoy the views. Our hotel averages between $70-$100 per night (I know, cheap!), but there are other hotels for any price range. I just checked Priceline and there are hotels that run anywhere from $18 per night to $550 per night depending on rating and location. The best part about a hotel on Mai Khao Beach is that it was close to the airport, far from the main city, and relaxing. It also had an amazing breakfast buffet that included American, Indian, Thai, and Chinese varieties. The only bad part about this hotel that it was far from the city, meaning that you have to arrange transportation to get to the main area of Patong (the main shopping, drinking, and eating area). Luckily, our hotel arranged shuttles for free (the first time) or a minimal fee to and from Patong. I loved our hotel, but I would definitely take these pros/cons into consideration when booking.
Night life
If you want to go out on the town, you have got to go to the Patong area. Patong is a small, but concentrated area of things to do including a beach, restaurants, massage parlors, shopping, live music, bars, and a ton of other tourists. This is also the area you'd go do some of the touristy things like "ping-pong shows" (nope-we didn't) or eat bugs/scorpions. When we went, we had a Grab car (I'll talk about later) drop us off at the OTOP market which is just south of the main Patong area. OTOP is a perfect spot if you're hungry, but not completely sure what you want to eat. They have a whole street filled with food stands, samples, pictures (they help), and picnic tables to enjoy your meal. We went with a small group of 6, so we all got something different and shared a little bit of everything. After we filled up on food and beer, we walked around to do some shopping.
There are night markets EVERYWHERE in Patong where you will find knock-off clothing, shoes, handbags, and jewelry as well as every souvenir that you can possibly think of. It is definitely worth checking out to get something for yourself and souvenirs for friends or family back home. We slowly made our way north while stopping in souvenir shops, snacking on interesting delectables, and turning down massages or "shows" until we made it to the main strip, the street of Thanon Bangla. This area reminded me a little of Vegas because there were lights and people everywhere, all sorts of food wafting in the air, and bars on every corner - it was a bit of sensory overload, but definitely my type of place! We found a place called Red Hot that had pricey drinks, but a fantastic cover band that had us staying there for over an hour. In most of Thailand, beer prices are about $1-$2, but in the touristy areas, you can expect to pay about $5 for your local beer, Chang. We only went to Patong for about 4 hours, but I'd recommend going earlier in the day to enjoy the sunset at Patong Beach and then spend the rest of your night eating and drinking your way through the area.
Activities
Although we were only in Phuket for 5 days, we were able to make the best of our time, while still having plenty of time to relax at our pool and beach. Phuket has some of the most beautiful waters, diverse landscapes, and incredible rock formations if you know where to go.
James Bond Island is arguably the most famous landmark in Phang Nga Bay. It got its attention and name from international tourists because of its role in the James Bond movie, The Man with the Golden Gun. As the name suggests, it's an island and cannot be driven to, so you will need to book an excursion for this 1hr long boat ride. There are a lot of excursions and ways to get to James Bond Island, but one that I would highly recommend you spend the extra money on from Easy Day Thailand. For 8300 baht (roughly $270), two people can get a private tour of James Bond Island that also includes hotel pick-up/drop-off, a private English-speaking guide, a visit of the Sea Gypsy village (Koh Panyee), a tour of the monkey temple (Wat Sawan Kuha), and private lunch. Believe me, this is money well spent considering you'll be spending roughly $150-$200 for a similar tour anyway. We talked to others that said the island was completely flooded with tourists by the time they got there (11a), but we were literally the first people on the island (7a) and got to enjoy this serene experience.
If you decide to go this route, Easy Day Thailand will coordinate a pickup with you via email from your hotel at around 5a (I know it's early, but it's worth it) and they will drive you to the east side of Phuket where you'll board a boat in Phang-nga Bay. It was still dark when we boarded the boat, but there was still enough light to see the mangroves that were surrounding us. I was too busy taking a ton of pictures, when our guide had the boat driver shut-off the boat. We thought something was wrong, but then he pointed at the orange light in the distance and we got to take in the beautiful sunrise over the bay. Once the sun was up, we continued our trek and arrived to James Bond Island around 7a. I am not joking when I say that we were the ONLY people on the island, it was amazing. We got to look at the waters, the cliffs, the hornbill birds flying overhead, and listened to our guide give us some info about the area. After enjoying the island for about a half hour, we boarded the boat and headed for the Sea Gypsy Village.
Sea Gypsy Village (Koh Panyee) is a fishing village that consists of about 360 families of muslim decent that is built right over the water. It was really too early for anything to be open there , but it was really neat walking around and seeing the floating island slowly come to life. This village used to get most of it's income from fishing, but has recently become a tourist attraction where they sell food, drinks, and souvenirs. We hadn't eaten yet and the fried chicken some families were cooking up for their breakfast was smelling pretty dang good! After walking through the village and learning about its inhabitants from our guide, we got back on the boat and headed back for our lunch. The lunch was fresh, delicious, and much-needed after a long morning in the water. Next, we got in the van and drove to the monkey temple.
The monkey temple (Wat Sawan Kuha) is a cave temple with a large reclining Buddha inside and completely covered with monkeys on the outside. When you arrive there are shops to purchase souvenirs or food for the monkeys (100 baht for bananas) which is up to you. Our guide had a couple of mangos, so we didn't have to purchase any food to get up close and personal with these cute little long-tailed macaque. It's ok to feed them, but don't try to pet or touch them because they're obviously wild monkeys and also because there is a steep fine if you do. After the monkey temple, we got driven back to our hotel - it's definitely nice to tip your driver and guide if they do a great job (which they will). Another positive of an early excursion is that we were back at our hotel by noon which was perfect for a quick nap!
Phi Phi Islands are surrounded by the most beautiful turquoise waters I have ever seen. If you've seen beautiful water pictures from Phuket online, I can almost guarantee they were taken in Phi Phi Islands. We booked our excursion through Carl on an AirBnB Experience for a fraction of the cost of other excursions (and basically the same excursion) - it was $100 per person from our travel agency and $65 from the AirBnB experience. This was the third time that we booked an experience through AirBnB, and it's something I'd recommend looking into.
AirBnB is often thought of as just staying at someone's place, but it's also for regular locals to put together excursions, food tours, cooking classes, etc. with reviews and generally better pricing (not to mention you're learning more from the locals). Carl set us up with a large van (for an extra cost) to accommodate the 6 of us going that picked us up around 8a and took us straight to the pier which had some snacks, drinks, and motion sickness pills (for those who needed it).
The Phi Phi Islands excursion first stopped at Maya Bay which was the filming location for the movie 'The Beach' with Leonardo DiCaprio. They let us out of the boat for about 30 minutes to snorkel and swim around the reef - the water was beautiful and clear, the fish were everywhere, and the giant clams were a crazy deep blue color.
Next, we drove along Monkey Beach where there were monkeys running around, climbing the cliffs, and swimming. Lunch was served at the Phi Phi Don restaurant, which wasn't the best food, but it was included. Unfortunately, the tide was low and we were unable to check out Pileh Cove or Low Samah Bay, but they did take us to another few stops along the way. Ultimately, $67 was a very low cost for the 8 hour excursion, the various stops, snorkeling, lunch, and relaxing on the beach.
Food
We were rarely disappointed with the food options in Phuket. There were a couple of small restaurants within walking distance of our hotel including Mama's Restaurant (where the menu was basically a binder that had about 100 options) and TonTan Restaurant on the beach. Both were great and had everything from pad Thai, curries, and seafood to pizzas, burgers, and stir fry.
On one of our last nights of the trip, I booked a fancy dinner at La Sala which had great reviews. La Sala was close to our hotel and we were able to take a Tuk Tuk the short 3 mile journey up to the Mai Khao Plaza area. Unfortunately there is also a hotel in the area called Sala, which was confusing for both us and our driver, so we had to take another ride to get to the right place. La Sala is located inside the Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas and the restaurant is surrounded by a pond filled with water Lillies and other lush greenery - the ambiance was breathtaking. The menu has both traditional and untraditional Thai dishes along with a variety of Indian options. We were surprised with a complimentary appetizer that included a strange combination of palm sugar, ginger, lime, chili, onions, and peanuts that you're supposed to roll up in a large Thai leaf. I didn't know what to expect, but this combination of flavors were truly an amazing start to our dinner.
For our food, we went with the satay ruam (skewers with peanut sauce), khao phao poo (fried rice with crab meat, tomatoes, spring onions, and egg), and my personal favorite was the butter chicken with garlic naan. This incredible dish was probably the best Indian food I've ever had and is definitely worth the money.
Getting around
One of the things that could definitely stress someone out is considering the logistics of how to get from point-a to point-b and how to look up maps and places to go. Don't stress! I'd recommend checking with your cellular carrier to first see if an international data plan is worth it. With AT&T, it only cost me $10 per day for unlimited talk, text, and data. Even if you don't get service, you will likely have Wifi in your resort like we did (even by the pool). Service makes life easier so that you can pin places to go on your map (you should do that ahead of time, though) and download the Grab app. Grab is very similar to Uber and is widely used throughout Southeast Asia. Grab is generally a bit cheaper than what you would expect from Uber and you have the option for a regular car or large van (to accommodate more people). When you're out and about, you should use a Tuk Tuk! A Tuk Tuk will probably be a little more expensive than a Grab, but you can barter with the driver for a better price. A Tuk Tuk is a motorcycle fitting 2-4 people that can easily zip in-and-out of traffic to get you short distances faster than a traditional car. Another option is a Taxi, but we never rode in one since they kind of get a bad rep. If you decide to take a Taxi, just make sure that they run the meter because if they don't, they'll just make up a price and it'll generally be more than you plan on paying. The last option is to discuss a shuttle with your hotel - most hotels have shuttles and they are generally fairly cheap. The only down side is that they are usually on schedules which may mean you don't get the flexibility of some of the other options.
Wrap-Up
Yes, you should DEFINITELY go to Phuket, Thailand! The food is amazing, the views are breathtaking, and the people are friendly. There is so much to do in Phuket that you could easily fill up an entire week and still not even see the sights. We didn't make it to some of the temples in the southern part of the island or Old Town Phuket - just another reason to go back!
Travelingo 3x3
Where to eat:
La Sala
The food market at OTOP (near Patong)
TonTan Restaurant
Where to drink:
Red Hot
Really ANYWHERE in the Patong area
Just grab some cheap Chang beers and chill on the beach
What to do:
Patong for nightlife and beach area
Phi Phi Islands for the most amazing waters
James Bond Island for another beautiful water adventure
Below are some products that I used during this trip and highly recommend:
