Phuket Hotel Tips by trisanna

The Chedi is a beautiful hotel right on, one of the nicest beaches in phuket-Surin Beach. When you are here-you will forget that most of Phuket is horribly built up. We had a deluxe room, but were able to haggle for a beach front bungalow-for an extra $50 per night (this was during their low season april-october). The room was beautiful. Very comfortable and the second bedroom was nice to relax in. The food was so so. The Thai food wasn't very good-quite bland. I wish there were more choices on their menu. Breakfast buffet was quite nice. One nice thing about this hotel is that it is located right next to the exculsive Amanpuri hotel-you are welcome to use their restaurants, except their staff will keep reminding you that you are from the Chedi. The Chedi has a golf cart to take you to and from the Amanpuri. The Amanpuri has a great Thai restaurant (also have an Italian one)and well worth the visit. In the evening you will hear wonderful noises coming from the lily pond by the reception-you won't believe that frogs can make so much noise.

The only issue about this place is that it's hard to get a taxi from the hotel. The staff want you to arrange transport with them for around 800tbt, which is ridiculous-since if you use a metered cab from the airport to the hotel it should cost 300tbt. They won't call any of the taxi companies for you-so you are stuck with them if you have an early morning flight. During the day you can walk down to the main street and get a cab or songtaew to take you were you want to go.


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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: most expensive
Prices: US$180 and up  » Currency Converter
Phone: (66 76) 324 017 - 20
Address: 118 Moo 3, Choeng Talay Talang, Phuket 83110
Directions: Surin Beach, 30 minute drive south of airport
Website: http://www.ghmhotels.com/thechediphuket/index.asp

Baan Krating is very isolated-located on the southern tip of phuket-a hour from the airport-near Phuket town. It's kind of crazy that you have to go through the Le Meredien yacht club service entrance and a very curvy road to get to this hotel. There were only a few other people at this place when we were there. The bunaglows are very nice. Ours had a nice view of the sea. Bathrooms were simple, but had special shampoos and conditioners made for this boutique hotel. The beach was rocky and small, but nice-you share it with some other guest house. There were a bunch of windsurfers staying here-so it must be very good for this. You can use the beach at Nai Harn(next to Le Meredien) The restaurant staff seemed to take a long time to make our food and drinks. My husband asked for a watermelon shake and got a banana instead. They don't speak great english, but they try hard-so you have to excuse some miscommunications.

This hotel is very isolated. More so than i originally thought. This should only be for couples, who want to get away from everything. You can't really walk to anything-the Le Meredien is about 15 min walk, but could be dangerous since it's not lighted at night and has very sharp turns. But the staff will easily book you a cab-there are close restaurants at Cape Panwa and Patong Beach is about 30-45 mins away.


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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$40-80  » Currency Converter
Phone: +66(0) 27180854
Address: 11/3 Moo 1, Wiset Road, Tambol Rawai, Ao Sane Beach, Phuket 83130
Directions: very southern tip of Phuket island, just beyond Nai Harn beach and Le Royal Meridian Phuket Yacht Club
Website: http://www.baankrating.com/junglebeach/

This hotel is located by Nai Yang Beach-near the airport. It is quite isolated-away from everything. When we visited the hotel was on a soft opening and was finishing the resort. When we were there the gym and spa were not finished yet. The hotel has around 100+ rooms-comprised of two large blocks. I am not a fan of large hotels, but the rooms were so nice here and plush. So much detail and care went into the rooms. The bathrooms are stunning! The floors are detailed with silver leaf tiles-also the bathtub and shower are covered with glass mosiac beads. The room comes with a dvd player.

The rest of the hotel grounds are quite nice. The restaurant serves good Thai and western food. Prices are high, but service is good. Menu is quite limited. I am sure once the hotel has it's normal opening and things are up and running - there will be more choices. There is a swimming pool facing the ocean.

The only problems with the resort is that even though it's on the beach-the ocean is quite far out. I hope they can develop the beach. Where the resort ends is a patch of grass and muddy sand. You can walk further out to the ocean, but it's not that great. Also, we saw no elevators or lifts at the resort. Lots of steps. Will not be good for people with disabilities or weak knees, unless you get a bottom floor room.

Around each hotel room block-there are little ponds scattered nearby. There are a lot of frogs and they converse loudly with each other. It's nice to be in nature again.

Hotel is a 40 minute drive to Patong Beach.


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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$120-180  » Currency Converter
Phone: +66 76316 000 098
Address: 92 Moo 3 Ba NaTai, Nai Yang Beach
Website: www.arahmashotels.com

This is a lovely hotel in the middle of Patong. A 5 minute to the beach, bars or shops. It's tucked away so you don't have to worry about noise. The rooms are simple, but elegant. Rooms have huge beds. We booked the standard room, which was quite nice. Small bathroom. Shower/tub and a window that links the bathroom to the bedroom. Small balcony, but nice so you can dry your towels or wetsuit on it. From the outside, the pricer rooms seem to have larger balconies. Some rooms have direct pool access. With steps into the pool from your room.

When walking around you have to watch out for the low ceilings. Nice breakfast buffet and the restaurant looks quite good. If you want to stay in Patong, i would stay here. Rooms start around $39USD during the low season. We booked our room through www.hoteltravel.com


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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: US$20-40  » Currency Converter
Address: 31/1 Soi Ruamjai, , Phuket, South
Website: www.burasari.com

I really wanted to like this hotel. From the outside and the website, it looks great. It's a large 60+ room block hotel, but the bottom rooms look like Sino-Portuguese houses. In Singapore, we would say they look like shophouses.This building is imitating this style and not actually old. Located down a small soi or road facing the ocean. There are three types of accomodation. Standard rooms, deluxe rooms with jacuzzi on balcony or terrace rooms, which have outdoor showers. We booked a deluxe room with jacuzzi for their promotional price of 1,900 baht.

The problems with this place started as soon as we arrived. Our air conditioning barely worked. The jacuzzi we splurged for took hours to fill. In the end, we didn't use it. The thing had almost no water pressure. The staff weren't helpful and didn't seem to care about our issues. Also, i think we were one of only three couples there in a weekend in September. The service and breakfast were not up to the standards that you are paying for. You can easily stay in a place in Phuket that is half the price that is nicer, has better service and nicer breakfast. They have a laughable fitness area. The pool looks decent.

It's sad, since the developer, who created this hotel had grand visions of a beautiful hotel. If they only did a bit more and had better management, this place could be great. But now, i wouldn't recommend anyone to stay here. I am sure during the dry season, when this place is more crowded the service is probably better, but even then i wouldn't stay here. Also, at night Karon beach was dead. Hardly anyone at the restaurants. If you want to head to Kata or Patong you usually have to flag down a tuk tuk, who wants a fortune to take you five minutes. It adds up quickly. I would never stay in Karon again. If you need to stay somewhere central, i would pick a place in Kata or Patong.

One positive thing, is that a few meters from the restaurant there is a very good Swedish restaurant called Gastgivargarden.


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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$40-80  » Currency Converter
Phone: (66) 076-396353-56
Address: 192/36 Karon Rd.,Karon Beach, Muang ,Phuket 83100
Website: www.theoldphuket.com