Phuket

Places to stay

Pre-arranging hotels will greatly simplify your life. Good deals can be found on the internet, although it will take time researching all the options. Remember that most internet reservation systems require a 24-48 hour waiting period before they confirm the booking.

If you are in Phuket without a hotel then you have two choices: use an agent, or go direct. Agents may give you a better price, but both options are open to bargaining, and you can easily knock several hundred baht off the price, or at the very least upgrade to a better room.

Hilton Arcadia Hotel & Spa, Karon Beach

The Hilton Arcadia is superb. It stands alone in a private paradise of parks, pools, lakes, and jungle. Everything is designed on a large open-plan scale, and the reception areas are like giant outdoor halls. Your initial impression will be that you have wandered into the bad-guys lair in a James Bond movie.

Upon arrival you are greeted with a hot towel and lychee juice, and are personally escorted to your spotlessly clean room. If you’re lucky you’ll get a balcony looking out over the Andaman Ocean, if not there are still-beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. You’ll probably want to freshen up now, and this is more than amply taken care of with the separate shower and bath, complete with sliding doors that open out to the window view.

Enough of the glossy magazine adverts. There’s no denying that this is a very beautiful hotel in a very beautiful area. Fortunately, at no time are you left feeling like the scenery has been spoiled. The hotel is tastefully decorated, and demurely fits into the jungle as if having always existed.

Karon beach can be reached across a road at the front of the hotel.

In low season the hotel is almost empty.

The Old Phuket, Karon Beach

Located 10 minutes walk from the Hilton Hotel, The Old Phuket is a stylish-looking 3 star hotel on a quiet street. It provides normal hotel rooms, as well as separate bungalow-style flats.

The marketing for this hotel is impressive. They have a nice and informative website, as well as high quality leaflets. However, the hotel is most definitely 3 star. It’s clean and comfortable, and the staff are friendly, but it has many flaws.

Walls are surprisingly thin, and neighbouring TVs are clearly heard. Earplugs are a requirement for light sleepers.

Use of the spa, a private outdoor bath tub on the balcony of ‘spa deluxe rooms’ was problematic, and refused to fill with more than a few centimetres of water. The balcony itself was overlooking the street, and contained ants.

Unwanted wildlife was the main problem. A small lizard was discovered hanging from a picture above the bed, and at 2am in the morning a scuffling noise was heard from inside the walls – the unmistakable sound of rats.

An accompanying restaurant, found at the end of the street, serves very tasty (if small portions of) Thai food.

Note that the room rates advertised on the website are, in the low season at least, negotiable. A deluxe spa room was obtained at half the price just by asking at reception.