Before you wonder what the heck kinda travel blog this is and stop reading, don’t. Just because it wouldn’t be on the top of our list for places to go back to, doesn’t mean we didn’t have a good time. Is it our favourite place? No. Were the beaches the best we’ve seen? No. Did we enjoy some good food? Yes. Did we keep ourselves entertained for three days? Sure Did.
Phuket has long been one of the destinations that I’ve heard people raving about. It’s on the top of the hot Thailand destination to visits and thousands of tourists flock to the island every year, longing for either a relaxing time, a crazy time or a bit of both. The three main areas to stay are Patong, Karon, Kata and Phuket Town, with most of the party goers heading to Patong. We opted for the more laid back settlement of Karon, just down the road.
Getting to Phuket
Our stop prior to Phuket was Langkawi, and with no direct flights from here to Phuket, our plane trip was via KL. This worked fine for us as we had no time restrictions and the stopover was only an hour or two, which is still fairly efficient in our books. It was our preference to fly into Thailand rather than using a land crossing as others might choose to do.
Once landing in Phuket, we brought a couple of tickets for a minivan to get us to our hotel. Tickets are available either inside or outside the airport and definitely a cheaper option compared to a taxi or private car, which you’ll also find on offer. We ended up in a full van, which stopped at a travel agent on the way to Karon (via Patong), which meant we all had to get off, chat to the sales people, name our hotel we were staying in before all getting back into the van and dropping people off one by one. Our advice would be to tell them you’ve booked your hotel, even if you haven’t and look at other tour options when you arrive at your hotel, rather than booking with them, but that’s just us. So the van might not be the quickest way to the hotel, but it’s fine when you’re on a budget.
Getting around in Phuket
One of the first thing you’ll realize about Phuket is that there is a Tuk Tuk Mafia. They’re everywhere, taxi’s are hardly anywhere and you’ll pay a fortune to get where you want to go. We walked when we could, caught the public bus on a couple of occasions and hailed a cab via the Grab app when we needed to get home from Patong at night. Motorbikes are available for rent too, but we weren’t so keen to leave our passports with anyone we came across in Phuket, which seemed to be the going requirement in Thailand.
Where we stayed
We stayed at Grand Sunset Hotel just across the road from Karon Beach, having booked through Agoda (one of our Asia go-to’s). The place was even better than expected, a minute walk from the beach and with a rooftop pool. The Deluxe Double room was nice, even if our balcony view was out towards the next-door hotel and powerlines. Setting us back NZD$144 for three nights, we’d stay here again, if we ever did return. The breakfast was pretty stand out and we enjoyed their friendly staff, pool bar and library.
Karon is definitely a quieter, more relaxing option to Patong, with a main street lined with restaurants and shops and was fairly quiet when we visited in October. The weather was slightly dodgy so we didn’t make the most of the beach, other than for a morning stroll. Karon Beach is ok, not great and a little bit too much rubbish for our liking, but definitely impressed us more than the busier beach at Patong. On a nice day, we could imagine it being quite nice even.
What we did
Heaps of people head to Phuket for the wild times and Ping Pong bars, but this really isn’t us. We’re more inclined to find somewhere nice to eat, walk awhile and head to bed by 10…but we still did some stuff we’d recommend you try too.
Hike to Big Buddha
This was definitely our Phuket highlight and a must do. Never before have we sweated so much and felt such a sense of achievement. The cost of the Tuk Tuk fare up to Big Buddha via the road put us off, but we’d heard rumours of a walk you could do and figured we were up to the challenge. The advice would be to leave early in the morning, not over the middle of the day as we did and take plenty of water to replace that which you lose.
Big Buddha was started in about 2002 and even though it’s still yet to be finished, is one of the main tourist attractions in Phuket. The view from the top is amazing and gives you a good sense of Phuket, which you just don’t get from ground level. There’s knick knacks to buy, like at every good tourist attraction, you’ll see a few monks around perhaps and be asked to make use of the complimentary scarves to cover your bare shoulders and legs.
The walk starts from a small side road, Patak Soi 14, which you’ll find off to the right of Patak Road, almost opposite the Siam Commercial Bank. Follow the road for quite a while, until you find Kuanbangla Rd on the left. This was sign posted to the Big Buddha when we went through, but just in case, this is where you need to head. Follow this road for a couple more km’s, the road will get narrower, the houses fewer and eventually you’ll find yourself on what is basically a dirt track. Follow the track pretty much as far as it goes, there will be signs to direct you, and you’ll eventually come out at the main road leading to the Big Buddha. Unfortunately, you’re not quite there and will need to walk the last kilometre on the main road, before you finally get to the top. Wohooo!
Because it’s not an official track, we wouldn’t recommend setting off in the afternoon, just in case you get lost, and because it’s a good couple of hours up and at least an hour and a bit down. It might be worth referencing the crude map a kind Tripadvisor user left on Tripadvisor in 2015 or Jamie’s Phuket blog, although things seemed to have changed a little since then.
When you finally reach the bottom, buy yourself a bottle of Fanta and enjoy a Pad Thai or two at Auntie Wan & Pia, which you’ll find conveniently located at the corner of Patak Road and Patak Soi 14. They also have fans. You can read more about that here.
Phuket Town
Getting to Phuket Town
So there’s a bus. It gets you from Karon to Phuket Town, perfect if you’re in no rush. I use the term ‘bus’ loosely, as it’s more of a truck with too much seating in the rear (which will get filled). It’s also entertaining and another experience you can tick off your bucket list. It runs from Karon, but there is another we understand from Patong. We caught it pretty much outside our hotel on the beach side of the main road. There’s no signs to where it’s going, but just hop on and take the adventure. Unsure if there’s any ‘official’ stops either. You won’t need to pay until the bus is full and the driver will pull over and take your 20 baht.
An hour or so later, on arriving to Phuket town, you’ll be dropped off not where you want to be, but this is also to do with the tuk tuk mafia, who will be right there waiting to take you to your final destination (most likely the old town), or you can do what we did, use google maps and walk. We had no set plans for the day so chose to head to the old part of town, where there’s colonial buildings (not too dissimilar to those you’d find in George Town, Penang) filled with cute shops, cafes, ice-cream boutiques and antiques. Keep your eyes out for some sweet street art while you’re here. We didn’t find too much to do here, but we easily filled half a day wandering and getting a sense of the place. Then we stepped inside ‘Raya’ for a spot of lunch. So glad we did. We’ll tell you all about it here. You’ll find a bus home from the same place you left it, or take a detour and grab a bus to Patong like we did.
Patong
Patong really isn’t our gig. It’s touristy, smelly, busy, filled with people trying to get you into their market stall or bar. We’re so glad we didn’t stay here, but we’re glad we visited. As despite the points made above, we kinda liked it. We liked the craziness, we liked the opportunity to indulge in the tack and we loved the night market where a large collection of gourmet treats, freshly cooked and smelling amazing were available to all our senses. The night market happens out the front of the fresh market (also worth a visit and has a food court on the top level), we were there on a Friday night, so unsure if it’s an every night of the week deal.
Yes you can engage in all the filth that Patong offers (Ping Pong shows and the like), or you can wander, sip on a Mai Thai at Tiger Restaurant and enjoy it briefly for what it is.
Food and Drink
There’s so many options on the table (quite literally) for your eating desires, but we were a little picky, a little snobby and found a few places that looked nicer than the rest. You’re in Thailand though, so even these places aren’t going to blow the budget. Also we’re picky, but on a budget. You can find out more here about where we ate, the likes of Raya in Phuket Town, a real gem, Red Chopsticks in Karon (turned out to be a chain of sorts, dread the thought) and Bai Toey, the cutest little Thai place in town. Aunty Wan & Pia in Karon is also worth a visit. A traditional experience, with awesome hosts and delicious food. Get the pork off the bbq!
