Best Hotels in Phuket 2012

Last year I blogged the Top 10 Hotels in Phuket, the list being based on TripAdvisor ratings, which can give you (if there are plenty of ratings) a decent idea of quality. Sure there may be occasional odd reviews - some sound like advertising and you hear rumours that some reviews may be written by people connected with a hotel, or by competitors, but if there are enough reviews I think you can see through the fog and figure out what are the best hotels in Phuket. There is some controversy about TripAdvisor now and then. Anyone can log in and leave a review even if they never stayed at the hotel in question. But I think if you have enough reviews, the cream should rise to the top!

This is a new updated list of the Top 10 Phuket Hotels for 2012. For each hotel below there are links for online reservations/rates and availability - I recommend Agoda.com if you want to book a hotel in Phuket. The review links below are also mostly from Agoda where possible - only people who have booked the hotels through Agoda can make a review, and if you check some of the reviews, they tend to be very honest reviews, good and not-so-good, plus points and minus points - combine Agoda reviews with the TripAdvisor reviews for an even wider range of views. OK, here's the new top 10 Phuket hotels for 2012 ...

Top 10 Phuket Hotels 2012

1. The Baray Villa (Kata Beach)



The Baray Villa - just 14 luxury villas, which are run by the Sawasdee Village Resort, and yet separate from the resort. Villas are 2 floor with huge rooms, jacuzzi, direct pool access, set in tropical gardens, with a spa available. Reviews make the villas sound fantastic! The Sawasdee Village itself is also part of the top 10.

• The Baray Villa on Agoda.com
• Baray Villa Reviews

2. The Shore at Katathani (Kata Noi Beach)



Katathani has been around for years, but The Shore is their new luxury "pool villa" development, opened in 2010. And it sure looks good! Pool villas, some with seaview (note: reviews mention that the view does vary from villa to villa), all with private pools. Very much a couples hotel. I see lots of honeymoon reviews.

• The Shore at Katathani on Agoda.com
• The Shore Reviews

3. Rising Sun Residence (Chalong)



Not your normal beach hotel, Rising Sun Residence has 12 villas in the hills of Chalong overlooking Chalong Temple. There are seven three-bedroom villas, four of these have a private pool and jacuzzi, kitchen and large living room. The five one-bedroom villas are built around a large pool with sun deck and jacuzzi. Long way from the beach, so would suit people who want to explore Phuket and "come home" in the evening. My kind of people!

• Rising Sun Residence on Agoda.com
• Rising Sun Residence Reviews

4. Andara Resort and Villas (Kamala Beach)



A 5 star resort, found overlooking Kamala Beach with luxury villas and a fancy restaurant called "Silk". This is a place to relax and be pampered. All villas have private pools. Note that the resort is not right on the beach - it's on the hillside with great seaviews - but there is a free shuttle to their own private Beach Club.

• Andara Resort & Villas on Agoda.com
• Andara Reviews

5. Villa Zolitude (Chalong)



Another "up in the hills" idea .. and seems to be very popular. Villa Zolitude is between Phuket Town and Chalong. Not near any beaches. Up in the hills, you pass Villa Zolitude if driving up Radar Hill. Certainly quiet up there, away from the crowds by quite a distance. Good idea to have some transport if you stay at this hotel.

• Villa Zolitude on Agoda.com
• Villa Zolitude Reviews

6. Sawasdee Village (Kata Beach)



Sawasdee Village has been around for 20 years and keeps changing to keep up with the latest needs of tourists - scroll back up to number 1 (Baray Villa) which is run by the same people. The original Sawasdee Village is small, quiet and built around gardens and water features. Only about 50 rooms, not a huge resort. I reviewed Sawasdee Village on this blog a few years ago. It was not in the top 10 last year, but has always had a good reputation.

• Sawasdee Village on Agoda.com
• Sawasdee Village Reviews

7. BYD Lofts (Patong Beach)



BYD Lofts is not so much a hotel, it's more like serviced appartments, with a communal rooftop pool, near the center of Patong Beach. There are 1 and 2 bedroom appartments of varying sizes. A good place to stay if you like to be near the center of all the action (that's Patong) but need a quiet place to retire to.

• BYD Lofts on Agoda.com
• BYD Lofts Reviews

8. Boomerang Village (Kata / Karon Beach)



I did a review of Boomerang Village on the blog in 2009. A few years ago I was surprised to find it rated so highly, it's quite different to some other hotels - on the hillside behind Kata and Karon Beaches, a good 15 minute walk to the sand, but obviously very popular! I think places like this make up for the off-beach location with a very good personal service, plus it's very quiet - hard to believe you are staying in Thailand's most touristy destination!

• Boomerang Village Booking on Agoda.com
• Boomerang Village Reviews

9. Trisara Resort Villas



Trisara features private pool villas on a private beach just north of Bang Tao beach in the north of Phuket. Another of the "secluded, luxury, amazing views, forget-your-worries" style hotels. Only 39 villas, lots of space. Villas of varying sizes from 2 - 6 bedroom, so can be ideal for families or big get togethers, or weddings. Or just for a relaxing trip for a couple.

• Trisara Booking on Agoda.com
• Trisara Reviews

10. Mom Tri's Villa Royale (Kata Noi Beach)



Mom Tri Devakul was one of Phuket's tourism innovators. His Boathouse hotel was one of Phuket's first five star boutique hotels with a widely acclaimed restaurant and a wine cellar that I hear is still very good. The Villa Royale was built later on land which used to be his home, on the rocky headland overlooking Kata Noi beach. A stairway from the hotel takes you down to the beach and the water. Great views from the rooms and from the restaurant too. It's got a certain touch of class, only has 35 rooms/suites and is often fully booked!

• Villa Royale on Agoda.com
• Villa Royale Reviews
• More about Mom Tri's Villa Royale on Jamie's Phuket


What do you think of the top 10? Maybe you have stayed somewhere else that you thought was amazing? Do add a comment below! The top 10 for 2012 is an interesting mix of old and new resorts, big hotels and small hotels, villas, hillside, beachfront.... Something for everyone, I think. There is a trend in recent years for new luxury resorts and for seaview (not on the beach) villas. Land prices are very high these days in Phuket, so it's hard to think about opening a small hotel or guesthouse. In the last couple of years, new resorts include the new Holiday Inn and the Renaissance Resort which are both at Mai Khao Beach and the new Centara Grand Beach Resort at Karon Beach.

For Phuket hotel bookings, I recommend looking at Agoda.com. As I say, Agoda also has reviews and also has a "rewards" program where you get discounts on future bookings. On the subject of reviews, by all means read them, but do think also about actual hotel features - location, size, room type, price (!), suitability for kids etc.. one person's heaven may be another person's holiday nightmare! Check this little sketch about TripAdvisor by English comedian Michael McIntyre... Any questions about hotels, please do leave a comment or ask on my Jamie's Phuket Facebook Page.

• Top 10 Hotels in Phuket (written in 2011)
• Jamie's Phuket Hotel Recommendations
• Phuket Hotels online @ Agoda.com - Book Here, or at least have a look and check the rates!

Phuket Old Town Festival

The end of January was a busy time for festivals and fairs in Phuket! We had the Chalong Temple Fair, also a food fair at Sapan Hin (the south end of Phuket Town), it was Chinese New Year on the 23rd (welcome to the year of the Dragon!) AND from 28th - 30th January there was the Phuket Old Town Festival, 3 nights of street fair, food stalls, stage performances in the old part of Phuket Town along Thalang Road and in the Queen Sirikit Park next to the TAT office. There had been a one-night fair for the Chinese New Year on the 23rd at the Sanam Chai park on the north side of Phuket Town. We went along and I took some photos - see Chinese New Year in Phuket but much of the New Year celebrations were saved for the Old Town Festival although there were lots of lanterns on the 23rd....



We headed into town on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th in the evening. A bit late on Saturday actually as there was a street procession with people dressed up in old style Chinese clothing .. and we missed that. Oops! But there were plenty of people dressed up along Thalang Road. Phuket has large Chinese influence, with a lot of Chinese-Thai people due to immigration during the 19th century when Phuket had a big tin-mining boom.



But there's not exactly a "China Town" in Phuket. Thalang Road is very mixed, there are Muslim shops, old Chinese hardware stores and printers, the old herb shop and a Chinese shrine which is right next door to the Christian Assembly!





(above) Thalang Road - Dragons and the Muslim roti shop - he was busy during the festival! I stopped there to get one for my son who was feeling peckish. A little girl at the roti shop thought he was handsome (well, sure, he's my son). He thought she was a bit scary, though. What a sweetie!



Before being invaded by motor vehicles, the main artery into Phuket Town was a canal, called the Bang Yai canal. It starts at the ocean at Sapah Hin, right in the south of the town and heads right through the center. Still there, but does not get used now aside from small fishing boats that moor up at Sapan Hin. On a small stretch of canal next to the Sirikit Park free boat rides were being offered. Well, why not try? We had to clamber down a wooden platform into a small wooden craft powered and steered by 2 offset narrow oars fixed to the side of the boat. I went with the kids for a "new experience" :) The canal is ... how to say ... smelly. The boatman looked like he might have been rowing these boats a few years ago! When he pushed the oar forward I had to lean back to avoid a punch on the nose :)



At the Queen Sirikit Park, there was a lot going on. There is a big dragon statue at the park. Old Chinese legend says that Phuket is a sea dragon called Hai Leng Ong emerging from the ocean. The dragon protects Phuket. And this is the year of the dragon, so it's doubly important for Phuket. The local Chinese-Thai community believe strongly in some of the old ways - and you can see this not just at Chinese New Year, but also for example at the Phuket Vegetarian Festival and the Hungry Ghost Festival.



(above) Dragon dancers next to the dragon statue at Queen Sirikit Park.

A stage was set up in the park, though we couldn't get near it .. lots of people there watching dancing and music which went on each of the 3 evenings. Another area was more commercial with an outdoor motorbike showroom. Kids enjoyed sitting on the bikes (not until you're 18, son) and posing with the Pretties - the name given to the admittedly pretty girls who are there selling bikes (and cars, or beer).



(above) Stage with dragon dance at the old Phuket festival



(above) One of the "pretties" selling mopeds



(above) Fire dancer in the Queen Sirikit Park

Back along Thalang Road we spent some time on the Saturday evening at the Glastnost Cafe on Soi Romanee, a narrow side street that heads off Thalang Road and joins up with Dibuk Road. Romanee has several small cafes and guesthouses. The Glastnost is owned by a jazz loving lawyer called Mr Puchong. He had a friend in the house, who owns the Phuket Beer company. So... we had a few Phuket Beers while the kids entertained with music.





Soi Romanee is not a wide street and was made narrower still by stalls selling clothes, drinks, arty things.. The old town is a place I always like, but it looks especially good at festival time. Good to see quite a lot of tourists in town during the festival too. I keep using the term "the real Phuket", which is hard to define, since Phuket has many sides, but in the old section of Phuket Town there is a lot of interest. I'm not going to knock someone for spending 2 weeks on the beach, but I've been doing this blog for years now, trying to show that Phuket is so much more than beaches. I guess the "real Phuket" is what you make of it.





(above) People walking on Thalang Road and the narrow Soi Romanee

Chalong Temple Fair

The annual fair at Chalong temple (Wat Chalong) takes place every year around Chinese New Year. The 2012 event was on from 23rd to 29th January. The date changes every year. A great place to sample a bit of local life, the Chalong Temple fair has been part of the Phuket calendar since 1954 featuring fairground rides, clothes and handicrafts, furniture, flowers, fruit stalls, toy stalls, snack stalls, games, lots and lots of food, and live music in the evenings. It all takes place in the temple grounds at Wat Chalong, which is Phuket's largest and most visited temple.





I had not stopped at the Chalong temple fair for a few years. I mean, it's quite interesting if you're visiting the area for the first time, you get a lot of new sights, sounds, smells and flavours (go on, sample some snacks from the stalls!) - but I had no great reason to visit. I had originally blogged about the fair back in 2008, and this is an update of that blog post with lots of new photos. I stopped at Chalong temple twice last week on the way home from work in the early evening. Parking a car near the temple is hard work and anyone who owns a shop or house within a few hundred meters converts their land into a car park, at a price! This takes advantage of lazy people. I parked about half a kilometer away and walked a few minutes to the temple. The entrance is all coloured fluorescent lights - you see the same at just about any local fair. Follow the lights.



And the very first stalls right inside the entrance, were selling that tourist favourite (for a photo, maybe not to eat) - fried insects and insect larvae and... let's just say, I am happy to take a photo, but I can see no earthly reason to eat a fried insect. People say "it tastes like prawns". Great, I can eat prawns instead! I get put off by people saying "the legs get stuck in your teeth". The insect eating stage is where I would quit "Fear Factor" :)



The grounds of the temple are quite large, and with stalls packed in all over the place it's kind of like a maze! A map would be useful, or you can just wander around and hope to find something interesting. Some sections are more devoted to clothes, some areas have lots of food, and there was a big funfair section with rides and games for kids.



All kinds of food and snacks for sale, when you head to a fair like this, or the weekly weekend market outside Phuket Town, no need to eat dinner first! You can just keep buying different things to try.







(Might need to be brave to try some of the curries above!)



And I'd just like to add that there was a small shop set up in a tent selling pets. Mostly kittens and hamsters and such. And an owl. Not sure if the owl was for sale. But it was a very cool owl.



Markets and temples are great places for people watching and for getting a flavour of the real Phuket away from the tourist beaches. I realise not everyone will be interested, but really, there's more here than meets the eye. Phuket is there to be explored. I know it takes a bit of effort because Phuket is quite big. Some people come for beaches, some for b***hes, some for the sun and the food. Some people just want a holiday in a nice resort with no hassle. But, Phuket has so much more!


Related posts on Jamie's Phuket

• Chalong Temple
• Phuket Temples
• Phuket Weekend Market
• Karon Temple Market
• Phuket Festivals and Events

Wat Khao Rang (Rang Hill Temple)

OK so it's 2012 now and this Phuket Blog has been going since April 2006. I love temples, and have blogged more than 30 temples and shrines in the Phuket area. If you think temples are boring don't click here: Phuket Temples and Shrines. There are a few "on the list" to be blogged more for the sake of completeness than anything else. But imagine a sunny morning, driving through Phuket Town with my wife .. kids have been dropped at school and we've dropped a broken laptop off for repairs. We're driving on familiar roads, heading north near the Vachira hospital. There is a little-used side road by the hospital that heads up to the top of Rang Hill. My wife asks - do you know the temple up this road?

I must have driven this way before, but seem to have missed Rang Hill Temple (Wat Khao Rang). Hidden from view up that small side road by the hospital is something quite impressive! There's more than one Big Buddha in Phuket....



OK, it's not as big as "The" Big Buddha, but it's very nice all the same! We got to the temple late morning, but I did not have my camera with me (had not planned to stop anywhere), so we had a quick look, bumped into a local photographer who was taking photos for the Phuket dot com website, we dashed home, got the kids from school and told them we were going to a temple! Hooray, they said! Well, not quite, but I promised this temple would be one they'd not seen before. they thought the Buddha was pretty impressive too.



(above) Big Golden Buddha at Wat Khao Rang



(above) My kids say a little prayer in front of the Buddha. Rang Hill Temple was founded by the famous Monk called Luang Pu Supha, who some claim to be the world's oldest man (not ratified by Guinness). His image can be found on amulets for sale at the temple (there's a sizeable shop below the Big Buddha). He now lives at the temple named after him : Wat Luang Pu Supha, also in Phuket.



The view above shows the new temple building beyond the Big Buddha - the new temple looks to have been very recently completed and is reached by a separate staircase (also new) with Naga snakes guarding the entrance - the snake's bodies stretch all the way up to the top... indeed carry on around the perimeter of the temple.





I did not enter the new temple... rest of the family had seen enough and were waiting in the car.. in any case I will return sometime soon a bit earlier in the day, when the light is better for blue sky-golden Buddha photos. Anyway, it was very nice for me to visit a new temple, and one with something different to offer. There are a couple of other temples with Big Buddha statues in Phuket, both are reclining - try Koh Sirey Temple, or Sri Sunthorn Temple.

Phuket Temples Map


View Phuket Temples in a larger map

Phuket Mini Golf at Bang Tao Beach

It was on Christmas Day that we took a drive looking for the newly opened 'Adventure Mini Golf' in the Bang Tao Beach area of Phuket. It only opened in November 2011, I had read about it somewhere online, sounded interesting. Phuket already has a very well known mini golf operation at the Dino Park, Kata Beach. We've been a couple of times. And many years ago there was a place called Pirate Mini Golf in Patong. It closed more than 10 years ago and yet is still mentioned on many websites! Well, being that is was Christmas, I figured the kids might enjoy some mini golf. I had imagined that this Adventure Mini Golf would be right by the beach with sea views and swaying palms .. of course that's daft - beach land is way too expensive! We drove up to Bang Tao from home, and we don't go this way too often. The mini golf is located on the quiet Bang Tao road at the south end of Bang Tao Beach near the Sunwing Resort. I think it has been years since I last drove on this road! Christmas Day but very quiet - this is a totally different area to the main Phuket beaches. There are hotels, restaurants, and then a patch of grassland with chickens or buffalo. No crowds round here! The mini golf was signposted, and we found it easily enough. Not too expensive for mini golf - Adults 280 Baht, kids 200 (and yes, it's half price for Thai people). There's a little practice green near the entrance. Our daughter got some tuition ...



My dear wife decided a cold drink was better than hitting a golf ball on a hot day (mad dogs and Englishmen). The Adventure Mini Golf has a bar and restaurant with a dozen tables. We found out later that they are open into the evening (until 11pm) with happy hour 5 - 7pm - the restaurant was not even open when we arrived - too early! I think we might go back again one evening for food and some mini golf. Me and the kids took a scorecard and headed for hole 1. It was soon apparent that the kids would not be keeping score. Come on, kids .. take your fun seriously! I gave up keeping score after a while too. Kids were on hole 12 by the time I'd done hole 6. I got a hole in one on the 6th hole, on the 3rd attempt :)



The place is very nicely built and very tidy. Maybe a bit too tidy - I was expecting a bit more Adventure! I think the gardens and trees need time to grow. Maybe some of the 18 holes need more features than just rocks and fake bunkers. There are a couple of water hazards but when I was a kid, mini golf courses at holiday resorts in England had tunnels and windmills and .. or maybe I just remember it being more adventurous when I was a kid! Our kids enjoyed this one, even if they did not keep score. It helped that we were one of only 3 families during the hour that we spent there. The location is a bit quiet, I hope they can survive, might need more promotion. The mini golf in Kata is in a prime location. This one in Bang Tao is harder to find. They do have a website, but I can't say I've yet seen this place advertised much.



The menu looks good in the restaurant. The staff were all friendly. We had a few Cokes, it was a hot day. I guess since it was not crowded, nobody was rushing us.. me and the kids could play the same hole several times, mess about, enjoy Christmas on the golf course :) Glad to have tried this place and we will be back .. would be ideal to go with friends, let the kids go play golf.. maybe "competitive Dad" would join them and go for a course record after a few beers and a pizza. My son is still perfecting his putting style ...



Adventure Mini Golf, Bang Tao Beach, Phuket - Map


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