Planning on going to Phuket sometime between early Nov to Feb. However, not sure if I will be alone or with my LW. This may seem odd, but If I'm alone, I tend to stay down a notch at a 3* kind of place and step it up a bit when the LW is with me.

Location: thinking of being near to Patong beach, but not right in the thick of things. Close enough to walk?

Basic requirments: Thai style, fairly quiet (not tomb silent), near the beach, pool (laps?), garden setting, near good restaurants. I looked at the Graceland and it was nice, but it clocked in at around $145.

Price: $75 to $100 if alone. Up to 150 if with LW.

Expected activities: semi-active vacation not centered around laying on the beach. Snorkling, speed boat tour of the bay... but some shopping, massages, maybe a little nightlife. Any recommendations for the 50's crowd?

I'm open to maybe Kata Beach or Karon Beach, but thought they might be more family-oriented or too quiet for us.

Do you guys use a hotel booking site or go direct to the hotels for internet rates?

Suggestions on things to do in Phuket are welcome.

Thanks for your help.

there are 3 new marriott courtyard hotels around patong....one right in town and two on the outskirts...they all looked nice...

Degas, I recently had a similar request to yours. Check the suggestions people provided under my topic "Samui vs Phuket," especially those for Kata Beach. The rates fluctuate seasonally, and you might not get a Marriott room for the dates you want and at the price you want.

rhkkmk & WillJame - thanks for the feedback. Quite a jump from Oct rates to Nov rates.

Yep! Big jump once the season begins. Phuket weather that time of year is absolutely beautiful!

You mention Patong, but frankly, I'd prefer Kata. Plenty of activity there, and not all that far from Patong, if you want to go see what it's all about.

Carol

Rates go up a lot from Nov 1st. The new Courtyard by Marriott Patong is due to open next week, drove past last week looking and realised it was the old tropicana, these new places like Courtyard and Mercure are along Rat-U-Thit Road so ok if you want a very busy place.
Kata would probably suit you, Centara Kata, Sugar Palm etc all reasonable value, there is thre Kata beach resort right on the beach otherwise it means a walk to the beach, you will find lots of souvenir shops, restaurants and bars along the road behind Club Med but not on the scale of Patong.
If Patong Club Andaman may suit you, that and the Garceland further is about as far as you can go without needing a tuk-tuk to and from the busy main center, but expect that if you have to take a tuk tuk to cost you best part of US$6 each way, which adds up.

I would decide on beach first and then think about where to stay, there are quieter beaches or those 'in between' like Kata or Karon. In karon Old Phuket, Sea Sand etc are reasonable 3 star, walk across road to beach, but that is going to be the case mostly anyway.

Hi degas,
Have you been to Patong before? I think it is too busy these days and the beach is not the best on the Island. Kata beach has plenty of bars and restaraunts but only a limited number of places that stay open until the wee hours in conparison to Patong that doesn't get going until after midnight. The beach at Kata is vastly superior and the locals are alot more friendly. Alot of the market areas in Patong are no longer staffed by Thai's and the salespeople are alot pushier and less fun to do business with. I also find that it attracts alot of large groups of drunken males (Aussies on end of season footy trips) at that time of year.
If you consider Kata, have a look at the Tropical Garden Resort. Not perfect but one of the best places that I've stayed in that would still cost under $100US a night in high season. Not for the old or frail or extremely unfit however as it is on the high side of the road but the plus is that the view are to die for. It is right across the road from the best part of the beach and very clost to plenty of great little eateries and drinkeries including one of my favorite budget Thai cafe/restaraunts, Kata Mamas.

I do agree with Shanek, Patong has really changed, every time I go down it seems to become less like it was. It has always been a busy place but was a good mix, fun but ftriendly with a mix of people from all over who enjoyed the beach, bars in a relaxed sort of way, now it is packed out with what appear to be low budget tourists who just want to drink and eat burgers.

I looked at one review place where a hotel apparently was not a good choice becuase it took over 20 minutes to walk to McD's !

Kata is also busy and also Thai local places being replaced with 'Burger and fries'.

JamesA
Don't say Kata is losing its appeal... arghhhh... but we'll still have Kata Noi.
Carol

Don't worry Carol ! Mainly around the Kata Beach resort area and behind Club Med along that road, cheap flights from down under bringing in a lot of low season tourists, but most seem to head straight for Patong and stay there, ok, it's good for the economy and people are making more low season money than they did before, I guess I am selfish and just remember enjoying the quiet low season. I remember when........

We stayed at the Kata Beach Resport recently and had a wonderful experience. It is a terrific place and we got a really good price through a booking site (http://www.r24.org/phuket-luxury-hot...ket/katabeach/) and paid the equivelent of $105 USD per night for a double (the prices really jump during high season - we were there in low season). It is right on the beach and has a wonderful pool. There are several nice beach front restaurants right there. Even if that place ends up being too expensive, the booking site was very easy to use and it has many other properties. Enjoy Phuket!

Hi folks - thanks for all the feedback so far.

No, I've never been to Phuket. What is up with the $5 tuk-tuk rides?

I'm leaning towards Kata Beach. Can I assume that its just as easy to take tours from there as from Patong Beach?

Kata Beach is a great idea IMO. You can book all the tours you want, from right there.

Have you selected your hotel/resort yet?

If you need restaurant suggestions, I highly recommend Mom Tri's Boathouse Grill and Mom Tri's Kitchen. Excellent!!!

Carol

The Courtyard (Marriott) Patong is apparently not open yet. My co-worker was supposed to stay there next week and just received an e-mail from them saying it wont be possible.

It is only due to open in November. There is still work going on along the Rat-U-Thit Road area of the buildings.

I just this morning checked out of the Millennium in Patong, attached to the Jungceylon complex. I was there for just the one night - it was my "decompression" stop on the way back from a Similans dive trip (I'll try & post a word or two about that later).

I was quite impressed by the place, especially given that I got it for 2,800 Baht (R24). The room was very large, with a seizable balcony (useful for further drying out the dive gear) very comfy bed and nice bathroom.

Of course, I see the rate has gone up about 50% for next month.

Some other people on the boat stayed at Ban Lamai and said it was quite nice.

Patong is still crowded even low season, building going on all over, even heading out of town by Leelawadee huge construction blocks going on. At least they pulled down the huge German beer garden.

Would recommend Phuket Island View hotel. Nice, clean basic hotel with buffet breakfast across the road from the beach in the middle of Kata. 3 small local restaraunts out front of the property have a nice variety of food, tuk-tuk taxi stand there and the drivers are always fair, good massage places under the soccer stadium just down the road - atmosphere of this area of Kata is more relaxed due to the lower year round volume, more of a LOS (Land of Smiles) experience than the hustle of Patong which is 15 minutes away.

Going by yourself: Beach Inn, (less than US$20 depending on season)tucked away at the end of a shopping stall soi near the center of Patong just south of Soi Bangla. Beach Inn is run by 2 sisters, has 10 - 12 rooms,with clean queen beds, cool A/C, a 9 inch TV with local stations and a hot shower within 2 minutes of the beach. Backed up against larger hotel properties so it is somewhat quiet.

A quieter ~3 star option in Patong is the Baan Boa. At the south end of the main road, 10 minute walk up to Starbucks/McD area. Baan Boa was hit hard by the tsunami so was one of the last locations to reopen - they would much appreciate the business.
All can be booked through sawadee.com(website calls the hotel for you - it helps with the language situation)or contacted directly for a slightly lower rate.