My fiance and I have chosen to celebrate our honeymoon in Thailand and couldn't be more excited. Our travel agent recommended the Banyan Tree in Phuket. Any thoughts on that hotel? Also, what type of activities did you enjoy in Phuket? Thank you in advance for your help!

Phuket has many honeymoon-worthy hotels. Have you seen this site? http://www.phuket.com/hotel/recommen...ic-resorts.htm It may give you some additional ideas.

As I remember, the Banyan Tree isn't directly on the beach. I don't know if that makes a difference to you or not.

Take time to relax while you are on Phuket. There are water-related activities available, though some may not be running in October, depending on the weather. John Grey Sea Canoes is highly rated (if you do a search here, you'll find good reviews)
www.johngray-seacanoe.com/thailand/index.htm

When are you going? There is a rainy season. During the non-raint season, Phuket is a perfect Honeymoon location. Beautiful beaches. A few very interesting things to do and wonderful food.

The Banyan Tree is very nice, but there are some better hotels. what is your per night budget? We can make very specific recommendations. Also note that it might be cheaper to book online than through your travel agent.

One of the fun things to do is a trip to Phang Nga bay. For a say trip, they pick you up at your hotel, take you to a dock. Off you go on a boat with 15 other people. You go to these limestone islands and get in a kayak with a guide and go into the interiors of the island. there is vegetation and wildlife and amazing scenery. You go to a few islands and come back on the boat, on which they serve a delicious lunch. John Grey or Seacanoe.net can book rhis or other trips online. everyone loves them.

I think the Banyan Tree is wonderful. The beach is just across the street, although a lot of people take the free shuttle boat down the lagoon to use the beach at the Dusit or Sheraton. There are other, similar places of course, but it's hard to say one is 'better' than the other.

The 'must do' thing around Phuket is the Phang Nga bay tour mentioned by Gpanda. The sea canoe/kayak version is one option, and the best one IMO, but there are other versions that just use a bit boat.

Another thing to do is a day trip (or an overnight trip) to Phi Phi Island.

Thank you all so much for your help. We booked our trip and can't wait. We are going to spend 5 nights in Phuket, 4 in Chiang Mai and 3 in Bangkok. Now that we have our dates and hotels all set, we are just we are working on daytime activities. I will post in a little bit looking for ideas, but for now, we are just happy to have our flights and hotels all set. Thanks again!

If you decide on the Banyan Tree go for the double-pool villa.

The “road” between the beach and the Banyan Tree is pretty minor, IMO, the bigger issue there is that the hotel is set back behind a rather high sand dune, called a berne, which is required for all hotels built after a certain date in Thailand. (The Sheraton next door, which is older, was not required to observe this set back. The JW Marriott has a similar berne.) Therefore, many of the rooms at the Banyan don’t have any sea views and it can be a longish walk to the beach. The hotel tries to make up for this by having many lagoons and many villas with plunge pools and lagoons.

However, I personally would not choose the island of Phuket for a honeymoon (except perhaps if I went to the Aman). I would choose one of the much less developed areas. At this point, my first choice would be the Ritz-Carlton Reserve hotel in Krabi, where I went for a few days over this past weekend (to escape three months of fog in Hong Kong!). See http://reserve.ritzcarlton.com/phulay_bay/home.aspx Wow and wow. I miss my butler.

There are tons of other good choices in Krabi, Khao Lak and other areas. If you can avoid it, I don’t see the need to stay on Phuket Island, which is overdeveloped, does not really have the nicest beaches, and offers virtually no snorkeling from its beaches. The beaches at many of the hotels can be inundated with hawkers. About all the island has is golf - and lots of tourists.

I have seen your other posts and you seem to be aware of the rainy season potential. It can be overcast all day even if it does not rain. But if you are OK with the possibilities, I am sure it will be fine. Just know what to expect. Personally, in October I would have chosen Bali.