has anyone stayed at the banyan tree? it is $$$ so I want to make sure it's worth it - i heard it's not as good as the amanpuri but that's booked when we want to go - any comments would be appreciated

I have not stayed but visited and know Phuket very well, lived there several years and frequently go down from BKK.
I guess if you have the big $$$ then fine, but would I spend that kind of money for it? No ways! I think so many of these places push their names and give you what some might call a commercial 'experience ' where you feel you are getting something great simply because you are paying so much.
I know it is oh so 'cliche' but it has to be said, you can find fantastic places with fabulous rooms, truly friendly and caring service, for half the price or much much less.
So I guess if you want to/can afford the mega bucks, then certainly go for it and enjoy, but you can forsake some of the 'glitz' youcan have not only a great vacation but save enough to have 'another vacation as well'.
Purely just my own humble opinion.

then what places would you recommend?

There are so so many. The Banyan of course is heavily into the Spa side, so it depends what you are really after. Just as a rough idea the Chedi is very tropical, great service, great food. The Boathouse is justly world famous, you can get a magnificent suite villa there for about the same as base accommodation at the Banyan.
Many people like the Maiton resort or the Evason Resort.
Don't get me wrong Rebecca, I'm not knocking the banyan, it just seems an incredible amount to pay when there are so many very very good places.
I ( and I am sure others ) will be more than happy to give some tips/ideas if you can tell us maybe a bit more of what you are looking for, whether Spa is essential/suite/villa etc, whether you want to spend your time at the hotel/resort or whether you plan to do tours and day trips.

rebeca - like James, I haven't stayed at the Banyan, but it part of a 5-hotel complex "Laguna Resorts" that includes a Dusit, Sheraton, Banyan and two others. And all in this area provide Spa services.

That said, we met a few couples on a day trip who were staying at the Chedi and had great reviews of the rooms, service, and food. And a few weeks later friends stayed at the Boathouse and likewise were extremely pleased (they have the best wine cellar in Phuket).

Check out these options - besides both of the above are smaller and more intimate.

thank you for the recommendations - chedi was our first choice but it was sold out and i just checked the boathouse and it's sold out as well

i do like the idea of staying somewhere that has a spa - however I would like to see the culture and see as much of the surrounding area as possible - i would love day trip recommendations as well - here is my plan for our entire trip - would love additional comments

dec 26 - 28 - hong kong - grand hyatt
dec 28 - 31 - bangkok - sukhothai
dec 31 - jan 4- phuket - banyan tree
jan 4-6 - hong kong

thanks!

You are going to be in Phuket at the peak season, so that is why you are running into booking problems. The Banyan is a beautiful hotel, and very serene, with a great spa, my only complaint with it is that it is a bit of a walk to the beach, as it is built back behind the dunes. If you like golf however, this is a good choice.

I am not a fan of the Chedi, as I think the rooms are small and dark and many of them do not have bathtubs; you also have to walk a lot of up and down hills.

If the Boathouse and Aman are booked (although they are in totally different classes of hotels) and you don't want to stay at the Banyan, others to consider are the Le Meriden and the Marriott. The Marriott is new it opened in late 2001. This is the first new hotel built on Phuket in 10 years and has beautiful grounds and several pools. There are several restaurants and an excellent spa. There is a turtle preserve next door. There are tennis courts. The hotel is near the Blue Canyon Golf Club, the best course on the island (IMHO), and you can get playing privileges.

I stayed at the villas at the Sheraton last New Years and really enjoyed it. These are in a special part of the hotel and are 2 and 3 bedroom town houses with living room, small ground terrace and their own roof terrace, all looking out over a large lagoon. There is a restaurant there just for villa residents and you have your own check in and concierge, so you don't feel that you are part of the larger hotel. The Sheraton and the Banyan Tree are part of a 4./5-hotel complex on a very nice beach. You can use facilities at all the hotels and charge to your room, including the great spa at the Banyan. (The Sheraton also has a nice spa.) There is a nice shopping complex on the resort as well. There are fireworks on the beach on New Years, and each hotel has its own New Years dinner with band, etc. It was a great way to spend New Years.

For the rest of your itinerary, I have to say that I am not a fan of the Grand Hyatt in Hong Kong. IMO, the location is not at all convenient, as you have to walk quite a bit to get to the subway, or end up taking taxis all the time. While taxis are not expensive, you will stand in the queue a lot and this becomes old after a while. Moreover, this hotel does not have good views, many of the rooms are interior courtyard views, many look over to Kowloon (which is not the famous skyline you see in the postcards, that is behind you at the Hyatt.) Finally, I think the hotel is decorated in slightly bad taste; too much black marble and too many chandeliers for me. For my money I would stay at the Peninsula or the Intercontinental on the Kowloon side, or the Mandarin, Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, Shangri-La or Conrad on the Hong Kong Island side. (There is a Shangri-La on the Kowloon side which is nice as well, but the views are not as good as from the Penn or Intercontinental.)

For Bangkok, my opinion and the consensus on this board is that staying on the river is the ideal place for both views and convenience and to see the lifeblood of Thailand, which is the Chao Phrya river. The Sukothai is not conveniently located IMO, unless you are there for businesses. It is on a very busy road and not near any good shopping or tourist sites. The Peninsula or the Oriental (both of which have great spas, esp. the latter) or the Shangri-La would be better choices. The Marriott Resort and Spa also gets good reviews and I am also a big fan of this hotel, although the location is just a bit down the river. The do have the best pool in Bangkok and possibly in SE Asia, IMO (OK the Aman in Ubud is better). Run a search here, as the Penn and the Marriott are very popular. (There is also a JW Marriott in Bangkok, not on the river and more of a business hotel.)

Hong Kong at Christmas season is great, the lights on the buildings will blow you away. Great time weatherwrise as well, as is Bangkok, which is why all the hotels are booked?.

As Cicerone has said, your Dec 31 - Jan 4 is the problem. I think you are going to have to take what you can get to be quite honest. I would skip straight to a local booking place and bang in some multiple bookings ( one I use doesn't mind at all you doing that ) and then grab what comes up. Meridien at relax bay is on it's own beach but close to both Patong and Karon. But I would move very fast on this otherwise the longer you leave it the less chance of something. There are countless nice places more than adequote and Phuket has a lot of tours and attractions so a nice room, good bed, good service and pool if that will suffice broadens your options a great deal.

This is a very long url but if you copy and paste it takes you straight to the nuts and bolts of getting a room in Phuket, they have I guess 50+ places. They also have customer reviews too, very handy site and local.

http://www.res24.net/huahin.20m.com/phuket/hotels/

Just a thought, if you do get stuck I did do a 'plug' ( hope I am forgiven ) for some luxury self catering condo apartment near Karon Beach, about $120 a night peak season. Let me know if you want the info if you find you are getting 'Full' responses all the time.

Banyan Tree in Phuket is beautiful and during the New Year period it will be heavenly! The rooms(villas) are spread out over a large area and they have golf carts to take you to and from the rooms. I own a two bedroom Pool and Jacuzzi villa at the Banyan Tree and in the villa you will have a mini kitchen, living area, outdoor and indoor bathrooms, swimming pool, heated Jacuzzi and total privacy.

What I like about the Banyan Tree is the exclusivity and privacy. No hordes of tourist running around the lobby! Also, there is an 18 hole golf course, access to a private beach and probably the best spa in Phuket.

If there is only the two of you I highly recommend the Sea View Jacuzzi villas. The bedroom have a glass bottom floor over a private pond.

In Hong Kong the Grand Hyatt is kind of out of the way. I prefer a hotel in the Pacific Place(JW Marriott, Conrad and Island Shangri-La) more because it is very convenient to have a mall, lots of restaurants, supermarket and access to the underground and you can access it via the elevators from your room.

thank you everyone for your opions - it is really really helpful - i think what I have decided is the following

dec 26 - 30 - hong kong - Penninsula
dec 30 - jan 2- banyan tree
jan 2 - jan 5 - bangkok - oriental
jan 5 - hong kong - ?
jan 6 go home(

can you guys let me know if I have broken out the days the best way possible - i would like to spend new years in phuket rather than bangkok but maybe it really doesn't matter - also any day trips while in bangkok or hong kong?

Do a search here for ideas about day trips from Bangkok and Hong Kong. Also take a look at the Destinations guide on this site put together by Fodors. Finally, as this is such a substantial trip, you should invest in a guidebook. The Fodors guide to Hong Kong is excellent. I like the Insight Guide for Bangkok, others on this site have other favourites, you might run a search.

As you will only have 2 full days in Bangkok, I would say to stay in the city, as you will have more than enough to see and do in the city itself. If you are a serious shopper (and if you aren't Bangkok will MAKE you one) I would plan the better part of the day for the Weekend Market if your schedule permits.

As for Hong Kong, there are outlying islands you can reach by ferry for beaches, seafood or the giant Buddha, or you can go to Macau for a day (although a night is better IMO). The back part of Hong Kong Island like Stanley and Shek-O are definitely worth a visit. The only thing I wouldn't recommend are any of those one-day bus tours to the PRC like the "land beyond" tour. I have had friends who have taken these and felt they did not see much and spend more time on the bus, having lunch and stopping at shopping points than seeing any culture. I am also not a fan of going to Guangzhou for the day for shopping, but many people like it. I don't really need to see fake Prada bags.. . .You can buy those in Bangkok much more conveniently.

Where you spend New Year's is a personal decision; I liked celebrating it on the beach in Phuket, but I am sure Bangkok would be fun too. There may be fireworks on the river, which you could certainly enjoy from the Oriental.

You might want to consider reversing Bangkok and Phuket, and do Phuket last so you can recover from the hectic cities of Hong Kong and Bangkok. Of course, taking a break in between is good as well. If you are flying non-stop from Hong Kong to Phuket, then I would say stick to your plan. If you have to connect through Bangkok anyway, you might want to do Bangkok first.

I assume you are back in Hong Kong for just one night before an early morning flight. There is a Regal Hotel at the airport that is very convenient, you can walk from the terminal. That way, you could take the latest flight possible back from Bangkok or Phuket and just crash at the hotel. The website for Regal Hotels is regalhotel.com.
The alternative is of course to go back into Hong Kong for one night, but I am not sure this is worth the trip each way, as it is about 30 minutes each way.. If you do this, look into the possibility of checking in for your US flight the night before. You could then check your big luggage and just take hand luggage into Hong Kong for one night.

We stayed at both the Oriental and Banyan Tree in January this year. First, the spa at the Oriental is amazing. But to your question about Banyan Tree, the accomodations are awesome. If you can, try to get a pool villa. Although the beach is a little away from the resort (they will take you by golf cart to the beach) it didn't matter to us. We didn't leave our room. We hung out by the pool in out villa all day. The only down side to Banyan Tree is that it is about a 20 minute drive into town if that matters to you. That's where all the shopping and bars are. But other than that I would highly recommend Banyan Tree. Another nice thing about Banyan Tree is that it is part of Laguna Phuket resort complex and you get signing privledges at all the other resorts, so you have a large selection of options for dinner. There is also a free shuttle that takes you to the other resorts. I hope this hepls.

Banyan Tree is expensive but not as expensive as Amanpuri, which I think is overpriced and capitalises on the Aman name. I also prefered Banyan to Chedi which are similarly priced. Dont go to Le Meridien, it is dated. Havent tried Marriott or Evason but they are not in the same luxury category as the ones mentioned above.

Has anyone stayed at the Dusit Laguna? How would you compare it to the other hotels in the group of 4/5. Banyan Tree is too expensive for us, but we like the idea of shared facilities & the spas are an attraction. How is the beach at the Dusit? Also, if we'd like to go to the Boathouse for dinner, is that doable from this area?

We stayed at the Dusit Laguna last year and were satisfied. While the rooms were smaller than other's we had during our time in Thailand/Cambodia, they were more than sufficient (we weren't bumping into one another), with large bathroom and terrace looking out onto their gardens.

The public spaces were lovely, and there were a number of restaurants which we enjoyed (some of which were soon to be renovated and have probably been completed since).

Of the five hotels in the group and even throughout Phuket, the Dusit Laguna is, I've been led to understand, is the oldest, but they've kept it up and we found the service excellent. And since you have the option to share facilities with the other four, you certainly have options.

The beach was fine, but oh so hot, that we found it more pleasant to stay around the pool.

As to getting to the Boathouse, you shouldn't have any problem, as taxis are available at all times and likewise, I'm sure the same holds true at the Boathouse to return to the DL.

While we didn't take advantage of the Spa, and can't comment, even as to prices, but we did have massages often and they were relatively inexpensive (at 300Baht = $7-$8). Hope this helps.

The Laguna area is seperate from the main/busy beach areas, it will take about 40-50 minutes to/from the Boathouse which is at kata beach, check the maps on Phuket Gazette

http://www.phuketgazette.net
( you have to click 'refresh' 2 or 3 times )