Greasystick

Baumanburi a good suggestion Greasystick, but the Deevana (different than Deevana Plaza, the old Mecure) has been a construction zone for the last six months as a hotel going up in front of it. Would not reccommend that one.

Stayed at the Deevana Patong Resort & Spa in August this year for a week. They are updating the entry in to the hotel and that's about it. We had no drama's with noise at all. Location wise I prefer Baumanburi, but that's maybe more out of habit as I usually stay down that end of town

Have had good experiences with the Deevana and Baumanburi hotels, both on Ratuchit Rd. Baumanburi behind the Merlin near the Hard Rock and the Dewevana the other side of Bangla Rd if that makes sense. $40ish per night low season. Not sure how that equates to high season pricing though. Used to book using Sawasdee.com but agoda.com seem cheaper the last few times.

Good luck!

did a similar trip back in 2004, the same days as the tunami believe it or not. We were supposed to go to phuket, but at the last minute my buddy changed our plans. Good luck for us. Four of us took the snorkeling trip. We stopped at 2 dive sites, stopped at some place for lunch, then back to our place. Malibu resort on se part of island? Still not 100% sure of the AO.

Sounds similar to this trip, except it was 2 snorkeling stops and then a southerly bay for a Singha and the sunset.

A poorly made video of a speedboat trip from Ao Vongduen to Ao Prao for the sunset, then continuing arouind the island back to Ao Vongduen

Hope you enjoy it!

I used to own a quick Rx-3 back in the day. I have driven Rx-8's. They aren't that much fun. The equivalent year Mx5 is much more fun if you're wanting to stay Mazda. 350z is more bang for the same bucks as an Rx-8 if you need a coupe bigger than an Mx5

Old full size Volvo or Mercedes for 100,000, and spend 900,000 fitting a 2JZ driveline (ex supra turbo) + mods to support 500bhp. Nice stealthy way to paint two long black lines down any road you want....

Maybe a video would help???

https://youtu.be/mGDANKyourg

Thnx guys,

We will arive phuket on 16th evening.

17th: exploring phuket

18th: day trip to phi phi

19th: if possible dive in phuket

20th: leaving phuket

21st exploring bangkok.

Looks good to me, busy but good.

what about if we stay 3 days in phuket and only 1 day ferry to phi phi which will include scuba diving as well

Please don't do that. Dangerous, violation of standards, subpar diving, etc.

What would you recommend then?

Stay in Phuket and dive from there, You don't really have enough time to go anywhere else. Alternatively don't go diving and stay in Phuket and do a day trip out to Phi Phi, Maya Bay, Koh Khai etc.

17th Arrive in Phuket

18th travel to Phi Phi

19th One day in Phi Phi

20th Leave Phi Phi back to Phuket and then fly home???

You don't have enough time to do Phuket and dive Phi Phi to be honest. The best you could do is

17th Arrive in Phuket

18th One day exploring Phuket

19th Day trip to Maya Bay, Phi Phi (Lei and Don), Koh Khai

20th Depart Phuket

Maybe do a trip when you have more time? I recently did AO Nang > Patong > Phi Phi > Railay> AO Nang loop over 16 days and it wasn't really long enough.

Did Koh Samet and Koh Chang in different months of 2013. Stayed at AO Vonduen in March for a couple of days Pros were it was close to Bangkok and a good place to chill after a few weeks of travelling northern Thailand. Not a lot to do except relax and swim and eat and drink. Good weather. Expensive though.

Koh Chang was a week in August 2014 on White Sand Beach. Lot bigger island with a fair bit more going on. Longer trip from Bangkok to get there, and at that time if year it sure knows how to rain on Koh Chang! Accommodation was less than half the price of Koh Samed though.

I guess the answer to which is best really depends on what you're looking for, when you're going, and how long you want to stay.

AO Vongduen, Koh Samed

+1 for the iamkohchang.com website - a wealth of information and a good read to boot. White Sand Beach is the busiest area but the whole island is easy to explore on a scooter. My only solid piece of advise is find somewhere else to be in September unless you like staying indoors watching drizzle fall for days on end.