Phuket in January

[aircooledflat4]

Hey guys, wondering about Phuket in January. Flying in from China. What're the immigration queues like... any worse than swampy? Anything around $50-60AUD that's not a backpackers?  Yes, I understand January is high season.

 

Cheers for any insights

[madmitch]

Busy, busy, busy.

 

Immigration queues will be non-existent following Big Joke's initiatives to reduce the Immigration waiting times????

 

Book accommodation early. You'll get a decent guesthouse on your budget but it probably won't stretch to a hotel with pool.

 

I don't know about the rest of Phuket but there's a Russian invasion in Karon. The beach yesterday, on the first day of high season, looked like it normally does at Christmas with the vast majority of tourists there speaking Russian. 

 

Who needs the Chinese?

Edited November 2, 2018 by madmitch

[sekmet]

You'll love it. It will be just like China, but warmer.

Lots of cheap guest houses along Nanai.

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

[KhunBENQ]

1 hour ago, madmitch said:

Book accommodation early. You'll get a decent guesthouse on your budget but it probably won't stretch to a hotel with pool.

booking.com gives a good overview/filtering.

60 AUD is about 1400 Baht.

And indeed very few places with pool even in Patong for that.

 

Last year in September I lived in a basic 3* hotel in Patong with pool for about 900 Baht.

I have even seen them going down to 700 this year.

In mid January 2019 they want 3500 (145 AUD).

Edited November 2, 2018 by KhunBENQ

[pest]

https://www.agoda.com/en-au/pages/agoda/default/DestinationSearchResult.aspx?city=16056&languageId=1&userId=8f4854b8-c521-443f-9015-20c1c74b7cbd&sessionId=ssqi5hhgwdpn3dzs1oypriwj&pageTypeId=103&origin=TH&locale=en-AU&cid=1744559&tag=4f5cc6fe-805f-61ff-e0c4-dbdc8ad82998&aid=82364&currencyCode=THB&htmlLanguage=en-au&cultureInfoName=en-AU&ckuid=8f4854b8-c521-443f-9015-20c1c74b7cbd&prid=0&checkIn=2019-01-15&checkOut=2019-01-25&rooms=1&adults=1&children=0&priceCur=THB&los=10&textToSearch=Phuket&selectedProperty=0#&productType=-1&PriceFrom=0&PriceTo=1580&sort=agodaRecommended

 

[fullcave]

It'll be packed but the weather is the best time of year as it's cool season and the waters are calm and clear. 

[Tapster]

@fullcave

 

Cool season???

Non!

The highest average daily temperature is in Feb/March and January isn't far behind, at 31 degrees Celsius.

 

The waters are calm, and very clear for scuba, etc.

 

Rainfall is very low in January, and slightly lower in Feb/March.

 

????

[LivinginKata]

Even our building staff are complaining about the heat today. 36 C in the shade,

[CharlieH]

Reported comment removed.

[fullcave]

On 11/2/2018 at 3:19 PM, Tapster said:

@fullcave

 

Cool season???

Non!

The highest average daily temperature is in Feb/March and January isn't far behind, at 31 degrees Celsius.

 

The waters are calm, and very clear for scuba, etc.

 

Rainfall is very low in January, and slightly lower in Feb/March.

 

????

Yes, it's the cooled time of year! Cool/ dry season in Thailand is between November and late march. December and January being the coolest time of the year in Thailand! It's still hot for sure but nothing like the rest of the year. In the north at this time of year you will actually need a jacket! 

[Tapster]

The annual weather stats are there for all to see. It seems that you've read them a bit differently from me. 

 

Do you live in Phuket? 

Edited November 5, 2018 by Tapster