As a tourist can I stay in Phuket Town?

[calbear09]

Hello. I was hoping to visit in the next couple of months (likely a two week vacation) however I do not see any Phuket Town Hotels listed on the thaiembassy website as approved accommodations. 

[Salerno]

Five places listed here: https://thaiest.com/blog/phuket-sandbox-hotels-list-sha-plus

[Espanol]

Yes, they are many SHA + hotel in Phuket Town.

 

For instance, Pearl Hotel:

 

https://www.facebook.com/pearlhotelphuket/

 

 

[WhiteBuffaloATM]

cant think of any reason to come to somewhere like phuket and then stay somewhere like phuket town.....which btw is as dead as disco......along with the entire island.....better to stay (five star) in Karon for the fantastic deserted beach...... hire car for travel to phuket old town (great coffee shops, museum, architecture) and phuket town Central Mall ( restaurants, cinema, discount shopping)....

[stevenl]

11 hours ago, WhiteBuffaloATM said:

cant think of any reason to come to somewhere like phuket and then stay somewhere like phuket town.....which btw is as dead as disco......along with the entire island.....better to stay (five star) in Karon for the fantastic deserted beach...... hire car for travel to phuket old town (great coffee shops, museum, architecture) and phuket town Central Mall ( restaurants, cinema, discount shopping)....

Phuket Town dead? Nonsense. First you say it is dead, then you recommend to go there for the fantastic coffeeshops, LOL.

[WhiteBuffaloATM]

coffee shops are great....in design / interior./ product......just very few customers..... which is all great for me ......so yeah phuket town is pretty well dead.....but good for short day trip......just not as a tourist stay base.....

[Espanol]

8 hours ago, WhiteBuffaloATM said:

coffee shops are great....in design / interior./ product......just very few customers..... which is all great for me ......so yeah phuket town is pretty well dead.....but good for short day trip......just not as a tourist stay base.....

I fully agree. I would better go to a beach resort and would go to Phuket Town for day trip.

[Ganesh108]

On 7/14/2021 at 12:27 AM, WhiteBuffaloATM said:

...... hire car for travel to phuket old town (great coffee shops, museum, architecture) and phuket town Central Mall ( restaurants, cinema, discount shopping)....

Only problem is, the taxi fare to and from Phuket Town will set you back about 1200-1400 Baht (for 15 km one-way). 

 

Actually Phuket Town is 10 times livelier than Karon, and unless someone is a beach freak it's a much better place to stay IMO, at least in these dull times. 

 

 

[zzzzz]

On 7/14/2021 at 12:27 AM, WhiteBuffaloATM said:

cant think of any reason to come to somewhere like phuket and then stay somewhere like phuket town.....which btw is as dead as disco......along with the entire island.....better to stay (five star) in Karon for the fantastic deserted beach...... hire car for travel to phuket old town (great coffee shops, museum, architecture) and phuket town Central Mall ( restaurants, cinema, discount shopping)....

HUH:
phuket town is 90+% open with very few places closed , ( outside clubs and bars)
BUT as a tourists its not the place i'd go for a vacation lasting more than a day or 2

 

Rather than an expensive taxi  to town from the beach, take a leisurely ride on the public bus for 50 baht, only adds 15 or so more minutes vs a taxi

 

Karon on the other hand is 90% closed along the beach road

[Ganesh108]

25 minutes ago, zzzzz said:

Rather than an expensive taxi  to town from the beach, take a leisurely ride on the public bus for 50 baht, only adds 15 or so more minutes vs a taxi

 

Unfortunately these buses or songthaews now only run about once an hour or less. The last run would be around 4 p.m., so forget evening visits.

Unless they've raised prices recently, it should be 40 Baht between town and Karon.

 

[WhiteBuffaloATM]

coffee shops are great....in design / interior./ product......just very few customers..... which is all great for me ......so yeah phuket town is pretty well dead.....but good for short day trip......just not as a tourist stay base.....

[WhiteBuffaloATM]

i said hire car (self drive) not taxi.

said whole island dead (for tourism). 

being open is stiil dead if very few punters (local or foreign).

open does not mean busy. unbusy is fine. beaches & resorts best examples.

 

[LivinginKata]

3 hours ago, Ganesh108 said:

Only problem is, the taxi fare to and from Phuket Town will set you back about 1200-1400 Baht (for 15 km one-way). 

 

Actually Phuket Town is 10 times livelier than Karon, and unless someone is a beach freak it's a much better place to stay IMO, at least in these dull times. 

 

 

 

That taxi price is not true. You are talking nonsense .... or a fool to pay that price. 

[Espanol]

10 hours ago, Ganesh108 said:

Only problem is, the taxi fare to and from Phuket Town will set you back about 1200-1400 Baht (for 15 km one-way). 

There are cheap buses to/from Phuket town to every beach in Phuket ie Patong.

[Ganesh108]

6 hours ago, LivinginKata said:

 

That taxi price is not true. You are talking nonsense .... or a fool to pay that price. 

I may not have expressed myself clearly 1200-1400 Baht is return.  

[Ganesh108]

10 minutes ago, Espanol said:

There are cheap buses to/from Phuket town to every beach in Phuket ie Patong.

If you had been using those Phuket Town buses recently (actually the vast majority of 'buses' are just those old rattly songthaews), you would have known that their frequency has been much reduced, and at certain times of day you may wait one and a half hours for the next vehicle. So what's the use of them being cheap. 

[LivinginKata]

43 minutes ago, Ganesh108 said:

I may not have expressed myself clearly 1200-1400 Baht is return.  

Bit more realistic but still too much. But hey Phuket prices,  my wife did some freelance taxi work in the past and I challenged her on the prices charged and she just shrugged and said that the 'going' price.

[zzzzz]

10 hours ago, Espanol said:

There are cheap buses to/from Phuket town to every beach in Phuket ie Patong.

buses go from Patong to town via Kathu
buses go from Karon  via kata, chalong

buses go from Kamala via Surin & churn talay

 

as to they only run once /hour,

thats all they ever have run as r/t is abut 90+ minutes.
service has NOT changed as the bus's are 90% used by locals and it seems Burmese.
i had to use the kamala -phuket bus about 3 months ago an it as 50 baht and NO i dont overpay

[sallecc]

On 7/15/2021 at 9:28 PM, Ganesh108 said:

I may not have expressed myself clearly 1200-1400 Baht is return.  

Still way too much. I don't use taxi myself, but every 2 months I hire it my parents from Kata to Phuket Town I/O, it's 700thb round trip and van taxi is waiting for us  1-2h outside I/O, and then 30min stop at Chalong Tesco Lotus, I think it's OK deal. You just need to find local tour agency near the place you stay and always book taxi with them, not those guys hanging on the street (aka mafia).

[chilly07]

Stay home- there's a pandemic on!

[stevenl]

7 hours ago, chilly07 said:

Stay home- there's a pandemic on!

Phuket is probably safer than many, many other places in the world.

[Espanol]

1 minute ago, stevenl said:

Phuket is probably safer than many, many other places in the world.

At least, safer than any other place in Thailand 

[Andre0720]

On 7/15/2021 at 12:03 PM, zzzzz said:

HUH:
phuket town is 90+% open with very few places closed , ( outside clubs and bars)
BUT as a tourists its not the place i'd go for a vacation lasting more than a day or 2

 

Rather than an expensive taxi  to town from the beach, take a leisurely ride on the public bus for 50 baht, only adds 15 or so more minutes vs a taxi

 

Karon on the other hand is 90% closed along the beach road

HUH,

Phuket town is 90% down.

I have been going to Phuket town most days of the week for over 10 years. Been taking walks in the old town, Phang Na road, Dibuk, Thalang, old market, around Robinson etc. The town is slowly being demolished, Ocean near Robinson, all gone, the beautiful Shino Spa, demolished.

A few surviving businesses, restaurants mainly, as Thais do not seem to want to cook at home. Mobile phone shops.

Even the largest second hand shop, mainly for Thai people, fewer and fewer vendors each month.

Not selling enough to pay the space rental.

Of course, Kata, Karon were hardly hit.

[sallecc]

4 hours ago, Andre0720 said: