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Best place to stay in Phuket for Sandbox?

Genix

By Genix
in Phuket

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DFPhuket Silver Member

DFPhuket

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I drove through Karon and Kata yesterday and it's almost completely closed. I wouldn't consider staying there. 

 

Patong is beginning to slowly come back to life, especially on the beach road (but not the 2nd or 3rd roads). I counted 12 bars (err, I mean restaurants) open on Bangla road at about 6 pm. Lots of paper cups on the tables as the customers enjoyed a beverage of their choice. I'm not sure how late they stay open. 

 

Places like the DoubleTree Hilton would be a good choice. Their new Mojito bar in front on the beach road does a good business and they even use real glasses rather than playing the paper cup game. I stayed at the DoubleTree for my sandbox in July. 

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stevenl Star Member

stevenl

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2 hours ago, ezzra said:

Patong area, all the rest are dead and don't go swimming in the the sea unless you are immune to the box jellyfish deadly stings...

Looking forward to a link to a recent box jellyfish sting in the Phuket area.

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WhiteBuffaloATM Gold Member

WhiteBuffaloATM

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STAY Resort Rawai is simply delightful for quiet country non- beach stay. Modern Inexpensive 5 *.

Amazing Pool Complex, Cafes, Onsen Sauna/ Steam / Spa, Modern Gym, Goumet Steakhouse.

Kata Main Beach best on Phuket…….Green Man Tudor Building English Pub between the two. 

Never understood the attraction of Kamala with Patong & Laguna so close……….

 

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richard_smith237 Star Member

richard_smith237

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I’m in Phuket now.

 

As others have written - Kata and Karon are ghostly quiet with the vast majority of restaurants closed. 

 

Patong is quiet although bars have started to open up at night (I don’t know how busy they are, I’ve not bothered with any of that). 

 

Laguna area is very quiet, but many restaurants are open in the Boat Avenue area - Some life - No booze allowed, that hasn’t stopped them serving booze ! (they just hide it). 

 

Rawai area - IMO - this is the area to stay at. Its the only place I saw on the Island with some life. 

Plenty of restaurants around Saiyuan open - No booze again, that doesn’t stop anything, booze in paper cups !... 

Nai Harn Beach is quite vibrant in the late afternoon early evening.

 

If I was Sandboxing again - I’d definitely stay in Rawai area.

 

 

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superal Gold Member

superal

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Depends if your covid conscious . Karon has no covid cases as there are very few people staying there but I did , got good food and several beers every evening but in reality most places are boarded up and the man making " for sale signs and for rent " is making good money . 

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Tropposurfer Platinum Member

Tropposurfer

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As others are posting Kata, Karon, and Kamala not much better, with most west coast beach towns almost ghost towns (most places shut, options for food etc VERY limited, even Patong is extremely quiet (yes some small, small increase in 'quality' tourists but still a veritable ghost town). But if you like quiet beaches and sleepy villages and towns its an awesome time to be in Phuket. 

I am relishing the empty, pristine beach near my home further north.

As for the poster freaking out about irukandji jellyfish you've got more chance of being killed on the way to the beach (by many thousand-fold than getting stung by one of these nasty northern Aussie bitey's. The Thai irukandji jellyfish by the way isn't as potent as the Aussie species, so far less likely to kill you unless you get really badly stung and maybe have a weak heart or imune system. I've been stung in North Qld and yes they hurt like the bejesus but I survived with lots of vinegar liberally for about 1 minute after you pull the stinging tentacles off ya'.

Iswim/surf up n down the beach almost every day (for years now), and I aint been stung yet except for some to-be-expected sea-lice.

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LivinginKata Star Member

LivinginKata

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1 hour ago, superal said:

Depends if your covid conscious . Karon has no covid cases as there are very few people staying there but I did , got good food and several beers every evening but in reality most places are boarded up and the man making " for sale signs and for rent " is making good money . 

 Karon has had quite a few 'local' cases these past weeks.

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BusyB Gold Member

BusyB

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9 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Diving is open, but this time of year normally not from the beach. But of course there are always cowboys offering beach diving.

Nahh, I'm more interested in boat diving ... thanks - I was wondering ... There was a great place near the dinosaur park, run by a Thai called Sonny (Sunny?) .... Are top notch ops like that open? ... it would be one of the pulls if I decided to use sandbox HKT depending on conditions later in the year ...

 

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stevenl Star Member

stevenl

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28 minutes ago, BusyB said:

Nahh, I'm more interested in boat diving ... thanks - I was wondering ... There was a great place near the dinosaur park, run by a Thai called Sonny (Sunny?) .... Are top notch ops like that open? ... it would be one of the pulls if I decided to use sandbox HKT depending on conditions later in the year ...

 

That was Marina divers, they closed a long time ago due to bad management.

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fdsa Gold Member

fdsa

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4 hours ago, BusyB said:

Sounds idyllic - what about the dive bases?

Kata beach: visibility ranges from 0.2m to 2.0m

 

4 hours ago, stevenl said:

Diving is open, but this time of year normally not from the beach. But of course there are always cowboys offering beach diving.

Yes, Racha Yai/Noi has quite good visibility - up to several meters.

 

3 hours ago, BusyB said:

Nahh, I'm more interested in boat diving

Not too many options, unfortunately. Phi Phi is closed so only the closest dive spots are available.

 

 

P.S. I do confirm that Kata/Karon/Patong are mostly dead and Rawai/Naiharn/Chalong are somewhat alive.

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stevenl Star Member

stevenl

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10 minutes ago, fdsa said:

Kata beach: visibility ranges from 0.2m to 2.0m

 

Yes, Racha Yai/Noi has quite good visibility - up to several meters.

 

Not too many options, unfortunately. Phi Phi is closed so only the closest dive spots are available.

 

 

P.S. I do confirm that Kata/Karon/Patong are mostly dead and Rawai/Naiharn/Chalong are somewhat alive.

I dived kata beach 1 week ago, unscheduled, when things were really calm, visibility around 5 meters.

Racha noi typically 20+ meters. 

For diving also phi phi and King cruiser/ shark point area are available now.

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geisha Gold Member

geisha

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On 9/11/2021 at 9:59 AM, LivinginKata said:

Kata and Karon very few shops open. See tumble weed blowing down the road every day I go walk on Kata Beach.

Livinginkata, sorry for hijacking the post. Hi , if situation improves ,  I’m hoping to come back to Phuket through the Sandbox before Christmas .Reason being I spent 4/5 months a year there for many years, and I have very good friends there. I would come on a 60 day visa which I can then extend. Having been there in the 80s , I know what a quiet Kata beach is like, before the invasion. I still think it’s a choice, though have heard that Rawai is much busier, what are your views please? PS, still come to Thailand but not Phuket. 

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BusyB Gold Member

BusyB

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7 hours ago, stevenl said:

That was Marina divers, they closed a long time ago due to bad management.

Wow, I'm amazed ... did my rescue Cert with them, thought they were good. That was 2008. Run by a guy who'd lived in Germany for some time as well ... sad ...

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Espanol Silver Member

Espanol

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On 9/11/2021 at 2:04 PM, Genix said:

What would the best place be right now?

I'm in Patong Beach and very happy about it. 

 

The only problem before in Patong was it been overcrowded, and now I have empty beaches, many open restaurants and also bars open at night in Bangla Road  until 23:00.

 

OK, they are supposed to be restaurants, but they are same venues as before and plenty of bargirls (oops, I suppose that now they are restaurantgirls). "Hellooooo, sexy maaaaan".

 

I don't know if food is served, but plenty of beer.

 

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xylophone Ruby Member

xylophone

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1 hour ago, Espanol said:

I'm in Patong Beach and very happy about it. 

 

The only problem before in Patong was it been overcrowded, and now I have empty beaches, many open restaurants and also bars open at night in Bangla Road  until 23:00.

 

OK, they are supposed to be restaurants, but they are same venues as before and plenty of bargirls (oops, I suppose that now they are restaurantgirls). "Hellooooo, sexy maaaaan".

 

I don't know if food is served, but plenty of beer.

 

You can also get an alcoholic drink way past 23:00, at a bar run by the son of a very highly placed official on the island.........and it's not too far from Bangla.

 

Breaking the "Covid rules" seems to be okay for the Hi-Sos with connections, here. But then again TIT!

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fdsa Gold Member

fdsa

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On 9/12/2021 at 7:42 PM, stevenl said:

I dived kata beach 1 week ago, unscheduled, when things were really calm, visibility around 5 meters.

Racha noi typically 20+ meters. 

For diving also phi phi and King cruiser/ shark point area are available now.

I've just looked up in my logbook: Kata beach on 6th September - visibility was 4m, 11th September - visibility was 0.2-2.0m

Also I've checked and could confirm that Phi Phi / King Cruiser trips are open now.

 

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Genix Senior Member

Genix

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20 hours ago, Espanol said:

I'm in Patong Beach and very happy about it. 

 

The only problem before in Patong was it been overcrowded, and now I have empty beaches, many open restaurants and also bars open at night in Bangla Road  until 23:00.

 

OK, they are supposed to be restaurants, but they are same venues as before and plenty of bargirls (oops, I suppose that now they are restaurantgirls). "Hellooooo, sexy maaaaan".

 

I don't know if food is served, but plenty of beer.

 

Wooo nice to know they're open late too - I'm solo in Phuket for this sandbox so just trying to stay in as of a social place as possible at Patong is what I went with. Thanks for the intel everyone.

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