Hi all,

Coming down next week for 3 days with wife, daughter (7 years old) and Mother In-Law. This is our first time visiting Phuket. Looking for a nice place close to or on the beach. Would like it to be fairly close to nightlife, shopping, restaurants. Interested in having access to a nice pool that the daughter can play in safely. Would like a separate room for privacy.

After looking online ALL day, I think I have found a pretty nice place: The Residence at Kalim Bay. Can anyone give me an opinion about the place? How far of a walk is it to the busy part of downtown?

Also, I'm thinking about renting a car during our stay. Would that be something you folks would recommend and if so, which rental company would you recommend?

3 days isn't all that much time, but I would like to get out and see some interesting sites. My wife's mother gets around pretty good, but her hip is starting to bother her. She's never been on a boat, so not interested in risking sea sickness... Any botanical gardens, zoo's, waterfalls, etc. that you would recommend that would be fairly easy on tired hip?

1 last thing. My wife and I both enjoy Italian food. Price isn't "necessarily" an object, but I would like to keep it in the 2500 to 3500k range. Any place with outstanding risotto and a quiet comfortable atmosphere would be on the top of my list.

Thanks for any info you can provide.

Cheers,

Michael

we deal with this hotel

http://www.clubbamboo.com/

gets really good ratings from customers and very well priced

car wise u can get honda jazz etc for 1200 to 1500 baht a day oretty much anywhere at the moment

http://www.woraburi.com/woraburiphuket.htm is also nice but based in Karon rather than Phuket. Still only 5 - 10 mins from Patong depending on your speed of driving