Yulko Polo Travel Blog

General Info

Country: Thailand | Language: Thai, Southern Thai | Currency: THAI BAHT (THB) | Flag: 🇹🇭 | When visited: Dec. 2023

____________________________________________________________________________

🚗 How to commute

Beyond a rental car or bike, one have 2 main options to move around the Pa Thong and the whole Phuket Island: taxi or Phuket Smart Bus. The same is true for commuting from the airport to most parts of the island. The smart bus operates from 8am to 11pm minimum hourly, and has a fixed price of 100 THB per person per any trip in any direction (in cash!). We decided to go with taxi. There are plenty of options such as public taxi, Grab, inDrive or Bolt, with the latest two being the cheapest. Even though taxi is quicker than the smart bus, one should expect a long ride, as traffic jams are common in Phuket.

🏨 Where to stay

From small cheap rooms rented from locals on the hills to 5 stars hotels and resorts on the beach front, as it's usual for popular holiday destinations such as Phuket, one can find the huge variety of accommodations. I would say, that 2 important things one need to take into consideration while choosing a place to stay are hills and beach quality. Make sure that you've checked pics/videos of the nearest beach, because not all of them are having a good water quality, and as the terrain of the island is mountainous, you need to make sure you won't have to climb too high to reach your accommodation.

We have stayed at Baan Andaman Sea Surf in a two-bedroom Villa in the area of Patong beach. We loved the design, vibes, and calmness of the place, and enjoyed a lot of its premisses, with a pool featuring a small whirlpool and multiple common spaces with entertainments. The only small problem, which we were aware in advance and were fine with, was the pretty steep last ca. 20% of the path to the hotel. But the quality of the room, service and atmosphere were top for the price we have paid!

Our friends also stayed at another nice place called “Kokotel” in Naiyang beach area. It features enjoyable modern rooms and a huge rooftop pool, and is located just 3–5 minutes walk from the beach.

🍽️ What and where to eat

Of course, there are multiple cafés and restaurants, from locals as well as global chains, to choose from. Besides, one can order food for delivery via for example Grab, buy some ready to eat food in the supermarket, or go for more local options such as food market or small food-trucks of locals with quick dishes.

Some highlights in Pa Thong area include: – Big C supermarkets (multiple locations around the city with the biggest supermarket at the Jungceylon shopping mall) where one can buy vegetables, fruits, and grocery to cook something, as well as ready to eat dishes and snacks.

• Banzaan Fresh Market (located just opposite the Jungceylon shopping mall) where one can buy vegetables, fruits, and various local dishes from various vendors from deep-fried snacks to grilled fish.

• Roti Patong Tea and Coffee a small nice café, where one can eat supper delicious local traditional kind of pancakes with various filling from Nutella to ham & cheese. They also serve various drinks, including pretty good coffee.

• ZomPaul Eatery serves all the traditional Thai food, but the good thing about this place is that it's located in a small side road, where it is not that crowdy and loud.

• No.6 Restaurant a small place with a huge variety of tasty food, where is always a line and one need to expect to wait min 10-15 min. to be seated! It has long tables with many people seating around them, just like in German beer gardens, but the atmosphere is enjoyable and comfortable and food is delicious.

• Mr. Good's Seafood is also a pretty good place, where one can buy fresh fish and other seafood by kilos and enjoy it right away. Prices are not the cheapest one, but similar to other places in this busy area.

• Blue Beach is a cosy place on the beach front, where one can enjoy cocktails and live music. Piña colada in a coconut is something worth a try :)

👀 What to do and what to see

• Check out various beaches there are plenty of them and they are really different! Our favourites were:
• Kata Noi Beach (clear water, beautiful scenery around)

• Naiyang Beach (calm and close to Sirinat National Park, so one can enjoy a great nature around) as well as Mai Khao Beach (here one can see arriving and departing aeroplanes staying just under them).

• Travel around the island and check various national parks, beaches, waterfalls, temples, markets, and entertainment complexes such as “FantaSea”, “Blue Tree Phuket” etc.

• Go visit and feed Elephants at various locations around the city. We have been to a place called “Elephant Jungle Sanctuary” located almost in the middle of the island and featuring a nice café (“Elephant Jungle Cafe”).

• Go visit The Big Buddha or if you don't want, you can see him almost everywhere in Karon area.

• Eat fresh seafood at Rawai Seafood Market this is just the best place to buy some really fresh seafood that is even alive, and go to any or restaurants around, where you can choose how you want it to be cooked for you for some small payment per kilo.

• Bangla Road is a place to visit near Patong beach if you like loud music and parties, or if you are a fan of night-life entertainments.

💡 Some highlights

• As in many Asian cities, you need to expect heavy traffic, loud roads and traffic jams!
• To my taste, local Thai food turned out to be not that tasty :( But seafood especially at Rawai is super fresh and delicious!
• We were unpleasantly surprised with some not really friendly behaviour of locals, and their aggressive sales approach.
• I didn't finally get all the details, but there is some kind of conflict situation around local taxi drivers: in some areas you are allowed to on-/offboard taxis ordered via apps only in specially dedicated areas. Once our taxi driver (from InDrive) had a conflict with other drivers just because she collected us at the place, where we were waiting for her (we didn't know that this place was “reserved” for some local taxis only).
• There is a huge variety of fruits that are pretty cheap and always tasty! One also needs to try a passion fruit 100% juice, which could be bought in Big C at Jungceylon shopping mall. It's just out of this world!