Phuket Holidays: Travel Tips and Holiday Ideas

By Paula Parker

Planning your Phuket holidays can be as easy as dropping into your local travel agent and going along with their suggestions and their holiday packages and all-inclusive deals, but at a price.

Or you can do a bit of homework online and find some incredible deals by researching flights to Phuket and some of the specials and all-inclusive resorts that are available online.

Note, we are not travel agents, just fellow travellers passing on information to help you make the most of your holidays in Phuket.

This page contains affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase through a link, we may receive a very small commission at no additional cost to you, you can read our affiliate disclosure.

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Vacation Ideas for Planning a Holiday in Phuket

Travel agents do a great job and can provide you with lots of ideas for where to stay and the best deals available.

To stay up to date with the latest specials, we subscribe to their online newsletters and emails.

If you find a great holiday package, you can usually book it at the local agency or over the phone with one of their travel specialists.

Using the services of a travel agent to book your holidays works well if you're not confident booking your own flights to Phuket or accommodation online.

However, we suggest that you look around our site to see how affordable the room rates are for hotels in Phuket before booking your hotel or resort based on a travel agent's recommendation alone.

With just a little research, you could save yourself some extra spending money that you can use to go shopping or to take day trips on your holidays.

Never be afraid of taking the information you find online back to your travel agent to get them to offer you a better deal.

Planning Your Phuket Holidays

There are many options for planning your Phuket holidays.

If you just want to enjoy the nightlife and shopping, you would be best to stay around Patong Beach.

However, if you would prefer to take in all that Phuket has to offer, look outside of Phuket and maybe do a combination holiday.

A combination holiday allows you the best of both worlds, where you can enjoy the busy streets and beach of Phuket's Patong Beach and the beauty of Ko Phi Phi, before exploring Krabi.

Alternatively, you may like to include a few days at one of the nearby islands to relax.

Ideas for your Holiday in Phuket

As mentioned, there is more to Phuket than just Patong Beach.

Here are a couple of ideas for you to consider for your Phuket holidays.

A short tuk tuk ride north of Patong Beach will have you at Surin or Kamala beach, or travel south to Karon and Kata beaches or the quiet beach coves of Tri Tra, Tri Trang, Paradise or Freedom Beaches.

You will find these areas far more relaxing and more laid back than Patong Beach.

If you go onto any travel forum, everybody asks the following question.

"Where should I stay in Phuket?"

Hopefully, this short breakdown will help.

Patong Beach is fun, if you want to party, shop and don’t mind the crowded beach and busy streets, especially during the high season. If this is what you are looking for while on holiday in Phuket, then Patong is definitely the place to stay.

Some people love it and cannot get enough of Patong, but for others, they find a 10-night stay in Patong is too much, and say that a 5-night stay would have been better.

If you want to party and shop in Patong, but would also like to enjoy a more relaxed atmosphere with great restaurants, local bars, markets and relaxing beaches. I would look at Kamala or Surin beaches to the North.

Or, alternatively, plan to stay around the southern beaches of Karon, Kata and Kata Noi. These beaches are within easy access to Patong, but are much more relaxing.

If you only want to go into Patong once or twice during your Phuket holidays and would prefer to relax on the beach and enjoy the surroundings of a Five- Star Resort have a look at the beaches that we have listed below that are located further north.

One area to consider if you want to experience what Phuket was like when we first visited 34 years ago, is to stay around Nai Yang near the luxury five-star Slate Resort or Bang Tao Beach.

Once you have sorted out a location where you would like to stay for your Phuket holidays, it's now time to research some of the different hotels and resort options.

As mentioned on our accommodation pages, we find some of the best hotel deals using Agoda, Booking.com, and Expedia to decide where we are going to stay. We find these sites offer great location maps, photos, and you can read honest reviews.

Phuket Hotels

Suggestions for a 14 Day Holiday in Phuket

Holidays in Phuket Snorkeling at Phi Phi islands

If you just want to stay in one location for your Phuket holiday, just use the above suggestions. If you want to soak up the best Phuket holidays, then I would suggest the following.

Start in the deep-end with a 5-night stay at Patong Beach, where you can enjoy the nightlife, shopping, and all that Patong Beach has to offer.

Go and see the Phuket Fantasea Show and explore Phuket with a half-day island tour, or a visit to an elephant sanctuary.

Take a ride on the local songthaew or a taxi into Phuket Town and take in the shopping, movies or bowling in Central Festival or the weekend markets for some great bargains.

On the 6th day, catch the ferry over to Phi Phi and stay for 4 or 5 nights to explore these must-see islands.

Whilst at the Phi Phi Islands, get out and see as much as you can. Not to be missed are the stunning views from the Pee Pee Viewpoint, where you will see magical sunsets.

And get up early and catch a local longtail boat over to Phi Phi Leh and Maya Bay before the tours from Phuket arrive, or explore a special secret cove that is a favourite of your tour guide or longtail boat driver.

After exploring the sights of Koh Phi Phi, take the ferry back to Phuket and stay at either Karon Beach or Kata Beach if you still want to be close to Patong.

Also, to be included in your Phuket holidays, you should also include a day trip to Phang Nga National Park and take in the beauty of the limestone cliffs and visit the famous James Bond Island.

Or take in the last days of your Phuket holidays the way it used to be, by heading up to Nai Yang Beach to chill out before your flight home.

Phi Phi Island Hotels & Resorts

Phuket Holidays Travel Tips

Never ask a tuk-tuk or taxi driver for a recommendation on where to stay! Good or bad, they will take you to where they get paid the best commission
If you are travelling in the high season around December and January, book your accommodation in advance
If you are travelling in the monsoon season, you will find bargains galore

Do your research before you go, and drop back in here to get loads of tips

If you are comfortable booking flights and accommodation for your holidays online, that's great

If not, grab as much information as you can from websites like ours and take this information to your travel agent to compare

Always take out appropriate travel insurance that will cover you for activities that you might do while on your Phuket holiday, for example, you might decide to hire a car or a motorbike to explore the island or have the urge to hire a jet ski.