Having lived in Thailand for 10 years I’ve been to Phuket about a dozen times but most visits have been based around golf.  My last visit was a family one so I’ll focus on that one in these pages. Phuket seems to be popular with people who have never been to Thailand, but if you know Thailand at all, you’ll know that there are much better beaches and holiday spots in Thailand than Phuket.  My last visit was actually ok, we had the wife, Grobbler, and Mum-in-law.  What made this visit ok was definitely due to the hotel, the Andara Resort Villas, and the golf at Red Mountain Golf Club.  Other than that, I reckon Phuket is setup for first time tourists to Thailand who don’t have much clue about what Thailand is really like.  Patong, the main town in Phuket is a bit ho-hum, yeah there’s quite a few things to do if you’re a tourist, but they’re all, not surprisingly, pretty touristy.  Phuket is missing the charm and x-factor that some other Asian destinations have and lately it’s been overrun by mainland Chinese tourists (which city hasn’t?).

Despite the great hotel and excellent golf, I’m in no hurry to go back, and probably will never go back unless there were some excellent deals going on and/or it was for a golf trip. For families, there are much better places to go but again, it really depends on what your idea of a good holiday is.  For golf, it’s probably one of the most expensive places to play in Thailand and weekends are exceptionally busy.  For kids, Phuket is not bad, quite a few things for them to do, lots of food options and plenty of family friendly hotels to choose from.  Check out more about Phuket in our information pages.

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