This is a summary of what we've learned during our visit to Patong Beach in Phuket, Thailand. I hope it comes in handy to others who go to Phuket (and to remind us the next time we go).
Hotels
Adonis Guest House
www.adonis-phuket.com
We loved staying at Adonis. The price was amazing (600 baht in low season), rooms were spacious, with a shower (plenty of hot water), TV, satellite, AC, safe, desk and a king-size bed. We did not mind spending time in the room, as at the beginning of the trip we had a few rainy days and stayed in watching TV and reading books.
The service is really great. There is free Wifi throughout the hotel, and in case you are travelling laptop-free (like we did) there is a free to use computer in the hotel lobby.
The location was great, as it was a short walk from the busy street (Rat-u-Thit) so you could get to a bunch of restaurants and stores in no time. The beach was about five minutes away. Jungceylon (a huge shopping centre) was about 5 minutes away, and we made good use of the proximity. We would go shopping in the morning, have lunch, go back to our room for a nap and then go back shopping in the afternoon. There is also a large movie theater in the Jungceylon shopping centre. Movie tickets are only 140 baht, or less if you go on Mon-Wed. A large supermarket (Carrefour) was also located in Jungceylon.
The room was really quiet as the guest house was not right on the busy street. We would pull the blinds down and sleep till 10 am, and it still felt dark in the room. It will cost you about 500 baht to get to Adonis by taxi from Phuket airport, and 600 baht to get back to Phuket airport.
PS Hotel
www.pshotel.com
Found this hotel while walking to the shopping mall. The hotel looked very clean and the prices were reasonable. If Adonis happens to be booked when we go to Phuket next time, I would definitely stay at PS Hotel.
Shopping
Jungceylon Shooping Centre
Contains a Carrefour supermarket 10am-10pm, Robinsons department store 11am-10pm, a movie theater, and a large number of stores and restaurants. Make sure to visit the downstairs section where they have a lot of inexpensive clothes and purse stores.
Jungceylon was completed in 2007 and it is a very modern shopping centre. You will find every kind of store in there, banks, massages places, manicures, pedicures, laser treatments, shoe shops, bag shops, clothing stores, a large department store, grocery store, bowling, movies, McDonalds, KFC, Burger King, Starbucks, Dairy Queen ... Make sure to visit all areas of the mall as it has many good stores and it took us at least three visits to find the ends of the mall.
Street markets and OTOP market
There are small stands selling clothing, jewellery, watches, belts, sunglasses, etc. everywhere you go. The OTOP market is a place where all these small stands are in one place, for ease of shopping. Most street vendors sell poor quality knock-offs, that I would recommend you go visit the basement of Jungceylon for this kind of product, but of higher quality (and price).
Central Festival Shopping Centre
We did not make it to this shopping centre as it was closer to Phuket town than to Patong. It is supposed to be a big shopping centre but I am not sure how different it is from Jungceylon.
Ocean Plaza
This smaller shopping centre sits on Bangla Road and has a lot of lower quality gear on display. Looked very cheesy.
Restaurants
PS Hotel Restaurant
Located on Rat-u-thit Road, near Bangla Road. Excellent prices, even better tasty food. European and Thai food.
Pizzerria Hut Pizza
North of Jungceylon mall (leave Jungceylon going towards Bangla Road) and it is on a side street, about 75 metres from Rat-u-thit Road. Excellent wood-fire oven pizza. A 12 inch pizza will cost you up to 300 baht but will be enough for two people.
European Deli
On Rat-u-thit Road (once again near Bangla Road), has reasonable prices, offers European and Thai food.
The Coffee Club (Jungceylon)
Clean and new, Western operated, reasonable prices but portions are on the small side.
Entertainment
Bars on Bangla Road
Did not really try them, but if you are a lonely (old) white guy, I don't think you will feel lonely for too long.
Movies and bowling in Jungceylon
Cheap movies (140 baht) to watch movies in a new movie theater. Most movies are subtitled so if it is an English movie, you are safe. Bowling is also available, but I cannot comment on it as we have not tried it.
Phi-Phi Island tour
We had a terrible time but that was so because we went on a cloudy, rainy, windy day. The boat ride was really not fun because of the choppy waves and the rain, snorkelling was not fun because of the jelly fish and cloudy weather. I think this tour would be great if you can do it on a sunny day with no wind.
Other
There is go-karting, elephant rides, scuba diving, tours of other islands, jet ski, paragliding behind a speedboat, car rental, moped rental, etc.
Beaches
Patong Beach
Hard to find a shady spot if you don't want to pay for a chair with a parasol. Very busy and noisy with jet skis and paragliding operations throughout the beach. Constant smell of gasoline due to motorized water sport crafts.
Kata Beach
Did not happen to go there but everyone was saying that it is a really nice and quiet beach.
Other
There seem to be a lot of beaches on the island, so renting a car or a scooter and going exploring is a good idea.
Transportation
From/to the airport
You can take a tuk-tuk or a meter-taxi. A meter-taxi came out to 472 baht for us to Patong Beach. On our way back, we could only find a taxi (and tuk-tuks were the same price) to take us to the airport for 600 baht.
Around the island
Tuk-tuks will often charge you a low price to take you to a remote beach and then charge you double for the way back.
Car rental is a good way to get around, and I have seen rates to start at 1200 baht per day.
Moped rental is possible but you need to wear a helmet (or you will get fined by overvigilant police) and pay attention to other traffic. Chaotic driving warning!
Public bus goes every half hour from Patong Beach to Phuket town and back, passing Central Festival Mall on the way to Phuket town. The price is around 25 baht per person, and you can catch it in front of the Jungceylon Mall. It goes from 9 am to 6 pm if I remember correctly.
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