Aleenta Resort

There are tourists who like to be in the middle of the action, like to be within easy walking distance of shops, bars, restaurants, tailors and tour agents .. and for you there is Patong and other main beach areas. Other visitors to Phuket are looking for a bit of seclusion and maybe a hint of luxury too, and Phuket has plenty of quiet beaches with very nice resorts in a different world to the crowds of Patong. The Aleenta Resort advertises itself as bein in Phuket, but actually it's just off Phuket over the bridge and turn left. It's in Phang Nga province, far less developed that Phuket, and an area that we have explored a lot in recent years (check out blog posts about Phang Nga Bay, Bang Riang Temple and Tha Sai Seafood for example).

Aleenta is certainly a "getaway". I recommend you have transport if you stay here, hire a car to get around and explore. Or just spend a few days relaxing at the resort. Most of the rooms are private villas, ranging from one to four bedroom villas. The four bedroom place is HUGE, with 1,000 square meters of space! Some villas are beachfront and some are just behind the beachfront ones. Want a quieter place to stay? Here it is ... but don't moan that it's too far from the shops or nightlife!

 

(above) Beach at the Aleenta and view from a room

There are several restaurants and bars on site. Maybe you can wander up the beach and find a local place, but otherwise it's a bit of a drive to find other dining options. I can recommend Thanoon Seafood right by the bridge on the Phang Nga side. There's a spa at the hotel and yoga, and they do weddings too. Yeh, I would stay here if I was about 10 times richer :)

 

Aleenta Resort - Booking & Information Links

• Aleenta Resort - Info, Rates and Reservations @ Agoda.com
• Aleenta Resort - Reviews


Phuket Hotels - More Info & Online Booking

• More Phuket Hotel Recommendations
• Top 10 Phuket Hotels 2013
• Phuket Hotels at Agoda.com
• Thailand Hotels at Agoda.com

Read More

Mandarava Resort (Karon Beach)

Another new hotel in the Karon beach area, Mandarava opened earlier this year (2013) on the hillside towards the north end of the beach, near the well known Pacific Club resort. Seems like a lot of newer hotels in Phuket are being built away from the beach. I guess there is no beachfront left or, if there is, the land is just too expensive. Mandarava has quickly become popular, looks very nice and the owners seen to understand the power of TripAdvisor reviews (too much power if you ask me!). We've had several customers in the dive shop this week staying at Mandarava, and so I've heard a few things about the resort. It's in the hills, so not by the beach. Probably about 10 minute walk to the beach. Lots of hills to climb to get to the resort, or to your room, as the rooms are on different levels. For sure they have a shuttle bus and hotel car, but will it always be there exactly when you need it?! It's all very green, jungly ("lush" would be a word you could use, but not a word I like) and there are several pools and little waterfalls built into the resort. I can imagine it's very relaxing.

 

(above) Mandarava is in the hills, so you get some great views from the pool and from some of the rooms

There are 130 rooms, built into villas with split levels - the upper floor rooms mostly have some kind of seaview ("it's over there between the land and the sky"), while ground floor rooms either face a pool or the green jungle. The hotel has it's restaurants and bars of course, or you can walk to the main street at the north end of Karon in about 10 minutes. The location up the hill and just *slightly* out of the main strip would appeal to some, not to others. When I look at the reviews (see link below) it's the location that brings the overall score down. I'd say if you are unable to walk up hills, find a place to stay by the beach! Otherwise, the hillside is nice, you get views and can catch any breeze that's blowing.

 


Mandarava Resort - Booking & Information Links

• Mandarava Resort - Rates and Reservations @ Agoda.com
• Mandarava Resort - Reviews


Phuket Hotels - More Info & Online Booking

• More Phuket Hotel Recommendations
• Top 10 Phuket Hotels 2013
• Phuket Hotels at Agoda.com
• Thailand Hotels at Agoda.com

Read More

Centara Grand Beach Resort (Karon Beach)

I find it hard to keep up with new hotels in Phuket! Every year there are new resorts, or renovated resorts with new owners. In the first few years of this Phuket blog, I wrote lots of hotel pages, with suggested hotels all over the island. More recently I have added pages with Top 10 lists - best hotels, best romantic or family hotels etc. But it's been a long time since a hotel "review" - about time for a new one. Now, the hotels that are recommended here are normally recommended due to reputation, or "what I've heard" as a resident, or comments from customers at the dive shop, or top marks when I look at reviews on Agoda. I don't work for a big online travel company or anything like that, don't get free hotel stays .. last hotels I stayed in with the family were in Khao Lak and Hua Hin on our holidays. Here in Phuket, we have a house, so why stay in a hotel?!

The Centara Grand Beach Resort is right at the north end of Karon Beach. It opened a couple of years ago and does get great reviews, and to me it looks like a great place for a family holiday hotel. It's quite a big hotel, run by the Centara group who also have the Centara Karon, Centara Villas, Centara Kata and Centara West Sands resorts in Phuket! The facilities look to be very good including a kind of water park (well, a slide and a 'lazy river' at least)

 

(above) It's all about water ... pools and the beach nearby too.

Centara Grand is right by the sea, so you have beach access, but actually you have to walk about 1km to the main center of Karon with lots of restaurants, bars and a few shops. Or take a taxi which will be 200 Baht each way. Karon beach is much much quieter than Patong to the north. I'd imagine the Centara Grand as ideal for families or couples who might book some tours for the day, and then have an evening with dinner, a few drinks and enjoy the resort for a couple of hours. For sure Phuket has a lot to do, but it's nice to have a resort to come back to after a day out and relax in the pool or have a massage!

 


Centara Grand Beach Resort - Booking & Information Links

• Centara Grand Beach Resort - Rates and Reservations @ Agoda.com
• Centara Grand Beach Resort - Reviews


Phuket Hotels - More Info & Online Booking

• More Phuket Hotel Suggestions
• Top 10 Phuket Hotels
• Phuket Hotel Reservations at Agoda.com
• Thailand Hotel Booking at Agoda.com

Read More

The Big Buddhas of Phuket

Buddhas? Surely there's only one "Big Buddha" in Phuket? The big white one on the hill? Yes, that's the one known as THE Big Buddha, and it certainly is impressive. We've been driving up that hill for 10 years since before construction began. It's not just the 45m high statue, but we love the great views over much of southern Phuket. Thailand is of course mostly Buddhist, so there are lots of Buddhist temples here, though Phuket also has large a Muslim minority and many Thai-Chinese families. You'll find mosques and Chinese shrines all over the island too, and even a Catholic church, a Hindu temple and Sikh temple!

"The" Big Buddha of Phuket

The biggest Buddha in Phuket is the big white marble covered statue on top of the Nakkerd hills in the south of the island near Chalong. It's been under construction for many years. The main statue is fairly well complete, but there's still work in progress around the edges. When it was being built we'd come up the hill for the views and some peace. Now it's part of many tour itineraries, so can be crowded, unless you visit early morning or late afternoon. The statue can be seen from much of the south of the island, and the views from the hill, more than 400m above the sea, are great.

• The Big Buddha of Phuket
• Hiking to the Big Buddha




Reclining Buddha at Sri Sunthorn Temple

Built on the roof of one of the temple buildings at Sri Sunthorn temple, just south of Thalang in the centre of Phuket island is a 25m reclining Buddha. This is not a busy temple, we've been numerous times and hardly ever seen more than a few visitors. It's right by the main road through Phuket from town to the airport, but it's behind some trees and hard to spot from the road. The temple is named after one of the Heroines of Phuket who fought off the Burmese way back in 1785. Oh yes, we got history too!

• Sri Sunthorn Temple




Seated Buddha at Rang Hill Temple

Up a tiny, hard to find side road next to the Vachira hospital in Phuket Town, is a little secret. Somehow, I did not see this until January 2012, even though the blog had been going nearly 6 years and I love temples. My wife just casually said one day "did you ever see the temple up this road?" ... Wat Khao Rang is at the foot of Rang Hill, on the north side of Phuket Town, well known for views and the popular Tunk Ka Cafe. The golden seated Buddha is very nice indeed and I really should go back one day for some early morning photos in better light. Phuket is full of surprises, even for a long term resident!

• Khao Rang Temple




Buddha in a cave at Wat Suwan Kuha

OK, this one is not on Phuket island .. Wat Suwan Kuha, also called Wat Tham ("cave temple") is over the bridge in Phang Nga province, but is visited by many tours from Phuket. We've been quite a few times. The Buddha is quite impressive, the whole thing was built about 150 years ago by the Na Takuathung family who still live in Phuket. A visit here can be combined with a Phang Nga Bay tour. Outside the cave there are lots of monkeys. There's a 20 Baht entry fee to the cave.

• Wat Suwan Kuha




Reclining Buddha at Koh Sirey Temple

Every time we visit the temple on a hill at Sirey Island (just east of Phuket Town) we feel sorry for the place. With some funding it could be gorgeous. Please do visit and leave a donation! Sirey Island (rather like Phuket) is hardly an island, you can drive there over a small bridge from Phuket Town. The temple is up a small hill, about 200 feet above sea level - views are pretty good actually! Inside the temple is a large reclining Buddha about 20m from head to toe. We like driving around Sirey for the views and there are some small restaurants dotted around the place, plus a sea gypsy village not far from the temple.

• Koh Sirey Temple




Golden Buddha at Koh Kaew Yai Island

Not such an enormous Buddha, but an important one ... Koh Kaew Yai is a small island about 1km off the south tip of Phuket, you can see it from Phromthep Cape. Local legend says that Buddha set foot on the island before arriving in Phuket. Some monks live on the island. There is a large "footprint of Buddha" on the south side of the island, and facing north towards Phuket is a Buddha statue about 6 or 7m high. Not enormous, but an interesting place to visit - you can go by longtail boat from Rawai beach.

• Boat trip to Koh Kaew Yai




Wat Bang Riang

A very impressive temple in the hills north of Phang Nga Town near the small town of Thap Put ... quite a drive from Phuket actually, but a day trip including this temple can also include Wat Suwan Kuha and maybe a nice lunch at Tha Sai Seafood. The temple covers a huge area, with a main building on a hill and then a big Buddha and a big standing figure of the goddess Guan Yin. And quite a few steps to climb! Certainly worth a visit if you are in an exploring mood (which we often are!).

• Wat Bang Riang




Related Blog Posts

• Phuket Temples and Shrines
• Wat Chalong - Phuket's Biggest Buddhist Temple
• Sikh Gurdwara in Phuket Town
• Shrine of the Serene Light in Phuket Town

Google Map of Phuket Temples


View Phuket Temples in a larger map

Read More

Phuket Weekend Market

Markets are where you can sample real life, local life - it's all laid bare for everyone to see. I've always been a big fan of markets and despite all the modern shopping malls and supermarkets that have sprung up around Phuket (Tesco Lotus, Big C, Central, Jungceylon and more) the local markets are as lively as ever. You'll find fresh markets in all areas of Phuket, some daily, some only on selected days. One of the biggest is in Kathu in between Patong and Phuket Town - see Kathu Local Market. Well worth a look.





The Phuket weekend market (aka Phuket night market) is located just outside Phuket City off Chao Fa West road, near Naka Temple. There's a Google Map at the end of this page. It's open Saturday and Sunday starting late afternoon, up to around 10pm. Along the same road is also a fresh market (called the Talad Sot Mai - "New Fresh Market"). The weekend market is not really for buying fresh food, but there are stalls selling fruit and there are loads snack stalls for buying deserts, corn, drinks, spicy snacks, noodles and of course fried insects! I've been in Thailand since 1999. Never eaten a fried insect and have no plans to eat a fried insect. Ever.







It's one of those "you can get anything here" markets - you'll find entire stalls selling nothing but remote controls or comic books or fluffy toys. There are also some random secondhand stalls where you're never quite sure what you'll find. Many stalls are selling clothes, new and secondhand. We visit the weekend market every couple of months if we happen to be passing. There are CD and DVD stalls (all originals of course!), handicrafts and antiques too. It's become quite popular with tourists now, but don't expect to find something on the scale of Jatujak market in Bangkok.





You don't see many beggars in Phuket. So it's quite noticeable at the weekend market. Each time we go I see several poor souls with disabilities and I suppose no family to support them. Having traveled in some very poor countries in my life, I admit to having a hard heart, but here it stands out more. On our last visit I did give this guy some money...



The weekend market starts up in the afternoon and carries on into the evening. Many people go in the evening and it does get quite busy. Hard to park a car sometimes. We go there every now and then. My wife can always find some clothes to buy! If you go in the evening, you could more or less eat your dinner at the market by buying and sampling different snacks like the yummy (and slightly spicy) fish cakes below.







This blog likes to show a bit of local life and the weekend market is a good place to start if you want to see the real Phuket (although quite a lot of other tourists also go!). Remember, it's on Saturday and Sunday only. Try some snacks and food from the many foodstalls, grab a cold beer from the bar that can be found somewhere in the middle of the market... actually there are a few places selling drinks. Easy to get to from Phuket Town. If you come from Patong it takes about 20 minutes. I think a tuk tuk will charge about 400 Baht. or of course you can rent a moped for about 200 - 250 Baht per day. Best to go late afternoon / early evening when the temperature cools down a bit. Enjoy!

More Markets in Phuket

• Phuket Town Main Market (Daily)
• Indy Market (Thursday/Friday evenings)
• Karon Temple Market (Tuesday and Saturday)
• More Weekend Market Photos


Phuket Weekend Market / Night Market - Location Map


View Phuket Weekend Market in a larger map

Read More