What its like spending a week in Phuket right now

Posted On March 29, 2022

Arriving at Phuket Airport for our week in Phuket!

We spent a good week in Phuket from March 5th to March 12th, 2022. We arrived at the airport at 8pm and came through the airport relatively quickly. We were the only flight initially but another landed 30 mins after ours so there wasn’t a big wait or too many people around. If you want to read about the application process, covid requirements and more check out my post What it took to get to Thailand, March 2022. We had PCR tests at the airport and then got picked up by our hotel, we had to stay in our hotel room until the PCR results came back. Lucky it was about 11pm so we just went to sleep, the results came through about 2am so by morning we were free to explore.

The Marina Phuket Hotel

We stayed at The Marina Phuket Hotel – 4-Star hotel in Patong with a rooftop pool you can book directly through their site but I used booking.com. I also book through Shopback cause I like to be $$ savvy. This place was great, I think it was $298 for the week and I got $35 back with Shopback, so very cheap accommodation for a full seven nights. If you haven’t used Shopback, get onto it – join with my referral code and we both get $20 free – qT1fE3 😜

The hotel was relatively quiet when we first arrived, but as the week went on more and more people arrived and the place became more lively. The rooftop pool is beautiful, they let me fly my drone up there so that was even cooler and I got some great shots of the area. They also make great cocktails! The hotel is in a great location, two blocks from the front street and if you are getting scooters, you can park them out the front of the hotel easily.

Getting around during our week in Phuket

Scooters

We hired scooters for around $50 AUD a week each. We got one each to begin with but then ended up just using one. You have to leave your passport with the scooter hire people. So ask for a photocopy in case you need it. There were no issues getting our passports back. However, we took videos of our bikes before we took off to note any existing damage just in case. We had no issues returning them, they hardly checked them. There were MANY tourists with bandaged legs and arms from scooter accidents. My advice is know how to ride, make sure your travel insurance covers you for scooters and be very observant. You cant really be safe on the roads, you have to just go with the flow or you become dangerous.

Tuk Tuks and taxi’s

If you are not interested in scooting, its very easy to get around using tuk tuks. They are everywhere, and they are fun with the loud music and flashing lights. You can also jump on the back of scooters or get a taxi, they’re all priced around the same. Everything is cheap.

Grab cars and everything delivered

You can also download the Grab app, Grab is very popular there for deliveries. You can have anything you imagine delivered to you for about 20c. I didn’t use it for transport but the option is there. I use to use the app in Bali and get around on the scooters for next to nothing.

Every time you walk anywhere people are constantly asking you if you need transport so getting anywhere is very easy.

The vibe was growing for our week in Phuket

The Thai people are still as beautiful as ever. We spoke with a lot about covid and they all said two years with no work or income. They managed to survive and feed their families during this two years on next to no income. I am not sure how they have survived in these third world countries, i guess the community works together. And they’re still happy, friendly and welcoming people. I am sure they are happy to have foreigners back as tourism is their biggest money maker. We did not find any of them rude or desperate, and we didn’t feel like they were trying to rip us off.

We noticed the number of tourists increasing daily. The mornings were pretty quiet and by lunch time, early afternoon, there were more and more people on the streets. I guess having the Sandbox Program makes people spend seven days in Phuket so it is great for their economy. It will be great to see more shops and bars open again.

The effects of covid were visible

Alot of businesses were still closed, Jungceylon Shopping Centre was basically closed down. From what we were told there were one or two shops in there that were open. There were still a lot of closed shop fronts on the streets, but enough was open to make the place seem alive. Looking back on our trip, we definitely had the most fun in Phuket, it had the most happening atmosphere. A lot of tours were up and running and increasing number of tourists made the place more lively everyday.

I remember going to the Tiger Night Club in Bangla Road back in maybe 2010. It was the place to be, it was wild. There was only the two front rows of bars open and the rest were empty. Enough is open for it to look like its going off from the street. Not enough happening there to create a night club yet. However the bars at the front were a great spot to sit and drink and people watch. Straight across from this is a market place with so many bags and hats and shoes. They all have private airconditioned rooms with more bags out the back so you can see their private collections. Great shopping but slightly expensive compared to other places we shopped.

Big Buddha

We scooted out to the Big Buddha, its about a 20 minute ride from our hotel. We had Laws’ Dad with us and he knows his way around Phuket so he was our tour guide for the week which was great. The Big Buddha is very cool, its the third tallest structure in Thailand at 456m tall and 25m wide. It is made of concrete and covered with Burmese white marble. You can sponsor a piece of white marble for 300 baht and write your wishes on the back. This project has cost over a million dollars (US) and been funded by donations. For more on the Big Buddha, the panoramic views, monkeys, surrounding cafes and all things fun; check out this post Panoramic views from the Big Buddha Phuket.

All the markets we could get to in a week in Phuket

The market scene in Phuket was honestly amazing. Actually over the whole of Thailand, markets everywhere were just the best with the freshest of foods and so clean. We went to the Phuket Night Weekend Markets, Same Same Markets Phuket (we ate here most nights), Chillva Market, and Malin Plaza Patong. If you want to know which markets are the best, check out this post Four of the best Thailand markets.

James Bond Island Tour

We did the James Bond Island Tour by cruise boat. It was a nice day out and the tour guides were really fun and energetic. The tour took us kayaking through caves and secret lagoons. We went on a longtail boat to James Bond Island and explored the national park. We had lunch on board the boat and went swimming and chilled at a little bay. For more on the tour check out this post Cruising to James Bond Island.

Patong Boxing Stadium

We went to a Muay Thai match at the Patong Boxing Stadium, Bangla Stadium is closed for now. There is a Ute that drives around chanting “Patong Boxing Stadium, tonight”. Its funny cause its one of the things I remember so vividly from my last trip to Thailand. Over ten years ago, some things dont change!

To read more on the match and where we got tickets check out this post Muay Thai at Patong Stadium.

Drinking at the island bars and cruising around Patong Beach

We had a great time cruising around Patong Beach, hopping from bar to bar and ending up at Bangla Road. There are so many bars and drinking holes its hard to choose where to go. We had the best time at these island drinking bars in Patong Beach. If you want to know more about our escapades, check out From day drinking to Ping Pong Shows – Phuket Night life.

Beach runs on the scooters

Laws’ Dad took us riding everywhere during our week in Phuket. If you ride along the beach front with Bangla Road on your right and the beach on your left, at the end there is a round about, go left. It takes you out past Kalin Beach to Kamala Beach, Kamala was a pretty busy little area. He also took us up the hills at the other end of the beach front, to Lucky Beach and Freedom Beach. So much to explore and scooters are perfect for it. Also great for social distancing and avoiding covid.

Kamala is another suburb of Phuket that goes up into the hills. We road our scooters up and around and I flew the drone up here. Its a really beautiful part of Phuket, with beautiful views, nice for a little scoot around. For more on this check out this post Cruising by the beaches of Phuket.

Ping Pong Show

We went to a Ping Pong Show, if you haven’t been before you kind of have to go. But it isn’t really pleasant. There is heaps of people on Bangla Road with signs for the Ping Pong Shows. They take you to their venue and you are given a drinks menu where the price includes an entry fee. Its like $50 AUD for a drink and entry. (Please note: After this they give you a reasonable priced drink menu). To read more about it and Laws getting pulled up on stage. And stripped to his undies. Check out this post From day drinking to Ping Pong Shows – Phuket Night life.

In conclusion..

Phuket was great, the vibe is well on its way to returning. It really got better every day we were there. Looking back on our trip, we had the most fun in Phuket. There were lots of places to drink, lots of places to explore, and people were friendly. I would definitely recommend spending some time here and helping their economy recover from two years of nothing.