patong beach/phuket/thailand? help!

kj19

kj19

Active Member
im looking to go for a holiday in thailand and am wanting the following.

-good nightlife
-nice beaches/scenery (think tropical)
-a spot of diving

so far the place that im thinkin of goin to is patong beach in phuket..

has anybody been there?

if so is there any help/reviews u could please give me as i do not know much about thailand...

any help would be much appreciated

thanks in advance
 
Personally, id avoid Phuket until its right back to where it was pre Tsunami.
Go there on a fly visit i reckon, but dont base yourself there.

Instead, id base by trip in the islands in the Gulf of Thailand - Koh Tao, Koh Samui and Koh Phangnan

Koh tao has the amazing diving
Krabi has the scenery
Koh Phangnan has the full moon party
And Koh Samui is the most westernised of the islands probably, and may be the best place to base your trip as its easy to get everywhere from Samui. Plus they have an airport.

Samuis got Gecko in Bhoput, Danny Rampling often is seen there and a nice bar called Mint in Chaweng

Try those for size mate. You need at least 3 weeks.
 
Agree with Toms here really, Koh Pha Ngan/Samui/Tao are all nice islands with lots to do and good although different vibes on each. I would also recommend maybe spending 2 weeks on the islands then spend a week up north in maybe Chaing mai or somewhere. It's inexpensive to travel from the south to the north be it plane/train/bus and you will see another totally different and equally amazing part of Thailand.
 
Phuket/Patong is ok for a night and the nightlife, but it is quite commercialised. Lots of sex shows and the likes, but worth a look! ;)

Get the boat from there to Koh Phi Phi, outstanding for diving. This place is absolutely fantastic. Very small, no cars, you just walk everywhere. It has some great wee bars and one thai boxing/cheesy nightclub to go to. You will love it!!

We also went to Rialy, near Krabi which is only accessible by boat. The Skunk bar is well worth a visit.;)

Also, Lanta for chilling, long beaches and cool beach bars. Not much nighlife, but great for relaxing.
 
Don't go to Phuket (Patong) unless you want to be surrounded by Swedish families on holiday, girly bars with young Thai girls dancing half naked, and lots of old dirty men. It's not a very nice place and nothing like the rest of Thailand.
Some other beaches like Kata, Karon are quite nice but there's not much in the way of nightlife there.

Ko Phangan / Ko Samui are a good bet. Samui has lots of nice hotels, beaches, but is much more commercialised than Phangan. It has Macdonald's and lots of tourist bars. I personally perfer Phangan because it is much more untouched, yet still has a really good nightlife.

Ko Phi Phi is amazing to go to, I'd suggest getting the boat from Krabi then you dont have to touch Phuket at all. It's such a beautiful island but is sadly becoming more and more built up :( It's so small I'd probably only recommend a few days there. Great beaches to chill out on though.

depends how long you have to spend in Thailand really, you could do a few stops if you have more time.
 
in short: don´t go to Thailand for clubbing, isn´t worth it. Enjoy the sightseeing, the beach and the food, but relax from clubbing for a couple of weeks.

"East coast":
Forget Samui for clubbing... there used to be one or two locations in Lamai (for example with Nakadia playing), but they have been closed for two years now. Chaweng had some locations, too, but apart from Mint you only got the GreenMango and the rest of the Reggaeclub... not that much of a choice.
The parties at RockyBay used to be nice, but have been closed down for years now.

Only idea is to go to either Phangan for the FullMoon (won´t go even near there for the last few years, too much beerboys. You thought Amnesia had beerboys? Go to HaadRin...) or head further to Ko Tao. Divers only, but some nice bars to hang out.

for Bangkok: havent been to the RCA, only to Lucifer (almost completely empty two times) and to Narcissus. Narc is a pretty club, but mostly Eurodance and the odd trance record mixed in. Around 90% well-to-do thais, the rest a sprinkling of Expats and travellers. Dress smart! Not traveller style.
The old Ministry of Sound in 2001 was cool and brimming to the top, has unfortunately closed down in 2003 or something.

my 2 cents from our six Thailand trips in the last few years. Great country to really relax.


EDIT: had one of my best parties ever at a private fullmoon party with around 40 ppl from all over the world on Phangan, though. DJ flown in from Birmingham, great sound system, fullmoon, nice ppl... but that was way back in 2000
 
thanks for the great replies ...

i think iv changed my mind about patong already...

will scan the net for info on all the places u guys have said (which all sound good and to my taste)...

any1 know any good websites i should check out?
 
All about traveling around Thialiand. I went for two weeks last year. Started in Phuket - Kho Shamui (spent a week there) - Pattya - Bankok
 
Do a couple of nights in Bangkok for clubbing. I stayed In Phuket on Karon Beach and I fell in love with it.

Patong is too commercialised right enough and too many 14 year old pro's and fat 50yr old Americans. The beach was not pretty and too busy for us.

There is a bar called Safari Club on the way from Karon Beach to Patong and they have a live band and in another room a DJ - we went almost every night. Allright so you still get the pro's but they were not so obvious and we made friends with loads of Thai people.

Fantastic place and would recommend the Thai "whiskey".

Avoid the Banana Bar - unless you looking for business - but again we made friends with some of the pro's in there.

Defo go to Koh Phi Phi

Yeah Koh Samui blah blah but I did love Phuket and would recommend it too anyone. We went as a couple and had a fab time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top