One Week in Phuket - Itinerary and Travel Recommendations

Hi all - Ash here!

I’ve just got back from one week in Phuket, where I went away with my husband and his parents to celebrate my father-in-law’s 60th birthday! We had an absolutely wonderful time and here are my top tips and learnings from this trip to help you plan the perfect one week trip to Phuket, Thailand. 

Travel style: Fun in the sun, relaxing with a few activities to keep us busy.

We were a group of adults and this itinerary would also already suit a group of friends or a couple, but you could easily adapt this itinerary to be suitable for families. 

Destination choice: 

In late 2023, Jetstar announced they would be launching a direct flight from Perth to Phuket. Perth has not had a direct flight to Phuket for many years on any airline, so this was an exciting option! When we were considering taking a trip for my father-in-laws birthday we originally only considered Bali or Singapore due to the easy direct flights available, but now we had Phuket on the table too! We decided to choose Phuket because we all travel to Bali fairly regularly, and so wanted to do something different. Phuket was going to be a much more affordable option than Singapore for things such as accommodation, activities and spending money, and so we decided to go ahead. 

Airfares:

Jetstar had announced the new route which was proposed to commence in August 2024, but was still waiting on final approval from the WA Government as well as Perth Airport, and as a result, fares were available super cheap. There was some risk involved with booking this, as there was a chance that the route would not be approved. We decided to cash in on the cheap fares but wait until all the approvals were finalised before we booked any accommodation or anything else non-refundable, knowing if the route was not approved we would be refunded by the airline. The new flight route would operate 4 days a week on a 6-hour direct flight, and had really excellent flight times available - and so we booked our flights in early January 2024. 

We paid $389 per person return for our direct flights. Our flight to Phuket left Perth at 7.30am (arriving 1.00pm local time) and departed Phuket at 3.05pm (and arrived back home to Perth at 10.20pm local time) on a Saturday to Saturday trip for late November 2024. 

Accommodation:

We booked our accommodation in May 2024, after the new route had been approved and we were confident we would go ahead with the Thailand plans. Our key criteria for accommodation was that we wanted something: 

• At least 4.5 stars with great reviews. 
• Located on the sunset side of the island at one of the main beaches. 
• At least 1 great pool, but ideally multiple pools and including a swim-up or poolside bar. 
• Close by to good restaurants and nightlife, but not so close it would be loud or disruptive.
• Our budget was about $300 (ish) per night. 

It was actually quite tricky to find options that fit this criteria! We landed on the Mandarava Resort and Spa which is located on Karon Beach, about 10-15 minutes in a cab south of Patong Beach which is the main tourist beach in the area. The hotel offered 5 lagoon-style swimming pools all with either a swim-up bar or a poolside bar service, plus two restaurants and a spa. There were some great deals available for the hotel, but we found our best value when we opted to book direct through the hotel website. By booking direct through the hotels website, we paid about the same price as we could get on the major comparison sites (like Booking.com and Expedia), but the hotel also provided: 

• Buffet breakfast automatically included 
• A free airport transfer on arrival
• 1 free cocktail per person per day (more on this later)
• 1 free 3-course dinner at the hotel’s onsite Thai restaurant, Charm Thai
• 1 free 60-minute massage per person
• 10% discount on all food at all restaurants 

Considering these inclusions, we estimated we were getting at least about $400-$500 extra value per room by booking direct. This wasn’t advertised clearly on the website or online - you had to go into the different room rates available to see these benefits! In the end, this offered us the best value and we went ahead and locked in the (non-refundable) offer. 

Itinerary - Activities and Eats:

This trip we wanted a mix of pre-planned activities, and downtime to relax by the pool and just chill out. Here’s the play-by-play of what we got up to.

Day 1: 

• Arrived and collected by our airport transfer to go direct to the hotel 
• We pre-booked our included dinner at the hotel restaurant Charm Thai for this night as we knew we would be tired, and didn’t want to have to venture too far. The restaurant also had 3 x special ‘sunset’ tables that were outside and sunk into a garden / pool area with beautiful ocean sunset views - I had reserved one of these tables for us a few weeks in advance. The ‘Set Menu’ was actually super flexible, and the four of us were able to choose multiple options from the entree, main and dessert menus. 

Day 2: 

• This morning we relaxed and hung out by the pool until we were picked up by the transfer for our planned sunset boat excursion. 
• There are lots of sunset boat and boat tour providers in Phuket, and we selected La Moet because of their wonderful reviews - it seems like many of the other providers (particularly the large catamarans) have some not-so-great reviews once you actually dig into the experience. La Moet was a great choice - it included return ground transfers from our hotel to the pier, plus plenty of food and non-alcoholic drinks with beers and cocktails available to purchase (very cheaply) onboard. They even made us fresh pancakes as an afternoon tea surprise in between swims! They took us to 2 snorkelling spots plus a sunset dinner with a traditional Thai food buffet on board. I would highly recommend this tour for a relaxing afternoon out. 

Day 3: 

• This day we had no plans, except for a strict plan to try out every pool at the hotel- I like to call this a Tour de Pool! This is where our included cocktails really helped out. I find that sometimes when hotels offer included drinks, they have lots of conditions on them - like you must be at this particular bar at this particular time to receive your one (1) drink each day - which can just really make things tricky if you’re just trying to relax and see where the day takes you. Not this hotel! Instead, we were each just issued 7 cocktail vouchers on arrival, to use whenever we like over our stay. What a win! This meant our Tour de Pool (which included a mandatory cocktail at each swim-up bar) was covered by our hotel booking. 
• In the evening, we headed out to the main Karon town for dinner. We pulled up to a local seafood restaurant where you could select your dinner fresh off the ice at the front. My husband and I chose to walk into town as it was only about 20 minutes, but my in-laws took a cab which cost them about $10AUD. Dinner was great and cost us about $180 for all four of us, which included a whole snapper, prawns, lobster, plus some sides and drinks for everyone. 

Day 4: 

• In the morning we had no plans so we just relaxed by the pool until our planned afternoon at the Chalong Rum Distillery, doing a distillery tour and cocktail making class. 
• This was a 2-hour experience we booked online in advance, and there were 10 people in total in our class. We made (and drank) 3 bespoke cocktails from scratch, plus had a behind the scenes tour of the distillery which makes artisanal rum and gin. This was a great experience using ingredients you wouldn’t commonly see in cocktails at home, such as butterfly pea flower. We also learned some tips and tricks for making cocktails at home - like how to use your cocktail shaker so that the lid doesn’t get totally stuck every time! After the tour we then were invited to taste 7 of the artisanal spirits - so it’s safe to say there was plenty of booze included on this one. 
• After our class and tour, we stayed at the venue to have dinner at their adjacent restaurant. This was wonderful food - a super modern take on traditional Thai recipes, each with recommended cocktails to pair. 

Day 5: 

• Today was another ‘do nothing’ day, and my husband and I enjoyed our included Thai massage this morning in between buffet breakfast and lounging by our new favourite pool at the resort (the Coconut Pool). 
• In the evening, we washed ourselves up and headed out to Patong Beach to witness the craziness that is Bangla Road! First we grabbed a bite to eat just off the main drag at Took Took Thai, which was excellent and affordable in a modern new restaurant, and then we geared up for some serious people watching on Bangla Road. A walking street in central Patong, Bangla Road is lined with bars and restaurants - and some very interesting street vendors…

Day 6: 

• After a morning of snoozing and relaxing by the pool, this afternoon we headed out for a pre-booked street food tour by the Chef’s Tour Phuket. These small group tours have a max of 8 people, and I’m glad we booked in advance because our tour was full! We met at a temple near the Old Town, and then spent the next four hours wandering through markets and tiny restaurants trying 15 different local dishes - from Thai high tea to traditional noodles, iced rosella (hibiscus) juice and traditional curry puffs - this walking tour was an absolute treat. 
• After we finished up the tour at around 7pm, my husband and I decided to wander back through Old Town - stopping in some little stores and treating ourselves to a foot massage after a long afternoon on our feet. We definitely didn’t need any more dinner on this night!!

Day 7: 

• The last day! Today there was nothing on the agenda except to soak up the sun and vibes as we knew our trip was about to come to an end. 
• That evening, I had booked a special dinner at Ta Khai restaurant inside the Rosewood Hotel, halfway between Karon and Patong beach. While expensive for Thailand, this venue and food was absolutely exquisite and it was the perfect way to end our trip. The food was also in abundance - we ordered the set menu and this was the first meal of our trip where we had to admit defeat, and couldn’t finish everything on our table even between the four of us. 

Day 8: 

• This was our fly home day! After breakfast and one final swim, we grabbed a cab to the airport and prepared for the flight home. 

Overall summary: 

This one-week trip to Phuket, Thailand was a great short break for West Aussie travellers, close enough via direct flight that we could have shortened it to 4-5 days if we needed to. I’m glad we took the full week away, as it gave us the opportunity to find great balance between activities and just chilling out to make sure we came home totally relaxed. 

Other hints and tips: 

• Traffic in Thailand can be unpredictable - make sure you leave enough time to get to any pre-booked activities. The hotel helped us arrange cabs, and at the end we had downloaded Grab (similar to Uber) and found this very reliable.
• We bought an eSim at the airport with AIS for about $15 which lasted us the whole week with unlimited mobile data - great for doing things like using Google Maps when you’re out and about. 
• You don’t need a visa (as of December 2024) for travel to Thailand for short holidays on an Australian visa - you will be issued an exemption on arrival at the Phuket airport. Don’t forget you will need at least 6-months on your passport until expiry from your intended date of return home.