I have just returned from Patong and i am more than dissapointed in the way the beach is going down. We normally go down on the beach opposite Molly Malones bar and what change this trip. The beach boys there are still the greatest but the jet skis. I counted over 120 along the beach (granted they all weren't being used) and before there were areas cordened off with bobbers as to denote a safe ?! swimming area but now there is nothing. You take your life in your hands as the idiots who think they are big just tear about going amongst the swimmers at full blast and if you complain to them you get an earfull of abuse. One day soon there is going to be a terrible accident there. Also the parachute boats are taking over the shore line waving people away from swimming so they can get the parachutists airborne, again another accident waiting to happen. None of this happened when they had the bobbers as everyone knew their boundaries. I know these lads have to make a living but the beach now is absolutely spoiled by all these motorised craft and the stink of fuel is overpowering if the wind is blowing on shore. BUT apart from that Patong is still a brilliant base and place to holiday at. I feel so much better now ive had this winge lol. Mick

Date of trip - May 1-6, 2007

Patong Beach is a wonderful location for an affordable and idyllic holiday. The place is vibrant from morning till night. The main road is Thaweewong (right next to the beach). Plenty of shopping for imitation designer brands - they even custom make shoes and handbags if you have the time.

The shops along Thaweewong Road is more pricey and less willing to bargain. So DO go down the smaller lanes along Thaweewong Road. Fewer shoppers go there so the shopkeepers are MUCH MUCH more willing to give a better deal. Get a feel of the lowest prices the shops on the main road will give. You'll get even lower prices inside the lanes - the competition is stiff. They all sell the same stuff, so no need to advertise your desperateness.

We booked a taxi (they are all over, DO check out prices FIRST) for a day (600Baht). The agreement was that he would take us ANY where of our choice. But it turned out the places we wanted to go, he didn't want to go stating that it was too far (30mins).

Turned out, our driver only wanted to bring us to places where HE could collect his stamps and vouchers for introducing customers (the places were far out in phuket town, Chalong Bay and Phuket Bay. REFERRAL FEE IS A BIG THING SO DON'T EXPECT TO GET GREAT PRICES COMPARED TO IF U WALKED IN ON YOUR OWN. Everywhere he bought us it was SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive than at Patong Beach. He insisted on bringing us for Elephant Trekking, The Phuket Rifle Association, ATV biking, Snake show. All of which were pretty pricey, plus we've seen it all. He got really mad when we didn't go into any of those attractions. For lunch he brought us far far out in a remote area along Phuket Bay where there was a lone shabby restaurant. The seafood restaurant had extremely limited fare. The main thing they pushed customers to have were the lobsters (which turned out more expensive than at Patong Beach). We got slaughtered big time here. The 1/2kg lobster , one dish of miserable tough local vegetable, a lousy green beef curry and one Chang beer at this shabby restaurant cost more than the fantastic wine and steak dinner for two at Sam's Steak (Holiday Inn).

So, be sure u MAKE VERY CLEAR to your taxi driver BEFORE getting into his car that he is to bring you WHERE YOU WANT to go. And that you may not necessarily enter any of the attractions he brings you to.

Oddly, for a place so reliant on tourism, it is a struggle to communicate with them as no one we met were conversant in English. If you stay there long enough, you'll end up speaking broken English.

For accomodation, we stayed at Deevana Patong Resort & Spa. It's about 15 mins walk to the beach and 25 mins walk to the center of shopping. It's ok if u are into keeping fit but when your hands are carrying your shopping load, it is very tiring to walk back in the blistering heat. The tut tuts charge a min of 150 baht to get from town to the Deevana Resort & Spa. When they see you carrying so many things, they are less inclined to give bargain. For the price of this hotel, you would be happier staying elsewhere.

We moved to Patong Bay Garden Resort (on Thaweewong Rd) for our last 2 days. Great choice. One of the handful of hotels right on the beach and 10 steps away from the shops at Thaweewong Road. Clean and spacious room. Nice pool, lovely evening sunsets on the beach.

Breakfast came with the rooms at both hotels. Bring your own St. Dalfour as we noticed jams at most 3 & 4 star hotels were either banana jam, coconut jam and strawberry FLAVOURED gelatin. No peanut butter.


If you have never watched Sinon’s Cabaret, DO GO. Great show. FantaSea was an elaborate cultural show that got boring at times. They will always ask you but NO NEED to pay extra for the upgraded seats – not worth it! Their buffet dinner is terribly overpriced for the quality and the limited fare. Any restaurant on Patong Beach is better. Coyote Restaurant on Thaweewong Road has pretty good Mexican food and steaks. Prices are reasonable. There's a band too.

We plan to come back to this vibrant town again.

Patong beach could be a very lovely location.
Unfortunately it is ruined by the huge amount of traffic,
both on land and in the sea.

On land, it is a big challenge to cross a street because of the enormous amount of motorbikes which arrive from all directions.

At the beach, there is an incredible amount of water motorbikes which are rented out to turists.
Such motorbikes run too fast and too close to people swimming. It is actually rather dangerous, since there is
no separation between water motorbikes and people swimming in the water.
Most of the motorbikes are run by the locals who wish to attract turists to rent them, so they actually run in a circle.