Thailand Trip advice.....

[ocean.mirage]

I am in Phuket Dec 26, and slowly traveling across the counrty to end up in Bangkok on Jan 9. I was originally planning on diving in Phuket, but I heard its not so good. So I was looking at going up the west and heading over to the eastern Islands after. But Recently I have been looking into going from Phuket to Ko Phi Phi and then through the mainland to end up in Ko Tao. Does anyone recommend a particular path? how busy is it on new years and in Ko Tao, do we need to book much in advance if we are just planning on doing hostels?

 

[ocean.mirage]

where should we dive and stay in Ko phihi? Krabi? Surat Thani? Ko Phanang? Ko Tao?

 

[aquamarin]

Without letting this turn into one of the typical east versus west dive discussions, I would like to mention that Phuket offers great diving. I'm not sure where you heard it's not good - but sites like Kingcruiser, Racha Noi, Koh Doc Mai, Anemone Reef, Shark Point are excellent. From Phuket you can also dive some of the Phi Phi sites - for instance doing an overnight trip.

I can't say much about accommodation as I am based in Khao Lak, but I'm sure others will help you out on that.

Have a great holiday
Karin

 

[techintime]

If you are going end to end north to south, try to stop by Pitsanulok to see the Sukhothai ancient ruins, and Chang Mai in the north is gem.

 

[Quero]

Diving directly from Phuket's beaches isn't excellent, but we do have really nice boat dives departing out of Phuket. Many of the major dive sites visited by Phuket and Phi Phi operators are the same, unless you get a trip out of Phi Phi way down south to Koh Haa and Hin Daeng, both of which are rather far from Phuket and are not on the typical schedule of Phuket boats. For the same reason, Phi Phi boats don't go to the Racha islands since they're too far from Phi Phi for a daytrip, and you can't get a daytrip to the Similans from Phi Phi at all.

Where to stay on Phi Phi? It depends on whether you want to party or if you want tranquility. If you want to party, stay in the village on the Ton Sai side. If you want tranquility, get further from the village, even on the Loh Dalam side (which is sort of at the back of the village, actually). Whether you need to book ahead at year end? Definitely for accommodations--for diving daytrips you can probably book a day or two in advance only.

Where to stay at Krabi? Ao Nang is a nice town. Railay is more backpacker-y, so if you're looking for bed-bug-budget-hostel-style, you might like that beach. Koh Tao is bound to be a human zoo at New Year's, and Koh Pha Ngan even more so. Book ahead everywhere you can so you don't spend hours searching for a bed and dragging all your stuff with you while you walk from place to place.

My favorite dive sites to visit from Phuket: Shark Point, Anemone Reef, Koh Bida Nai/Nok, Koh Doc Mai, King Cruiser, Koh Racha Noi, Similans.
My favorite dive sites to visit from Phi Phi or Krabi: Koh Bida Nai/Nok, Shark Point, Anemone Reef, King Cruiser, Koh Haa, Hin Daeng/Muang.
My favorite dive site from Koh Tao: Chumpon Pinnacle

 

[limbo]

There's no diving that I know of in Surat Thani, you might as well skip this city and just use it to transfer and go straight on from here to either Koh Phangang and from there to Koh Tao.
On Koh Phangan you can dive the best site in the Gulf of Thailand; Sail Rock. From KP this will have the shortest travel period.
Koh Tao should be packed to the rafters during New Year.

 

[wilson7561681]

We did the same trip about 6 months ago. We went from bangkok - ko tao - Ko Phangan - Phuket - Ko phi phi.

Ko Tao: We loved the island of Ko Tao and loved the diving they had to offer. We dove with "Blue Diamond Divers" and liked them a lot. There are a good number of dive shops and resorts on the island, but Blue Diamond was the cheapest by far. I want to say we paid like 700 baht per dive. They have both a resort and a dive shop. We didn't stay at there resort, but we stayed near there shop. We stayed at "Save Bungalows" and paid 400 baht per night. It was a nice place and was 1 minute from the beach. The best part is it was away from the noise of the night life on Sairi beach, but close enough that you could take a scooter (150 baht a day) on a 2 minute drive to it. So to sum it up... Diving was great for the price but not the best. (PS: They claim to issue the most OW certifications in the world)

Ko Phangan: It's a lot bigger island than the other two that we visited. Took us a long time to find a cheap hotel on our own. We went to Salad beach and stayed at the Coral Bungalows. Our bungalow was right on the sand of the beach and was only 400 baht a night. It was definitely the best place that we stayed. I would recommend it by far. As far as the diving.... Its expensive compared to all the other places. Its about the same as Koh Tao, but we didn't dive much mostly because of the size of the island and the price of diving. We chartered a private long boat for the day to take us to all of the best snorkeling sites and had a blast doing that. Plus it only cost us 1500 baht for 6 hours. I would do 1 or two dives and then take a boat tour.

Phuket: In our opinion we didn't like Phuket at all. Its due to the fact that it is very commercialized compared to the other islands we went to. We enjoy to relax instead of the confusion and hustle and bustle. A lot of people love Phuket and I would definitely give it a chance, but just saying in my opinion we didn't enjoy it. Needless to say we didn't take the time to dive in Phuket, so you will need to refer to others on how the diving is.

Ko Phi Phi: Ok, I have saved the best for last. If you are planning to go to any island out of the ones i have mentioned I would recommend Koh Phi Phi over all of them. Especially for diving. I have dove in many places around the world and Koh Phi Phi was my favorite. From the moment you land on the island you will notice that there are HUNDREDS of dive shops on the island. Now apparently there is a price agreement on the island so all of the shops are the same. The shop that we dove with was "Visa Divers" We enjoyed them a lot and they were very nice and accommodating. They know a lot about the island and are willing to help with anything that you want. I would highly recommend them. As for the island... We loved it. Its small and there are no vehicles on the island (aside from garbage trucks). The beach is amazing and the night life is great. Every night at 10 all of the bars on the beach do a fire show. Its free and definitely cool.

Transportation: Just as a recommendation of getting between islands (land travel) TAKE THE BUS Its almost the same price as the train especially if you bundle your ferry tickets with your bus ride. If you are traveling cheap I would take the night bus. The best part is you dont waste a day on traveling and you get you dont have to pay for a hotel for that night.

Feel free to pm me if you have any questions. I hope I was able to help

 

[stiggy]

End of December peak season on both coasts.

Weather is normally good everywhere but now days who knows, diving is great and rooms can be busy so try and book in advance.

Koh tao is great fun at new years, far from being a human zoo as suggested. Certainly less tight speedos and flourescent bikinis to be found on Tao.

Id recommend Phuket -Phi phi- Lanta then travel to Samui on to koh Tao . If you fancy a stay on board a nice boat squeeze a simmilans trip in.

For something really different go to Samui via Khoa Sok National park its stunning.

 

[stevenl]

Phuket: In our opinion we didn't like Phuket at all. Its due to the fact that it is very commercialized compared to the other islands we went to. We enjoy to relax instead of the confusion and hustle and bustle. A lot of people love Phuket and I would definitely give it a chance, but just saying in my opinion we didn't enjoy it. Needless to say we didn't take the time to dive in Phuket, so you will need to refer to others on how the diving is.

Glad to hear you enjoyed Thailand and the diving.

Regarding Phuket: stay away from Patong and when busy also the other main touristy beaches, and you'll find that Phuket is far less touristy and much more authentic than any of the other places you visited.
And for divers possibly important: from Phuket you can reach the best diving Thailand has to offer: Hin Daeng, Hin Muang and Koh Haa, the Bida Islands, Shark Point area, and the Similans, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock.