As I have said previously, I have a lot of blog material from my trip to Thailand in late 2010. This review is of the Le Meridien Phuket, which is near the (in)famous Patong area. We moved to this property after a few days at the JW Marriott to get a feel for a different part of the island.
Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort
This resort has a private beach on the Andaman Sea, and restricted access from roads on the island. This is an excellent hotel, but a bit dated, particularly compared with the JW Marriott which seemed quite new and fresh. At check in, provided a cold drink, a garland of jasmine flowers, and notified of an upgrade to a Junior suite. The floor we were on had that rooms with balconies parallel to the beach. The hotel itself is in 2 L shaped buildings, facing the pool area and the beach.
The room itself was well appointed, with lots of fresh flowers around the room and the requisite elephant made from folded towels.
For being called a Junior suite, the room wasn’t huge, but compared with the standard rooms, it was a bit bigger. The sitting area near the balcony was nice, and the balcony was spacious, overlooking the large pool and the beach.
The bathroom was not particularly modern, but it was nice, and quite spacious.
Like many properties in Asia there is a window from the bathroom into the bedroom. This one had wooden shutters that could close if desired.
In addition to the towel art, there is some other interesting art in the room as well.
Restaurants/bars on property
The hotel had various dining options. There was a restaurant offering “International” cuisines. Plus several Thai restaurants, an Italian trattoria, Japanese place, a buffet restaurant. Finally there are also a few casual dining spots. As a SPG Platinum, they provided breakfast for free in the trattoria, with an extensive buffet and several options from the menu.
My wife and I decided to go a bit low key for the first evening, and ate at what was basically the pool bar. Food was pretty good, and we ate late enough to see them setting up a for some live music. This was my wife’s first trip to Asia, so I’m so glad she got to see something that I have experienced in my past business trips a few times in hotels catering mostly to westerners. I’m talking about live musical entertainment with predominantly English-language music.
Please excuse the poor photo, taken with my iPhone, but I think you get the point. Lucky me, I was in the front row to experience Elvis night at Le Meridien.
Like our earlier stop in Phuket, after some time to relax on the excellent resort, we decided to venture off property a bit as well. We took a taxi to Phuket Town based on recommendations from friends who have been here. It was a nice change of pace, although the transportation was a bit of an adventure. We booked a car at the hotel, which was extremely expensive by Thai standards, but due to the remote nature of the hotel, no taxis pick people up there. For the return journey, we had a very difficult time getting a taxi, so we went to a hotel in town and had them call a taxi for us.
Phi Phi Islands
Another day trip that I would highly recommend for visitors to Phuket is the Phi Phi Islands. We booked a snorkeling trip, where we went to various beaches and then got in the water to snorkel a few times. It was beautiful, although a bit touristy at times, with some crowded spots. This photo below is of Maya Bay, which was breathtakingly beautiful. The main island, Phi Phi Don was the location for filming of the movie “The Beach“. I’ve still never seen that one.
One night upon returning to the room, we found gifts. This included a personalized letter from the manager, a beach bag, and a ladies polo shirt. Rather nice amenities, although the polo was large, to presumably fit me, it was pink, and in a ladies cut. Oh well. There was also a fruit plate placed in the room daily.
Final thoughts Le Meridien Phuket
I very much enjoyed my stay at the Le Meridien. Certainly would recommend this place as a more central location in Phuket with easy access to Patong. I can speak to that too much since we didn’t spend much time there. Patong the place to go for cheap souvenirs, bars, and lots of tourist scams.
After our time here, we arranged a car for a ride back to Phuket airport. This took about an hour, although with traffic that could be a much longer ride.
