To get the most enjoyment out of Phuket, I suggest that you should hire a car for at least a day or two. I usually arrange with David Rental car at the airport to rent me a honda Jazz for THB 800/day all inclusive; its a nice zippy car with a 6 speed automatic steering wheel gear shift - just like on more expensive sports cars.  

The guy from David would be at the airport exit and drive me across the street to their office and I take it from there - with return back at the airport, thus saving me the airport/town/airport taxi fare and the hassle of all these taxi touts wanting to bring me to all sort of tourist traps.

I also avoid the hassle of those Tuk Tuk and taxi mafia that's always right there to pounce on tourists.

Then you can also tour the rest of Phuket which is NOT patong and is actually very nice with lotsa nice beaches, high class resorts, great shoppong centers, restaurants, Phuket Yacht Club, Golf courses, - and of course Phuket town - which is very interesting... and of course where Fantasia and other clubs catering to the locals are situated at.

Fantasia was an old Movie house converted to a nice place where there is a live show all night long on a stage where the movie screen used to be,  seating areas where you can have drinks and check out the gals - who are all seated on the left as you enter place - behind a looooong bar.  Thus you will NOT be hassled and jostled by these gals to pcik them; all nice and civilized!

One can only screw so many times a day and Phuket offers a variety of very nice vacation type activities during the day.

Just a suggestion

SEAJ

I've rented with David Rental car before and they were very good.
http://davidcarrent.com/
I believe I got a Honda Jazz as well and it's perfectly suitable for getting around Phuket. Easy to drive, easy to park.
SEAJ - how did you get a rate of 800THB? On the website it is 1200THB/day or 1000THB/day for an over 11 day rental.
Also, did you pay the extra for the optional damage insurance? I believe I did for the peace of mind(it was quite awhile ago)

I have been a customer of theirs going back to 1995 - and I used to go down just about every month or max 2.  It's only recently that I got more and more involved in China that I don't go down quite as often. That plus all my projects in Phuket are now completed and thus I don't need to go down as much.

I never took the optional damage insurance - although I'm not quite sure if that is necessarily a wise thing to do!!  But the only time that I had any problems was when a motorcycle  sideswiped me and took my rear view mirror - and all I did was ask David how much and just paid him for the damage.  If i remember it was something like THB 1,500 or some such small amount.

SEAJ

Not bad sounding car rental rates, especially when comparing to the high fees the taxi and tuk tuk drivers are asking for short or long distance. But I am wary about driving in Thailand, and how safe it would be. When driving a scooter in Bali it was terrifying, and fearing Thailand would be the same

Fantasia sounds like a great place. At least on next Phuket trip need to make time to stay at Phuket town at least one day. Although next time I might head over to Pattaya for more selection. Just spent over 2 hours walking the bars looking for girls I'd like, and ended up going to hotel alone. Two candidates still on their period, but I've talked to have a night with both later on. One I already talked to on New Year's eve when she did not want to go with me, now asked for double the going rate for long time, so I walked out after she did not budge. Overall pretty slim (not literally) pickings in Patong beach.

[ Last edited by  SkinnyForum at 3-1-2011 03:46 ]

Ah that would explain the excellent rate then. Thanks for the info. I've rented from them twice and found them to be quite efficient and trustworthy.

Skinny - driving a car in Phuket is not difficult. I've driven all over the island even with a manual and never had any problems. There's only a few main roads running North/South and East/West. Renting a motorcycle or scooter may be a different story. There are thousands of motorcycle/scooter accidents every year so it's pretty easy to get injured that way. Some of the roads can be steep and wind around so at night and if it's raining on a bike it could be trickier. But in a car, never had any issues. Then again, I drive lots in Hong Kong so if you can drive here, you can pretty much drive anywhere!

Yes, unfortunately the gals at Patong are NOT the best quality and caters mainly to the Farang market. Pattaya would be a better choice if ALL that you want to do is monger.

Pattaya bascially only has mongering as its main activity whilst Phuket is a more "all round" holiday destination with lots of healthy and great daytime activities.... with Patong thrown in for nighttime ones. A word of caution though, the gals at Pattaya also in the main only caters to the Farang market with an abundance of dark skinned Isaan farm girls!

As per stage6 - yes driving in Phuket is very easy - and even affords me "little boy racer" opportunities, pretending that I was driving an F-1 car as I zoom around using the sterring wheel toggle switch transmission.  Lots of fun!

SEAJ

[ Last edited by  SEAJ at 3-1-2011 13:34 ]

The main road in Patong was shut to cars in the evening and became a sort of 'walking street' when I was there earlier in the year. It definately isn't pattaya but I thought what it lacked in quantity it made up for in quality.