Karon Village Hotel

A clean, nicely presented budget place, with accommodating staff who keep checking that you’re okay. It’s small, with a small pool, and seems best suited to couples rather than families with lots of children. Breakfast is like it is at hotels across Thailand: after three or four days you’ve had enough, and there isn’t much variety. The shop next to the hotel is nice and affordable compared with the beach shops, about a 10-minute walk away. Thailand is getting too expensive now, though. For Western visitors, including Russians, Burma (Myanmar) and Vietnam may be the next options. We’ve used Orange car Phuket twice, found it quickly on Google, and were satisfied both times.

We planned to stay just a couple of days and hadn’t set a firm itinerary. The owners helped us make it work with our four children and really made us feel at home, so we ended up staying for two weeks. The pool is amazing, and the kids love the pancakes!

There was no Wi-Fi in the room, or really anywhere. Rooms at 1000 THB don’t include breakfast, and the staff don’t speak English. It’s on a very busy road and far from everything. The TV is old and has no cable, my sheets were worn and torn, and the outdated outlets wouldn’t hold my chargers. The toilet flushed, the water was hot, and the room felt secure, but even at the Thai price of 1000 baht, it’s still a no for me.

For a hotel at this star level, it’s great. The service was lovely, thanks to the friendly staff who were always ready to help. The rooms were clean and comfortable.