Stylish Studio Apartment. Rooftop Pool at Nai Harn

I liked how peaceful and quiet this side of phuket is. The apartment was clean, spacious, and convenient, with most things not too far away. The beach takes a bit of walking, but it was close enough for me. I enjoyed my stay and would come back to nai Harn.

Our New Year's stay turned into a mess after the hotel told us, when we arrived, that it had no room for us. I'd booked seven days through Booking on 19 December for arrival on 31 December, and got confirmation that same day. About a week later, on Christmas Eve, the hotel emailed that the apartment was fully booked and sent a cancellation link. I didn't click it because the message seemed so unprofessional that I doubted it came from the owner or manager, though I worried about finding somewhere else at short notice. I called Booking on 26 December. The representative thought it was strange, contacted the hotel, then told me about 20 minutes later that the hotel had confirmed our reservation and the cancellation request was a misunderstanding. I felt relieved. After a long, hard flight, my wife and I landed in Thailand and took a cab to the hotel. On the way, I checked my email and saw another message from the hotel, sent on New Year's Eve: “Hello! Did you saw my message?” We were tired and eager to get to our room, so it made us anxious again. We waited around 10 minutes in reception before a man came over and told us they had no room. I asked for the manager. He put a woman on the phone, and she was extremely rude, repeating that she'd sent a message saying they were full. They ignored my request to speak to the manager. When I said I'd call Booking, the man quickly told me not to and said he'd help. I didn't trust him and started calling anyway, but he kept urging me to wait. Since it was New Year's and we were exhausted, I gave him a chance to fix it. He took us to two other places where he said rooms were available and assured us they were better than what we'd booked. The first room was dusty and looked unused for a long time. It lacked basic things like curtains, and we saw local residents living above it, which made us wonder if it was even a hotel. It was also far out of the way. We turned it down, and he took us to another place closer to rawai beach. That room was small and very basic, nothing like the one we'd booked. By then he'd wasted two hours of our time with all the waiting and arguing, and it was getting dark, so I called Booking. After about 20 minutes, I got through. They couldn't reach the manager or owner, so they helped us find somewhere else. We got a booking at a nearby hotel with about the same standard and price, though it cost a little more. Booking offered to cover the difference. We arrived around 7-8 pm, hungry and exhausted. The manager at the new place was kind and took us to a 7-Eleven to buy food we could microwave. We heated it, ate, and fell asleep. We woke up about five minutes before midnight. We could hear the fireworks but couldn't see any. Happy New Year.

At first I thought it was a bit far from the action. But if you're staying long term, being away from the main road is actually better.

The apartments are great, but the private Russian investors who own them will try to rip you off by asking for electricity and water payments before handing over the keys. Call their bluff. Get those charges sorted when you book.