THE BASE Downtown By Favstay

There's major construction going on right in front of the condo, apparently for a large shopping mall expected to be finished in 2017, so you can hear the work during the day. It's a new condo from 2016, within a 10-minute walk of Central Festival Phuket. The facilities are quite good: a small gym with two treadmills, weight machines, and free weights, plus two pools, one wading pool and one 30-meter pool.

A great apartment right in front of the new Central Florestta Mall. Naka night market and Chillva night market are both five minutes away.

A good condo for a long-term rental, though having a bike or car makes sense. Floresta is a three-minute walk away. The gym is small, and some of the training equipment is off.

The place itself is cozy and conveniently located, and I'd give it four stars. My rental experience brought my overall rating down to one star. I lived for the full year of my contract in The Base Downtown, 3rd floor, room 5|192, through Nual Pleng (Nualkhanit Yimyaem). Communication was polite at first, but after I paid the rent and two months' deposit, replies got slow and sometimes took days. I had to follow up repeatedly to get the TM30 form, which usually came at the last minute. On move-out day, we had agreed to meet, but the agent arrived about an hour late. After checking the apartment, she said she was waiting for the owner to transfer my deposit. Nearly an hour passed with no payment, and I had to leave for the airport. I was told it would be sent the next day, but I never got it. Be cautious renting through her if you want to avoid stress or possible trouble getting your deposit back.