Phuket, like Bali, is one of those places I’d never visited before 2013 and suddenly it’s my third trip there in 2 years! Just 1.5 hours away from Singapore by plane, it is one of the more popular holiday destinations for Singaporeans looking for a quick getaway.
So when the folk at Mövenpick Resort and Spa Karon Beach Phuket invited me down to their property, I was quite keen to see how it would match up. I had quite a fun time here, including a rather memorable episode eating insects in the neighbouring temple market, but if you’re looking for somewhere to stay when in Phuket, here’s what you need to know about Moevenpick. Check out the Mövenpick Resort & Spa Karon Beach on booking.com for more info [booking.com affiliate link]
Grey evenings at the Moevenpick Resort Karon Beach!
Getting There
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As you can see from the map, Karon Beach is located on the southwestern cost of Phuket, a bit more than 1 hr away from the airport when traffic is good, so that needs to be factored in when you’re planning your trip.
Note that your flight from Singapore to Phuket is about 2 hours – I flew via Tiger Airways:
- SIN – HKT: 820am – 910am 3K533
- HKT – SIN: 945am – 1240pm 3K534
While Karon takes more of a trip from the airport, it does put you closer to attractions like Promthep Bay and Phuket Town and the big Buddha, so it’s not a bad base if you plan to explore Phuket’s must-see spots in the Central/South area.
The Room
Huge bed!
We stayed in a Plunge Pool Villa with a garden view – very spacious room with dark wood furnishings and quite comfortable.
Didn’t have time for a long bath unfortunately
That door leads to the veranda, and there’s a daybed as well both indoors and outside
It even had its own private veranda. Sadly I am also a mosquito magnet so just going outside to hang my towel draws the mozzies like a magnet >_<
The plunge pool was really more like a small outside area to soak yourself, which is decent if you just want to stay cool or sit in the water while reading a book, but not anything you could use to swim in!
Phuket Moevenpick Resort Room Plunge Pool
Our guide Sasa took us to check out some of the other rooms on the property – here are my recs:
- If you are looking for more of a view, the sea view rooms give you a good view of the sea from the balcony as well as a nice view of Karon village itself from the corridor.
This is the view from one of the sea view rooms – it overlooks the main pool area with the sea in the distance
From the corridor, you get a great aerial view of the nearby Karon town. The temple with the red roofs are right in the centre, and there are 3 other majors hotels in the area
- If you rather be near the pool and don’t mind having other people in the vicinity, the pool villas surrounding the private Coconut Pool are ideal
The pool villas are cute, small and quaint and sit around the coconut pool area
- The best view in the house belongs to the private residences though – certain units are beach front so your entire living room (and sometimes your bathroom) faces Karon Beach just across the road. Definitely consider if you are sharing with a bunch of friends.
The resorts are the closest to the beach area (just across the road) and Karon Beach Square – they have their own private gated entrance. I would love to sit in my living room and look out upon this though!
The Hotel
Rather grand lobby welcome!
We flew in on Friday morning and were taking off on Sunday, so there was barely any time to explore Phuket. With such a short time there, the hotel folk arranged for some fun activities within the property for us to check out.
Thai Cooking Lessons
We had to earn our lunch the first day we were there by cooking it! I’ve experienced many different cooking lessons on my travels (and still my go-to at home is Instant Noodles because… I am lazy) and I really enjoyed this one – not too much work for casual cooks on a holiday, simple enough to prepare and you wind up with delicious Thai cuisine after that. We cooked outside at the in-house restaurant Pacifica with the help of their chefs.
Ingredients for Tom Yum Goong all ready to be cooked
Our chef gives our green curry chicken the thumbs up, yay!
The final meal for lunch – Fried Rice, Tom Yum Goong and Green Curry
Spa
Of course we had a go at their in-house spa as well – loved the decor overall. The 60-min Thai massage was also invigorating and just what I needed after a busy spate at work and being sick.
Post massage. Room was clean and cozy
Sipping a spot of ginger tea after the massage
Pools
There are three pools within the compound: the main big one at the entrance with a slide and where most of the action happens, a rather exclusive infinity pool in the residences only for those staying there, and where we wound up the most – the Coconut pool which is much quieter and reserved for guests staying in the villas.
Phuket Moevenpick Resort Pool
Hand Painting
One afternoon we encountered a spot of rain so that threw out any plans for the beach and pool. We popped into the kids play area where they have a bunch of upbeat staff to look after the kids while parents indulged in spa or beach time, and we entertained ourselves as big kids with some handpainting! I elected to paint an umbrella while A decided to go with a smaller fan instead.
Sitting in the air-conditioned comfort of the kids area while it rained and scorched outside alternately. Crazy tropical weather!
Our lovely host was an absolute doll and besides keeping us company and painting alongside us, she entertained us with her own stories of her life as well
close up of detail – I just painted, the drawings were pre-done already. It took around 2 hours perhaps? Faster if you aimed for something smaller… good for bigger kids because smaller ones tend to get distracted easily
It costs 400thb for umbrella painting, and 200thb for fan painting. The Kid’s Zone actually has a whole suite of activities ranging from candle making to learning simple Thai culture and language. More here.
What’s Nearby
While we didn’t explore the island, here’s what you can find around the area if you take the time to step out of the hotel grounds.
Karon Beach
Panoramic beach shot of Karon Beach on a sunny Saturday afternoon
The hotel’s beach is technically a public one – it took about 5 mins to walk there from our room which is just across the road from Karon Beach Square. It definitely isn’t as crowded as other beaches like on Patong. Great fine white sand, but really strong waves when we were there in July – not really for swimming in at that time of the year!
There were people in the water and on the edge, and I spent some time in there myself but felt a little bit battered by the strong current and waves!
Shadow selfie
Friday was kinda grey overall, low tide in the evening but I love the atmospheric reflections on the sand
A similar view but this time in the sun – look how much difference it makes to the atmosphere! There was a place renting out jetskis and offering parasailing nearby
You could rent a beach umbrella or a boogie board, but we were cheap and just chose to lay out beach towel underneath the shade of the trees… until the shade disappeared as the sun moved!
This is perhaps one of my favourite jumpshot photos – I actually kicked up higher than this, but I kinda like the angles in this particular frame
Beach essentials! Big thanks to the Moevenpick folk for giving us a nice roomy beach bag to dump our things in
Karon Beach Square
Karon Beach Square was set up on the beachfront end of the resort to add to the nightlife – for people who don’t want to be a part of the chaos that is Patong Beach, but still wanted to find somewhere nice to chill out at night.
You can see the beach just across the road, and the yellow building with the Moevenpick sign is where the Private Residences are!
We were extremely well fed in our time here – it felt like we got to try almost all the restaurants! Read on for a little more about each place:
(DINNER ONLY) El Gaucho serves up a 10 course Churrascaria – basically someone slices you as much as you can eat off 10 different skewers. That was a day I felt like exploding (look at my face) because OMG everything was so good! Big ups to the beef, grilled seafood and the warm grilled pineapple covered in sugar… yum. We are actually in the Chinese restaurant because they were renovating the beach-facing Brazilian joint that week.
(DINNER ONLY) Orient Asia is their Asian restaurant that serves up dinner food from around the region. This was the appetizer plate with a whole variety of flavours.
Indulging in some Pad Thai! I could not finish this very sizable portion
(LATE AFTERNOON TO NIGHT) Beach-facing Mint is a great place to get drinks as the sun sets!
(DAY) Cafe Studio is a cute little cafe which you can hang out in during the day and get coffee or desserts like cakes, as well as proper lunch food
Pizza time! Nikki recommended The Reef – smoked salmon pizza, as well as a half-half of Thai flavours Green Curry Chicken and Tom Yum Goong. Big thumbs up for the Thai flavours!
You can’t visit a Mövenpick hotel without eating the famous Mövenpick Ice Cream! Their chocolate has little chocolate bits in it and is absolutely delish~~
Wat Suwankiriket – Temple Market
Just down the road from the entrance of the hotel lies Wat Suwankiriket, and on weekend evenings the temple grounds are transformed into a vibrant night market. You might have seen me sample insects there, but there’s a lot more you can eat and buy there for less adventurous appetites!
Entrance to the temple – the market is on the grounds within
A closer look at some of the architecture as the night falls
Some soap carving in action
Pretty flower soap souvenirs!
More food! We bought some of this before we got distracted by the insects!
The Cost
Based on a price check I made for a weekend stay in September 2015, the Plunge Pool Villa room that I stayed in was going at around S$368/night – the lowest price was around S$192/night for a Superior King Room, while the Garden villa was around S$282/night and the Private Residences (2 bedrooms) were going for S$682/night.
Check out the Mövenpick Resort & Spa Karon Beach on booking.com for more info [booking.com affiliate link]
Anyone else been to Karon Beach in Phuket? Would love to hear how your experience was like! I’d like to explore more of Phuket given the time and I like the Karon Beach vibe enough to go back in future!
I stayed up in Mai Khao previously at the Holiday Inn (and so did Y at Anantara), which was conveniently close to the airport but rather remote and isolated from anything else. The Bell Pool and Villa in Kammala was a lovely place but a tad too far to easily walk to the beach, but perfect if you intend to just relax in your villa.
Thanks to Mövenpick Resort and Spa Karon Beach Phuket for sponsoring the stay and activities.
Blog voyage
Tuesday 21st of November 2017
It 's just an amazing place where everybody is so nice... I love the beach at sunset...
Jaclynn Seah
Tuesday 21st of November 2017
I have to go back again some time! :)
Gale
Monday 4th of July 2016
Hi Jaclynn, lovely post. We stayed between Karon and Kata beaches at a lovely and surprisingly cheap place called Boomerang Resort. It's got a fantastic pool with nice views (it's located at the top of a hill) and very nice rooms with great wifi. It cost SGD232 for four nights (SGD58 per night) because we booked about three months ahead.
Jaclynn Seah
Wednesday 6th of July 2016
thanks for the info!
Karon Beach Resort
Thursday 26th of November 2015
Great articles and photos! I read that you really like to come back to phuket. We hope that you can check us our new hotel out. Next time you visit you try to eat Thai bbq or perhaps go surfing in Kata beach nearby.
Jaclynn Seah
Thursday 26th of November 2015
Thank you, maybe I will in future :)