Dara Hotel

The hotel reception has a tall, medium-built, slightly dark-skinned female staff member who speaks excellent Chinese and is very charming. Her service is exceptional; she understood all my requests and helped me resolve them. For this price, in my home country, I'd barely get a budget hotel, and not even a well-located one at that. But here, I got a large room with excellent service. I highly, highly recommend it! Everything was perfect except that the AC wasn't turned on before I checked in. Also, right across from the hotel entrance, after exiting the parking lot, is Central, so there's no need to walk around.

For this price, it's really good value for money. Central Department Store is just a few minutes' walk away, and the room was quite clean. The only downside is that it's super noisy because it's close to the road. Motorbikes at 1 AM sounded like thunder! I originally booked for 4 nights, but it was too loud to sleep, so we left for the last two nights and moved to Kata Beach. When we checked out, the front desk asked why we weren't staying, and when we told them it was too noisy, they even apologized. If you don't mind the noise, it's a good place to stay, and it has all the necessary facilities.

If you're coming to Phuket, definitely buy beach socks and flip-flops in advance! You can get sunscreen and mosquito repellent at 7-Eleven once you're here. The Deva Hotel has excellent service and a fantastic breakfast with local noodles, Western dishes, coffee, fruit—all delicious. On our last day, we had an early departure at 6 AM, and they kindly prepared a takeaway breakfast for us, which was a really thoughtful touch. The hotel facilities are a bit old; for example, the shower in the bathroom only has a half-door, so water easily splashes out, making the floor slippery. That's why I strongly recommend bringing your own flip-flops. I highly recommend a trip to Raya Island, as well as shooting and rafting—they were all a lot of fun!