Phuket

Where to stay

Budget travelers split between two areas. Phuket Old Town, centered around Thalang Road and Dibuk Road, has the cheapest dorms, solid street food within walking distance, and a Sunday evening walking street market that takes over Thalang Road each week. Patong puts you a short walk from the beach, but rooms within a block of Bangla Road come with nightlife noise until 4 a.m., so either pack earplugs or pick a hostel a street or two back.

Getting around

• Songthaews, the shared pickup trucks, run fixed routes between Phuket Town, Patong, Karon, and Kata for a few baht per seat. Tuk-tuks cover the same ground but quote tourists close to 10 times that. Flag a songthaew first and only switch if none come.
• Renting a scooter for the day, cheaply from shops near most hostels, opens up quieter beaches like Nai Harn in the south that are expensive to reach by taxi and not on songthaew routes.
• Pier-side tour booths on the way to Phi Phi or Phang Nga charge a markup for the same boats. Check prices at tour desks inside Phuket Town before you commit, where rates tend to run noticeably lower.

When to go

Hostels are cheapest from May through October when monsoon rains thin the crowds, and tightest in December and January when beds fill up and nightly rates can roughly double.