The Vijitt Resort Phuket

“Fantastic Hotel”

I will try and give an honest evaluation of the hotel and areas to help you out for your trip. Firstly the hotel The resort is fantastic. It’s immaculately clean and the staff are extremely friendly and helpful. Nothing is too much trouble. Beam in reception, Maria and Lily in the restaurant, Nu ... more

I will try and give an honest evaluation of the hotel and areas to help you out for your trip. Firstly the hotel The resort is fantastic. It’s immaculately clean and the staff are extremely friendly and helpful. Nothing is too much trouble. Beam in reception, Maria and Lily in the restaurant, Nu the pool bar attendant and Tommy one of the buggy drivers were so so helpful and even made some phone calls to help us out. We simply couldn’t ask for more. The resort is situated a little out of town but there are bars and restaurants along the main road outside. Warning though, there do not seem to be many rules of the road in Thailand and pedestrians certainly do not have right of way!!! I will come on to where to go later on in my review. We stayed in a sea view villa. It was very clean and spacious with lots of storage. Bed and towels were changed daily but you could opt to change this for less often. It was a fantastic sea view and not the snippet of sea view some hotels sell as such. On arrival the staff had left a beautiful towel elephant, a plate of fruit and bottle of wine. Water was always replenished free of charge and tea and coffee were always in the room. The safe was free of charge. The outside shower is fantastic. They even supplied a free mozzie spray. The resort is quite hilly but they run buggy’s that you can call at any time of the day and night. The pool villas seem to be at the top of the resort maybe to compensate for the lesser view than the other villas. You can just about see the sea from the pool villas. You will need the mozzy spray!!! There is a spa, gym and shop and Thai restaurant none of which we used but looked good. Breakfast has everything you would expect both hot and cold and also had a selection of Thai food. Again we couldn’t fault it. We ate a couple of times in the evening at the pool restaurant which was decent and very reasonably priced. Just a little warning the drinks are priced reasonably on the menu but a service charge and tax are added to the bill automatically so bumps the prices a little. The infinity pool is amazing and the water was always warm and clean. The view from the pool was amazing when the tide was in but this leads me onto the beach. There is a very small beach at the hotel. When the tide is in, the water comes straight up to the hotel wall but is only a foot or so deep. The tide goes out and leaves sand flats that stretch for some distance so this beach isn’t really one for swimming which is a shame but to compensate the hotel does do a free shuttle bus to 2 beaches (Rawai and Nai Han). They leave at 10 am and you can come back at 14.30 or 17.00 You do have to book a place on the bus but if the bus is full you can get a taxi for about 200baht (£4) The hotel also does a free shuttle to Phuket old town on a Sunday at 5pm. This takes you to the market and collects you at 8pm. We were advised not to eat beforehand and try some of the Thai street food. What fantastic advice this was. The market is very busy and very hot but there are a variety of food and other stalls to buy souvenirs. We had some of the best food we have tasted here. Always barter in the market. The hotel also does a shuttle to Promthep where you can see a beautiful sunset. All of the hotel toilets were spotless and smelt wonderful (lemongrass) If I was hypercritical I would say an ATM would be a great addition to the reception area but overall what an absolute gem of a hotel and staff really do go the extra mile. The nearest town is Rawai. The beach shuttle goes here during the day but not in the evening but in evening there is a busy fish market and plenty of bars and restaurants. We didn’t go on to the beach here. No reason was just told Nai Han was better. We did visit the fish market. The key to the fish market is to have a wander and see which restaurants you would like to eat in. You can then choose your fish/seafood from the many stalls on one side of the road and then carry it to the other side where your chosen restaurant will cook it for you. It is very busy and you can wait a while for your food to arrive but was fantastic Also in Rawai is Nikitas. This was also recommended to us and was some of the best food we had whilst here and very reasonably priced. We visited a few times. It has Thai food but also a few western dishes although we didn’t try any of these. We were also recommended Salatay and the Cosy cafe both in Rawai A taxi or tuk tuk is 200 baht each way to Rawai The hotel shuttle takes you to Nai Han beach. Here there is a fairly large sandy bay with views out to sea. The water is turquoise blue and clear. Just a word of warning the sea can be calm and then out of nowhere comes the odd significant wave that will knock you off of your feet so keep an eye on kids. Even us adults were knocked clean over and were rumbling at the wrath of the sea in the waves. There were a few jellyfish but only on one of the days we visited. A two sunbed and umbrella set was 200 baht for the day. There are massage ladies on the beach. There are food and drinks places. We ate lunch at Mamas a few times and the food was good. There was also a small market on a sat but very small so don’t expect too much Out and about We went to the Elephant Care sanctuary. This is an ethical sanctuary where the elephants are cared for using money from visitors. It’s not for profit. All of the elephants were rescued This was a lifetime memory making experience!!! They do 3 options; 1 hour 3 hour Full day We opted for the 3 hour and early tour and I genuinely think it was the best option. On arrival we helped prepare the elephants food. We were then introduced to the elephants and fed them. We then escorted the elephants to the canal where we gave them a clay rub and they squirted us with water from their trunks. Beach shoes here are a must and you will get very wet and dirty!! After a while we took them back up to the shower and brushed the clay off. We then went to the pool where they layer down and let us rinse them Being so up close and personal to such beautiful creatures was an amazing experience The elephants seem really happy. They all have a keeper who looks after them and at the end of the day wonder free in the jungle We were then provided with a good lunch and then painted our own elephant souvenir fridge magnet. Whilst there we saw a few hour long visitors arrive who only got to feed the elephants. Whilst still amazing I can’t help but think that for the little extra money the 3 hour was a far more enriching experience. We probably benefited from the early start as I can imagine it would be so so hot during the afternoon and the full day would probably be a bit much. They pick up and collect you from the hotel included in the price. The staff take hundreds of pics and they were brilliant photos and at the end of the day simply air drop them all to you for free!!! (Could you imagine that at one of our theme parks!!) The hotel had leaflets and we booked direct. We did a boat trip to James Bond island. This was an island hopping boat trip (6 islands) that also took in some caves where we canoed, a floating village, lunch and some beautiful island beaches where you will get idyllic photos all with constant water and snacks. Three monkeys - Another restaurant to try. It’s about 300 baht from the Vijit and did amazing food whilst sat in what feels like the jungle. There are numerous temples around and there is a tour you can do that visits them and the big Buddha on the top of the hill. It’s a worthwhile trip. The one we did also took us to a cashew nut factory and pearl factory and an authentic Thai working farm where we saw tapping rubber trees and how they make rubber. This gave us quite an insight into Thai culture. The hotel staff advised us to use an app called In drive to book cabs. The App bolt does not work well and was more expensive than In drive We used it all the time the only drawback is it’s cash only. Despite the internet saying otherwise cash is the only option in most places and only big shops and restaurants use cars so make sure you have cash ready. All in all what a little gem of a place. The hotel was amazing and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone and would return

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