We spent a week in a pool villa here. The grounds are very pretty with lots of trees and flowers, the pool area is nicely landscaped with a little waterfall, jacuzzi and varying depths (it's more for cooling down than swimming lengths). There's also a sunken pool bar which gets some action at happy hour time however even the happy-prices are less happy than what you pay for the same drink in town. There are comfortable loungers around the pool, some of the guests stake their claim before breakfast by spreading their towels around. You'll need your mozzy protection in early evening and also in the morning as there's a lot of water and plants around the hotel, i got quite a few bites at breakfast.

The spa looks very nice but despite the offer of 50% off for first treatment we didn't try it. There are no beauty treatments, it's all massages and wraps. (The Movenpick does a great pedicure if you need one).

Overall the Village is pretty, human-sized, friendly, relaxing and a far cry from some of the big, concrete hotels and resorts around town. The staff are friendly and helpful. The rooms are a spacious and nicely laid out (front sitting room, bathroom /dressing room area then a slightly somber bedroom with raised bed surrounded by slippy wooden floors). Dipping into our small veranda pool at the end of the day was a real luxury.

It all sounds good, however for around 200€ a night including breakfast it just didn't feel worth it:
- The hotel is located a little outside of town, it's only a 5mins walk to the centre or a 5-10 min walk around the lake to the beach
- Breakfast has only a couple of Thai dishes and these have been toned down for foreign palates. The rest of the breakfast buffet is fine but fairly uninspired. No fresh juice.
- The bed is hard and so are the pillows
- The cleanliness of the bathroom was not up to scratch - old shower head and stained walls. It needed a bit of a spring clean/refurbishment. Cobwebs and hair in shower all week not ok. That said, the bedroom area and sitting room area were comfy and clean
- No free internet. When you're paying 200± euros a night being charged 100 baht for a 1 hour connection is just stingy

We had shopped around on the internet before booking this hotel, globally it's still a good deal by comparison to other hotels in the same price range in Phuket. Perhaps Phuket in general has become so overrun with tourists and hotel construction (you'll hear the hammering of busy building sites in lots of places) that the prices have been driven up.

The main beaches (Patong, Karon, Kata) are jam packed with sun loungers. We rented a scooter and went exploring most days, here are a couple of beaches we dug out which were much calmer with clearer swimming water:
- Paradise beach + Tri trang beach to the South of Patong
- Bang Tao beach to the North of Surin beach - very long beach with nice swimming water, for once there was way more sand than sun loungers
- Laem Sing beach between Kamala and Surin beaches - breathing space between loungers and beautiful, clear water to swim

Having been in Thailand a couple of times Phuket was not our best choice. From what I saw in one week here a lot of the tourists seem to have skipped reading the 'respecting local customs' section in the guidebooks. There are tourists wearing only thongs on the beach, topless. It was standard to run into sweaty tourists in the supermarket wearing only their swimwear. Evening time brought more of the same underdressing affliction but with added bling and heels, I can't imagine what the Thais must think.

Many restaurants tout Thai, Italian, Russian and seafood(?), you'll need to dig around off the beaten track or simply go to the market stalls to eat if you want more authentic dishes and flavours.

Elvis was the last baffling addition to the mish mash. There are Elvis impersonators everywhere in Phuket. What's going on with that? We found one bar with a very good band doing rock covers, I think it's called the Surin bar.

This was mine and my partner's first stop on our Thai honeymoon. Rooms were great, spacious and really clean. Staff were really friendly and breakfast was awesome!

Is about a 10 minute walk to Karon which is a smaller version of Patong. Quiet, lots of older couples, had a blast.

Arrived here on 11th December 2011 for 8 days. We were allocated a Thai style villa with plunge pool outside the front of our veranda, the villa was a decent size and tastefully decorated with Thai style furniture, you have a living room with the usual fridge, tv and large Thai couch. Large sliding doors give you a view out across the complex. Nice size bathroom, deep bath and large shower, very concrete looking though. The bedroom has a large Thai style bed, if you have any back problems then this bed is no good for you, it's set into a platform and you walk up steps pn either side to get into it but you have to bend down onto your knees to get into and out of it, very difficult. The bed is so hard we needed two mattress toppers for comfort. The staff are wonderful and cannot do enough to help you. The breakfast is sufficient, weird tasting cereal, fresh fruit, usually some Thai veg, rice or noodles, bacon and eggs, it's all enough to see you through to lunch. We ate in the restaurant a few times and the food was lovely and not expensive. When booking we were told the beach was right across the road from the resort, they forgot to mention very busy road to cross then walk over a little bridge across a swamp and a 10-15 minute walk. Beach looked lovely and views but after watching lots of folk bringing their dogs to the beach and watching them allow them to do their business everywhere and not pick it up I was put off going again. The spa in the resort was brilliant and the girls who do the treatments are really good at what they do, very relaxing. All in all we enjoyed our time at this resort.

Karon beach ain´t the best of places in Thailand but The Village resort and Spa is a small jewel on the north side of it.