Beach Shack Living: Our Phuket Airbnb
Our Airbnb in the Nai Harn Beach area of Phuket is a two-bedroom, one-bathroom “beach shack” set a few houses back from one of the main streets, about a 15 minute walk from the beach. It has polished concrete floors, a concrete kitchen (i.e. all counters and “cupboards” are poured concrete), and a small living room area, and overall it’s a little rough around the edges though still quite comfortable. The bedrooms are air conditioned and the rest of the house is well serviced by fans.
By far the highlight of this place is a nice elevated outdoor balcony area with a dining set, modular seating area, and hammock, where we spend most of our time when we’re not at the beach. However, there have been some major construction projects happening in two of the houses beside ours during our stay, which have put a bit of a damper on our ability to enjoy the outdoor space.
To be honest, this is the first Airbnb we have stayed in since we started our big trip that we have not been overly enthused about. For one, while the house was accurately portrayed in photos on the Airbnb platform, certain elements such as the musty (maybe moldy) smell in the bedrooms and the overall questionable cleaning of the house before our arrival — and lack of any additional cleaning services for the entirety of our one-month stay — have made what was a marginal Airbnb for us less desirable.
The house could also use some basic upkeep – overall, it felt a little neglected, and didn’t have any of the thoughtful additions you would expect from a property owned by a pair of Airbnb “superhosts.” Now, part of this may stem from the owners actually residing in Australia, and so may simply be a matter of their property manager taking advantage of leeway given, however the owners themselves have also been rather hands-off with us. There have been zero personal touches here, aside from reminders that we are on the hook to pay for our electricity usage.
Our second main issue with this place is the location, which is a 15-minute walk alongside a busy roadway from the main attraction of this area, Nai Harn Beach. So the act of getting to the beach can be quite treacherous with two young children, since there are no sidewalks or shoulders along the road and all manner of cars, trucks, and motorbikes whiz past within inches of you as you walk.
If we were to do things again, we would choose a place closer to the beach. Food delivery is fast, easy, and inexpensive here via apps like Grab and Food Panda, so being in the thick of the commercial area near the restaurants and shops is no longer quite as important as it once was.
Truth be told, we knew before coming here that we were lukewarm on Phuket in general relative to the rest of Thailand, since it tends to be much busier, more expensive than, and more touristy than other areas of the country. And that has continued to be the case despite our efforts at trying to stay in a toned-down part of Phuket.
Being here in Nai Harn, it honestly has not felt toned down at all. The beaches and restaurants have been packed and it’s definitely not at all laid back. Part of this may just be our being here at the apex of the high season over Christmas and New Years, so perhaps it will empty out somewhat in the post-Christmas weeks, but overall we have much preferred all of our other stops in Thailand.
The reality is that we decided to come to Phuket partially due to other places in Thailand having less than ideal weather in December, a dearth of available Airbnbs outside of Phuket, and a desire to limit the number of flight connections when we leave here for Sydney, Australia. We also would likely have opted to switch our stay in advance of our arrival, but this one was ultimately not refundable.
So even with a lot of research and focus on Airbnb ratings and reviews, you can still wind up with duds. There are subjective elements to people’s experiences in places and people are very different, so this place may be great for some — it just isn’t the right vibe for us.
However, despite this not being our perfect stay, we are still making the most of things and very much enjoying our time here on the beach in the sun in January!