My daughter and her friend (21/20yo) are visiting Phuket for the first time in July. They will be there for 10 days staying at the Banthai Beach Resort. They're looking at doing one of the Siam Safari 4 in 1 tours but are looking for suggestions on what else is a must see/do in the limited time they have.

obviously not much to see?

There are several daytrips available and tons of tour shops around so no need to book any of these in advance, they'll find tours easily. Consider PhangNga Bay (James Bond Is), also Koh PhiPhi, also Coral Island. There are jungle tours and elephant rides through the jungle. Again all these things will be advertised everywhere. There's no need to plan all this in advance, just wait until they arrive and look at brouchers and photos and see what appeals. They could also rent a Suzuki for the day and drive around the island, there's some remarkable scenery around Phuket's coastlines. It's also worthwhile going into Phuket town and looking around the streets & shops. Phuket's most impressive temple is Wat Chalong, also well worth a visit. Don't be tempted to buy too many things from the street stalls & shops because they're skinning tourists alive with their prices. Go to Tesco Lotus and pay far lower prices just like Thais do. In 10 days I'd be inclined to do trips maybe on 5 days and spend the remaining 5 days just chilling around the resort, I'd suggest maybe alternating, 1 day touring, next day reading a book by the pool. I hope they have a great time.

I thought it unusual that no-one offered you suggestions ... Ive just come back from 10 nts in Patong, and for me, it wasnt long enough to do all the things we wanted! Apart from all the usual touristy stuff (most of which Bobmac has suggested and is all good) you may find some other stuff to do on this great website www.cathyandgarystravelpages.com
A drive around the island is a must - just hire a driver, they are really cheap. We only did the south end of the island (read my recent jbr's) and went to Wat Chalong and all the viewpoints, absolutely beautiful scenery. We did Phi Phi Island day trip, but didnt manage to do the James Bond canooeing one, which we really wanted to. There's also a "Hong by Starlight evening cruise" which is meant to be unreal. If you like the cultural themepark scene, then Fantasea is a must - its amazing, not only for kids. If youre interested in the "ladyboy cabaret" show stuff, then Simon Cabaret is meant to be good, another thing we didnt get around to doing. We also wanted to go into Phuket town for a look around, but didnt do that. The nite weekend markets in there are meant to be unreal and very very cheap. The new shopping Centre in Patong called Jungceylon is worth a look at too, plus its airconditioned!!! Def the elephant ride is a "must do" we did our trek with Siam Safari and they were gr8, but we only did the 2 1/2 hr trek, not all the other stuff. The elephant trek at Kok Chang is meant to be good as well, recomended by many forumites, and its also on cathys website. Have a good look at her site, as she lists lots of things to do, places to eat, shop etc.
As Bobmac suggests, for a 10 nite stay, Id try and spend every 2nd day relaxing by the pool and chilling, otherwise its just all too tiring!!!
Kitty

Oh and yeh... forgot to say that definitely NOT to book any tours here in Australia before they leave. I was amazed at how easy it was to more than halve the price of tours, just by going to 2 or 3 different ticket booth places on the street. They all want your business, so will quite happily give you a cheaper price than Joe Bloe up the road!

If you are feeling game, then yes, do hire a Jeep and go for a drive, but the roads are pretty crazy (not as bad as Vietnam tho!!!) and there dont seem to be too many road rules and certainly not many police on the roads!!! It would have been fun to hire a car and drive ourselves around, but Im 100% sure we wd have got lost doing that! It was nice to have a driver, and then just say ok next stop is ........ It wasnt too badly priced I thought, and this guy was just a guy from the Patong Merlin, so Im sure you cdve got one cheaper on the street. For 4 of us, to drive for 4-5 hours down south coast and back with a 1 hour stop at Nai Harn beach (by far the nicest beach we saw on the trip - so worth a visit!) it only cost 1500 bt in total. I think I worked that out to $13AUD each per person ... a bargain I thought - PLUS we knew we wdnt get lost!!!

Cheers again Kitty

PS ... Bobmac ... where is Tesco Lotus??? Im thinking its in Phuket town, cos we didnt see it in Patong. When I came home, my sister in law said "did you shop at Tesco Lotus???" and I said no, we didnt see it and didnt really know where it was.

Oh Kitty, you issed out on sooooo much. Wait until my JBR hits the posts (only 20 days and counting!!)Linda, get your daughter to check out www.cathyandgarystravelpages.com full of advice on tours,drivers,what to see/do shopping and even a price guide. Also print out Kitty's and take with them.
If they haven't been there before, they will pay top price for everything. It is good to have an idea what everything is worth.
I agree with Bobmac, tell them to look around Patong at prices then go to Phuket Town dept. stores/shops , markets on weekends and see how much cheaper there.
We hired Mr Mai, a driver on Cathy's pages for 1500bt for 8 hours. Will get him to show us around when we first get there, get our bearings, get shown shopping centres, Phuket Markets etc and then make our own way around. That way if we see anything that really interests us we can go back.
Fantasea is a must and we went on the 4 in 1 tour (elephant camp/ride, monkey temple, Gypsy village for lunch, James Bond Island and canoeing) and loved it. Well organised and a great day.
But as Bobmac said, wait until you get there, go and get brochures from several places, sit by pool , decide what you want to do and then go and price it at a few places to get best deal. DO NOT book at hotel as it is always dearer.

Cheers

Karin

If you're coming from Patong Beach you'll pass Lotus on the way into Phuket town.

Thanks so much for all the replies. Much appreciated