I visited Phuket in July 2025 to attend Doist Connect, where the whole company get together for a week.

I was not able to do proper planning for this trip, which means I didn't really do much in Phuket (or Thailand in general), but I still want to have the information here.

Stay

I stayed at The Surin Phuket. The place is amazing in many different ways. Amazing views, access to the beach, amazing food with great variety, and impressive rooms.

Transport

Not much to say here, it was literally a taxi from the airport to the hotel and the same to get back. What I can talk about is the trip to get there from São Paulo.

The crisis in middle east already started and we had a few concerns with the whole thing. It ended up being OK, but could be a struggle with flights.

I got my flight with Emirates from São Paulo to Phuket, with a long layover in Dubai. When you get a layover that is longer than 8 hours, Emirates provide you with a hotel room for the night. That was very useful for me to recover from the long trip and prepare for the next. The hotel was good enough, with dinner and breakfast. I would definitely do it again if I have to take a similar route.

Places

I was able to visite an Elephant sancturary, about an hour driving from the hotel. They kinda rescue Elephants living in bad conditions and take care of them. They have these tours where you can participate in the daily life of the Elephants by feeding and bathing them. It was a cool experience.

Other than the hotel itself, I just explored the surrounding shops. Bought some souveniers and snacks, but that was it. It felt to me the big hotel feels a bit too much for locals. One local shop mentioned he is there for dozens of years, and that place was very different before the hotel.