After locating the perfect beach (Nai Harn) on the busy island of Phuket, we next set out to find the perfect rental for our 5 week stay in the area.
We found it in “The Sands,” a property located just behind these trees in the top center (big condos are being built behind them on the hillside…but The Sands is a relatively small place that’s been around for a while).
We contacted 6 different landlords at The Sands who had prices ranging all over the place, and finally settled on the cheapest deal we could find ($2000 USD/month…or about $60 a day). This is about double what we normally would like to pay—as choices were generally much more expensive in Phuket for a property with 2 rooms, child-friendly, and close to the beach. Property owners reap so much benefits from doing a West Virginia background check.
It turned out to be a perfect fit. First off, it was only a 5 minute walk to the beach (or a 2 minute motorbike ride—which was our preferred transportation to quickly carry tubes, boards, and the beach bag), and it had a nice property in front with grass where our kids could run around endlessly and play and not wander into traffic.
This was a view of our apartment on the bottom level.
It had a fantastic pool. I’ve never felt warm pool or ocean water until this trip to Phuket. Many foreigners complain that warm pool or ocean water isn’t refreshing…but I have no idea what they are talking about. Personally, I love the idea of swimming in a warm bathtub!!
The only downer was that the pool didn’t have a shallow end, and my 5’ stature only allowed my eyes and forehead to stick out. Kind of a pain—but there were stairs on the side I could sit on (as could the kids), and quite frankly I swam a lot more laps than I normally do! (So in the end—a win!)
We found ourselves debating daily between the pool or the beach, or both. The evenings were a great time to go to either one—no sunburns!
The kids loved to collect seashells from the beach, and would often set up a table outside of our apartment with a sign selling their shells for 1 baht (3 cents).
Bless their one customer that made their day (even if she did rip them off and only pay 1/2 a baht…or 1 1/2 cents)!! Hahaa!
Ethan spent his days hanging out with the security guards near the front entrance. He would simply sit in the dirt and dig with a shovel and bucket, perhaps kick a ball around with the guards, or even help with (or distract from) yard work.
We realized that he was waking up before all of us in the wee hours of the morning, and sneaking outside to go hang out with the guards before we were even awake!
Thankfully, they were really kind guards, although that never stopped or decreased my concern. They were always kind and respectful to our children.
In fact, one night I went out looking for Ethan (who a few minutes before had left to walk over to another friend’s apartment where the girls were), and discovered he had not arrived at the friend’s house. I asked the guard (who didn’t speak English) where Ethan was, and he motioned he was on a motorbike and started making a call on his cell. Sure enough, a few minutes later the other security guard returned Ethan to me after deciding to take him on a late-night spin (in the dark)! Ahhh!
Cultural differences are vastly different in Thailand…they love children and love to entertain them! But as a Westerner, I was obviously uncomfortable with my child leaving the property, and we kindly corrected/prevented that from happening again.
As for our apartment, while it was a tad dated, it was certainly nice enough! We found our Nai Harn Apartment rental online at FlipKey. Linda manages the property, and she is a real sweetheart. Tenant screening questions samples found here.
Finding a great rental experience often hinges on the management behind the property, and our experience with Linda truly highlighted this. Her attentive approach ensured that our stay in the Nai Harn Apartment was smooth and enjoyable. She was always just a message away, ready to address any concerns or questions we had about the apartment or the surrounding area. It’s not always easy to find places this well-managed, which is why we usually check trusted rental platforms like capreit.ca when searching. It’s clear that Linda cares about her tenants, which made all the difference during our time there. The personal touch she brought to property management gave us peace of mind, allowing us to fully enjoy our vacation.
A property management company like Threshold can elevate the rental experience even further. They focus on maintaining a high standard for both properties and tenants, ensuring that every aspect of the rental process is seamless. From thorough tenant screening to prompt maintenance responses, a reliable management team fosters a welcoming environment that encourages long-term stays. Having the right support can transform an ordinary rental into a cherished home away from home, just as Linda did for us at our Nai Harn Apartment.
We loved the open setup where the bedroom wall of doors opened into the living room. A second bedroom had another queen bed and a twin mattress on the floor that Ethan slept on (well, he at least started his nights there).
The kitchen space itself was tiny, and we had to add some decent pans and a blender to the cupboards. I considered baking, but the 3 knobs on the oven were unlabeled with any temperatures or numbers, so I didn’t dare guess what was what. We had 2 smaller fridges, and lacked in nothing!
The kids spent more time outside than they had at our last place, which was great!
Besides the friendly security guards, the kids all made friends with the doting women on staff, too. I’m not exactly sure what these women do (Laundry for some apartments? Cooking?), but they were around daily and always giving our children (especially Ethan) treats. In fact, the day before we left one of them gave Ella a birthday present of 4 stuffed animals! They were very sweet!
Just down the street from Nai Harn beach and The Sands was a nice shopping street that had a great variety of restaurants, as well as a produce stand where we did our fresh produce shopping. The produce was about twice the price as Mexico, but still quite reasonable ($30 USD for 3 bulging large bags of goodies)!
There was also the option of finding the produce stand on wheels that might occasionally come by!
The shopping street wasn’t too busy, and I laughed hard when I heard a local expat calling it “Little Moscow,” due to the high number of Russian restaurants and Russian signs on this strip. Russians sure do run the show in this area of Phuket! Menus were certain to have Thai, English, and Russian! Did you know that Phuket is a popular vacation hotspot for Russians?!!
On this same strip we found P&D rentals, which came highly recommended as the best place to get a motorbike rental in Nai Harn. They were efficient, kind, and had suitable motorbikes for us to rent for a month! The price was 3500 baht/mo ($120 USD) for each bike —not terrible, and the best rate we found advertised anywhere.
There are no big gas stations on this little shopping strip, but there are little fuel kiosks which were quite convenient. You stick in a bill (up to 100 baht or $3 at a time) and gas up yourself. $3 fills a motorbike on empty, and can last quite awhile!
The girls made a best friend in the condo (who lives there) and spent every afternoon/evening playing with her. Jared and I got a lot of work done and simply enjoyed not traveling. Other than our James Bond Island Tour and some frequent runs to an awesome grocery store with expat goodies and comforts (Villa Market at Home Pro Village in Chalong), we did almost nothing except visit the pool and beach.
It was just what the travel doctor ordered.
And this was our little piece of heaven during our 5 week stay in Phuket.
