Thavorn Hotel

Opened in 1961 by the tin-mining Chinese-Thai Thavorn Wong Wongse family, the Thavorn was Phuket's original five-star hotel. It's one of the oldest hotels around still operating. Although the facade is unimpressive, the wood-panelled, memorabilia-packed interior is an instant throwback to earlier times. A grand wooden staircase leads off the wide lobby, which hosts a dusty museum full of tin toys, musical instruments, old movie projectors, historical photos and decades-old newspaper clippings.