Things to do in Phuket

Almost every beach worth a day in Phuket is on the west coast, facing the Andaman Sea, and almost all of them are reached by road. Choose by what is behind the sand: Patong's nightlife, family hotels at Kata and Karon, a national park and the airport at Mai Khao, a lake and no town at Nai Harn. Freedom Beach and Laem Sing are reached by boat or by a rough path on foot.

From December to March the sea is calm on most of them. From May to October, swim only between the red and yellow flags, never when the red flag is up, and not after the lifeguards have gone home: provincial figures count 56 drownings in three years, 20 of them at Karon. Not for you if you plan a swim at Rawai: it is a longtail harbour with a muddy bottom, not a swimming beach.

North-east of Phuket, Phang Nga Bay is a sea of limestone towers, much of it a national park. A day there usually brings together three things: James Bond Island, where you land on the beach of Khao Phing Kan facing the Khao Tapu needle; lunch at Koh Panyee, a Muslim fishing village on stilts; and a canoe through low caves into the hongs, lagoons open to the sky inside the islands.

The bay is sheltered on three sides, so trips are sold almost all year, and it makes a good sea day in the monsoon. The tide decides when a hong can be entered, which is why the order of the stops changes from one day to the next. Leave early: James Bond Island is busiest from about 10 am to 1 pm. Not for you if you are claustrophobic: on at least one route you lie down in the canoe to pass through a cave.

The Big Buddha, 45 m high and faced with white marble, on Nakkerd Hill between Kata and Chalong, reopened on 3 March 2026, after a landslide below the hill killed 13 people in Kata in August 2024. It is open every day from 9 am to 6 pm. Wat Chalong, the island's best-known Buddhist temple, is about 8 km away by road and free to enter; its chedi holds a relic of the Buddha.

Go up the hill early, then down to Wat Chalong before the late-morning crowds, with shoulders and knees covered at both. The Chinese shrines of the Old Town, Jui Tui first among them, come alive every autumn for the Vegetarian Festival. Not for you on a scooter if you have little experience: the road up to the Big Buddha is steep and narrow in places.

The south is the quiet end of Phuket: residential areas, a few beaches and working harbours rather than resorts. Spend an afternoon at Nai Harn, drive up to the Windmill viewpoint, be at Promthep Cape at least 30 minutes before the sunset, which falls between about 6 and 6.50 pm depending on the month, and finish with seafood at Rawai.

At the Rawai seafood market you buy by weight on one side of the street and have it cooked on the other: agree the price per kilo before anything is packed. Chalong, also in the south, is the pier most boats to Racha and Coral Island leave from. Not for you without a scooter or taxis: Promthep, Nai Harn and Rawai are too far apart to walk between comfortably.

Phuket does not shut for the monsoon, but the open sea does on some days. A few places close on fixed dates, the Similan from mid-May to mid-October and Maya Bay in August and September; the rest depends on the waves, morning by morning, and according to one operator speedboats to the far islands are the first to be cancelled. Put the boat day that matters most early in your stay, so that a cancellation can move to another day.

Phang Nga Bay, sheltered on three sides, is the sea day that holds up best in the monsoon. On land there is the Old Town, whose covered five-foot ways keep off the rain, the Big Buddha and Wat Chalong, a cooking class and the markets. If the rain is heavy, do not ride a scooter through flooded streets: heavy rain floods some streets in Patong.