Where to stay · Old Town
Shophouses, markets and the island's own food, and no beach: which streets to sleep in, and who would be happier by the sea.
Phuket Town is the only real town on the island, and its Old Town, built on tin money, is a grid of restored Sino-Portuguese shophouses, Chinese shrines, cafés, galleries and markets. Guides suggest it for culture and food, for small budgets, for short stays and for an early ferry from Rassada.
What you give up is the beach: there is none in town, and the west coast is 30 to 40 minutes away by road, according to guides. For the history, the houses, the museums and a walk through the streets, see our guide to the Old Town; this page is about sleeping there.
It suits you if you come for the food, the streets and the markets, travel on a budget, stay only a night or two, or take an early boat from Rassada.
It does not suit you if you want to swim before breakfast, spend whole days on the beach, or walk around at midday in the heat. For a beach base with a centre on foot, Kata; for the beach and nightlife, Patong.
Five streets make up the Old Town, Thalang, Phang Nga, Krabi, Dibuk and Yaowarat, with Soi Romanee linking two of them, and the whole grid is walkable. Many shophouses are now cafés, guesthouses and small shops. We found no source on how loud each street is at night, so ask your hotel if you sleep lightly.
Thalang Road is the main street of restored shophouses, closed to traffic every Sunday for the walking street, which runs until about 10 pm and is very crowded from 6 to 9 pm. Soi Romanee, the short pastel lane between Thalang and Dibuk, is today guesthouses, bars and cafés. Not for you on a Sunday evening if you dislike crowds at your door.
Dibuk Road is longer and quieter than Thalang, with shophouses and some of the larger family houses; Krabi Road has the grand houses of the tin families and the Thai Hua Museum. A few minutes' walk from the centre of the grid.
Yaowarat Road has Chillva Market, open in the evening from Monday to Saturday, and Vachira Phuket Hospital, the province's main public hospital. Ranong Road, where the Old Town walk ends at Jui Tui Shrine, is also where the blue songthaews to the beaches leave from, at Ranong market.
The Old Town is hot by day, especially from November to March, and many shops close in the hottest part of the afternoon, reopening around 4 pm. Staying in town lets you do what day visitors cannot: walk the streets between about 8 and 10 am, when they are emptiest, rest at midday, and go out again in the evening.
In Phuket Town, February is the driest month and September the wettest, according to the Thai Meteorological Department's averages for 1981 to 2010. A rainy afternoon is not lost here: the covered five-foot way along the shophouses was built for it.
Evenings are for eating. On Sunday, the walking street on Thalang Road, Lard Yai, runs from about 4 to 10 pm: come at 4 pm to walk, at 7 pm for the atmosphere. From Monday to Saturday, Chillva Market on Yaowarat Road runs from 5 to 11 pm. On Saturday and Sunday, the Naka weekend market sets up south of town, from 4 to 10 pm, but you need transport to reach it.
In the morning, Phuket Town's dim sum houses serve from about 6 am, and mee hokkien in broth is a breakfast dish. The town is not a nightlife destination: for bars until late, Patong is the place, a ride away.
To the beaches. Blue songthaews, pick-ups with bench seats, leave from Ranong market for one beach and back, roughly every 30 minutes from 6 am to 6 pm, for about 30 to 50 baht. They do not link the beaches to each other, and they stop around 6 pm: plan your way back. Otherwise, Grab or Bolt.
Around town. The Dragon Line, a free electric shuttle, loops through the Old Town about every 15 minutes.
To the piers. Rassada, the pier for the public ferries to Phi Phi and the ferries to Krabi, is on the east coast near Phuket Town. Many tours pick you up at your hotel: check that town hotels are in the pick-up area.
To the airport. The airport is about 32 km north of Phuket Town, about an hour by car according to one guide. An orange public bus runs between the airport and the old bus station in Phuket Town, about every hour from 8.30 am to 8.30 pm from the airport, for 100 baht, taking about an hour and a half.
Travel information: airport, transport, scooters
| Best for | Food, streets and markets, a budget, short stays, an early ferry from Rassada |
|---|---|
| Not for | Beach days, a swim before breakfast, walking at midday |
| On foot | The five streets, the shrines, the museums, the markets |
| Beaches | None in town; the west coast is 30 to 40 minutes by road |
| Getting around | Free Dragon Line in town; songthaews to the beaches by day |
| Airport | About 32 km; about an hour by car, according to one guide |
| Watch for | The midday heat; Sunday crowds on Thalang Road |
Things to do · the beaches
Phuket's beaches line its west coast, from an empty 11 km strand by the airport to small coves reached on foot or by boat. The one thing they share is the sea: calm from December to March, and dangerous on many days from May to October.
Things to do · the islands
From Phuket you can reach many islands in a day: Phi Phi and Maya Bay, the Racha islands to the south, small Coral Island, the Khai islands, the Similan far to the north-west, and the quiet Koh Yao islands in Phang Nga Bay. They are not reached from the same pier, and they are not all open all year.
Things to do · Phang Nga Bay
North-east of Phuket, Phang Nga Bay is a sea of limestone towers, mangroves and hidden lagoons, much of it protected as a national park. A day there usually combines James Bond Island, a stilt village and a canoe ride into the hongs. Sheltered on three sides, the bay can be visited almost all year; James Bond Island is crowded around midday.
Things to do · the Old Town
A grid of painted shophouses built on tin money, a food culture that earned Phuket a UNESCO City of Gastronomy title, and a Sunday market that fills Thalang Road: the Old Town is the part of Phuket that is not about the sea.
Things to do · temples
A white marble Buddha on the hill above Kata, reopened in 2026 after a deadly landslide; the island's best-known Buddhist temple, at Chalong; Chinese shrines in the Old Town; and a golden Buddha half-buried in the ground at Thalang.
Things to do · Patong
Patong is Phuket's busiest resort: a 3 km beach in a bay on the west coast, a town of hotels, malls and markets behind it, and Bangla Road, the island's nightlife street. It is convenient, loud and very easy to enjoy if you know where its rules and its traps are.
Things to do · the south
The south of Phuket ends in a cape where crowds gather every evening for the sunset. Around it are Nai Harn, a bay with a lake behind it, the small cove of Ya Nui, Rawai with its longtail pier and seafood market, and Chalong, whose pier is the island's busiest for boat trips.
Things to do · night markets
Phuket's markets run on a weekly rhythm: the Old Town's Sunday Walking Street, the weekend market at Naka, container stalls at Chillva from Monday to Saturday, and markets every evening in Patong and Kata. The food is the reason to go, and the day you are on the island decides which one you can see.
Where to stay
Kata and Karon for a first trip, Patong for the nights, the Old Town for the food, Mai Khao for the airport: the area you sleep in decides your beach, your evenings and your drives.
Travel info
The practical side of a trip to Phuket: entry rules that changed in September 2026, an airport at the far north of the island, blue buses that run from Phuket Town to one beach and back but never between beaches, scooters that put many riders in hospital, and a few habits that save money.
Yes, if you come for the food, the streets and the markets, or need an early ferry from Rassada; guides also suggest it for small budgets and short stays. Not if you want beach days: there is no beach in town.
The west-coast beaches are 30 to 40 minutes away by road, according to guides. Songthaews run from Ranong market to one beach and back during the day.
By taxi or Grab, about an hour according to one guide, or by the orange public bus to the old bus station, about every hour from 8.30 am to 8.30 pm, for 100 baht, in about an hour and a half.
We found no source on noise street by street. The Sunday walking street on Thalang Road is very crowded from 6 to 9 pm and ends around 10 pm; for bars until late, people go to Patong.