| HERE: Area Assistance |
| Beaches on Phuket Island |
| Patong Beach 15 Km
from Phuket Town |
|
Phuket's most developed beach offers numerous
leisure, sporting, shopping and recreational options along its 3-km
long crescent bay.
Windsurfing, snorkeling, sailing, swimming and sunbathing number
among the many popular daytime activities.
Patong is equally well known for its vibrant nightlife, among which
seafood restaurants feature prominently. |
| Karon Beach 18 Km
from Phuket Town |
The second largest of
Phuket's tourist beaches. Large resort complexes line the road
behind of the shoreline, but the long, broad beach itself has no
development. The sand is very white, and squeaks audibly when walked
upon. The southern point has a fine coral reef stretching toward
Kata and Bu Island.
Restaurants, bars, tour companies and other non-hotel businesses are
at the north end, near the traffic circle, and at the south end, on
the little road connecting the back road with the beach road. The
narrow road between Kata and Karon has a number of small businesses
as well as the Dino Park Mini Golf facillity. Karon is the most
up-scale of Phuket's beaches. There is a regular daytime bus service
to and from Phuket Town. |
| Kata Beach 18 Km from
Phuket Town |
|
Beautiful Kata is a scenic gem, its clear
water flanked by hills, and picturesque Bu island sits offshore.
Kata retains a village feel at its northern and southern ends and is
perhaps more family-oriented, its beach more peaceful than Patong. |
| Kata Noi around 18 Km
From Phuket Town |
South of Kata is Kata
Noi, a smaller beach with only a few hotels and little other
development. The beach is superb. Many fish inhabit the rocks and
corals along the beachless shoreline stretching south.
How to get there: Take the narrow beach road up over the hill from
kata. |
| Nai Harn around 18 Km
from Phuket Town |
South of Kata Noi and
north of Promthep Cape, Naiharn is not Phuket's longest beach, but
it borders the most gorgeous lagoon on the island. The middle of the
beach is dominated by the Samnak Song Nai Han monastery, which has
obstructed excessive development and is the reason that the beach is
generally less crowded than other spots on the southern part of the
island.
A wide variety of water sports can be enjoyed, but swimmers should
be alert for the red flag which warns of dangerous currents during
the monsoon season from May to October. One can walk to nearby
Promthep Cape to observe sunsets, which are often fiery and
spectacular. |
| Kamala |
| The
beach is a favored spot for witnessing sunsets. The northern end of
Kamala Beach is suitable for swimming. |
| Singh Beach about 1
Km from Surin Beach |
The
name means Lion's Point. The beach is in a small, curving bay with
rocky headlands at the foot of forest-fringed cliffs and is among
Phuket's most beautiful spots.
Look for signs indicating the path down to the beach.
|
| Kalim |
Just north of Patong Bay,
starting from about the Novotel Resort Hotel Patong to Thavorn Bay
Resort, this area consists of rocky but quiet beaches, and an
interesting road leading up into hills with high viewpoints and a
few good quality restaurants perched on the edge and top.
Some housing compounds are now being built on the hillsides and the
whole area is steadily moving up market. |
| Karon Noi |
| A 4 km long straight
beach with fewer visitors than its big sister, Karon. Nightlife is
pretty much confined to dining and a few beer bars. |
| Chalong Bay around 11
Km from Town |
| This beach has several
restaurants selling some of Phuket's best seafood. |
| Panwa around 10 Km
from Phuket town |
| The southernmost tip of
this cape is home to a Marine Biological Research Center and
Phuket's Aquarium where visitors may inspect several hundred exotic,
grotesque, and flamboyantly colorful marine species found in the
teeming waters of Phuket and elsewhere. |
| Ya Nui |
| Tucked between Promthep Cape
and Rawai, Ya Nui Beach is small but perfectly formed. Steep
headlands at either end hem in this slice of sand which is visited
by gentle waves from December to March. However, the onset of the
monsoon season brings with it crashing surf and swimming during
these months is not advised. A few small, inexpensive bungalow
operations have established themselves in the wooded area to the
rear of the beach. |
| Ao Sein |
| Often overlooked due to
its proximity to Naiharn, and because the connecting road runs
through and under the Meridien Phuket Yacht Club, Ao Sein has a wan
air of long lost glamour to it. Those who visited the island two
decades ago recall that it was once one of the most popular and
populace of the island's southern beaches, and the bungalow
operations still in situ attest to its headier days. Today, a
treacherous road - suitable only for experienced motorbike riders
and four-wheel drive trucks - runs down to the small beach of sand
and boulders and its cheif appeal is the epic view it offers of
Naiharn and Promthep Cape |
| Nui |
| Possibly the most
difficult beach to visit on Phuket, Nui lies between the Kata
Viewpoint and Naiharn. A new, wide, dirt road has recently been cut
through the forested hillside to replace the winding track down to
the beach, however this is just as steep and difficult to traverse
and should only be attempted by four-wheel drive trucks and
motor-cross bikes. The company which built the road and operates the
only restaurant on the beach charges a small fee for its facilities
and does not allow visitors to bring their own food and drink onto
the sand. |
| Surin around 24 Km
from Town |
Evergreen trees line
this small, curving bay, beneath the foothills north of Kamala.
Surin is home to Phuket's first golf course, a nine-hole course laid
out more than sixty years ago during the reign of King Rama VII. It
is now largely in disuse except as a park.
The steep incline of the beach, turbulent water, and big waves make
Surin a dangerous place to swim. |
| Pansea around 24 km
from Phuket Town |
| Pansea is a
mouth-wateringly scenic enclave dominated by two deluxe resorts:
Amanpuri and the Chedi. Film stars or VIPs like to stay there, as
they can get away from the crowds. There are just a few restaurants
and shops nearby. |
| Bang Tao |
Bangtao is a large open bay
with one of Phuket's longest beaches. It was once used for
tin mining, but has since been developed into a luxury resort. Most
of it is occupied by the Laguna complex, a massive five-hotel
development with golf course. There are, however, accommodations
available outside Laguna at the bay's south end.
Dry season swimming is excellent, and at the bay's north end is a
smaller bay, almost completely enclosed, at the mouth of which is
some fine coral. Plenty of places to eat, tour companies, and other
tourist facilities are available either at Laguna or in the nearby
town of Choeng Thale. |
| Nai Ton |
This quiet bay nestled at the foot of high hills has a fine strip of
sand. There is some accommodation but virtually no other business.
How to get there: Located between Bang Thao Bay and Nai Yang Beach,
Nai Ton Beach can be reached by
taking Thepkrasatri Road. Turn at the first traffic light north of
Thalang Town to Nai Yang Road. Look for signs indicating the
turn-off to Nai Ton. |
| Nai Yang around 30 Km
from Phuket town |
This is
where the National Park office is located. The beach itself is on a
long curving bay lined with evergreens that provide shade to
picnickers. The large coral reef is home to many different species
of fish, and Nai Yang is well known as a site where sea turtles come
to lay their eggs during the period from November to February; the
population of these has however, dropped off greatly. First class
accommodations are available and small food vendors cater to the
many day trippers.
How to get there: Take the Nai Yang road, and look for signs
indicating the park entrance. |
| Rawai around 17 Km
from Phuket town |
| The palm-fringed beach
is best known for 'sea gypsies,' a formerly nomadic fishing minority
believed to be of Melanesian descent. |
| Mittrapap Beach |
|
Just south
of Chalong, , there are several low-key and peaceful bungalows but
the beach is muddy at low tide, when you can almost walk halfway to
Koh Lone.
Friendship
Beach Resort, on Mittrapap is the usual meeting point for Americans
on the island, and holds regular Sunday jam sessions for any
rockers, jazzes or blues men who happen to be passing. |
| Laem Ka |
| Just south of the Phuket
Island Resort hotel, and north of Rawai is a small rocky bay,
popular with Thais at the weekend. |
| Mai Khao Beach around
40 Km from Phuket Town |
Many kilometers of
deserted beach characterize Mai Khao where there is little tourist
business. The water is fine for swimming during the dry season; the
rainy season brings big waves and strong currents that are
dangerous.
This lonely beach is another area where sea turtles come to lay
eggs. It is also home to what the Thais call a sea cicada, which is
a form of marine life.
How to get there: Go to the northern tip of Phuket; the beach lies
along the road's length. |
| Promthep Cape |
|
Promthep Cape is a headland
forming the extreme south end of Phuket. "Prom" is Thai for the
Hindu term, "Brahma," signifying purity, and "Thep" means 'God.'
Local
villagers used to refer to the cape as "Leam Jao", or the God's
Cape, and it was an easily recognizable landmark for the early
seafarers traveling up the Malay Peninsula from the
sub-continent. |
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