Beaches

Phuket Town gets a rough time from many of the local expats. Its crazy roads, occasional traffic jams, and often nonsensical shops and general confusion are off-putting to many people. But if you just dismiss the place out of hand, you’ll be missing out on what little remains of any real local Thai culture—outside of the small fishing villages.

The northern part of Nai Yang Beach belongs to Sirinath National Park and is so far undeveloped—clearly waiting for a local with good connections to “discover” his long lost family title to the land. There are a few open pavilions in the area, but otherwise it has none of the hassles (or conveniences) of the more southern beaches like Patong.

Bang Tao Beach is really long. It’s the second longest beach in Phuket at over eight kilometers. Most of the Northern section of the beach is overrun by the elephantine Laguna complex of resorts, golf courses, developments, restaurants, and gift shops. The interiore of Bang Tao has many luxury villas and other high-end developments. The southern part of the beach has more mid-range developments with  smaller hotels, smaller restaurants, and smaller gift shops—and a few tailors in case you still haven’t bought a suit.

Surin Beach is just North of Kamala and we’re finally starting to really talk about beautiful, paradisiacal, tropical beaches here.

Kamala Beach seems much farther away from the “short-time” beach of Patong than the 10 minutes it actually takes to get there.

Lined by casuarinas, Kamala is a good place to swim or eat a relaxing and pleasant meal at one of the laid back (and very local) restaurants along the beach. It’s generally empty enough that you can find a bit of privacy, even during high season. During the rainy season (now called “summer season” by some overly optimistic hoteliers) locals and foreigners will also do a bit of surfing.

Patong is the place that everyone associates with all of Phuket. It's got the bars, cheap little shops, and the tourists. It's also got a few nice restaurants, some nice places to hang out and play pool, and a few discotheques that range from beers bars with louder music to pretentious upscale venues.

Karon is one of the longest beaches in Phuket with a beautiful expanse of uninterrupted white sand. It’s generally free of the jet skis, hawkers, and crowds of Patong Beach. There’s a bit of surfing on the Southern end of the beach and you can find a few surf boards to rent. Recently, it’s also gained some popularity with the kite surfing crowd.