Phuket Travel Guide

 

 

Phuket is Thailand's largest island and is one of Thailand's most popular tourist destinations. Phuket has many nice beaches around, but it can be hard to find one that is not jammed packed or no locals trying to sell you something every few minutes.

 

Phuket is visted my millions of people each year and has a variety of tourist attractions. While prices in Phuket have skyrocketed over the years, their is still bargains to be bought.

 

New tourist attractions seem to be opening every year, one of the most recent attractions is the new water park, Splash Jungle Waterpark.

 

 

 

 

Attractions

 

Phuket has a lot of activities to choose from, there is many Phuket travel guides around. You can go snorkeling, diving, island hoping, sky diving, water skiing, swimming and almost anything else you can think of. But remember to try and bargain the prices down as much as you can, the savings you can make with good bargaining skills can be huge.

 

 

Nightlife

 

Phuket has a busy nightlife, second only to Pattaya among Thailand's beach resorts. Patong Beach is by far the busiest, and seediest, of the lot. To some travelers, Patong's nightlife can be a bit intimidating.

Patong's nightlife spills out in all directions but the center of the maelstrom is Thanon Bung La (Bung La Road) and its four soi's - Crocodile, Eric, Gonzo and Seadragon, packed with a frenetic mix of pubs, beer bars, and go-go bars. Soi Crocodile is also known as Soi Katoey, a reference to its many ladyboy's. There are also a couple of good nightclubs with dance floors.
Thanon Bang La can be too much for some people, its a full on party atmosphere and should be something to remember for awhile.

 

Beaches

 

The major beaches from north to south are:

 

Mai Khao (Sai Kaeo) - near the airport, very quiet (aside from the planes!) and far away from it all

 

Nai Thon and Nai Yang - two quiet beaches in Sirinat National Park

 

Bang Thao (Laguna Beach) - long, very quiet beach

 

Surin and Pansea Beach - an up-and-coming upmarket destination

 

Laem Sing - small bay with stunning views, between Kamala Beach and Surin Beach

 

Kamala Beach - a quieter beach to the north of Patong

 

Kalim Beach - a series of small beaches just to the north of Patong

 

Patong Beach - the largest beach resort, known for its nightlife

 

Karon and Karon Noi Beaches - the second most-developed beach after Patong

 

Kata Yai Beach - busy, clean tourist beach with good surf

 

Kata Noi Beach - quieter sister of Kata Yai

 

Nai Han and Ao Sen - a quiet beach (probably the best) in the south, near Phromthep Cape view point

 

Rawai, Mittraphap and Laem Ka - set off point for lots of local islands, popular with locals for eating on the beach

 

Cape Panwa - home to Phuket Aquarium

Climate

 

Phuket is hot and humid throughout the year. The high season is generally considered to be from November to May, but usually December and January is the most busiest times.. During the summer monsoon season, mornings and afternoons are still sunny and clear, but it tends to rain in the evenings and water clarity goes down. Locals consider May to October the "cool" season, and the weather is quite tolerable, but will still be considered hot and humid for most travelers.

 

Getting to Phuket

 

Obviously you can get to Phuket by plane as there is an airport, but below are some other ways if you are the adventurous type

 

Car- Phuket is directly connected to the mainland by the Thao Thepkasattri Bridge. From Bangkok, take Highway 4 through Nakhon Pathom, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chumphon, thence through Ranong province’s Kra Buri and Kapoe districts, Phang-nga province’s Takua Pa and Thai Muang districts and onto Phuket island. The total distance is 862km. If you do choose to drive, please drive safetly.

 

Train- There are no direct train services to Phuket. Travellers by train must get off at Phun Phin railway station in Surat Thani and continue for another 5 hours by regular bus to Phuket. Should only be done if you know your way around Thailand pretty well.

 

Bus- Buses to mainland destinations including Bangkok, Chumphon, Hat Yai, Krabi, Phang Nga, Ranong, Satun, Sungai Kolok and Surat Thani use the BKS terminal off Thanon Phang Nga in Phuket Town.

The most reliable buses from Bangkok are the public BKS buses from the Southern Bus Terminal to Phuket. The journey takes 13 hours. There are also 2 private bus companies, Phuket Travel Tour and Phuket Central Tour. Khao San Road operations have a bad reputation for theft, often turn out to include a "surprise" transfer to a minibus at Surat Thani, and are best avoided.

From Phuket bus terminal to your final destination, you can take a motorcycle taxi, tuk-tuk, meter-taxi, or bus. A motorcycle taxi into Phuket Town will be about 10-20 baht; to most beaches 100-200 baht (negotiable).

 

A local bus to one of the main beaches will cost around 15-30 baht. It's not unusual for the tuk-tuk drivers at the bus terminal to tell arriving travellers that the local bus service has finished, even though it hasn't. If you are of the hiking/backpacking type, the local bus station, which will take you to Patong Beach is about twenty minutes away. When exiting the bus terminal, make a right onto Phang-Nga Rd. Continue down Phang-Nga until it terminates at Yaowarat Rd., then turn left. Within a few steps you will see a roundabout. Once at the roundabout, keep right. By keeping right, you will find Ranong Rd. Within 100 to 200 meters you will find the local bus stop.

Before exiting the Phuket bus terminal, grab a free Phuket map from the information window. While supplies may always not be on hand, the map is a great way to get your bearing before jumping-off.

 

 

 

Transport from the Phuket Airport

 

To get from the airport to your destination, there are a few options:

 

Bus- Minibus services (basically door-to-door share taxis) charge 150-250 baht per seat. Any travel agent can arrange a ride for the way back to the airport, but if you want one from the airport, you'll usually need to charter the whole thing for over 1000 baht.

Airport shuttle bus service (6:30-20:30, every 30 minutes) to Phuket Town bus station costs 82 baht; local buses run from there to all the major beaches until around 18:00.

 

Taxi- Phuket have a world wide reputation of ripping off tourists from the airport to there hotel resorts, at the moment their is no really good way to avoid it, you can either walk out of the airport gates and find a metered taxi or surrender to the overcharged price and share a taxi with someone.

In some cases, the taxi fare has been more expensive then a domestic flight from Bangkokto Phuket for some tourist.

 

 

Map of Phuket

 

source: http://www.visit-thailand.info/information/map-of-phuket.htm