Leigh Travel Club

Beaches of Phuket

Kata Beach

Kata Beach is located approximately 17 kilometers from Phuket Town . The beach is composed of 2 lovely beaches called Kata Noi and Kata Yai. Of the island's 19 beaches, arguably the most scenic and atmospheric is Kata Beach . The waters are perfect for swimming, snorkelling and diving practice. Just off the northern part of the beach, is a coral reef with many gorgeous corals and fishes which stretches out toward Poo Island ( Crab Island ). It is also a haven for surfers in the monsoon season (September-November). Facilities & services provided for every price range include hotels, resort, bungalows, tour companies, restaurants, bars and clubs. It is such a perfect place for holiday makers who look for atmospheric surroundings with a bright sun, white sand, a calm clear sea and a colourful underwater world.  There is regular bus service to and from Phuket town during daytime.


Kata Noi Beach (20 & 17 km from 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.


Karon Beach

Karon Beach is located south of Patong approximately 20 kilometers from Phuket City , the second largest of Phuket's principal tourist beaches. A wide range of accommodations, from top-end to budget and mid-range, set well behind the shoreline. The majority of package tour tourists will end up on this beach. Karon Beach stretches magnificently with pines and palms standing tall over the rolling sand dunes providing unique scenery. The sea water is clean and the sand is powdery. It is one of the best places for swimming, diving and sun bathing. Karon Beach nowadays has been developed with extensive accommodation, mid-range resorts, increasing construction of various Beer bars and entertainment facilities. However, Karon Beach has still remained unique and appreciable itself. Additionally, the southern end has a fine coral reef stretching around the small headland into Kata Yai and Pu Island ( Crab Island ). There is a regular daytime bus service to and from Phuket Town.


Nai Harn Beach

Nai Han Beach is located a few kilometers fro Kata Beach, next to Phrompthep Cape, approximately 18 kilometres from Phuket Town. The beach is adjacent to two charming landscaped lagoons, surrounded by pine and other tropical plants. This beach is still neither touristic nor crowded, a perfect place for those in search of solitude and peaceful surrounding, as the beach has not been fully developed to its potential. With a few bars and restaurants, this area gives the feeling of Phuket many years ago. White sand beach and clear water makes this one of the island's nicest beach. Every October, The Asian Wakeboard Pro Tour competition will be organized here. Local and international amateur and pro wakeboarders will complete for honours, no doubt, providing great spectacular sport for visitors and local community. However, holidaymakers are not recommended to swim during the monsoon season from May to October. Regular bus service to and from Phuket town is available, but only during daytime.


Kamala Beach

Kamala is the only major beach in Phuket that does not have extensive hotel development and thus retains all its Thai village charm. It is one of Phuket's few remaining Muslim fishing villages where a traditional way of life can't still be glimpsed.


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 Beach

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 upmarket.


Karon Noi Beach

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 (11 km from town)

Located on the south coast of the island, Chalong Bay is the mining area and is muddy to swim in. However, a fine view of the coconut palm groves and delicious food in the good restaurants on the shore attract hundreds of visitors to the place daily.


Panwa Beach (10 km from town)

The southernmost tip of this cape is home to a Marine Biological Research Centre and Phuket's Aquarium where visitors may inspect several hundred exotic, grotesque, and flamboyantly colourful marine species found in the teeming waters of Phuket and elsewhere.


Surin Beach (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 Beach (24 km from 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.


Bangtao Beach

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 Beach

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 reachd 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 Beach (30 km from 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 Beach (17 km from town)

The First beach that brought fame to Phuket Island . The coconut-fringed route from Chalong Intersection to Rawai is one of the most beautiful road in Phuket. The beach is not particularly good for swimming but long-tail boats leave from here to offshore islands.


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, jazzers or bluesmen who happen to be passing.


Laem Ka Beach

Just south of the Phuket Island Resort hotel, and north of Rawai is a small rocky bay, popular with Thais at the weekend.


Maikhao Beach (40 km from 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 recognisable landmark for the early seafarers traveling up the Malay Peninsula from the sub-continent.


Ya Nui Beach

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 esteblished 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 Beach

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 moto-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.