Memories you’ll take back home from Phuket

The Beach
If you’re here on holiday you’re almost certain to be on or near a beach, but there are many others to choose from and each one has its own unique appeal. Why not rent a motor bike or car and spend a day checking them out? They’re mostly on the west coast – from Mai Khao in the north down to Nai Harn in the south. On the east coast there’s Rawai and Chalong – working beaches for fishermen and tour boats.

Every beach offers seafood restaurants and cool bars so you don’t have to neglect the inner man on the trip. Enjoy.

Patong Nightlife – Soi Bangla
Many people come to Phuket just to revel in the razzmatazz of Patong’s hotspots, but even if your tastes are generally more moderate, you really shouldn’t miss the opportunity to visit this international icon of the hedonistic lifestyle. A short street in the heart of downtown Patong, Soi Bangla packs more than a hundred bars, restaurants and discotheques into a single traffic-free, brightly-lit celebration of glitz, which operates from dusk until dawn.

Walking up and down or dropping into throbbing cacophonous homages to Mammon, like the Tiger Disco or Rock City, will leave you with vivid memories as enduring as those of the beautiful beaches you enjoyed in the daylight hours.

The old Phuket Town
Much of Phuket’s development has taken place in the last ten years and the building style is resolutely modern – some say, stridently so, but parts of Phuket City are little changed from a hundred years ago.

At that time the Island was a busy trading port and supported a thriving tin-mining industry. The then captains of industry built their prestigious homes in the style called Sino-Portuguese. Narrow housefronts ornately decorated with red and gold, the mystic signs representing sacred guardians of the access yielded to storied accommodations with tall ceilings, and interiors often incorporated delightful gardens. Nowadays the streets in the Chinese quarter have transformed themselves into busy thoroughfares featuring antique shops, speciality restaurants and more.

Phuket Temples – Wat Chalong
The culture of Thailand is heavily influenced by Buddhism. There are of course many temples in Phuket, but the most popular is Wat Chalong which is situated to the southeast of Phuket City. It offers some splendidly decorated buildings and is home to a statue of Luang Por Cham who led the residents to defeat the rebellion of the Angyee (Chinese coolies), in 1876 during the reign of Rama Five.

View points in Phuket
You must check out the views from Phuket’s hilltop view points. Laem (Cape) Phrom Thep is the most popular and largest. It’s a headland on the extreme southern end of Phuket about 19 kilometres from Phuket City. Phrom Thep Cape forms Phuket‘s southernmost point and is the perfect place from which to enjoy spectacular sunsets and views of the ocean. Nearby Laem Phrom Thep is Windmill View Point. It stands above the road between Nai Harn and Promthep. As the name would suggest the hilltop boasts a modern windmill – the only one on the island.

Three-beach View Point is a very tastefully developed facility on the Nai Harn-Kata road, with a Thai-style sala which offers superb views on several levels. From this point Kata Noi, Kata and Karon Beaches can be seen and out to sea is Koh Poo Island. It’s one of the island's best views. Don’t forget your camera.