





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

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 : At the northern tip of Phuket; the beach lies along the road’s length

Just south of the Phuket Island Resort hotel, and north of Rawai is this small rocky bay, popular with Thais at the weekend. This sheltered, 150 metre long, boulder-framed beach is the ideal picnic spot as from midday on it is shady and cool

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

Rawai Beach : 17 km from town
Rawai was one of Phuket’s first tourist developments, but this was due more to its proximity to Phuket Town than its beauty. As better beaches were discovered, tourist travel to Rawai dwindled and today it’s a quiet spot.
The palm-fringed beach is best known for ‘sea gypsies,’ a formerly nomadic fishing minority believed to be of Melanesian descent. Rawai holds the distinction of being the very first tourist beach on Phuket

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 to the park entrance

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

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

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.

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