Phuket Phuket Travel Guide: Best Hotels, Restaurants & Experiences

Thailand's largest island sprawls across the Andaman Sea, its western coastline scalloped into a succession of bays — from the broad crescent of Patong to the quieter reaches of Kamala and Surin. The Old Town, with its Sino-Portuguese shophouses painted in faded pastels, recalls the tin-mining wealth that drew Hokkien merchants here in the nineteenth century. Phuket Town's weekend walking street fills Thalang Road with local vendors selling moo ping and cashew nuts from nearby plantations.

The dining scene stretches from beachfront grills serving the morning's catch to hillside restaurants where tables overlook Phang Nga Bay's karst formations. Thai cooking classes, often held in jungle settings, teach the mortar-and-pestle fundamentals of southern curries. Beach clubs along Bang Tao have become destinations in themselves, their daybeds facing the same sunsets that once guided fishing boats home.