First Impressions: Nai Harn Beach, Phuket
We arrived in Nai Harn Beach, Phuket, a few days ago, and so far neither Mr. nor Mrs. WorldSmith are loving it (yet).
Perhaps it’s just because our recent experience in Koh Chang was so incredible, and it’s still so fresh in our minds — it’s definitely a tough act to follow. We loved our villa in Koh Chang, and we loved the island as a low-key Thai beach destination with decent amenities.
Phuket, on the other hand, is anything but low-key. It’s very busy and very touristy, and as long-term travellers, this isn’t the vibe we generally go for.
We initially chose our Airbnb on the outskirts of the commercial area of Nai Harn based on a combination of price, proximity to restaurants, good reviews on Airbnb, and being walkable to the beach. We chose Phuket broadly because it made our onwards journey a lot simpler and cheaper, and because the weather on the west side of Thailand tends to be much better than the east this time of year.
Nai Harn was supposed to be a more laid back Phuket beach than some of its more popular counterparts, which is likely true. However, at the moment it’s tough to tell, given that we are here in the middle of the Christmas high season and the beach is packed with people every day. It’s a huge change from the vibe in Koh Chang, where we practically had the whole beach to ourselves every day.
And while there are elements of our Airbnb that we like, such as the relaxed private back patio with hammock, lounge and dining areas, and a strong oscillating fan, we don’t love having to walk along a busy road with limited shoulders to get anywhere, the slightly too “shack-y” style of the house, and the noise from the nearby road. If we had to do it again, given that being close to restaurants is not as important as it was in the past with apps like Grab and Food Panda available, we would choose to stay closer to the beach and outside of the commercial area.
In terms of the beach itself, Nai Harn is a fairly nice beach for Phuket. It has soft white sand, nice clear warm water, and it’s nice and wide. It is not as busy as some of the other Phuket beaches, has less of a party atmosphere, and is more family friendly (with lots of kids around).
The one thing that we would note is that the waves can and do get pretty high. In our few visits to the beach so far, we’ve experienced plenty of breaking waves that push the water from waist level (no waves) to approximately 7 feet above the ground (the break). This is a little bit too much for our newly swimming 5-year-old to manage independently, so we need to make sure that we are within arms reach of her at all times when she’s in the water to help her over some of the bigger waves when they roll in.
Overall, we are still open to liking Nai Harn Beach, but so far it doesn’t come close to comparing to our Airbnb on Koh Chang, which was approximately the same price (around 1800 USD).