What is Phuket Like?
If you’re looking to visit a beach area in South East Asia that has a lot of energy, loads of amenities like restaurants and bars, malls, water parks, animal sanctuaries, app-based food delivery, easy transportation, boat tours and excursions, and beautiful beaches, then Phuket may be just what you are looking for. It actually reminds us a lot of Bali in terms of the amenities for tourists and the number of tourists relative to locals. We’re currently staying in Nai Harn Beach, but in the past we have also stayed in the Kata/Karon area of Phuket, which was fairly similar to Nai Harn but just a little bigger and busier and closer to the action.
As mentioned in our last post, while being in a busier Southeast Asian beach town has many advantages, it also comes with some drawbacks, including traffic, noise, pollution, higher prices, and tourists being everywhere. At the end of the day, it really just depends on you and what you are looking for in your travel experience.
If you are looking for a more laid back and relaxed spot with fewer tourists around but still with access to amenities, we would highly recommend checking out Koh Chang, which is drivable from Bangkok (5–6 hours by private transfer).
We recently spent a month in Koh Chang, and you can read about some of our experiences here and here. It was more our speed, with quiet beaches and access to nature, and yet still having all the restaurants, coffee shops, massages, and other amenities we like to have on hand when in Thailand. We might also recommend something more like a Koh Lanta or even a Railay Beach if you are looking to get away from busy vehicular traffic.
However, we would caution that we are travelling through the high tourist season, so in the rainy season some of these lesser visited spots may be too secluded, with restaurants and attractions closed entirely. (We visited Koh Lanta during the low season our last trip to Thailand, and it was a bit of a ghost town — we ended up shortening our stay there and moving on to a different area of Krabi.)
If you aren’t sure what it is that you are after in Thailand (or even in South East Asia), you can easily pick and choose the multiple atmospheres that appeal to you, whether that be beaches, mountains, cultural meccas, or cities, and combine them all into one mega trip. This can be done very affordably, with discount airlines like Air Asia offering sub-$100 flights throughout the region.