Phuket Travel Guide

Phuket (ภูเก็ต), pronounced (roughly) "puh-KET", is Thailand's largest island. It is 48 km in length, 21 km at its widest, and is in Southern Thailand, on the west-facing Andaman Sea coastline, suspended from the southern tip of Phang Nga province by a pair of short but substantial road bridges.

There are very frequent flights fromBangkokand direct flights to many other airports in the region. A wide variety of airlines have year-round direct flights to Phuket from elsewhere in Asia, as well as the Middle East, India, and Australia. Other destinations (mostly in Europe) have seasonal charter flights.

Phuket is a large island and you need some form of transport to get around. Luckily, there are a variety of transport options for various budgets. Hotels generally offer shuttle bus services into Phuket Town, and also have taxi and car hire facilities.

Particularly in the summer monsoon season, there arestrong currentson many of the beaches and drownings are a depressingly common occurrence. Four tourists died during a single 3-day stretch in June 2009. Heed the warning flags on popular beaches and play it safe if off the beaten track.

There are lots of options available in Phuket. But for the more popular hotels and resorts in the better locations you should book at least a couple months in advance during high season (Nov-May). The best rates are usually found on-line and many hotels offer best rate guarantees when you book direct. Most of the time you will pay more if you walk in and take the rack-rate.