Wanting to avoid Patong beach as it’s widely known as the party place, our 5 night stay in Phuket was split between 2 nights in the Old town and 3 nights in Sirinat National park on Nai Yang beach.
We decided to travel to Phuket as it’s the main transport hub in the south and promised a wide variety of rural and urban scenery. Phuket’s Old town is beautiful; lined with coffee shops and clothes boutiques, the colourful streets feel like a scene from Lake Garda rather than Thailand. However, unlike Lake Garda, the town provides little to do. After spending the morning battling monkeys up Monkey Hill Viewpoint and cuddling dogs at Hug Me Cafe (detailed in Ruby’s account here) we were left flummoxed with what to do next. Not wanting to spend a significant amount on taxis to ferry us to and from Phuket’s Big Buddha (an hour drive away) we spent the rest of the evening and the next day perusing the streets, which started out as a relaxing contrast to the recently visited Bangkok, but, after the third coffee shop, got old very quickly.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some hidden gems in Phuket’s Old Town. Lock Tien food court supplied a wide selection of delicious cheap eats and provided the best spring rolls of our trip so far. We also stumbled across a rooftop bar called High D’Away. A small vibrant cabana style bar, High D’Away is worth a visit if you’re up for trying local draft ales and need a quiet spot to chill out on floor mats and bean bags. The main highlight of Phuket however, is definitely the Sunday night market. Between 4 and 10pm the Old Town’s main street shuts down in order to host performances, trinket stalls and food stands as far as the eye can see. The variety and quality of food on offer is outstanding and what we ate is detailed on my TikTok here.
Without the happy coincidence that we got to sample the night market, our stay in Phuket Old Town would have been rather dull after the first few hours. This isn’t to say Phuket is all bad. We found some places we loved and in the case that you have more money to spare and desire a less action packed holiday than that of a backpacker, Phuket is a great playground. Nevertheless, Phuket was too expensive for us to really indulge in the shops and high end bars and cafes it provided, and really offered little else. If you are a backpacker and planning a trip to the Old Town I would insist that you come on a Sunday and would recommend visiting for one night and not pinning your hopes on a full week's stay here.
The day after the market we got a taxi to Sirinat National park. Having done little research, our desire to stay here was simply based upon the title of ‘National Park’, assuming, to be branded as such, said place would feature idyllic scenery, protected landscapes and perhaps a jungle full of wildlife. Our hotel (Pensiri House) was well kept and we were well looked after. We arrived there excited for our first swim of the holiday. Our hotel was connected to Nai Yang beach, a very stereotypical beach surrounded by food vendors, bars and restaurants and provided a decently relaxing place. Upon venturing deeper into the National Park we were left disappointed by its small size, lack of activities and littered landscape. The park costs a daily fee of 200 Baht (about £4.50) to enter, which only added to our disappointment at the lack of effort to clean the beach of its washed up plastic.
All in all the National Park gave us a relaxing few days to sit, read and eat but we wanted more and there are plenty more beautiful beaches in Thailand.
Phuket may be one to miss out, however, if you are still wanting to visit I would recommend the Old Town’s Sunday night market and to explore other places around the island that aren’t mentioned here.