Phuket Town Travel Guide
From Wikitravel
Phuket Town is the provincial capital of Phuket Province.
Contents |
Understand
Phuket Town (เมืองภูเก็ต Mueang Phuket) is the largest town in Phuket Province. It has a population of 63,000 and is the economic hub of the island. For the most part just an ordinary, scruffy provincial Thai town, it's hardly a major tourist attraction, but the Chinatown area is worth a quick look and there are some great Thai-style shopping opportunities too.
Get in
Buses and songthaews connect Phuket Town to major beaches around the island, and start from Thanon Ranong at the Ranong market. The most popular service is the one to Patong Beach (20 baht, 45 minutes) which leaves every 30 minutes between 07:00 and 18:00. Fares to other beaches range from 15 to 30 baht.
Phuket International Airport is 30 km to the north of Phuket Town, about 30 minutes by taxi (500 baht) or 45 minutes by shared minibus (100 baht).
Get around
Phuket Town is just a little too big to be covered comfortably on foot. There's little organised public transport as such, but motorbikes and four wheel tuk-tuks whizz about looking for fares.
See
Phuket Town's low-key attractions are mostly related to its colourful Chinese history and heritage, found in the Chinatown area on the north-western side of the city around Thanon Thalang.
- Jui Tui and Put Jaw Temples, corner of Thanon Ranong and Soi Phuthon (just west of the Ranong bus terminus). Put Jaw is the oldest Chinese Taoist temple in Phuket, first built over 200 years ago and dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy (Kwun Im), while the adjacent and connected Jui Tui is its larger, more modern annex. If you have a question that is puzzling you, ask it and throw the two red mango-shaped pieces in front of the altar in the air: if they land the same side up the answer is "no", while if they land on different sides the answer is "yes". Free entry but donations welcome.
- Sino-Portuguese Mansions, Thanon Krabi. Built by tin and rubber magnates in the late 19th century, these remain impressively huge even today.
- Wat Mongkol Nimit, Thanon Dibuk. A classical Thai-style temple with a soaring roof and lots of colourful glass tiling.
- Phuket Culture Museum, at Rajabhat University. It's free and very informative. Phukets history
is told in pictures and still scenes.
Do
Go shopping!
Buy
Shopping seems to be the main reason for visitors to come to Phuket Town. In addition to local markets and a slew of malls and departments stores, Chinatown's Thanon Thalang offers a large selection of boutiques and galleries retailing traditional handicrafts as well as antiques from the region. Phuket Night Bazaar is a large area, where you can get local stuff (though you might find the same things much cheaper at the Big C supermarket!).
Markets
- Ranong Market, Thanon Ranong, is the largest local market. A warren of stalls selling anything and everything, it can be a hot, sweaty and chaotic but an interesting experience if you've not been to one before.
Shopping malls
- Central Festival, Thanon Chaloem Phra Kiat - Phuket's branch of the Thai department store chain, also selling anything and everything but now in air-con comfort and a zero added to the price tag. It's still probably cheaper than the street markets at the beaches.
- SuperCheap claims to be the biggest and cheapest mall in Phuket, a cross between a Metro Market, Walmart, a Bazaar, and a normal local market for nearly everything from groceries to motorbike and car supplies and electronics. The best time to visit is in the evening. Take a small dinner in the nearby Thai restaurant (all you can eat for 69 baht - but when you leave something on the plate it costs 100 baht!) and afterwards join the Thai people at the market. SuperCheap is situated on the road to the airport, about 5 kilomenters out of Phuket Town centre, just behind the Esso site. Open until midnight.
Eat
- Siam Bakery, 13 Thanon Yaowaraj (north of the Ranong traffic circle). French-run bakery offering pastries and drinks (~50 baht) in pleasant air-con surroundings.
- All You Can Eat, at Super Cheap, but you have to empty your plate, unless it costs doubled. That's not a joke but very useful to keep guests eating things they really like to eat and not to waste food. If you order water with ice, the ice costs extra!
Drink
- China House, 43 Thanon Yaowaraj. Chinese tea and other drinks in an impeccably tastefully restored shophouse that doubles as an art gallery. On the expensive side though, with drinks 50-100 baht.
Sleep
Budget
- Phuket Backpacker, <insert street address>, <insert international phone>, info@phuketbackpacker.com. http://www.phuketbackpacker.com. <insert pricing info>. This very new (2005) establishment is highly comfortable for western travellers, with excellent rooms and facilities. It is located in the heart of Phuket town, next to the local food market on Ranong road. It's central location allows for easy trips - via buses and taxis - to Phuket's surrounding beaches and sights. There is also abundant shopping and dining in the area.
Mid-range
Splurge
Get out
see the Phuket Province article
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