The boat leaves at eight. Pick the right one.
Which Phi Phi trip still gets into Maya Bay. What a longtail to James Bond Island costs against a speedboat. Where the elephants are genuinely retired. Reviews of every tour you can book out of Phuket.
Five days that decide how the week goes.
One boat day east, one bay day north, a morning inland, an afternoon in town and a night in Patong. What each costs, and what the people who took it say.
- 01The island dayPhi Phi Islands Adventure Day Trip w/ Seaview Lunch by V. MarineSpeedboat out to Phi Phi with lunch at Laem Tong. Leave on the earliest departure you can stand; the bays fill by eleven.
02The bay dayPhang Nga Bay Sea Cave Canoeing & James Bond Island by Big BoatA big boat into Phang Nga, then a canoe under the karst into the hongs. Slower than the speedboats and far less spray.
03The jungle morningElephant Jungle Sanctuary Ethical Feeding ExperienceFeeding and walking retired elephants in the hills above Chalong. No riding, no bathing circus, small groups.- 04Town and marketFull Day City Tour with Night MarketShophouse streets, the Big Buddha viewpoint and a night market at the end of it. The day that fixes a rained-off boat trip.
05Fight nightPatong Boxing Stadium Muay Thai Match TicketRingside at Patong Boxing Stadium. Cards run several nights a week and the good seats go to whoever books first.
Longtail, speedboat or big boat: the choice makes the day.
Everything worth seeing here is offshore, and the hull you pick decides how wet, how fast and how crowded it is. Four kinds of day out of Phuket, and what it costs to get on each one.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · Phi Phi Islands Adventure Day Trip w/ Seaview Lunch by V. Marine
Phi Phi and Maya BayThe long run east. Lunch on the island, snorkel stops both ways.
Phang Nga BayLimestone stacks, the stilt village, canoes into the sea caves.
Speedboat island runsThree or four islands in a day. Fast, spray in your face, no waiting.
Under sailCatamarans and yachts. Shade, a swim ladder, nobody in a hurry.
All 110 days on the water →
Six crossings from Phuket, and what waits at the end of each.
Phi Phi for the cliffs, Phang Nga for the caves, the Khai group for an easy half day, Racha for the clearest water, Coral Island for a beach you can reach before lunch. Pick the crossing, then pick the boat.
The days out more travellers take than anything else in Phuket.
Every Phuket tour we have reviewed →Boat trips, elephants, a city loop and a fight card. The eight that carry the most travellers, and what earns each one the slot.
1
Phang Nga Bay Sea Cave Canoeing & James Bond Island by Big Boat
Review of Phuket’s Phang Nga Bay big-boat tour, with sea caves, James Bond Island, lunch, swimming, guides, costs, and practical tips.
From · $99
Read our review →
2
Elephant Jungle Sanctuary Ethical Feeding Experience
from $28
3
Phang Nga Bay and Canoeing Tour by Big Boat
from $53
4
Phi Phi Islands Adventure Day Trip w/ Seaview Lunch by V. Marine
from $91
5
Paradise Trip ATV Jungle Adventure
from $32
6
Phi Phi Islands and Maya Bay Day Trip with Lunch
from $34
7
Full Day City Tour with Night Market
from $31
8
Phuket Thai Cooking Class with Market Tour Option
from $65
Phuket stops being a beach about ten minutes uphill.
Rubber plantations, a rainforest ridge down the island's spine and the rafting rivers over in Phang Nga. Half of it is a morning; all of it is the answer when the sea is closed.
- 1Elephant Jungle Sanctuary Ethical Feeding Experiencefrom $28
- 2Paradise Trip ATV Jungle Adventurefrom $32
- 3Elephant Sanctuary Guided Tour with Hotel Transfersfrom $41
Patong does not wind down. Plan the evening like a day out.
A cabaret with numbered seats, a stadium card that starts late, night markets on Thalang Road and a beach club that runs until the music stops. Book the seat, not the street.
The island had money long before it had sunbeds.
Tin built the Old Town, and the Sino-Portuguese shophouses on Thalang and Dibuk are still standing behind their shutters. Add the Big Buddha on the ridge and Wat Chalong below it and the town is a full day, not a rainy-afternoon fallback.
Every day in town →
What a day out of Phuket actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. A good number of the best days here cost less than a beachfront dinner for two.
Half-day city loops, the Khai islands, temple runs, an elephant feeding, a cabaret seat.
The full-day standards: Phi Phi by speedboat, Phang Nga with canoes, a day under sail.
Private long-tails, chartered yachts and the small-group days that keep the numbers down.
Three things Phuket has that the rest of the coast does not.
Beaches and speedboats run the length of the Andaman. Collapsed limestone rooms you paddle into, a tin-boom town behind louvred shutters, and hills full of retired working elephants do not.
The hongs of Phang Nga
The limestone islands north of Phuket are hollow. Rainwater ate the middle out of them over a few million years, the roofs fell in, and what is left are open-air rooms ringed by two hundred feet of cliff. The only way in is a low tunnel at water level, which the tide closes twice a day, so guides paddle you in lying flat in an inflatable canoe. Inside it goes quiet, mangroves grow out of the rock, and crab-eating macaques watch from the ledges.
- 1Phang Nga Bay Sea Cave Canoeing & James Bond Island by Big Boat★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 4,666 reviews
- 2Hong by Starlight: Sea Cave Kayaking and Loy Krathong Floating★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,215 reviews
- 3James Bond Island by Big Boat w/ Sea Cave Canoeing and Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 666 reviews
The Sino-Portuguese shophouses
Phuket was a tin island long before it was a beach island, and the Hokkien families who ran the mines built themselves European-fronted shophouses along Thalang, Dibuk and Krabi Roads. Narrow frontages, deep dark interiors, arcaded five-foot walkways to keep the monsoon off shoppers, and shutters painted in colours you would not dare use at home. Most are cafes and guesthouses now; the plasterwork is original.
- 1Wat Chalong, Viewpoint, and Old Town Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,875 reviews
- 2Phuket City Tour – Old Town, Local Food, Temple & Viewpoint★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 525 reviews
- 3Old Town Half-Day Sightseeing with Local Guide★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 225 reviews
The elephant camps above Chalong
Phuket's hill camps took in elephants that spent their working lives hauling logs or carrying tourists, and the honest ones no longer offer either. What you get instead is a couple of hours of feeding, walking the herd along a jungle track, and standing back while they use a mud pit. Group sizes are capped, sessions run morning and afternoon, and the good camps will tell you each animal's history before you ask.
- 1Elephant Jungle Sanctuary Ethical Feeding Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 4,359 reviews
- 2Elephant Sanctuary Guided Tour with Hotel Transfers★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 2,020 reviews
- 3A Morning with the Elephants at Phuket Elephant Sanctuary★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,693 reviews
Four Phuket bookings that will not wait for you.
Most of this island can be arranged from a bar stool the night before. These four run on national-park calendars, seating plans and capped group sizes that take no interest in when your flight lands.
- 01Phi Phi Islands and Maya Bay Day Trip with LunchMaya Bay is inside a national park with a daily visitor cap, fixed viewing hours and no anchoring in the bay. It also closes completely for part of every year.
- 02Similan Islands Snorkeling Day Tour from PhuketThe Similan Islands national park shuts to visitors from roughly mid-May to mid-October. Out of season there is no boat that can take you.
- 03Simon Cabaret Show Admission TicketSeating is numbered and the show runs to fixed nightly times. The front rows are a separate ticket class and they go first.
- 04Elephant Jungle Sanctuary Ethical Feeding ExperienceSanctuary sessions run at set morning and afternoon times with a hard cap on each group. The morning slot, the cool one, books out furthest ahead.
When the red flags go up on the west coast.
The southwest monsoon runs roughly May to October. It does not rain all day, but the Andaman gets a serious swell, the beach patrols fly red flags at Patong, Karon and Kata, and island boats get cancelled at short notice — sometimes at the pier. The island has a whole second itinerary for those days, and it is inland or under a roof.
By crossing — where the boat drops you
By kind of day — deck, jungle, temple or ringside
Patong, the Old Town, two boat days and a morning in the hills.
Patong
Old Town
Big Buddha
Phang Nga Bay
The hillsThe newest Phuket tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Full-day Tour to the Similan Islands by Speedboat from Khao Lak
Read our review →
Guided Walk Tour to Elephant Sanctuary with Transfer
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Authentic Thai Cooking Class by Suuko Wellness Spa
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Phang Nga Bay:James Bond-Canoeing Koh Hong By Big Boat LNH
Read our review →
3 Fun dives in Phi Phi islands for Certified Divers
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Phang Nga: White Water Rafting 7 km.-Zipline-ATV-Lunch
Read our review →
Krabi Islands by Big Boat and Speedboat from Phuket
Read our review →
Bamboo Rafting, ATV Riding and Zip Line Tour From Phuket
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