Phuket: areas, beaches, living and property

Where Phuket is

Phuket lies in southern Thailand, off the west coast of the peninsula, in the Andaman Sea. It is the country’s largest island: 48.7 km long and 21.3 km across at its widest. To the north the Pak Phra Strait separates it from Phang Nga province, crossed by the Sarasin and Thepkasattri bridges, so you can also arrive by car.

Phuket province covers the island itself (543 km²) and 32 small islands around it (another 27 km²). It has three districts (amphoe): Mueang Phuket in the south and east (8 subdistricts), Kathu in the centre and west (3) and Thalang in the north (6). The capital is Phuket Town, whose municipality covers 12.6 km². Phuket runs on Thailand time, UTC+7, with no daylight saving.

Phuket areas at a glance

Every area has its own page: who it suits and who it does not, the beach, property, schools and hospitals, and drive times. The valuation below is the Treasury Department’s median condo appraisal for the subdistrict (tambon) the area sits in (snapshot 2024-08-05, our calculation). It is used for transfer fees and taxes and is not a sale price.

Subdistricts and beach areas do not match: Surin, Bang Tao and Layan are all in Choeng Thale subdistrict, Kata is in Karon, and Nai Harn is in Rawai. That is why neighbours share a valuation.

All subdistricts with 6 or more residential condo buildings with issued unit titles in the Treasury register:

Method: from the Treasury file (snapshot 2024-08-05) we took all residential condo units, with or without a balcony (separate balcony rows, commercial units and other areas are left out), the median for each floor of a building, the median across floors for the building, and the median across buildings for the subdistrict, matched by the subdistrict name in the file. The calculation is reproducible and we can share the script on request. Phuket has 286 residential condominiums with issued unit titles in the register (6 of them with no subdistrict in the file), with a median of THB 48,250 per m². New projects without unit titles are not in the register yet.

Beaches

The swimming beaches are on the west coast, open to the Andaman Sea. The south and east coasts are different: Rawai Beach, according to the municipality, is mud and rock, the water retreats about 100 metres at low tide, and it is not a swimming beach. Phuket Town and Chalong have no swimming beaches.

The southwest monsoon, May to October, comes in straight off the Andaman Sea. What beach flags mean and why rip currents matter is in our answer on red flags in Phuket; where to swim in those months is in calm beaches in Phuket.

Phuket weather and crowds by month

Temperature barely changes: monthly averages run from 27.6 to 29.6 °C. Rain and visitor numbers do.

Rain and rainy days (0.1 mm or more) are Thai Meteorological Department 1991-2020 normals for the Phuket Town station. Occupancy is Ministry of Tourism and Sports data for the province in 2025. The full table with temperature and humidity is on Phuket weather by month.

What it means: high season coincides with the dry months, December to February. From May to October it rains more often than not and occupancy falls to 66-74%: cheaper and quieter. October 2025 already showed occupancy climbing to 77.6%, although it is one of the wettest months. Planning tips are in our Phuket low season guide.

Holidays in Phuket

Everything for a trip is in Phuket travel: when to go, where to stay, beaches and sights. Day trips to Phi Phi, the Similan Islands, Racha, James Bond Island and Khao Sok are compared in our guide to excursions from Phuket: duration, season and national park fees. The neighbouring mainland resort has its own page, Khao Lak, and the drive is covered in Phuket to Khao Lak.

Of the province’s top-10 places, our area pages cover Promthep Cape and Nai Harn Beach (Rawai), Wat Chalong (Chalong), the Sino-Portuguese Old Town and Khao Rang viewpoint (Phuket Town), and the beaches at Kata, Karon, Patong and Surin.

Getting there and getting around

By air. Phuket International Airport (HKT) is in the island’s northwest. In 2025 it handled 17,474,051 passengers, 10,837,291 of them on international flights, up 1.5% on 2024 (AOT). Arrival tips are in our Phuket airport guide.

By road. From the mainland over the Sarasin and Thepkasattri bridges.

On the island. Public buses cover only a few routes (Phuket Smart Bus runs airport to Rawai, town to Patong and a free Old Town loop), so most people use ride-hailing apps, a rented scooter or a car. Prices and pitfalls are in taxis in Phuket; licence rules in can you ride a scooter in Thailand with a car licence.

Drive times from the airport by road, without traffic (OSRM routing on OpenStreetMap data, 2026-10-17):

The south of the island, home to Kata, Rawai and Nai Harn, is furthest from the airport: almost an hour on a clear road, longer at rush hour. Kata and Rawai are 16-17 km from Phuket Old Town.

Visitors and residents

In 2025 Phuket received 14.25 million visitors: 10.75 million foreigners and 3.50 million Thais (Ministry of Tourism and Sports). Foreign arrivals were 2.9% lower than in 2024. Visitor spending reached THB 555.4 billion.

There are 432,464 registered residents (DOPA, December 2025), so each registered resident is outnumbered more than 30 to 1 by visitors over a year. The most populous municipalities are Phuket City (69,690), Wichit (56,129) and Rassada (52,040).

Phuket property

A foreigner can own a condo unit freehold as long as foreign ownership in the building stays within 49% of the total unit area. As a general rule land cannot be bought, so villas are bought through a long land lease (leasehold) of up to 30 years. The legal texts are covered in our freehold and leasehold guide; the 75% and 99-year myths are debunked in a separate answer.

What the government registers show:

• The Treasury register has 286 residential condominiums in Phuket with issued unit titles. Patong has the most (44), then Choeng Thale (37), Rawai (33), Karon (29) and Kathu (27)
• Among subdistricts with 10 or more buildings in the register, Kamala (THB 59,250 per m²) and Karon (THB 59,000) have the highest median valuations, Rassada and Wichit the lowest (THB 35,000-37,000)
• The Treasury valuation is used for fees and taxes, not as a sale price. We publish asking prices only from developers’ sites, with a date

Collections of projects on sale (catalogue in Russian): off-plan, installment plans, under THB 5 million, THB 5-10 million, near the beach, ready to move in, villas, freehold. By area: Patong and Kathu, Kata and Karon, Kamala, Bang Tao, Laguna Phuket, Layan, north near the airport, Rawai and Nai Harn.

Living in Phuket

For anyone staying longer than a holiday, the big questions are visas, phones, money and where to live:

• Destination Thailand Visa (DTV): 5 years, up to 180 days per entry, THB 500,000 in savings
• How to buy a SIM card: a 30-day tourist SIM costs THB 1,199 with every operator (October 2026)
• QR payments in Thailand and common scams
• Where to live: schools, hospitals, shops and transport are covered on each area page in the table above

Found an error or outdated fact? Tell the editors, we will fix it and update the check date.