Is March a good time to visit Phuket

March is the end of Phuket’s dry stretch: still hot and mostly dry, with the first thunderstorms and a wind that is about to turn. Below are the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) normals for both island stations, what the wind and the sea usually do, how March 2026 played out, which islands are open and how full the island gets. Checked on 6 November 2026.

Phuket weather in March: TMD numbers

These are 1991-2020 normals. The Phuket station is in Phuket Town in the southeast, Phuket Airport in the northwest. A rainy day is a day with 0.1 mm or more.

March sits between two very different months. The table below puts it next to February and April.

At the town station March gets 3.4 times February’s rain and about 60% of April’s (our calculation). Rain on seven or eight days means roughly one day in four. All months are on Phuket weather by month.

Rain in March: short storms, not a rainy season

March rain comes mostly as thunderstorms. The town station counts thunder on 3.9 days in March, more than four times February’s 0.9. One storm can bring a lot: the highest one-day rainfall in a March over 1991-2020 was 101.6 mm in town and 185.4 mm at the airport, more than the whole March average at either station. February’s record is about the same in town (102.3 mm), but storms are much rarer then.

TMD’s monthly summary for March 2026 shows how uneven it is:

• Westerly wind over the Andaman Sea in the first days of the month, then easterly and southeasterly wind for the rest of it
• Fairly widespread rain on the west coast on 6 and 8 March, with heavy falls in places, and mostly isolated or scattered rain after that
• The highest one-day fall in the south during 11-20 March was 73.8 mm at Mueang Phuket on 15 March
• Rainfall on the southern west coast for the month was below normal

That was a drier than normal March in every region of Thailand, so it is a mild example. It shows what to plan for: most days are dry, and a storm day can wash out a boat trip.

Sea and beaches in March

At both stations the prevailing wind in March is still from the east, with some southeast in town. In April it turns to southeast and west in town and to west and northwest at the airport, and from May it is west at both. For the west-coast beaches an east wind blows from the land out to sea (our reading of the coast’s orientation), which fits a usually flat west-coast sea in March.

• Rawai municipality names May-October as the monsoon season with very strong waves at Nai Harn
• DNP writes that Phang Nga Bay has a constant northeast wind from November until March or April, and calm waves in the northeast monsoon except in November
• Patong, Karon, Kata, Kamala, Surin and Bang Tao are usually calm, with the beach flag as the final word
• The TMD normals have no wave height and no sea temperature, so all of this is a tendency, not a measurement

Area and beach guides: Kata, Karon, Patong, Nai Harn, Bang Tao. If you want the quietest water, see Phuket beaches without waves.

Heat and haze in March

March has the highest average daytime temperature of the year at both stations: 34.4 °C in town and 33.6 °C at the airport. Nights stay warm, 25.9 °C in town and 23.7 °C at the airport. The highest temperature recorded in a March over 1991-2020 was 37.8 °C in town and 37.4 °C at the airport. Humidity is 71% in town and 76% at the airport, lower than the 79-82% of the rainy months in town (May-October).

TMD records haze on 6.5 days in March in town and 5.6 days at the airport, the most of any month at both stations. Haze is a visibility observation, not a PM2.5 measurement, and the TMD report does not say where it comes from. The Pollution Control Department (PCD) puts the south in its PM2.5 watch period in July-September, so March is outside it. On a hazy day check a live PM2.5 reading.

The TMD report has no sunshine hours for Phuket, so we give none. Plan long walks, viewpoints and temples for the morning.

Islands and day trips in March

Status from the Department of National Parks (DNP) closure table for 2569 (2026), a published sheet with data as of 7 January 2026 that we read on 6 November 2026. The page shows no 2027 table, so we use the annual periods of the 2026 table.

March is a good month for the long sea trips to the Similans, Phi Phi and Phang Nga Bay: the parks are inside their season and the sea is usually calm. The difference from February is the weather on the day. With thunder on 3.9 days in March, a boat can be called off, see what happens if a tour is cancelled. Compare trips in Phuket excursions, see the dates of every island by month in which islands are open, and read about the islands one by one on Phuket islands.

Crowds and hotel occupancy

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports (MOTS) counts Phuket hotel occupancy and visitors by month. March 2025 is the latest March in its file:

From February to March foreign visitors fell 14.9% while Thai visitors rose 7.9% (our calculation). Occupancy in March 2025 was 1.8 points below March 2024 (81.24%) and above every month from May to October (65.8-77.6%). MOTS counts visits, not unique people, and gives occupancy for the province, not a beach. March is still high season, only a notch quieter than February. We do not publish accommodation prices until we collect our own dated measurements.

Events in March 2027

As of 6 November 2026 we found no Phuket event in March 2027 with dates confirmed by TAT or an organiser. We will add dates once they are announced.

Should you go to Phuket in March?

Go if:

• you want a hot, mostly dry beach holiday with a usually calm west coast
• you plan the Similans, Phi Phi or Phang Nga Bay and want the parks inside their season
• you would take hotels at 79% instead of 82-86% in January and February

Consider another month if:

• heat is a problem: March highs of 34.4 °C are the peak of the year, against 32.1 °C in December and 33.0 °C in January (town station)
• you want the driest days, with thunder on under one day (0.9 in town), then look at Phuket in February
• you want lower prices and fewer people, then look at May-October in the low season guide, and keep in mind that April already brings 135.1 mm and thunder on 7.5 days, see Thailand in April

How Phuket compares with Samui, Pattaya and the north in March is covered in Thailand in March. All months side by side are on when to go to Phuket.