Phuket Town

Phuket Town or Muang Phuket in Thai 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. Overall, accommodation and food in the town is cheaper than near the beaches, and can provide a refreshing change of pace.

Phuket Town as merely a travel hub before heading to the beach. Phuket Town is a travel destination in its own right.

For starters, Phuket Town has history. The island was an important stopover on the route from India to East Asia for more than a thousand years, and everyone from the Burmese to the Portuguese have tried to lay claim to it. More recently, Phuket Town was the centre of the area's tin mining boom and attracted immigrants from China who brought with them their distinctive architecture, cuisine, and culture. Today a historical district exists to showcase the restored shop houses, Chinese temples, and beautiful Sino-Colonial mansions, if you won't be travelling off the island, Phuket Town offers a better slice of the real Thailand than any of the beach towns.

Getting to Phuket Town

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. If you miss the last bus back a taxi will cost 200-400 depending on your bargaining skills.

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.

What to 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. Phuket's history is told in pictures and still scenes.

What to Do

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!).

See Hotels in Phuket Town