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Patong Beach (15 km from town)
Phuket's most developed beach offers numerous leisure, sporting,
shopping and recreational options along its 3-km long cresent
bay. Windsurfing, snorkelling, sailing, swimming and sunbathing
number among the many popular daytime activities. Patong is
equally well known for its vibrant nightlife, among which
seafood restaurants feature prominently.
Kata Beach (20 & 17 km from town)
 Beautiful
Kata is a scenic gem, its clear water flanked by hills, and
picturesque Bu island sits offshore. Kata retains a village
feel at its northern and southern ends and is perhaps more
family-oriented, its beach more peaceful than Patong.
Kamala Beach
 The
beach is a favoured spot for witnessing sunsets. The northern
end of Kamala Beach is suitable for swimming.
Kalim Beach
 Just
north of Patong Bay, starting from about the Novotel Resort
Hotel Patong to Thavorn Bay Resort, this area consists of
rocky but quiet beaches, and an interesting road leading up
into hills with high viewpoints and a few good quality restaurants
perched on the edge and top.
Panwa Beach (10 km from town)
 The
southernmost tip of this cape is home to a Marine Biological
Research Centre and Phuket's Aquarium where visitors may inspect
several hundred exotic, grotesque, and flamboyantly colourful
marine species found in the teeming waters of Phuket and elsewhere.
Bangtao Beach
 Bangtao
is a large open bay with one of Phuket's longest beaches.
It was once used for tin mining, but has since been developed
into a luxury resort. Most of it is occupied by the Laguna
complex, a massive five-hotel development with golf course.
There are, however, accommodations available outside Laguna
at the bay's south end.
Nai Yang Beach (30 km from town)
 This
is where the National Park office is located. The beach itself
is on a long curving bay lined with evergreens that provide
shade to picnickers. The large coral reef is home to many
different species of fish, and Nai Yang is well known as a
site where sea turtles come to lay their eggs during the period
from November to February; the population of these has however,
dropped off greatly. First class accommodations are available
and small food vendors cater to the many day trippers.
Promthep Cape (40 km from town)
Promthep Cape is a headland forming the extreme south end
of Phuket. "Prom" is Thai for the Hindu term, "Brahma,"
signifying purity, and "Thep" means 'God.' Local
villagers used to refer to the cape as "Leam Jao",
or the God's Cape, and it was an easily recognisable landmark
for the early seafarers traveling up the Malay Peninsula from
the sub-continent
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Karon Beach (20 & 17 km from town)
 The
second largest of Phuket's tourist beaches. Large resort complexes
line the road behind of the shoreline, but the long, broad
beach itself has no development. The sand is very white, and
squeaks audibly when walked upon. The southern point has a
fine coral reef stretching toward Kata and Bu Island.
Naiharn Beach (18 km from town)
 South
of Kata Noi and north of Promthep Cape, Naiharn is not Phuket's
longest beach, but it borders the most gorgeous lagoon on
the island. The middle of the beach is dominated by the Samnak
Song Nai Han monastery, which has obstructed excessive development
and is the reason that the beach is generally less crowded
than other spots on the southern part of the island.
Singh Beach (About 1 km from Surin Beach)
The name means Lion's Point. The beach is in a small, curving
bay with rocky headlands at the foot of forest-fringed cliffs
and is among Phuket's most beautiful spots.
Chalong Bay (11 km from town)
This beach has several restaurants selling some of Phuket's
best seafood.
Surin Beach (24 km from town)
Evergreen trees line this small, curving bay, beneath the
foothills north of Kamala. Surin is home to Phuket's first
golf course, a nine-hole course laid out more than sixty years
ago during the reign of King Rama VII. It is now largely in
disuse except as a park.
Pansea Beach (24 km from town)
Pansea is a mouth-wateringly scenic enclave dominated by two
deluxe resorts: Amanpuri and the Chedi. Film stars or VIPs
like to stay there, as they can get away from the crowds.
There are just a few restaurants and shops nearby.
Rawai Beach (17 km from town)
The palm-fringed beach is best known for 'sea gypsies,' a
formerly nomadic fishing minority believed to be of Melanesian
descent.
Mittrapap Beach
Friendship Beach Resort, on Mittrapap is the usual meeting
point for Americans on the island, and holds regular Sunday
jam sessions for any rockers, jazzers or bluesmen who happen
to be passing.
Maikhao Beach (40 km from town)
Many kilometers of deserted beach characterize Mai Khao where
there is little tourist business. The water is fine for swimming
during the dry season; the rainy season brings big waves and
strong currents that are dangerous.
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Top Destinations
Each
of Phuket's many beaches is blessed with a character and charm very
much of its own. From busy fun beaches offering a range of water
sport activities, to secluded coves of fine white sand backed by
verdant hillsides and visited by little more than the bubbling surf
of the Andaman, there is bound to be at least one to suit the mood
and mindset of every visitor to the island.