Phuket/ Things to do
Things to do
in Phuket.
5 trips worth booking and 6 places you can simply turn up to. Different things, checked differently.
Worth booking
Tours and experiences.
Each operator is judged on its own score, never averaged with the others running the same trip. Our bar for a tour is 9.0 out of 10 and at least 50 reviews. Anything below it is left off rather than quietly rounded up.
01wildlifeResearched PickA Phuket elephant sanctuaryFour venues on the island sell morning and afternoon visits, all rated above our bar, and they are not offering the same thing to the elephants.9.83,419 reviews02waterResearched PickA Phi Phi islands day tripThe standard Phuket boat day: Maya Bay, Pileh Lagoon, Bamboo Island and a snorkel stop, about 45km east across the Andaman.9.614,766 reviews03waterResearched PickPhang Nga Bay and James Bond IslandThe limestone karsts north-east of Phuket, with sea canoeing into the caves and the rock from The Man with the Golden Gun at the end of it.9.68,732 reviews04waterResearched PickThe Similan IslandsGranite islands and the clearest water in the Andaman, about 100km north-west of Phuket, open roughly half the year and shut for the monsoon.9.2249 reviews05nightlifeResearched PickSimon CabaretPatong's long-running ladyboy cabaret, an hour of sequins, mime and big production numbers, sitting exactly on our scoring bar.9.04,412 reviews
Just turn up
Places you visit.
A temple and a waterfall have no guest score, and no honest way to get one. These pages tell you where the place is, what we confirmed and when, and what we could not confirm. We will not borrow a tour operator's rating and let it look like the waterfall's.
01nightlifeResearched PickBangla RoadFour hundred metres of bars, clubs and noise through the middle of Patong, pedestrianised in the evening, and licensed to trade later than almost anywhere else in Thailand.No guest score exists02viewpointResearched PickKaron ViewpointThe pull-in on the hill road between Nai Harn and Kata Noi, where three beaches line up in one curve, and the one listing on this page with a price confirmed by the council that runs it.No guest score exists03cultureResearched PickPhuket Old TownThe Sino-Portuguese quarter around Thalang Road, built on tin money, and the part of Phuket that has nothing to do with beaches.No guest score exists04viewpointResearched PickPromthep CapeThe headland at the southern tip of the island, with the Kanchanaphisek lighthouse on it, and the sunset that every Phuket itinerary ends on.No guest score exists05cultureResearched PickThe Big BuddhaThe 45-metre marble Buddha on Nakkerd Hill, visible from half the island, closed for eighteen months after a landslide and reported reopened in March 2026 under new custodians.No guest score exists06cultureResearched PickWat ChalongPhuket's principal Buddhist temple, a grand three-tier chedi at Chalong, and the busiest stop on every island tour.No guest score exists