Where to live in Phuket

1 of 16 · Phuket, all year round

Can a holiday island become an address? Each coast has its own soul

From a plane, Phuket is a single island. From the ground, it is two worlds turning their backs on each other. To the west, the sunset coast lines up its sandy bays facing the Andaman Sea: life there is barefoot, set to the seasons and the swell. To the east, the morning coast looks out on the limestone pinnacles of Phang Nga Bay: marinas, mangroves, the old town and its markets, everyday life. In between, jungle hills and valleys of golf courses. The island is changing: less mass tourism, more people staying all year. Let's go round it, beach after beach, north to south along the sunset coast, then back by the east and the interior.

฿ per m², island median

80,776 ฿/m²

2 of 16 · Mai Khao · Nai Yang · Nai Thon

In the north, the island's longest and wildest beach

It all begins with an endless ribbon of sand. Mai Khao runs north, almost empty, edged by Sirinat National Park: in some years sea turtles still come ashore to nest, and at the end of the beach the planes fly so low that everyone looks up at each landing. A little further south, Nai Yang is the beach of Thai families: grilled fish for lunch in the shade of the casuarinas, feet in the sand. Further on, Nai Thon hides between two hills, a small bay where almost nothing happens, which is exactly what people come for. The north is still being built: here more than anywhere, you buy off-plan, and you bet on what the neighbourhood will become.

median asking price per m²

83,734 ฿/m²

3 of 16 · Bang Tao · Laguna · Surin

Bang Tao, the great bay where you live as if in a hotel

Bang Tao unrolls a long curve of pale sand. Behind it, old tin mines have become lagoons, and the lagoons an estate: Laguna, its hotels, its golf course, its residences from which a shuttle takes you to the spa or a waterside table. Life here is hotel-style, with the family, in large apartments opening onto terraces, sometimes with their own pool. At the south end of the bay, Surin and the small cove of Pansea change the tone: more intimate, more chic, villas hidden in the trees above the water. Daily life happens at Boat Avenue and Porto de Phuket, between cafés, grocers and markets. This is the beating heart of the new Phuket: the island's largest market, and the fastest-moving.

median asking price per m²

109,797 ฿/m²

4 of 16 · Kamala · Laem Singh

Kamala, a fishing village between two headlands

Past the headland, the road drops down to Kamala, and the mood changes at once. Here the island keeps a village feel: a mosque, neighbourhood shops, fishing boats pulled up on the sand. The bay is calm, sheltered by two promontories; to the north, the small beach of Laem Singh nestles at the foot of the rocks, in postcard-blue water. Behind the beach the hill climbs fast, and along the headland road, villas seem to hang above the water, facing the sunset. Quieter than Patong, simpler than Bang Tao: Kamala is the in-between for those who want the sea without the crowds.

median asking price per m²

98,106 ฿/m²

5 of 16 · Patong · Kalim · Tri Trang

Patong, the town that never sleeps

Then the scenery lights up. Patong is a whole town set on a crescent bay: hotels, night markets, the neon of Bangla Road, boats, crowds, music until morning. People come for the energy, not the silence. But follow the bay and you change worlds. To the north, Kalim is all rocks and sunsets, and its buildings clinging to the hill look down on the bay. To the south, Tri Trang and the small coves down to Paradise Beach are earned by a winding road. Homes here are small and often let by the night: Patong is bought first as an address to rent out, and its square metre is the dearest on the island.

median asking price per m²

117,143 ฿/m²

6 of 16 · Karon · Kata · Kata Noi

Karon and Kata, beaches for families and surfers

Further south, the nights get shorter and the beaches wider. Karon is a long beach of pale sand where you can walk for miles; holidays here are family affairs, between the sea, the pool and the restaurants across the road. Just past a small headland, Kata has a more bohemian soul: in the monsoon, when the swell rolls in, it becomes the surfers' beach, with its surf schools and beach bars. Then comes Kata Noi, the little sister, a cove almost closed in on itself. From the viewpoint above the coast you take in all three at a glance: Karon, Kata and Kata Noi, three arcs of sand side by side. People mostly buy apartments here, rarely villas, at almost Patong prices.

median asking price per m²

114,603 ฿/m²

7 of 16 · Nai Harn · Ya Nui · Rawai

In the south, the island where people settle for good

At the southern tip, the island slows down. Nai Harn may be Phuket's most beautiful bay: a beach framed by hills, and just behind it a lake where people run in the morning before the market. You meet fewer tourists than residents here, people who unpacked for a year, then for ten. A little further on, Ya Nui is a cove where you swim among fish, below Promthep Cape, where the whole island comes to watch the sun go down. Rawai, finally, is not a swimming beach: it is a harbour of longtail boats, a fish market, a village of sea nomads. Yoga, Thai boxing, cafés, markets: this is the neighbourhood that lives most outdoors, and the island's second-largest market.

median asking price per m²

83,444 ฿/m²

8 of 16 · Chalong · the Big Buddha

Chalong, everyday life below the Big Buddha

Past the cape, the coast and the mood change. Chalong Bay is a bay for boats more than for swimming: every morning its long pier sees the island trips depart. Above it, on Nakkerd Hill, the white marble Big Buddha watches over the south of the island; below, Chalong temple is Phuket's most revered. You don't live on the sand here, but everything is within reach: supermarkets, schools, gyms, the southern beaches a few minutes away and the town close by. Next to outdoor Rawai, Chalong is the neighbourhood of people who work, raise children and go to the beach at the weekend.

median asking price per m²

60,998 ฿/m²

9 of 16 · Wichit · Cape Panwa

Between the big malls and a quiet peninsula

East of the town, Wichit is modern Phuket: Central's big shopping centres, clinics, schools, and traffic jams too. But head south and the road becomes narrower and greener. Cape Panwa is a peninsula apart, between jungle and sea: Ao Yon, a shallow bay where children swim without fear, the small beach of Panwa, the aquarium at the tip of the cape, and from the top of Khao Khad, the view over Chalong Bay and the town. It is the choice of those who want the convenience of town with a stretch of coast of their own.

median asking price per m²

58,800 ฿/m²

10 of 16 · Phuket Town · the old town

The old town, the island's soul, without the price of the sea

No beach here, but a soul. In the old town, Sino-Portuguese shophouses with pastel façades tell of the tin era, when merchants from China made the island's fortune. In the morning you breakfast on dim sum or noodles; on Sunday evening Thalang Road becomes a walking market. Phuket is recognised by UNESCO for its gastronomy, and you can taste it on every corner. Above, Khao Rang hill looks out over the whole town. This is also where the hospitals, government offices and Thai schools are: everyday life, a step from the best care, and the island's cheapest square metre.

median asking price per m²

46,076 ฿/m²

11 of 16 · Kathu · the valley

Kathu, the green valley between the two coasts

Between Patong and the town, the road crosses the hill and drops into a green valley. Kathu is one of the island's oldest mining towns: tin brought the first Chinese families here, and it is here, the story goes, that the vegetarian festival which sets Phuket ablaze every autumn was born. Today the valley is one of golf courses, waterfalls and international schools. People live here rather than holiday: houses with gardens, Patong beach on one side of the hill and the town on the other, without the noise of one or the bustle of the other.

median asking price per m²

62,477 ฿/m²

12 of 16 · Ko Kaeo · the marinas

Ko Kaeo, the coast of boats and families

On the east coast the sea changes face: no waves, mangroves, and sailboat masts as far as the eye can see. Boat Lagoon and Royal Phuket Marina are the home ports of the island's boats; you have your coffee facing the hulls before sailing off to the islands of Phang Nga Bay. Along the road, the British International School gives the neighbourhood its family rhythm: school runs in the morning, villa gardens and pools in the evening. Ko Kaeo is the opposite of Patong: here you see the sea from a boat deck rather than a beach towel.

median asking price per m²

59,172 ฿/m²

13 of 16 · The east coast · Ao Po · Cape Yamu

The calmest coast, facing the pinnacles of Phang Nga

The further north-east you go, the quieter the island becomes. The view is one of the most spectacular in the country: the limestone pinnacles of Phang Nga Bay, set on a sea as smooth as a lake, changing colour with the morning light. Ao Po and its marina, Cape Yamu and its architect-designed villas, fishing villages, wooden piers: the east coast lives to the rhythm of the tide, not the party. The price of this calm is distance: from here everything is further away, schools, shops, the sandy beaches of the west.

median asking price per m²

51,941 ฿/m²

14 of 16 · Thalang · the hinterland

Thalang, the island of heroines and large houses

At the heart of the island, Thalang is the Phuket from before the beaches. It was here that two sisters, Thao Thep Kasattri and Thao Si Sunthon, stood up to the Burmese army: their statue watches over the great roundabout, and two sub-districts bear their names. Around them, rubber and pineapple plantations, the Khao Phra Thaeo forest and its waterfalls. Rice fields are becoming housing estates: large houses, often sold before they are built, near the UWC school and a few minutes from Bang Tao. People come for space, and for a Phuket more Thai than international.

million baht, the median unit

21 M ฿

15 of 16 · The two coasts

The sunset costs 2.5 times the town

Rise up and look at the whole island. Each step is a neighbourhood, its height its price. To the west, the sunset coast: beaches, hotels, evenings on the sand, and the highest prices. To the east, the morning coast: the town, schools, hospitals, marinas, and a more ordinary, more affordable life. Choosing Phuket means first choosing the hour of your sunset, or your sunrise.

฿ per m², at the top: Patong

117,143 ฿/m²

฿ per m², at the bottom: Phuket Town

46,076 ฿/m²

16 of 16 · To each their own Phuket

Four ways to live on the island

Live as if in a hotel, with the family, by the lagoons: Bang Tao. Live outdoors all year, between the lake, yoga and sunsets: Nai Harn and Rawai. Raise children near the schools, with a garden: Kathu and the east coast. Live the town, its markets and its tables, without paying for the beach: Phuket Town. And for everyone else, there is still a beach to find: Kamala for the village, Kata for the swell, Mai Khao for the silence.