Phuket, Thailand - 7-day itinerary

TOP PLACES TO VISIT IN PHUKET, THAILAND IN 7 DAYS

Thailand is one of the countries that has been on my wish list for a long time. Although I am convinced that in terms of beaches and tourist attractions there are many places much more interesting than Phuket, I still chose to have my first experience in this country on this island.

Because I prefer not to use travel agents, unless I'm going to dangerous countries, I chose to organize my vacation in Phuket on my own. If you want to know more about flight options, transportation on the island, risks and many other useful information, I leave here a guide with things to know.

ACCOMMODATION OPTIONS IN PATONG

Because we wanted to be in an animated area, we chose Patong resort as our accommodation location, from where you can easily find connections to other areas of the island. Below are some options:

• Courtyard by Marriott - accommodation unit, which has twin or double rooms. It is equipped with 4 outdoor swimming pools, two restaurants, bar, fitness room and parking;

• Novotel Phuket Resort - accommodation unit, which has twin, double rooms, or suites for families. It is equipped with an outdoor swimming pool, bar, fitness room and parking;

• Eden Resort - 4-star accommodation unit, which has suites or family rooms that can accommodate up to 4 people. It is equipped with an outdoor pool, restaurant, bar, fitness room and parking;

7-DAY ITINERARY IN PHUKET, THAILAND

The itinerary below is the one we followed, organized according to what we wanted to see. If you find it too crowded, you can easily skip certain activities.

So, let's move on to activities, places to visit and tourist attractions:

DAY 1 - PATONG BEACH & FREEDOM BEACH

Being our first day on the island, and our first experience in Thailand, we wanted to start with very easily accessible locations. Because we didn't know how tired we would be after such a long flight, we chose those locations to be beaches.

The first stop was at Patong Beach, which we reached on foot from the hotel. It is a very long beach, with fine sand and slightly sandy, brownish water. It has quite a few areas for both lying on a towel and for sun loungers. I noticed that the location looks much better during the tide, when the sea level is higher, although the beach narrows considerably. Also, the more beautiful part, where it is worth spending a few hours, seemed to me to the north.

Since Patong Beach didn’t give us the exotic beach vibe we were looking for, we decided to head to Freedom Beach. This beach is about a 35-minute walk, or 5-10 minute drive from Patong. To get there, we booked a ride through the Bolt app. It cost us 208 THB, unlike taxis, which would have charged us 300 THB for the same ride. For the return trip, we chose to walk.

Freedom Beach is a white, powdery sand beach, partially shaded by vegetation on the edge. The water color is absolutely gorgeous, ideal for swimming, but not clear enough for snorkeling.

To access the beach, there are two options: one going down approximately 200 steps on a private path, for which you pay 100THB/person, and one free, on a simple path, which is a little hidden near the souvenir shops.

There are both sunbed areas and towel areas on the beach. There is a bar and a restaurant near the beach, but there are no showers or toilets.

At the end of the day, we chose to take a walk through Patong, focusing on the shopping centers and markets.

DAY 2 - DAY TRIP TO PHI PHI ISLANDS

The next day was entirely dedicated to the trip to the Phi Phi islands.

We booked this tour and overall we were very satisfied. The package included transportation from the accommodation to the port and back, so we didn't have to worry about that. Also, entrance fees to the national parks, food and drinks were included in the ticket price.

They offered us a briefing in the port, then we set off for the islands. After about an hour on the sea, we arrived at the first location, Maya Bay. This beach became famous because of the movie “The Beach” with Leonardo Dicaprio. It is absolutely gorgeous, with fine sand and crystal clear water, surrounded by rocks. It was closed to the tourists for several years due to the risks of destroying the ecosystem. On the premise of protecting marine life, the entry into the water is prohibited.

We spent about 30 minutes on this beach, enough time to admire the scenery and take a few pictures (other than that, we had nothing else to do anyway).

The next stop was a few dozen meters away for snorkeling. I had two such stops, which I personally would have removed from the itinerary. Although I love snorkeling, swimming surrounded by boats and a considerable crowd of people is not the most pleasant.

During the tour, we had two more stops on two islands, both absolutely gorgeous: Phi Phi Don, where we had lunch, and Bamboo Island, my favorite location of the entire trip.

All the locations we visited were extremely crowded. If you want to escape the crowds, you can opt for a tour that starts very early in the morning, details here.

DAY 3 - LOTUS CAFE, MAI KHAO BEACH & NAITHON BEACH

The third day started at one of the most idyllic cafes in Phuket, namely Ma Doo Bua Cafe. I arrived at this location at the first hour after opening, because I really wanted to take some photos on the boats located on the lake. While we waited for our turn to take pictures, we also had breakfast. The food was edible but it was nothing special about it.

You can take photos on your own, on the pontoon, or on the edge of the lake, but also professional photo sessions on boats, with photographers provided by the cafe. The price of a photo session starts from 500 THB and can go up to 2400 THB. To get a place at the professional photo sessions, you must book it as soon as you arrive at the location, because the waiting time can be quite long.

From Patong, to Ma Doo Bua we used public transport. We took the bus from the stop located near Patong Beach, right in front of Bangla Road. The ticket costs 100THB/person, and the stop where we get off is Baan Khian.

The next stop of the day was Mai Khao Beach. The main attraction of this place is the planes landing on the runway near the beach. If you plan to spend the whole day at this beach, I recommend the northern side, as it is freer and cleaner. To get to this beach, I ordered a Bolt ride.

After a few hours at Mai Khao, we decided to check out Naithon Beach. To get there, we ordered another Bolt ride. This is one of my favorite beaches in Phuket. It is very long, with fine sand, lots of shade, and not crowded at all.

DAY 4 - JAMES BOND ISLAND TRIP

I couldn't miss the trip to the iconic island of Thailand, which I had seen all over social media and which always came to my mind when I thought at this country. Unfortunately, my expectations were far beyond what was on the spot. I expected it to be the place I liked the most, but it turned out to be the one I liked the least. Obviously, these opinions are purely subjective, and each person sees things through their own filter.

Just like the Phi Phi Islands trip, this trip lasted the whole day. The price of the ticket included transportation from the hotel and food. The national park fees were paid separately.

The first stop of the day was at the Cave Temple (Suwan Khuha Cave), also known as the Monkey Temple. As its name suggests, it is a Buddhist temple built in a cave, on 3 levels. The entire location is absolutely fascinating, both inside and out. On the rocks where the cave is formed, many monkeys live, which you can admire playing unhindered among tourists. Don't forget, however, to be cautious near them.

The next stop was at a port located on a river, from where we left for the village built on stilts, Panyee. This village was built 200 years ago by ethnic Malays. Currently, the population is about 1600 people, all from only 3 families. We spent about an hour and a half on this artificial island. We were given some information about the location, we were served a meal, then we had free time to explore. Although I am a big fan of discovering new places, regardless of what I find there, visiting this village gave me a lot of negative energy, and the time spent there seemed extremely long. Besides this aspect, personally, I would not have served a meal to tourists in such an unsanitary location.

The excursion also included a kayak ride through the coves formed in the rocks.

The last stop was James Bond Island. It is a very small island with two beaches and became famous after scenes from the 1974 James Bond film were filmed there.

The James Bond trip can be booked here.

DAY 5 - PHUKET TOWN & YANUI BEACH

Because we had a very long list of tourist attractions that we wanted to check off, we were about to give up exploring the old town of Phuket. We were right not to give up because it turned out to be a location worth visiting. We really liked the architecture of the colonial buildings.

The main streets, which you should not miss, are: Thalang Road, Soi Romanee, Phangnga Road and Dibuk Road. Near the city you can visit Khao Rang Viewpoint, Chaithararam Temple, Monkey Hill.

After spending half a day walking the streets, we chose to relax at the beach in the second part of the day.

To get to Phuket, from Patong I used local transport. I took a bus like the one below, and the ticket cost 40THB/person. The stop is near Patong Beach and you have to wave to the driver to stop.

We ordered a Bolt that took us to Yanui Beach. From Phuket there is also the option of public transport to Rawai, then a 30 minute walk to Yanui.

Although the beach itself is not very spectacular, it is a location that we really liked because we were able to snorkel. The entrance to the water is smooth, but there are a lot of stones, sharp pieces of rock and coral, which can hurt you if you are not wearing water shoes.

To go back to Patong, we walked to the Rawai station, then took the Smart Bus.

DAY 6 - SIMILAN ISLANDS EXCURSION

The sixth day was entirely dedicated to Similan Islands, by far the most beautiful places we saw on this vacation. During the tour, there were two stops for snorkeling and two stops on two of the islands of the Similan archipelago. The price of the tour included transfers from the hotel to the port, food and drinks. Unfortunately, the road to the islands is a very long one, approximately 3-4 hours/way (minibus + boat), and the time left to enjoy the location is quite short.

As I said, the location was our favorite of all the places we saw in Phuket. Both beaches we visited were absolutely gorgeous, with white, fine sand and absolutely gorgeous turquoise water and perfect for swimming around. Unfortunately, or fortunately (depending on your perspective), on these islands, unlike Phi Phi, there is no option to book an accommodation unit.

Also on this day, I explored the night food market in Patong, more precisely the one near Banzaan Market. I tried some of the food sold there and if I could recommend only one thing to try, it would be the mini coconut pancakes (mini Thai pancakes). It is also good to know that the food sold in this market is not exactly the best, nor the freshest, and the prices are high.

DAY 7 - SURIN BEACH & KAMALA BEACH

On our last day on the island, we wanted to relax, so we chose to see two beaches, relatively close in distance and accessible by public transportation.

The first beach we visited was Surin Beach, where we didn't stay long and which we reached by Smart Bus. It is a long beach, with fine sand, which has both towel areas and sunbed areas. It wasn't a beach exactly to our taste, so we left very quickly, after seeing what it was all about. The only area I liked there was in the northern part, at the very end of the beach.

The second beach on the list for the last day was Kamala, which is about a 30-minute walk from Surin Beach. On our way to this beach we also came across a lookout point for Liam Sing beach, where we would have liked to go, but unfortunately, it is only accessible by boat.

At Kamala Beach the water left a little to be desired, but the beach is absolutely gorgeous. It is very long, with fine sand, with towel areas, but also sun loungers. Unfortunately, near the beach there is a small stream that flows into the sea, making the water a little murky.

These are the places we checked off in a week in Phuket. Read about the most interesting excursions in Phuket, or about the best places to visit.

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