Phuket is an island located on the Southern tip of Thailand and is known for its breathtaking views, great food, and friendly people. Four days is the perfect amount of time to spend in Phuket so you can see and explore all of the major spots. This guide is all about what to see, do, and where to stay. Here is my detailed guide for a 4 day trip to Phuket.
Top Things To Know
1) Take the public bus from the airport. Once you land, you’ll be hassled into using a taxi but just ignore them. Just find your way to the exit, take a left once you’re outside and walk around the corner and you’ll see the line of buses. There is a wall next to them that shows a map of what routes they take. If you want to see how far a bus stop is from your hotel, Google Maps will tell you. It was only 150 baht ($4.50 USD) to get to our hotel from the bus, a taxi would have cost twice if not three times more.
2) Rent a scooter after check-in. It’ll be more cost-effective to rent a scooter once you get to your hotel. The majority of the hotels provide scooters for you to rent. Ours was 250 baht/day ($7 USD) from our hotel. If not, see if a scooter rental place is in a walkable distance to you or hire a taxi.
3) The left side of the island is closer to attractions. However, if you plan on seeing the Phi Phi islands, you may want to stay on the right side, but a lot of the tour companies provide transportation from your hotel.
Where to Stay
I booked my accommodation through booking.com and there’s a lot of great options there for affordable, middle class and luxury places. I went for affordable and picked the Hill Myna Condotel. The room comes with a living room, kitchen (which is so clutch if you want to save money) a bathroom, a mountain view, and most importantly air conditioning. Oh my goodness, air conditioning is like gold in Thailand—don’t take it for granted. The hotel also offers a pool and gym at your leisure. l definitely recommend it, the only downside is there’s no free breakfast, but since it’s only $28 USD a night it’s not really a deal-breaker.
Day 1- Take in the Sights and Relax on the Beach
Phuket is home to tons of beautiful beaches. The most popular ones being Pa Tong Beach, Bangtao Beach, Karon Beach, and Kata Beach. You’ll find that some beaches are going to be a lot more crowded than others. I noticed that the quieter the part of town you’re in the less crowded the beach. Be aware of where you step because there are many washed-up jellyfish on the shore.
If your flight arrives early enough, try to catch the sunset over the water once you check in to your hotel. One more thing, if you see a lot of movement in the sand don’t freak out —it’s hermit crabs. They continuously pop their heads in and out of the sand, it’s interesting to watch, but they usually don’t come out until night.
Day 2- Time to Explore the island
I don’t know about y’all but I flew halfway across the world to get to Phuket, Thailand so I wanted to see it all! Well at least as much as I could in four days. So we woke up bright and early to drive around the Southern part of the island. I’m not going to lie, the route we took was LONG (12 hours long) and if you take a motorbike your butt is going to HURT like you just got a spanking hurt. Whew, I’m getting flashbacks to it now. Anyhoo, looking back on it, it was so so worth it! We saw so much in one day and the views we absolutely breathtaking.
You’ll be doing a lot of driving so make sure you fill-up the tank before you go. Gas is extremely cheap, only about 50 baht to fill up (that’s about $1.60, it doesn’t get much better than that people). Google maps will become your best friend because it will keep you updated on the fastest routes and it shows what viewpoints and attractions you are close to. Make sure you bring a towel just in case you want to get into the water. The best part about this day is all the stops on the route are free (us budget-friendly people need to save those coins ya heard). The only thing you will need to pay for is food.
Details of the route we took:
- Start at your hotel or breakfast location
- 1st stop: Big Buddha– Hands down the best viewpoint of the island. Note: On the way up you will see some heartbreaking sights of elephants chained up for tourist riding camps.
- 2nd stop: Karon View Point– Guys, God is so real. This planet he created is an absolute beauty and this viewpoint doesn’t fall short of that.
- 3rd stop: Promthep Cape View Point– Another breathtaking view on the Southern tip of the island.
- 4th stop: Phuket Town– This is such a cute and picturesque town. There are a variety of restaurants and little shops to explore.
This is route is based on your accommodation being on the left side of the island, if your hotel is on the right side then you can start at stop number 4.
Day 3- Elephant Day! (Need I Say More!?)
I’m a huge lover of elephants and I couldn’t think of a better way to support them than by going to an ethical elephant sanctuary. Many people aren’t aware that elephants are not supposed to be ridden. Before this trip, I did a lot of research and in that process, I learned that elephant’s backs aren’t built for riding. God created these gentle creatures to roam the earth in their natural habitat. Through my research, I found a sanctuary that used their ticket sales to treat and feed the elephants humanely and safely. We visited the elephants at Elephant Jungle Sanctuary In Phuket and I cannot recommend them enough. This is what you can expect if you decide to book with them:
- When you arrive, the first thing they do is tell you why they started the sanctuary. They go into detail about how each elephant in the camp was injured in a tourist camp. One of the elephants had a broken leg from locking (being forced to carry trees with his truck) and unfortunately, the tree fell and broke the elephant’s leg and he never properly healed.
- Then you get to feed the elephant’s breakfast! This was so cool, I mean how often do you get to stand next to an elephant and really take in how massive they are. Since they eat a lot, you get to feed them buckets of watermelon along with a rice mixture. It is so funny how they grab it from you with their trunks.
- Next, they tell you all about elephant poop. Sounds interesting right? Apparently, their poop is very recyclable and can be used to make paper.
- Be prepared to get dirty because you’ll be giving the elephants a mud bath next. This is to keep their bodies cool under the hot sun.
- They can’t stay dirty forever so now is the actual bath in water to wash them off. After all of this, you get a chance to shower in the bathrooms and clean up.
- Dinner time! They provide an AMAZING meal once all the activities are finished. Once you finish eating dinner you can go interact and take pictures with the elephants before they take you back to your hotel.
Day 4- Party Time on Patong Beach
Now it’s time to leave this trip with a bang. What better way to spend it than going to party central!? Patong Beach is lined with multiple clubs, bars, massage places, and shops. This is the best part of the island to bar hop and try all of their different drinks. I definitely recommend you leave on a good note with a massage. It costs about 250 baht ($7 USD) for a full body massage for 1 hour and trust me, it is WORTH IT. Although this Patong Beach a fun spot, please be careful where and what you drink there. The area has been known to sell fake alcohol. This is where they use chemicals instead of alcohol because it is cheaper for them to produce. If you drink too much it’ll make you extremely sick.
On Patong beach, you’ll find vendors trying to sell you everything left and right, the main ones being a jet ski and banana boat rides. A jet ski ride will cost you around 1000 baht depending on how well you bargain.
