Phuket

The southern island of Phuket is a byword for natural beauty and tourist hospitality. The country's biggest, it offers all the ingredients of a memorable holiday, including azure blue seas, silky white beaches, luxurious resorts, divine food, cosmopolitan nightlife, homegrown culture and idyllic scenery. Enjoy everything from world-class diving and canoeing to a serene cruise around the mystical Phang Nga Bay. Or simply bask in the sun. All or nothing - that's the beauty of Phuket...

Phuket has some of the best hotels in Thailand. International hotel brands like Sheraton, J.W. Marriott and Hilton operate here, alongside many family operated hotels and guesthouses. Phuket's main beaches are Patong Beach, Kata Beach and Karon Beach, among many others. Each offers accommodation to suit all pockets, from luxury and mid-range to affordable and budget.

The variety of accommodation available is just as varied: beachfront resorts, boutique resorts, spa resorts, family resorts, golf resorts, island resorts, hideaway resorts, villas, bungalows and apartments.

To help you choose a beach, use our Phuket Beach Guide; and for a hotel, our Phuket hotel guide..

Even doing nothing but lazing on an idyllic beach can work up an appetite... Fortunately Phuket is blessed with plenty of smart and downright flashy places to get your fill. And you never have to go far to find them - scattered all over this isle are restaurants of every sort, serving every conceivable cuisine, at every variation in price.

Eat breakfast at your hotel, lunch at a noodle stall, and dinner at a ritzy seafood restaurant with views of the ocean beyond - all without venturing more than 100 metres! For more information see the Phuket Restaurant and Dining Guide, which includes a dining by location section, restaurant reviews and info about everything from do's and don'ts to streetfood.

Kids in Phuket get spoilt rotten. Not only do the locals dote on them, they also have masses of things to do and see, the emphasis firmly on the adventurous: elephant trekking, butterfly gardens, bowling, bungy jumping, go-carting, eco-tours, horse riding, mini-golf, mountain biking etc. Most are suitable for toddlers, teenagers and the young at heart. Many of the hotels also offer kids' clubs and babysitting services.

Learn more about Kids in Phuket here

Phuket isn't all long silky beaches and technicolour sunsets. The island is also a hotbed for entertainment, history and culture. Attractions include the Fantasia Sea Show (trapeze arts and pyrotechnics stage show), the vicious but visual art of Thai Boxing and a lot of gleaming temples. Also worth seeing is the unexpected Sino-Portuguese architecture of Phuket Town, and Simon Cabaret - one of the biggest, glitziest transvestite shows in the country.

It's also a great place to catch the awe-inspiring spectacle that is a Thai festival. Chinese New Year, Loy Kratong and Songkran - the Thai New Year's water throwing celebrations - are all celebrated with gusto in Phuket. Undoubtedly the most bizarre though is the Vegetarian Festival in late September, when local men and women stroll the streets with household items punctured through their cheeks - a gruesome act of self-mutilation thought to win the favour of Chinese Gods.

See Phuket Attractions for more information

If it's possible to measure a destinations appeal by its number of tours, then Phuket is off the scale! There's an excursion to suit everyone - be they laidback sightseer, gung-ho explorer, or tenacious thrill-seeker...

Take a sea kayaking tour around Phang Nga Bay's caves or navigate the area's dramatic limestone scenery onboard an old Chinese Junk. Visit Phi Phi Island by speedboat, 55 kilometre off Phuket's south-east - the perfect getaway. Or see the culture you never knew existed on a Phuket City Tour. A few examples among many. You can even hire a seaplane and arrive at your beachside resort - 007 style!

Learn more about Phuket Tours

Staking out the beach every day can be fun. However being active in and around Phuket can be even more rewarding - keep fit, learn something new, see what thousands don't. The area's jungle interiors and limestone formations were seemingly sculpted for outdoor activities like bungy jumping, rock climbing and mountain biking. And the warm blue seas that enclose the island are perfect for water sports like fishing, sea canoeing, sailing, windsurfing and the new sport of wakeboarding. Scuba diving is especially popular. With many of the region's best courses, golf is also big.

See Phuket Sports & Activities for more information

Party zones are all over the island, but it's Patong where everyone comes to sample the raunchy combination of girls, loud music, superb food and general street life. Restaurant-lounges, beer bars, go-gos, pubs, discos, live music bars, transvestite cabarets and a whole lot more compete for your attention. Phuket Town, provincial capital and relative newcomer to the night scene, offers a more low key approach with east-west fusion bars, eclectic restaurants and fantastic local food.

Learn more about Phuket Nightlife

Phuket is just a one hour flight from Bangkok. Domestic flights operate 7 days a week with several flights a day. Flight schedules can be found on the Thai Airways web page or Tel: (02) 232 8000 (Bangkok office) or (076) 327 144 (Phuket office).