Phuket is the largest island of the Kingdom of Thailand. Unlike Koh Samui and Koh Phangan, where places of interest for tourists are limited by natural beauties and monkey or elephant nurseries, there are plenty of cultural and historical sights on it. If you are visiting Thailand on a package tour, your tour operator will likely offer you a selection of interesting excursions around the island. But they have one minus. This is a high cost. It may well also be that not a lot of time will be allotted to the sightseeing, and the guide will attract the main attention of sightseers to shopping, taking a group of different merchants familiar. You can understand him - he goes the percentage of sales. But are you interested in shopping? In addition, it is very difficult to inspect anything with our tourists. A lot of time will be spent simply waiting for irresponsible tourists. This article will focus on how to explore the sights of Phuket on your own. This will save money, and time, and nerves, in the end.
How to get around Phuket
If you have already visited Bangkok, you can make sure that the prices for tuk-tuks and taxis on the island differ from the capital in a disadvantageous direction. To get to the beaches of Kamala Beach or Kata, you need to pay a substantial amount. Therefore, those tourists who have a driver’s license prefer to rent a vehicle. However, surfing Phuket by car is recommended only to very experienced drivers. In Thailand, left-hand traffic. In addition, the Asian way of driving turns traffic on the roads into a kind of chaos. Therefore, in honor of motorbikes. Scooters are lighter, more dodgy, do not take up much parking space and consume little gas. You can rent a motobike everywhere for a symbolic price - 250 baht per day. But there is also public transport on the island. Buses run between Patong and Phuket Town.
Wat Chalong
The island has many temples - Buddhist, Muslim and even Christian. But the most famous is Wat Chalong, who, according to the chronicles, is at least one hundred and fifty years old. If you want to visit the religious attractions of Phuket on your own, it is best to start with it. It is noteworthy that this temple is open around the clock. After all, in it they not only make sacrifices to God and pray, but also wonder about the future. Take care of the right clothes. As in Orthodox shrines, one needs to enter decently cleaned here. No shorts, miniskirts and T-shirts with bare shoulders. Before entering the temple you need to take off your shoes. Wat Chalong is the most beautiful shrine of Phuket. And it’s understandable why: he keeps a piece of the relics of the Buddha himself. In the main temple for prayers - Ubosot - only monks can enter. For ordinary believers and tourists, the second building is accessible - Vihara. For good luck, do not forget to rub the abdomen of an elephant statue with your palm.
Phra Thong Temple
It is enough to say to any taxi driver: “Big Buddha Phuket”, and he will immediately understand where you need to be taken. This island attraction is located in the Phra Thong Temple. The name of the shrine is translated - "Golden Buddha." Local legends say nothing about how the statue of Gautama the Enlightened came to the island. But there is a story about her miraculous finding. One shepherd tied his cow to a stick sticking out of the ground. And that very night the boy died. In a dream, his father was the reason for the death of his son. He went to the peg and began to dig. As a result, it turned out that it was the top of the head of the Buddha. Many dashing people wanted to steal a statue poured out of pure gold. They dug it up to half. But all the captors had an unenviable fate - they died from the bites of snakes, wasps and ants. In the end, one monk built a temple over the statue. It is believed that the statue of the Golden Buddha carries a powerful energy. Many believers from all over Thailand flock here.
Rank Hill and Phuket Town
Be sure to visit the island's capital. This is a very colorful town with Thai, Chinese and Portuguese architecture. At the same time, you can not only see the sights of Phuket on your own, but also make a successful shopping - here are the lowest prices on the island. There are few resort hotels in the main town. Phuket Town lives its own life, which makes it very interesting from a cognitive point of view. On the way to or from the city, you should call on the highest point of the island - Rank Hill. The hill is a ten minute drive from Phuket Town. The road is not difficult, a motobike will overcome it with ease. At the top of the hill there is an excellent observation deck, which offers amazing views of the entire island. There you can also see monkeys who perceive visiting tourists as payers of tribute - be sure to bring along some treats for them.
Rawai Market
It is best to go to this attraction from the temple of the Golden Buddha. The road to the south will take about half an hour. There are no signs or signs, but you will not miss the Rawai market anyway, since here is truly the best shopping in Phuket. It is located on the shore. A whole town grew up at the entrance, where they sell pearls, mother of pearl and articles made of them, stuffed sharks and various fish, shells and more. Next are the rows of seafood. You can see how the scows approach the pier, and the fishermen dump their catch right on the shelves. What is noteworthy: opposite the stalls of merchants of seafood are restaurants. They have a peculiar method of customer service. You buy fish or seafood from merchants, bring it to a restaurant and say how you want to cook it all. And the cooks gutted for a hundred baht and cleaned the catch, grilled it or stewed in sauce.
Promtep Cape
Reviews of tourists are advised to purchase a souvenir in the Rawai market - a small figurine of an elephant. This must be done if you go to Promtep Cape. It is a ten minute drive from the market. Many excursions in Phuket include in their program a visit to this very southern point of the island. Try to arrive here no later than half past five. There is a lighthouse here. It is open for visits until six in the evening. But the biggest attraction of Promtep Cape is the Elephant Altar. It’s hard not to recognize him. He is full of figures of elephants of various shapes and sizes. Make a wish and put the purchased figurine on the altar - your dream will come true. But do not rush to leave the cape. Especially since closer to six in the evening sightseeing buses start arriving in large numbers here. A grand spectacle awaits you - the sunset.
Gibbon Nursery and Bang Pae Waterfall
You can visit the natural attractions of Phuket on your own - Orchid Park, Butterflies. There is no shortage of elephant nurseries and schools on the island where monkeys are taught to collect coconuts. There is even a recently opened Tiger Park, where striped handsome men live in natural conditions. But many independent tourists are advised to visit places where sightseeing buses rarely call. The Bang Pe Waterfall and Gibbon Nursery in the Talang agricultural area are located. Here you can also atone for the sins committed on Bangla Road Patong. The road goes between the plantations of rubber trees and pineapples, among coconut groves. Entrance to the national park is paid - two hundred baht per adult and one hundred per child.
Bang Pae Waterfall is the largest on the island. The jet drops from a height of fifteen meters. Take care of comfortable shoes - the stones around the attraction are wet and slippery. For safety, the ropes are pulled here to hold on to. In natural baths under the waterfall you can and should swim. The nursery contains orphans for any reason, young gibbons. They can be fed.
Changeling House
Since 2014, Phuket has acquired a new tourist attraction. This attraction is located along Bypass Road, between the Premium Outlet Shopping Center and Siam Niramit Park. It seems to many that there is no need to pay two hundred baht for the entrance - you can also admire the house on the roof from the street. But everything is not so simple. The utensils in the house are also upside down. And this makes it possible to make unforgettable photos.
Especially shocking visitors is the bathroom, where the toilet is located above the head. Near the house there is a telephone changer and a car with wheels to the sky. And in the basement (which is located at the very top) there is a knock-knock glued to the ceiling. The Changeling House includes two more tourist attractions - the Labyrinth and the Quest for the Search for the "Secret Room". It is good to come here with the whole family.
Fairy tale performance
Many tours in Phuket offer to visit the show "Fantasy". A real Thai fairy tale based on the epic about Prince Kamal is played out before amazed tourists. Why not head to this show yourself? This amusement park is located on Kamala Beach, ten kilometers from Patong. Tourists recommend purchasing a combined ticket, including dinner at the Kinnari restaurant and show.
"Fantasy" (Phuket) is actually written as Fantasea, which can be translated as "Sea of the most unimaginable." Do not rush to a restaurant or theater. Take a walk through the streets of this amusement park. Here, children can not only ride on the carousels, but also see different albino animals. In the square between the theater and the restaurant, elephants walk with palanquins on their backs.
Water Park Splash Jungle
There is a water entertainment town, whose name translates as "The Jungle Splash", a few kilometers from the international airport, at the Centara Grand West Sands Hotel.
A visit to the water park will be an exciting event for you and your children. It has everything: huge slides, a pool with an artificial ocean wave, tunnels and other breathtaking attractions. If you don’t like extreme sports, you can raft on a lazy river or sit in relaxing geysers.