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Phuket Information
Nightlife in Phuket
The resort island of Phuket's nightlife is nothing short of legendary and has Patong firmly at its centre. This no-holds-barred resort offers everything from bustling pubs and nightclubs through to the infamous girlie bars. The other island resorts boast their own nightlife, but nothing on the scale of Patong. Beach bars are very popular around the island and the perfect venue for enjoying a cooling sundowner.
Baseball fans have Cooperstown, art lovers have the Louvre and party animals have Patong. This is the epicentre of Phuket's nightlife, ground zero for the legendary party scene and the place where all your dreams can come true (provided your dreams involve lots of booze). That's not to say that there's nothing to do in Patong besides drink. You don't have to be soused to enjoy the scene, although it does help. There's all kinds of shopping, lots of good live music and plenty of entertainment such as cabarets and Thai boxing. Patong can be as wild or tame as you want it to be, but one thing's for sure: there's never a dull moment.
Although bars aren't the only entertainment, they are definitely the most prevalent. Patong's watering holes tend to fall into distinct categories: beer bars, discos, cocktail lounges, go-go bars, pubs and music pubs. Within these categories there are endless variations but not many places veer away from the basic themes. For example, all go-go bars will have a stage with girls in varying stages of undress dancing for the entertainment of the customers. Some places may have girls in catholic school girl outfits and some places may have elaborately choreographed shows but the basic elements of girls, stage and dancing will be present. Sometimes the lines get a little blurry (actually most things tend to get blurry after a while), such as when beer bars have dancing poles, but you'll usually have a good idea of what to expect.
Beer Bars are the little joints packed side by side on the small arcades known as 'Bar Sois'. There are maybe a dozen of these in Patong, mostly located off of Bangla Road. Come in for a laugh and to find some company. Patong has a number of discos where you can dance the night away. The music is thumpin', the dance floor is packed and the atmosphere is fun. If you'd rather leave the dancing to the ladies then check out a go-go bar. While not the raunchy shows of yore, go-go bars still offer some fantastic figures on display.
Patong also has its classy side with a number of snazzy cocktail lounges where you can relax in a plush seat, sip a martini and enjoy the vibe. Live music is also popular and places like Saxophone and Rock City cater to people who like great tunes with their beer. There are also a few simple pubs where you can just enjoy a drink without all of the other usual accoutrements of Patong nightlife.
Bangla Road - like all night owls, Soi Bangla awakens when the sun sets. That's when Patong's liveliest party zone becomes closed to traffic and ready for action! Famous for its raunchy nightlife, Bangla goes all out to entertain with girls, beers and music that increases in volume as the moon rises. Jammed most nights year round, it's actually totally unthreatening and lively place to walk around as bars compete for customers. The girls aim to please - dancing around poles, engaging in banter, or coaxing customers to play simple bar games like "Connect" or "Hammer the nail" to break the ice. The objective is to entice customers to buy drinks and hopefully, take them away for the evening. Almost all of the bars are outdoors so the music from each one is deafening! Beers Bar occupy most of the street's length, with several a-go-gos and a few pubs, restaurants, discos and shops rounding out the attractions both on Bangla and down its side streets.
Beach Road - runs along the entire length of Patong's 3-km beach. Both day and night it's a busy street, but it really gets packed with strollers and shopper as the temperature cools down in the evening. The most hectic section is the stretch that runs between the Holiday Inn at the south end of the beach and Bangla Road, where vendors are packed into little stalls selling a huge variety of goods including T-shirts, beach towels, shoes, jewellery, disco balls, wooden elephants, key chains and more.
Several hotel bar-restaurants line the road, most featuring fresh seafood and live music, the most popular is The Port at Banthai Beac Resort. The lively Molly Malone's pub is right next door, between The Port and the ubiquitous McDonald's.
Kata Beach - informal and laid-back, Kata is the kind of place to relax with a cocktail or beer in an open-air bar or restaurant, do some shopping, watch the big game on a pub screen, or enjoy a laid-back, balmy evening. Less hectic than Patong, more compact than Karon, Kata is an ideal compromise between the two. Most evening venues are geared towards families and couples with outdoor cafes and good value local restaurants. Kata's small roads have contained fast and furious development and helped retain the village-like atmosphere. Since most of the beach lies within the province of Club Med, nightlife is concentrated at the ends of the beach rather than than the centre. A must for everyone staying in Kata is watching the sunset from the Reggae Bar overlooking Kata Noi, the view is spectacular - well worth the 5 min tuk-tuk journey.
Most nightlife is concentrated around the north end of the beach around "Kata village". At the southern end, close to the Kata Beach Resort and the Boathouse Hotel, is a small but lively area with local shops, outdoor restaurants and an emerging bar-beer area tucked away. In between, the connecting road at the back of Club Med, is still quiet and undeveloped with a few guesthouses and market areas.
Karon Beach - if you want to strike a balance between rowdy and relaxed, Karon is a good bet. It attracts enough foreigners to support the beer bars but it's not the party Mecca that Patong is. The variety of atmosphere is a big bonus since in Karon you can be in a relaxed pub and not even notice the more raunchy beer bars only ten metres away. The good news about Karon nightlife is that most of the bars are fairly close together, but not right on top of one another. Karon's nightlife is mainly centred on Luang Poh Chuan Road and, to a lesser extent, the Aroona Karon complex. Both of these areas have enough pubs and girlie bars to keep locals happy and Luang Poh Chuan has a couple of more upscale and trendy watering holes for the urbanites among you.
Eating out
Most of the better hotels boast their own restaurants where a range of international cuisines is available. Many holidaymakers also choose to sample the local cuisine with the most interesting place to try it at the street food stalls that are found all over Phuket. Here fresh seafood and various Thai treats are cooked in front of your eyes. There are more formal restaurants dotted around the island where first rate Thai cooking is available.
Beaches in Phuket
There are several wonderful beaches on Phuket, including:
Patong Beach - Patong is the most famous and popular beach resort on Phuket. With its wide variety of activities and nightlife, Patong is an ideal place to party and play. By day, Patong's curved sandy bay is a hive of activity with parasail and jet-ski operators, boat drivers, beach vendors and masseuses all vying for the attention of the many visitors relaxing on the beach chairs.
Karon Beach - Karon, featuring an incredibly long stretch of squeaky white sand, is less hectic than Patong but it still offers a full range of facilities, dining and activities. While it's a fast-growing area, Karon is nicely spread out and rarely feels crowded.
Karon is concentrated around three main areas. In the Karon Plaza area on the south end there a number of budget guesthouses, restaurants and bars. The side sois are worth exploring, particularly the one that leads to a small art community, where some budding Thai painters have built a complex of huts, pubs and art galleries in which they live and work
Unlike Patong Beach, big-name restaurants and fast food chains have yet to arrive in Karon, but it is by no means lacking in dining options. The restaurants of the larger resorts offer gorgeous settings and fine food, while the streets are clogged with a range of seafood, Thai and Western restaurants. For a spectacular sunset view, drive just a few minutes' north of the beach and stop in at one of the cliffside restaurants up the hill
The largest cluster of bars and restaurants is found near the Karon circle, with a mix of beer bars, pubs, seafood eateries and Western restaurants lining the main road and side lanes. The area can get quite loud at night, with each bar competing for customers by blaring their sound systems to the full.
Kata Beach - the smallest of Phuket's three main tourist beaches, Kata is different in appearance and style from Karon or Patong. The beach itself is broad and curving, and structures bordering it are low rise. The waters are perfect for swimming, and at the north end is a coral reef with many varied corals and fishes which stretches out toward Poo Island., about 1/2 km off shore.
The pleasant bay of Kata, just a few minutes south of Karon Beach, entices many with its white sands and clear waters.Late in the year as the waters turn calm, Kata bay becomes populated with beautiful yachts, which arrive from all over the region to compete in December's King's Cup Regatta, Asia's premier sailing event.
With the exception of the popular Easyriders Pub with its live, loud music - and a few pockets of beer bars - nightlife in Kata is mostly family-oriented and relaxed. A string of open-air bars, restaurants and shops along Taina Rd attract the most visitors in the evening. Dino Park is a fun place to take the kids for a round of mini-golf, while its Jurassic-themed restaurant and roadside bar are good places to relax afterwards. Just watch out for the fire-breathing dragon.
Shopping in Phuket
Whereas in the past you needed to go to Bangkok for any serious shopping, Phuket now has shopping opportunities to satisfy all but the most fanatical shopaholic. In addition to the roadside stalls and markets there are quite a few shopping centres and department stores, as well as a good selection of boutiques and speciality shops. Fine examples of traditional handicrafts, textiles, gems, jewellery and antiques, as well as clothing and everyday items are sold all over the island.
Phuket Town is where most locals shop with some proper shops that are not just aimed at passing tourist trade, while the shops of the resorts like Patong, Kata and Karon are very much geared towards tourists. The large luxury hotel resorts of Ao Bang Thao often have their own boutique shops. Many towns and villages also sport their own markets, with Patong a touristy highlight.
