English
ThaiPhuket has many places to visit and lots of things to do for any holiday maker. In fact, there are so many fun places to visit and interesting things to do it’s sometimes difficult to choose.
However, if you take a visit to Phuket Town, you’ll find a variety of attractions all within easy reach of one another. These places reflect Phuket’s true identity and allow you to see and get to know the route of its culture and the way of life of true Phuketians.
We’ve chosen our four best and most interesting places to visit, and we believe that they should all be on the list of places to visit for anyone visiting the island. All of these places are popular places to visit for their own individual reasons.
If you’re here in Phuket or planning a trip here, don’t miss these places of interest and you’ll have a wonderful vacation.
Talad Sod Satarana
On any visit to Phuket, along with a bountiful amount of nature there is also an abundance of food to be found here. If you eat as the locals do, or where they do, you’ll be amazed at the freshness and quality of ingredients used, and the main source of most of these is Talad Sod fresh market. Talad Sod is the largest and oldest fresh food market on the island and a walk around it is an experience which any visitor to Phuket should not miss.
Located on Ranong Road in the heart of Phuket Town, Talad Sod Satarana is the first choice for locals looking for fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood, herbs & spices and pretty much everything else there is to buy fresh and edible. To get to see the real side of the market you have to arrive early as it opens at 5am and usually closes by 11am. The fresh produce sold here has usually come direct from local farms, so many Phuket restaurants purchase their ingredients here in the knowledge they are buying the best and freshest produce available on the island.
In addition to having the highest standards of hygiene, the fruits, vegetables and meat are sold at the cheapest possible prices, and always by vendors who always have with a pleasant and genuine smile.
Khao Toh Sae
Located on the west side of Phuket Island, Khao Toh Sae (Toh Sae Mountain) is the island’s highest peak at approximately 250 meters, the equivalent of a 70 storey building. Khao Tah Sae is distinguishable by the vast number of radio and television aerials positioned at the very top.
Due to its steep incline, Koh Toh Sae is a popular jogging spot for a large number of Phuketians looking to improve their physical performance, plus being a little off the beaten track it also has the added bonus of clean fresh air. If you want to join the locals and try this run it’s advisable to take it slow as it really is quite high, and the higher you go, the lower the air pressure gets.
For true Phuket people, Toh Sae is not just a place for exercise; it’s also a place for worship as it is home to the Por Ta Toh Sae Chinese shrine. Toh Sae is a deceased patriarch that has been highly respected by Phuket people for a long time; they say that Toh Sae is a guardian spirit who protects them from bad things. Within the shrine are statues of the white, black and red Toh Sae.
Recently, Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization has resurfaced the access road to Toh Sae providing a much easier and safer journey to the top, and making it much more accessible for anyone looking for the most beautiful bird’s eye view of Phuket Town.
Koh Sirey
Located in Tambol Rassada, a few kilometers east of Phuket Town, is a quiet headland named Koh Sirey (Sirey Island). This little unique getaway, only 20 square kilometers in size, is connected to Phuket by a short bridge which crosses a channel, as you cross the bridge you will see a large number of fishing boats in the port to the right, this is Rassada Port, Phuket’s main fishing hub.
After you cross the bridge onto Koh Sirey, continue for about another 500 meters and you’ll arrive at Koh Sirey’s first sight seeing opportunity, monkey view point. Many locals visit the wild macaque monkeys who live in the mangrove forest, and there are a number of street vendors selling peanuts, bananas and corn which you can throw food to the monkeys from a specially created feeding area complete with monkey statues.
Carry on a little further, turn right at at Koh Sirey Clock Tower, and on the right hand side you will see the entrance to Wat Sirey. The temple is situated high up on a hill, and along with a big lying Buddha positioned inside the temple, you also can enjoy great views over the town and Phang Nga.
Follow the coastal road for about 5 minutes and you will come across Phuket’s largest sea Gypsy settlement, called Chao Lay. This village was seriously damaged by the 2004 tsunami and therefore new houses were built for the habitants by NGOs. The old village was rebuilt in 2006 and looks almost like it did prior to the tsunami.
Lard Yai Walking Street Market
Lard Yai, which in Chinese means Big Market Street, is known here as the Phuket Sunday Walking Street Market, and it was organized to promote and preserve the architecture and buildings of Old Town Phuket, and also to keep the culture and way of life of Phuket people. The market is designed to show the different and unique composition of the area and showcases elements of the wide variety of races and religions, including Indian, Pakistani and Chinese, Buddhist and Muslim.
The market is separated into four different zones – food, souvenirs, handcrafts and shows. Contemporary and traditional food plays a huge part in the market featuring items from the various races and religions. Styrofoam, smoking and the selling of pirated goods are banned from the market.
The style of this market is similar to the Old Phuket Town Festival, held only once a year, but now with the Phuket Sunday Walking Street Market you can experience the true Phuket Old Town for one day, every week of the year, and the colourfully lit buildings of the market have made it famous and popular with a large number of both tourists and locals.
The Market is held on Thalang Road every Sunday and opens from 4pm until 10pm.
Phuket Indy Market
Phuket Town’s twice-weekly Indy Market on Dibuk Road is known in Thai as ‘laad ploy kong’ (‘a market to let go of your goods’). It is also a place where locals, especially teenagers and young adults, come to enjoy themselves with an entertaining mix of vendors, live performances and more. The good thing about this lively but relatively unknown market is that it’s small and clean. It’s made up of just one lane along Limelight Avenue, next to the popular Lemongrass Restaurant..
The many goods displayed at Phuket Indy Market include jeans, flip-flops, shoes and ladies’ bags made from water hyacinths. There are also some quite unique items such as customised handmade key rings, and the most fun item of all is a single rice grain with your name stenciled onto it, which can be used as part of a pendant, key ring or bracelet.
Many youngsters are encouraged to join in and express themselves through creative activities and the organizers use the stage to promote Thai traditional festivals, international events and the building up of public awareness issues
Opening Hours: Every Thurs and Fri from 16:00 – 22:00
