phuket magazine

The most famous beach here is the centre of entertainment, restaurants, shopping and hotels...

Patong is indeed a famous beach with beautiful soft sands and warm clear water. But right behind the beach is the hustle and bustle at the centre of Phuket’s tourism business. Here the hotels, restaurants, entertainment and bar areas, street bazaars and shops are crammed in a colourful and lively mix that typifies a Thai tourist beach town.

 This is not your pristine, untouched paradise, nor is it like the rest of Phuket. Here the boisterous activity of a colourful outdoor lifestyle attracts thousands of tourists, particularly singles and couples looking for a beautiful beach by day, great food in the evening and some rolicking entertainment to finish it off. Patong is particularly famous for exotic nightlife of a kind not found in many other places.

Most other tourists staying at quieter beaches up and down the west coast also come to Patong for at least one evening’s entertainment, during their stay. Some just can’t stay away.

Even though Patong is crowded with tourists each winter season from mid December to April, the beach and water here is generally in pristine condition. Each time the tide falls and rises the deep clear waters of the Andaman Sea refresh the beach. Every year during the monsoon season big waves break on all of the beaches along this coast, cleansing and restoring the soft, coral sands.
The nightlife is bawdy, loud and lots of fun for those looking for this. Most activity is concentrated around open-air beer bars, which are well stocked with pretty hostesses. The restaurants here are varied and generally of a high standard, while the shopping is often bargain-basement.

Hotels in Patong:
There are plenty. They range from cheap bungalows (cheap here now means about 1,000 Baht per night [US$25], to 5-star luxury that costs about US$200. Many of these can be booked on-line. Click here to see our complete list of accommodation in Patong.

Note that very, very few hotels here are right on the beach, for a road runs most of the length of Patong. But directly across that road, only a few metres away and facing the beach sit many hotels. Check carefully if you want proximity to the beach, for there are some that are set way back from the beach, with a long walk to the sands. Phuket Cabana, at the northern end of the beach, is the only up-market resort set right on the sands of Patong.

Eating in Patong
Patong is crowded with restaurants serving food of almost every nationality one can think of. But of course Thai food and seafood are most common, with many large open-air restaurants lining the beach road. Here one can stroll in the evening and inspect the displays of fish, prawns, crab, shark and other seafoods set out in beds of ice.

While prices here are higher in tourist areas than in other, more Thai areas, they are still very low compared with those in most developed countries. For US$25 one can have a seafood feast here. And if you want to save money the many small restaurants serving simple Thai food are exceptionally cheap, serving tasty, filling meals of rice or noodles for less than US$1.

One of the finiest dining experiences in Phuket is to be found on the first little hill just beyond Patong s northern-most sands.

Baan Rim Pa is an up-market experience of fine Thai food in exceptional ambiance, and is something not to be missed when visiting Phuket. It s one of the favourites for the staff of PHUKET MAGAZINE, and we can often be found at the beautiful piano bar here talking to owner Tom McNamara and other expatriates who also hang out here.
 
Eating in Thailand is simply the best in the world, and Patong offers a good sampling of this.