Phuket

Patong is Phuket's loudest, most developed beach, a broad three-kilometre bay on the west coast fronted by hotels, shops, and the famous Bangla Road nightlife strip that switches on after dark. By day it is all sun-loungers, banana boats, parasailing, and jet skis, though it pays to agree every price up front and photograph any rental craft first, as jet-ski damage disputes are a known hassle here. Swimming is fine in the calm dry season, but during the mid-year monsoon the red flags are serious: rip currents drown swimmers most years, so never ignore a red flag or lifeguard whistle. Families and couples who find Patong too frantic only need to drive a few minutes to gentler neighbours, Kata and Karon just to the south, or Kamala, Surin, and Bang Tao to the north, which trade the party for space and quiet. Patong is best treated as a lively base or a night out rather than the whole holiday.

Seated on Nakkerd Hill between Chalong and Kata, the Big Buddha is a serene 45-metre figure clad in white Burmese marble that catches the sun and is visible from much of southern Phuket. The winding road to the top delivers one of the island's finest panoramas, a full sweep over Chalong Bay, Kata, and the interior hills, and the breeze up here is a relief from the coast. The site is still being completed and is funded by donations, so entry is free, and there is a smaller working temple and the sound of wind bells across the terrace. As at any Thai temple, modest dress is required, and sarongs are lent at the entrance if you arrive in beach clothes. It pairs naturally with nearby Wat Chalong, the island's most important Buddhist temple, a few minutes downhill, making an easy half-day that mixes heritage with a knockout viewpoint.

The Phi Phi islands lie in Krabi's waters but are one of Phuket's signature outings, around 45 minutes to an hour away by speedboat from the southern piers. The scenery is the stuff of screensavers: sheer limestone walls dropping into jade water, snorkelling bays alive with fish, and the celebrated Maya Bay on uninhabited Phi Phi Leh, the cove made famous by the film The Beach. Maya Bay reopened after a long conservation closure and now runs under visitor limits and rules that protect the reef, so tours enter and view it differently than they once did. A typical trip strings together Maya Bay, the sheltered Pileh Lagoon, Viking Cave, Monkey Beach, and snorkelling around Bamboo Island, with a national-park fee collected on top of the tour price. To dodge the midday crush, take an early speedboat or, better still, stay a night on lively Phi Phi Don and see the bays before the day boats arrive.

The most characterful corner of the island has nothing to do with the beach. Phuket Town's old quarter is a grid of pastel Sino-Portuguese shophouses built on 19th-century tin wealth, at their prettiest along Thalang, Dibuk, and the narrow, much-photographed Soi Romanee. Today the shophouses hold indie cafes, boutiques, galleries, small museums, and a growing trail of colourful street murals, while ornate Chinese shrines and Muslim eateries reflect the town's mixed heritage. The area truly comes alive on Sunday evenings for the Lard Yai walking street, when Thalang Road closes to traffic and fills with food carts, crafts, and live music. It photographs beautifully in the soft morning light and is walkable and shaded enough to enjoy even in the heat. Give it a half day, longer if you time it for the Sunday market, and treat it as the cultural counterweight to Phuket's sand and nightlife.

Laem Phromthep is the rocky headland at Phuket's southern tip, near Nai Harn and Rawai, and it is the island's most celebrated place to watch the sun go down. On a clear evening the crowd gathers along the clifftop by the old lighthouse and the small shrine as the sun sinks into the Andaman, throwing gold and pink over the sea and the little island of Ko Man just offshore. There is a viewpoint with parking, a lighthouse museum, and a windmill viewpoint a short way along the coast for a different angle. It costs nothing and takes only an hour or so, but it is worth arriving 30 to 45 minutes before sunset to find parking and a good spot on the rail, because it fills up fast in high season. Combine it with a swim at nearby Nai Harn beach earlier in the afternoon to make an easy, scenic end to the day.

North of Phuket, Ao Phang Nga National Park is a drowned karst landscape of sheer limestone towers, mangrove channels, and hidden sea caves, and it makes one of the most memorable day trips in the south. The star is tiny Ko Tapu, the needle of rock beside Ko Khao Phing Kan that appeared in the 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun, and the tours also visit Ko Panyee, a Muslim fishing village built on stilts over the water with its own mosque and floating seafood restaurants. The real magic, though, is paddling a canoe into the hongs, collapsed cave lagoons hidden inside the islands that you can only enter at the right tide through low limestone arches. Trips run by big boat, speedboat, or traditional longtail, usually with a seafood lunch, often at Ko Panyee. Choose an operator that includes sea-canoeing, since drifting silently into a hidden lagoon is the part you will remember.