Phuket and the Andaman Coast Travel Guide

Guidebooks

Back over on the west coast south of Bangkok you first come to Cha-am and Hua Hin on the Gulf of Thailand, the former with bigger and more stand-alone resorts, and the latter with both world-class resorts and medium-range accommodation. These cities, like the beaches to the southeast, can fill up with Bangkok escapees on weekends and holidays, but are less busy during the week. The beaches only get better as you head south, with scores worth exploring along the narrow peninsula that stretches all the way to the Malaysian border, all reachable from the town of Surat Thani, about 11 hours by train or a 1-hour flight south of Bangkok. The island of Ko Samui is also along this strip—it's very developed, but perennially popular, in part because daily flights from Bangkok make it so easy to reach.

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Phuket and the Andaman Coast Hotels

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Phuket and the Andaman Coast Restaurants

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Things To Do in Phuket and the Andaman Coast

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Phuket and the Andaman Coast Experiences

  • Tsunami Memorials

    On the eastern end of Loh Dalam Beach is the Phi Phi Tsunami Memorial Park, a tiny garden with a small plaque listing some of the names of those... Read more

  • A Festival for Health and Purity

    Phuket's most important festival is its annual Vegetarian Festival, held in late September or early October. Though no one knows the precise... Read more

  • The Tsunami

    The waves from the 2004 tsunami were cataclysmic, but to a far greater extent on land than underwater. Shallow reefs were upturned and countless... Read more

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