Phuket in July? Or Gulf Beaches/Islands
 

Hi again!

Originally, I was thinking of spending five days in Phuket or Krabi in early July but I know the weather could be questionable. I have heard from others on this Board that beaches/islands in the Gulf could be better.

Any suggestions on Gulf beaches or Islands? We are outdoor types, so we wanted to do some island hopping, cave exploring, but also want to have some relaxing beach time.

What about Phuket? If there is rain, does it last all day? Are there things to do on rainy days?

Help!

Jenn

I have heard that in Krabi/Phuket in July you tend to get short (but heavy) bursts of rain either in the late afternoon or evening. Friends visited Evason in Phuket last August and found this was the case. Krabi is great if you are into outdoors activities - you can kayak into the caves and rock climb, snorkel etc. It is also said that you can get some great bargains by visiting that coast at that time of year as it is low season. Personally, I much preferred Krabi to Phuket.

On the other coast, you have Ko Samui, Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Tao. Good snorkelling, diving, you can kayak (but no caves), kite board, mountain bike (on samui). On Ko Tao you can rock climb and the diving and snorkelling is best from that island. It is very easy to island hop around these three islands. There is now a catamaran running if you prefer a bit more comfort to the old thai fishing boats :)

If you want any recommendations as to beaches, places to stay around these islands, let me know. We are getting married in Ko Samui in August and are visiting all three to relive our backpacker youth but this time staying in nicer places than we did back then!

Thanks for the information. I can handle bursts of rain and will cross my fingers and hope we are not rained out every day.

Is there an easy way to get from Phuket to Krabi if we decide to see both? Krabi looks amazing in the books I have read.

Congrats on your wedding... Should be a beautiful location and the honeymoon sounds great...

hua hin or samui or koh chang might be alternative or jotien beach

I lived for several years in Phuket, the rain varies a great deal, in July / August you need to 'expect' rain, it could be a short shower, it could be for a few hours, or it could be tropical storms, you can't take one year as exact what it will be another, just appreciate that it 'is' the rainy season, so travel to other islands etc can be a problem. At that time of year people tend to go to Samui for a busy lively island, Koh Chang for somewhat quieter, for diving Koh Tao, or the coastal beach area, Rayong, Hua Hin, Cha Am, Bang saphan etc where the weather is fine.

if you want to do island/beach hoping then along the coast south of bangkok is ideal, you get a mix of different places, national parks, some busier resort areas, some very quiet, you can travel easily by bus or train and then hop on a boat to places such as Koh Tao, Koh Phangan and then end up ofn Samui and fly back to bangkok from there.

www.beachsiam.com/sunrise_coast.html gives ideas of the route you can take to beach and island hop down the coast south of Bangkok.