Phuket Town Hotels...   

- Phuket Thailand tours lets say from Bangkok to Phuket by bus

will always automatically bring you to the bus terminal in Phuket Town. Phuket Town is the Phuket transportation hub on the island. Bangkok and Phuket are also linked by flights to Phuket. From Phuket Town to the airport its about 30km, means about 45 minutes travel by car or minibus, don't use the airport bus for Phuket transportation because the bus is unpredictable since continuous stops and detours are common. Holiday in Phuket Thailand are beach holidays for most of the people but if you like to do see the real old Phuket the destination is Phuket town a small city with a center where old Phuket as it was during the tin mining age and before is still visible. Particular at Dibuk Street with several old Phuket Villas in colonial style and with Sino Portuguese architecture.

In the Phuket city center are also several old Phuket Hotels such as the On On Hotel were they shot parts of the movie "The Beach" with Leonardo Di Caprio. This Phuket Hotel is quite rotten buy it has a certain old Phuket charm. If you make a Phuket Island Tour walking through Phuket Town is almost a must. There is no problem of exhaustion in the tropical heat since the city Phuket is quite small and all interesting locations are very compact in the center, in particular at Dibuk Street with the great old Phuket Villas in Sino Portuguese Style actually all Phuket attractions in terms of the city are centered around here.

Phuket town is also the best place for Phuket shopping with plenty of shops selling native items, clothes and several Phuket art galleries are along the two main roads which are Rasada Road and Phang Nga Road. At the end of Rasada Road is Rasada Pier where the ferry Phuket to Phi Phi starts. Also speedboats

are available to do make the trip Phuket to Phi Phi in about half time the bigger ferry take. Phuket Town accommodations are various from the Phuket Town hotels in the upper price range such as Thavorn Hotel Phuket Town, Royal Phuket City Hotel, Metropole Hotel,

Phuket Pavilions and Pearl Hotel. There are other accommodations such as Phuket Hostels, Backpacker Hostel, cheap Phuket Townpartments and small Phuket Hotels such as the On On Hotel as indicated before. Along the center main road is a Phuket Travel Agent on almost "every corner" where a Phuket Island Tour and other sightseeing trips are available, but if you make a tour try to book this through the hotel or maybe through a company such as Pure Car Rental to be on the safe side and getting cheated.

If you have enough from beaches etc. during your holidays in Phuket Thailand you could take one of the daily flights Chiang Mai to Phuket by Bangkok Airways and visit north Thailand which is somehow different. Between Bangkok and Phuket the flights Phuket frequency is almost hourly. Phuket flights to Bangkok start at around 6am and stop around 10pm. Airfares to Phuket are around Baht 2200,- from Phuket to Bangkok and Bangkok to Phuket by bus is either Baht 640,- in the 32

seated bus and Baht 960,- in the 24 seated bus, all prices one way.The Bangkok to Phuket bus operates almost hourly in the afternoon until around 7.30pm from the Phuket Bus Terminal opposite the Royal Phuket City Hotel. 

- Phuket has, beside the tourism oriented sun, sea, beach  another face, visible at Phuket Town.

Known Phuket history somehow start in the 11th century, the first people moving into Phuket have been the sea gypsy’s today called Moken in Thai language and Salon in Myanmar or Burma. It seems that they have been the indigenous people of South East Asia. It is difficult to find out anything since there are no written records. Everything has been told only via legends from the older to newer generation, a legends you can find here. The first known name of Phuket was Junk Ceylon, this

name was written on Portuguese sea navigation maps. One much earlier trace of  Junk Ceylon is in a book written in 157 AD. by Greek Claudius Ptolemy. He wrote that by traveling to the Malay peninsula, one will pass a island with the name Junk Ceylon. Now for some shopping mall developer at Patong Junk Ceylon morphed into Jung Ceylon and that's the newest and biggest mall for Patong shopping. 

The position of Junk Ceylon was given as between the latitudes of 6 N and 8 N which is more or less the position of today Phuket. Junk Ceylon with its bays offered a excellent protection against bad weather and grow into a trading and transshipping center such as Penang and Malacca. Phuket became also known as Thalang which is the Town area between the airport and Phuket Town of today. The Mon people from the area between Bago and Thaton of southern Myanmar or Burma were also

known as Thalangs, actually there was interaction over time because of the proximity. In 1785 a army from neighboring Burma or Myanmar invaded Phuket. Two Phuket ladies had the courage to stand up and organized to defend the Island in the name of the King of Thailand. A former governor’s widow, Chan, and her sister Muk organized the defense against the Burmese and finally won the battle since the Burmese troops had to withdraw because they run out of supplies. The king of Thailand gave the noble titles of Thao Thep Krasattri and Thao Si Sunthontitel to the ladies. At present day the two sisters were honored by their very own statue at the Tha Ruea circle, everyone can see them on the way from Phuket Airport to Phuket Town.

Traders, mainly from Europe, China and India choose Phuket as domicile because of the convenient geographic position it was a ideal place for trading between Europe and Asia. Between the period of 1681 and 1685 Phuket was even administered by the French missionary Renee Charbonneau. During the 18th century Phuket Island was a leading tin mining place, this was mainly done by Chinese immigrants who worked the tin mines. From this time still are many similarities between Phuket Town and Georgetown Penang.

One of the legacies of the Chinese tin miners who got rich is a great Phuket Villa some are in Phuket Town with a mixture of Chinese and Portuguese Style elements called Sino - Portuguese architecture.

Portuguese adventure where the first European arriving at the shores of in Phuket, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia and over time influenced the  architecture because they built houses in their usual style. The rich Chinese copied this style and enhanced it with Chinese style elements, we know Chinese and copy, don't we ?

During the reign of King Rama V through towards the end of King Rama VI (1868 - 1925) Sino - Portuguese architecture gained the highest popularity. During this period tin mining was at his peak and a rapid economic grow was on. Most of the tin miner were Chinese immigrant who had a prosperous business. Several other ore interesting buildings of Phuket Town are around Phang Nga, Yaowarat, Dibuk and Krabi road.

Phuket Town lost a lot of its bustling flair after some huge shopping malls came up on the western fringe of Phuket Town and the malls are still rising one after the other. But in the evening Phuket Town still starts on afterburner with myriads of restaurants, bars and nightclubs plus sing - song and karaoke  places, called Cafe, plus some coyote go go bars and discos.

All this places in Phuket Town are mostly frequented by Thai, there are almost no foreigners around, some more on the Phuket Nightlife subject here.

The air is still clean in Phuket Town, its much better than in Penang but the traffic is increasing exponentially and the infrastructure planning in Phuket could be done somehow more sophisticated. Myriads of chaotic motocyc (Thaiglish for small motor bikes and scooter) are all over Phuket - not giving the others a millimeter of space and leading to unbelievable accidents.Phuket Town is not a beach town beside it borders the Andaman sea directly, there is a small harbor mainly for the ferries to Phi Phi Island. But Phuket Town has for sure all the marks of a real Asian Town.

The Phuket Tsunami had no impact at Phuket Town since the Tsunami banged into the west coast of Phuket Island, means Patong Beach, Karon Beach, Kata Beach etc. Phuket Town is on the east side of Phuket Island.

You can find all kind of Phuket accommodation, Phuket bungalows, Phuket guest house, Phuket hotels in Phuket Town. Could be just the right place for your Phuket holidays on Phuket island. Plenty of orchid Nurseries or Orchid Farm as they call it are from Phuket Town in southern direction toward Chalong, one is about 300 m behind the Chalong Circle or Hayek Chalong.

Phuket is a genuine tropical Town with all the positive and negative sides. Phuket Town is also the biggest city in Phuket Province and you will find everything here what you need for your stay on Phuket Island, including the Thai Immigration for extending visa etc.

Phuket Town offers great massage parlors, Phuket Spa, several big, modern hospitals and several clinics for plastic and cosmetic surgery. One of the most important activity in Phuket Town is...go shopping ! Phuket Town has lots of small shops full of art, antiques, fashion, excellent restaurants - many Chinese, travel agents and a lot of small roads with old fashioned houses. The Phuket houses in down town sometimes look a little bit rotten but this is the Phuket Town tropical style, everything clear ?

Naturally there are plenty of other shops for a real exotic shopping experience in Phuket Town. Several art galleries with paintings in very special styles and here there is real artist paintings, not like in Patong.

- Phuket Town can be characterized as

affordable, run down and somehow beautiful – Most is in a setting like it was 200 years ago during the tin mining heydays of Phuket. There are sleazy areas but in general its quite interesting and a stroll through the roads opens new panoramas on virtually every second corner. There is only one other town in south east Asia with this flair of a old Chinese settlement with great Chinese restaurants, this is Georgetown Penang.

Phuket town has also become a place for the art scene on the island. Not the glittering flashy stuff but small galleries where you can watch the artist doing his work. Its not like at Patong where you also can watch artists in a gallery, but they only pretend to do something, all paintings at Patong are mass produced elsewhere, even as far as China.

Plenty of pubs and so called sport bars have a nice atmosphere in the evening, some have life music and a huge TV screen.

- The most fascinating, most strange, most masochistic etc. festival in Phuket Town is the Vegetarian Festival.

Vegetarian Festival Phuket Town Vegetarian Festival

bizarre vegetarian festival is on celebrated in Phuket Town and elsewhere in Thailand. The action is mainly around Phuket Town and lasts from the first to the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. Especially bizarre considering what kind of materials the devotees (called “the soldier of god”) push through their skin on different parts of the body- primarily around the mouth region, just have a look at the pictures here. The festival is up for the first days of the month of Taoist Lent when devout Chinese don’t eat meat. Celebrations are held in all Chinese temples in Phuket. Everyone who like can join the celebration. No one really knows when all this started but some say it was during the reign of Thalang Governor Jerm in 1825. At that time many Chinese migrated to Phuket to work in the newly discovered tin mines and a Chinese drama group came with them. Some member of the group turned vegetarian in the hope to immunize themselves from malaria. At that time, the custom for body piercing, walk barefoot over hot glowing coals, climbing