Phuket Secret Beaches

Phuket has some of the world’s most fabulous beaches, with powdery white sand and warm, clear water under skies as blue as angels’ eyes.

But Phuket also has a lot of visitors, and on the most popular beaches – Patong, Kata, Karon – there are times when you can hardly see the sand for bodies ripening in the sun, or the water for jet skis, banana boats and parascenders.

People will tell you that Nai Harn Beach, at the southern end of the island, is less crowded, and it’s true. But it’s hardly a secret. And although it’s not as crowded as the most famous beaches, it’s far from empty.
Some will whisper to you that Laem Singh Beach, between Surin Beach and Kamala is the coolest, most secret beach of all. Part of its attraction, they’ll tell you, is that the only way to get there is down a steep, rough track, which deters plebeian beach-goers.

True, Laem Singh is a very beautiful beach. Also true is that, at the southern end, Jenny’s Place has excellent cocktails and laid-back music for sunset watching and after-sunset grooving. The whisperers will tell you that some really cool people – supermodel Kate Moss for example – have been spotted at Laem Singh. That might be true, too.

But what is also undeniably true is that an awful lot of other people have heard these same whispers. The parking space along the road above is jammed. There are dozens of tuk-tuks, too. This once-hidden beach has been well and truly discovered. Most days, there are hundreds of people there.

So where do you go for acres of sand without a single footprint? We ferreted out five beaches for your pleasure, presented on these pages, with details of how to get to them.

These are really hidden beaches. All the photos were taken around Christmas last year – the height of the high tourist season – yet the number of people on these beaches can be counted on the fingers of two hands. In some cases, on the fingers of one finger.

Of course, these are not all of Phuket’s secret beaches – there are others. But you wouldn’t expect us to give away all our secrets, now would you?

Phuket’s Secret Beaches:

• Haad Sai Gaew
• Layan Beach
• Haad Hin Gluai
• Hua Beach
• Nai Yair Beach (coming soon)

By Alasdair Forbes

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