Had Hin Gluai

HAAD HIN GLUAI: Banana Rock Beach in English, this is the best of the five beaches we found for you. The way down to it feels almost mystical – along a wooded track, then down to a stream that seems to have carved its way right through a rock, through a meadow of wild flowers and finally to the beach itself.
There’s a small makeshift restaurant at the southern end of the beach, from which you can also rent beach loungers. The restaurant also has tables and chairs in the shade of large trees.
The beach is apparently named after the rock at the southern end, which looks a bit like one end of a banana sticking out of the water (if you squint your eyes and use your imagination – use it a lot).

To get there: Many people travel to this beach by long-tail boat, especially from the neighboring Trisara resort, but reaching it by land is simple enough. It is about a kilometre south of the southern end of Nai Thon Beach, and just north of Trisara. From Nai Thon, drive past Maleiwana and the Andaman White Beach Resort. The road climbs, then drops into a left-hand curve just before a bridge. Park on the right before the bridge and follow the track into the forest. Down to your left is a stream. A couple of hundred metres in is a crossing point; someone has even tied a convenient rope to a tree to help you get down to the stream. Cross over and keep following the path to the beach.

By Alasdair Forbes

Layan Beach - Phuket

LAYAN BEACH: This is one of those oddities of nomenclature. Layan Beach is actually not in Layan Bay. It’s at the north end of Bang Tao Bay, just south of Layan Bay.
Five years ago this was one of the quietest, most delightful stretches of beach on the island. Now, with the construction of multi-million-baht homes all around, there are a few more people on the beach, but it’s still far from crowded.

There’s a friendly restaurant and bar, as well as a recently added tour desk. Not sure why they did that – one suspects that not many people go to a beach to book elephant tours…
Go soon because, on a large tract of land set back from the beach, is the site for the new Shangri-La Resort and Villas. When that opens in a couple of years’ time, there’s going to be serious competition for beach chairs.

To get there: Either stroll north up the beach from any of the Laguna Phuket resorts – about two kilometres – or, if you’re in a car, take the road west from the main intersection in Thalang. When you reach the next village, look out for a turn to the right, signposted to Layan Beach Resort – it’s on a tight left-hand bend. Take that turn and follow the road for about 3.5 km.

When you pass the Baan Saun restaurant, keep an eye out for a turning to the left at the end of the tin-sheet wall surrounding the site for the new Shangri-La resort and villas. Turn left and keep going, over the klong. You’ll come to a T junction. Facing you is a gateway. Go through that and down the track to the beach.

By Alasdair Forbes

Haad Sai Gaew - Phuket

HAAD SAI GAEW: In English, Crystal Sands, this is at the northern end of Mai Khao Beach, curving round the top of the island and along the shore of the waterway between Phuket and the mainland. Since most people arrive in Phuket by air and leave the same way, few ever see the island to the north of the airport, which is where this lovely beach is.

The part facing west onto the Andaman Sea is well equipped with simple grass-roofed restaurants, but the beach is fairly narrow and shelves steeply, and swimming can be dangerous when there’s even a moderate swell.

For a wider, more pleasant, usually deserted beach, walk north along the sand until you turn the corner and get away from the worst of the breakers. No restaurants here, but the swimming is delightful. The only other people likely to be there will be local kids.

This is a walk of about a kilometre, so if you have kids in tow, or four tons of beer, get back in your car and drive north until you are closer.

To get there: Drive north along the main highway, past the airport turn-off, and keep going. Near the north end of the island is a police check-point, after which the highway splits. You’ll find yourself curving to the left, then right, and then running alongside the ocean. This is the southern end of Haad Sai Gaew.

To get to the north end of the beach, drive on slowly for about a kilometre until you see Tah Chat Chai school on your left. Turn left just before the school (or immediately after it if you miss the first turning).

Drive down to the beach. Park and walk about 400 metres to your left to reach the best part of the beach. Adventurous kids will love the beached barge.

GPS:8º11’52.98”N, 98º17’04.29”E

By Alasdair Forbes

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