Khao Lak or Phuket?

The short answer

Choose Khao Lak for long, quiet beaches, resort stays, families and couples, and for the Similan Islands, which leave from a pier 14 km from the main strip. Choose Phuket for nightlife, more restaurants and shopping in one place, a short airport transfer, and the Phi Phi boats, which leave from Phuket itself.

How far apart they are

Khao Lak is about 74 km north of Phuket airport by road, 1 to 1.5 hours, across the Sarasin Bridge that joins Phuket to Phang Nga province. Khao Lak has no airport of its own, so everyone flying in lands in Phuket either way. There is no public bus north from the airport, so a stay in Khao Lak starts with a private car or a shared minivan.

Getting around once you are there

Khao Lak is about 25 km of separate beaches, not one town, with a village behind each and 20 to 30 minutes by road between them. Where your hotel sits decides what is within walking distance. Phuket is a large island with many beach towns. Patong is its most developed beach, and Old Phuket Town is known for its Sino-Portuguese shophouses.

The day trips, by distance

The trip you want most can decide it, because the piers are in different places.

• Similan Islands: the speedboats leave from Thap Lamu pier, about 14 km from Khao Lak's main strip and about 100 km from Patong. From Phuket it is the same boat after a long early drive.
• Khao Sok: about 74 km from Khao Lak by road, against about 180 km from Patong.
• Phi Phi: the big ferries leave from Rassada pier in Phuket, about 18 km from Patong. From Khao Lak it is a combined ticket, a minivan of 1.5 to 2 hours to Rassada and then the boat.
• Phang Nga Bay and James Bond Island: day tours run from Khao Lak, and some start from Phuket.

Nightlife and pace

None of Khao Lak is nightlife. It was rebuilt after the 2004 tsunami as a quieter, more family-oriented alternative to Phuket, and it stayed that way. Nang Thong has the most restaurants and bars on the coast, and Bang Niang has a night market, but if you want a strip of clubs, Patong is the place, about 90 minutes south.

The low season

From May to October Khao Lak empties out in a way Phuket does not. The Similan and Surin parks close from roughly 15 May to 15 October, and some restaurants, bars and dive shops along the coast shut for months. Hotels, the airport transfer, Khao Sok and most road trips keep running. Phuket stays busier through the monsoon.

Splitting the stay

Because they share an airport, one trip can do both: a few nights in Khao Lak for the beaches and the islands, then Phuket at the end, close to the flight home. Do it in that order and your last transfer is the short one.

We cover hotels along this coast — the Khao Lak beaches, Phuket and Krabi — plus a handful on Koh Samui, across in the Gulf. Start with hotels in Khao Lak, or browse every hotel we cover; prices and availability show on the partner's own site.

Planning the rest of the trip? Compare places to stay, or see what is open month by month.