Phuket and Southern Thailand
The South contains many beautiful beaches and islands in the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea. Well-known tourist destinations are Phuket Province, Koh Samui, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Lipe, and Koh Tao. Phuket, Thailand’s largest island and main beach destination, is located about 860 kilometers south of Bangkok. It is known as “the Pearl of the Andamans” and it is not difficult to understand why. Connected to the mainland by a causeway (Sarasin Bridge), it offers the visitor with its expanses of white sand, bathed by transparent turquoise waters. The backdrop to this aquatic landscape, the green hills, the jungle and thickets of coconut palms. On the way to the main routes between India and China, the island originally developed thanks to the exploitation of tin and rubber.
The heavy commercial traffic of the time gave the place a cosmopolitan flavor. Between the 18th and 20th centuries, Phuket’s rich tin deposits acted as a magnet for trade. The Chinese arrived first with their traditions, followed by the European mining companies of Portugal, Holland and France that King Rama V the Great invited to help the development of the industry.
These visitors profited and turned Phuket into a small house away from home, also influencing the architectural style of the buildings. We recommend that you visit phuket town. Now phuket’s international appearance has not changed, but the protagonists have changed: no longer important traders, but visitors from all over the planet, seduced by the lush nature of the island, its sea and the hospitality of its inhabitants. The variety of the landscape is the main wealth of the place.
The island, which is dominated by a chain of north-south mountains along the west coast, includes numerous microclimates and a surprising variety of flora and fauna alternating rocky headlands with long, wide crescent beaches, limestone cliffs, and hills covered with tropical forests. 54 km long and 22 km wide, it has 17 white sandy beaches, an extremely varied panorama and, all around, a spectacular collier of over 30 islands and islets. In Phuket the fan of the sea and the tan find the ideal place.
It does not matter if under the umbrella and with all the comforts that offer well-equipped tourist facilities or in secluded places. But, above all, the Pearl of the Andamans is the place that allows everyone to spend a holiday according to their tastes, rhythms and needs. In Phuket there are only two seasons: the rainy season and the summer one that runs from November to April.
The average temperature of the island is between 25 and 32 degrees all year round, slightly cooler during the rainy season, very hot in April. We are very close to the Equator and in Phuket the hours of light correspond perfectly to the hours of darkness.
