Thailand Country Guide - Phuket

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Phuket, Thailand's largest island in the Andaman Sea, is 867km from Bangkok and a has a rich and colorful history. Known as the Pearl of the Andaman, it derived much of its former glory and its enormous wealth from tin production, dating back over 500 years.

Phuket today is Thailand's major tourist attraction.The surrounding waters contain varied marine life, and the town is notable for Sino-Portuguese architecture. It is a very attractive island for sightseeing, with lovely seashores and forested hillsides.

There is approximately 1.75 million rai of the area is forest land. The main plantation is rice farming. As an island connected by bridges to southern Thailand's Andaman Sea coast, in the Indian Ocean, Phuket is surrounded by 32 smaller islands with a total area of 570 square kilometres. 70 percent of Phuket is mountainous; a western range runs from north to south. The highest peak is Mai Tha Sip Song, or Twelve Canes, at 529 meters, which lies in Tambon Patong. The remaining 30 percent of the island, mainly in the centre and south, is formed by low plains.

Climate

Weather conditions are dominated by monsoon winds all year round; therefore, it is usually warm and humid with two distinct seasons of rainy and hot. The rainy season is between May and October. Hot season is between November and April. Highest average temperature is at 33.4 degree Celsius during March while lowest averages in January dip to 22 degree Celsius.

Economy

Since the early 1980s, tourism industry has been Phuket's major source of income. Hotels, restaurants, travel companies, and souvenir shops are much in evidence on the west coast. While tin mining has ceased, tourism is the island's only activity. Agriculture remains important to many people, covering the most part of the island. Principal crops are rubber, coconuts, cashews, and pineapples.

Prawn farming has largly taken over the east and south coasts. Pearl farming is also important. Phuket's fishing port is at all time filled, and processing of marine products, mainly fish, makes a significant contribution to the economy.

Getting to Phuket

Phuket is 867km from Bangkok. Buses leave the Southern Bus Terminal in Bangkok daily. Thai Airways International operates daily flights to Phuket with 1 hour 20 minute travel time. The Deep Sea Port at Phuket is visited by both cargo and cruise ship from Thailand and from abroad.

Region Information - Bangkok | Cha-am | Chiangmai | Hua Hin | Patong Beach | Pattaya | Phuket | Pranburi