Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Information
There are numerous internet cafes and ATMs around Th Phuket, Th Ranong, Th Montri
and Th Phang-Nga.
Main Post Office
(Th Montri;
8.30am-4pm Mon-Fri, 9am-noon Sat)
Police
(
0 7622 3555, 191; cnr Th Phang-Nga & Th Phuket)
TAT Office
( 0 7621 23213;
www.tourismthailand.org/Phuket
;
191 Th Thalang; 8.30am-4.30pm)
Has
maps, loads of brochures and info on boat trips to Ko Phi-Phi and the islands.
WORTH A TRIP
BIG BUDDHA
Set on a hilltop just northwest of Chalong circle and visible from almost half of the island, the Big Buddha sits at
the best viewpoint on Phuket. To get here you'll follow the red signs from the main highway (Hwy 402) and
wind up a country road, passing terraced banana groves and tangles of jungle. Once you're on top, pay your re-
spects at the tented golden shrine, then step up to Big Buddha's glorious plateau where you can peer into Kata's
perfect bay, glimpse the shimmering Karon strand and, on the other side, survey the serene Chalong harbour
where the channel islands look like pebbles.
Construction began on Big Buddha in 2007, and he's dressed in Burmese alabaster, which isn't cheap. All in
all, the price tag is north of 60 million baht, not that anybody minds. Over the last 20 years construction on
Phuket hasn't stopped, so it means something when locals refer to the Big Buddha project as Phuket's most im-
portant development in the last 100 years.
Getting There & Around
TO/FROM THE AIRPORT
Despite what airport taxi touts would like you to believe, a bright orange
government airport
bus
( 0 7623 2371;
www.airportbusphuket.com
;
tickets 90B)
runs between the airport and Phuket
Town (45 minutes) via the Heroines Monument about every hour between 6am and 7pm.
There's also a minibus service at the airport that will take you into Phuket Town for 150B
per person; Patong, Kata and Karon beaches cost 180B if there are enough passengers.
Chartered cars between the airport and Phuket Town cost 500B; between the airport and
beaches is 700B to 1000B. Metered taxis should cost no more than 550B (including air-
port tax) to anywhere around the island.
BUS
The bus terminal (
Click here
)
is east of the town centre. For bus routes,
Click here
.
CAR
