Phuket Town - Phuket (Stadt)

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Phuket
provincePhuket
Residents
77.610 (2014)
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Phuket

Phuket is the capital of eponymous island in the South of Thailand. It is located in a bay on the southeast coast of the island. To distinguish it from the island and province of the same name, it is also called Phuket town, in English as Phuket Town or Phuket City and in Thai as Nakhon Phuket designated.

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Sino-Portuguese building with clock tower

The island's capital, Phuket, is - like other trading cities along the Malay Peninsula, e.g. B. Songkhla, Penang, Malacca - shaped by the descendants of Chinese immigrants. In the course of the 19th century, en masse single men from the then poor and conflict-ridden southern China came to Southeast Asia in search of a better life, where they initially hired themselves as wage laborers, mainly in the tin mining industry on Phuket. Often they married local Thai or Malay women. From these connections a separate population group emerged, the Baba (in the Malay countries also as Peranakan designated). Little by little, many of them moved to the cities, opened commercial businesses and rose to the middle or even upper classes. Their descendants took up cultural traditions of both lineages, but also developed their own customs, for example the Baba wedding ceremony is considered particularly splendid and impressive.

The residential and commercial buildings in the Portuguese colonial style, which are characteristic of Phuket's old town, are not relics of the former Portuguese trading post (especially Phuket, contrary to some suspect, was not a Portuguese colony), but were built at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century Chinese merchant families who particularly liked this architectural style. That is why there is also talk of the Sino-Portuguese style, which can also be found in port cities in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

getting there

By plane

From Phuket International Airport it is a good 30 kilometers to Phuket town.

The cheapest transfer is the Airport bus, the trip to the island's capital costs 100 baht. You can get off at the shopping centers on the northwestern outskirts (CentralFestival, BigC), at Surakun Stadium, at Phanthep Condo Town or at the bus station in the city center. Departure is approximately once an hour (see timetable on the website), the journey takes 1:20 hours due to the many stops en route.

Alternatively, you can take the "limousine service" (this is not a luxury limousine, but a more neat middle-class taxis at a fixed price), the price is 700–950 baht, depending on the type of car and company, and is paid at the counter before departure. They are a little more comfortable than normal taxis and you don't have to negotiate the price with (sometimes dubious) taxi drivers or take the risk of a manipulated taximeter. A minivan transfer for 1050–1200 Baht is available for groups. The journey takes about three quarters of an hour.

mobility

Map of Phuket Town

Tourist Attractions

Historic Sino-Portuguese commercial buildings on Soi Rommani
  • The cityscape of the is worth seeing Old town overall with its tile-roofed residential and commercial buildings in the Sino-Portuguese style, which mostly only have a narrow front, but are very deep, and arcades. Many examples of this style can be found on Thalang Road, a complete ensemble of well-preserved and renovated buildings of this type is also the small side street Soi Rommani. There are also a number of villas built around 1900 with large gardens by wealthy merchants and entrepreneurs, especially around Krabi and Satun Road.

temple

Wat Mongkhon Nimit
  • 1  Wat Mongkhon Nimit
  • 2  Put yaw, Ranong Road. Oldest and most beautiful Chinese temple on Phuket, the main shrine is dedicated to the goddess Guan-yin (goddess of compassion).

Buildings

  • 3  Former governor's palace (today the seat of the provincial administration), Surin Road (in the east of the city). Large colonial-style building from the 1920s, the stucco decorations and column capitals are particularly noteworthy. In the movie The Killing Fields it was used to represent the French embassy in Cambodia. Diagonally opposite (25, Damrong Road) is the provincial court, which is also housed in a historic building (built in 1916).

Museums

Phuket Baba Museum (formerly Chartered Bank) building
  • 4  Thai Hua Museum, 28 Krabi Road. Tel.: (0)76-211224. One of the most beautiful and best-preserved Sino-Portuguese buildings in the city, it used to be a Chinese language school, today it serves as a museum about the cultural heritage of Phuket, especially its people of Chinese origin. As is typical for this type of house, it has an inner courtyard that helps to keep the climate bearable even in summer. In 13 exhibition rooms, information is provided in a tasteful and vivid manner about history, clothing, education, architecture and cuisine.Open: Daily 9 am-5pm.Price: Entry 200 Baht (Thai 50 Baht), Photo Permit 200 Baht.
  • 5  Baan Chinpracha (บ้าน ชิน ประชา Chinpracha House), 98 Krabi Road. Another particularly beautiful and well-preserved among the Sino-Portuguese villas in the city, built in 1903. The ground floor with its airy rooms is furnished with antique furniture and is open to the public as a museum. The owners still live upstairs. The house served as a backdrop for the films Between heaven and hell and The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones.Price: Entry 130 baht.
  • 6  Phuket Baba Museum (Peranakan Nitat Museum), 34 Phuket Road (Corner of Phang Nga Road). Tel.: (0)95-2577264.Phuket Baba Museum on Facebook.A representative colonial-style commercial building from 1907, then the seat of the Standard Chartered Bank, was extensively restored from 2010 to 2016 and is now used as a museum. In addition to the permanent exhibition on the history and cultural heritage of the Baba (Peranakan) ethnic group, there are rooms for temporary exhibitions.Open: Tue-Sun 10.30am-5pm.Price: Entry 190 baht.
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  • 7  Thavorn Museum, 74 Rassada Road. Quirky museum in the lobby of the old Thavorn Hotel, one of the oldest and most prestigious hotels in Phuket, where members of the royal family and high-ranking politicians have stayed, but which has long since passed its prime. All kinds of objects from the history of the house, such as calculators and typewriters, telephone exchanges, photographs, decorations and tin toys, seem to be stored in a disordered and dusty way.Open: opening on request at the reception.Price: Entry 30 baht.

Parks

  • 8  Rama IX Park. Large public park on Chao Fa Road in the west of the city, with walking paths, lily ponds, flower beds, shady trees and a fitness trail.
  • 9  Khao Rang. From the vantage point on this hill in the north of the city you have a good view of the place and the surrounding area (up to the great Buddha). There is a small restaurant and cafe upstairs, but lots of mosquitoes and wild monkeys too!

activities

shop

kitchen

Phra Pitak Chinpracha, in which the Blue Elephant Phuket is located
  • 1  Raya restaurant, 48 Dibuk Road. Tel.: (0)76-218155. Traditional, family-run restaurant in a historic Sino-Portuguese residential building with old, colorful tiles and a living room atmosphere. Large selection of dishes, the house specialty is crab curry khanom chin (Rice noodles).
  • 2  Blue Elephant Phuket, 96 Krabi Road. Tel.: (0)76-354355-7, Email: . Noble, but not overly expensive restaurant in the former property of the governors of Phuket from around 1900. This magnificent palace was left to itself for a long time and a bit shabby, now it has been stylishly renovated, but has lost a bit of its mysterious charm. Nevertheless, the ambience is tasteful, the service impeccable and the classic Thai cuisine, as it is also cooked at the royal court, is excellent. The restaurant also runs a cooking school (half-day learning unit approx. 3300 THB, if you book several units, there is a slight discount).Price: meal including drinks for about 1500 Baht per person.

nightlife

accommodation

Cheap

  • 1  2W Hostel Phuket, 73 Tilok Uthit 1, Talat Yai, Mueang, Phuket 83000. Tel.: 66 (0)76-213717. Modern hostel near the clock tower; There are 4- and 6-person dormitories, double rooms with shared bathroom, and double and triple rooms with private bathrooms. All units with AC, dorm beds each with their own reading light, power connection, locker; Common room with home theater; Deluxe room have their own TV; Towels cost extra in dormitories, simple rooms and deluxe rooms. incl. WLAN for all guests incl. There is also a café in the house; friendly staff.Price: bed in dormitory 350 baht, double room from 710 baht.
  • 2  Ai Phuket Hostel, 88 Yaowarat Road, Talat Yai, Mueang Phuket, Phuket 83000. Tel.: 66 (0)76-212881, Mobile: 66 (0)91-0356886, Email: . Modern hostel in the old town; There are 6 and 8-person dormitories, double rooms with shared or private bathrooms.Price: bed in dormitory from 250 baht, double room from 490 baht.

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  • 3  99 Oldtown Boutique Guesthouse, 99 Thalang Road, Talat Yai, Phuket Town, Phuket 83000. Tel.: (0)81-7974311, (0)81-6932423, Email: . Small guest house (15 rooms) in the Sino-Portuguese style in the middle of the old town; all rooms with private bathroom, AC, refrigerator, cable TV, balcony.Price: Double room from 863 Baht.
  • 4  On On Hotel, 19 Phang Nga Rd. Old (since 1929), atmospheric, but not particularly comfortable hotel. It has greater notoriety since it was in the film The Beach served as the backdrop for the hostel on Khao San Road, where the main character played by Leonardo Di Caprio stops at the beginning of the plot.

Upscale

health

  • Mission Hospital Phuket, 4/1 Moo 3 Thepkasatri Road, Ratsada, Muang, Phuket 83000. Tel.: 66 (0)76 237 220-6. Open: Mon-Thu 8 am-8pm, Fri 8 am-12pm, Sun 8 am-4pm, Sat and public holidays only in emergencies.

Practical advice

Phra Mahathat Chedi, Wat Chalong

trips

  • 2  Wat Chalong (officially Wat Chaiyathararam). Wat Chalong in the Wikipedia encyclopediaWat Chalong in the media directory Wikimedia CommonsWat Chalong (Q461025) in the Wikidata database.The most famous and most magnificent Buddhist temple on the island, about 9 km southwest of the city center on road no. 4021.
  • Phuket Aquarium. The only public large aquarium on the island, 11 km south of the city center on the Laem Phan Wa peninsula.

literature

Web links

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