Expat Travel Mom

If you asked us how many times we went to Phuket over our years living in Southeast Asia, we honestly couldn't give you an exact number. What we do know is each time was better than our first. It became something close to a second home base, easy to reach, easy to love, easy to meet up with friends, and easy to return to again and again with different people along for the ride, grandparents one trip, surprise visitors from our old UAE life another, sometimes just us squeezing in a half-day detour between flights. After that many visits, we've built up a real list of what's actually worth doing there. Here's Phuket, the way our family does it.

Where to Stay

More often than not, home base was the Sunwing hotel on Bang Tao beach, our go-to enough times that it started to feel less like a hotel and more like our own little Phuket routine. A handful of other trips we mixed it up with Airbnbs scattered around the island instead, depending on who we were traveling with and what part of Phuket we wanted to be close to that time. But Sunwing had various pools depending on the mood, various room choices for our family of five or the visiting grandparents, affordable (especially when you hit their deals or off season), it's beachfront, and the staff were really friendly. We never had an issue here.

Mini Golf

A near-constant on nearly every single visit. Adventure Mini Golf is low-key, easy with any age group, and always a good way to fill an hour between beach time and dinner. We were able to walk there and back, even with the grandparents. There's food and drink if you'd like as well. It's just something else to do when sightseeing or beaching has reached a limit.

Beach Days

Some things don't need much explanation. Beach days were simply a given on every trip, the whole reason Phuket kept calling us back in the first place. Whether you like sitting on the beach, swimming in the water, or looking at the beach from your pool lounger, you can't deny how gorgeous Thailand's beaches are. And who can resist a beachside massage? The was one thing our kids always looked forward too on our trips to Phuket. We could either be found at Bang Tao beach or Surin beach, both lovely and family friendly.

Big Buddha

The enormous white marble Big Buddha sitting high above the island, worth the trip if you've never been, if only for the view over Phuket from up there. We get a driver and pretty much spend a 1/2 trip between the driving, walking and lunch. It's quite stunning.

Soi Dog Foundation

On one trip we only had half a day to spare in our itinerary, and we spent it at Soi Dog Foundation, and it was worth every minute. We played with puppies, spent time with the senior dogs, and learned far more than we expected about street dog rescue, their spay and neuter programs, and the realities of the dog meat trade in this part of the world. Everyone we met there was kind and genuinely caring about the work. We took far too many photos to ever pick a favorite. We even have a permanent star on their Walk of Love for our Milo and Juno.

Phuket Elephant Sanctuary

On that same trip, we made time for Phuket Elephant Sanctuary in Pakhlok, where our daughter spent part of the visit advocating for her own elephant project and book, something she'd been building for a while by that point (read more in our Nepal post). Our time there was calm and genuinely amazing, we fed the elephants from behind a pole and walked the grounds at a respectful distance while they grazed, nothing rushed, nothing performative, no bathing, no riding. Watching her talk about her project with the staff in the exact kind of place it was actually about was its own quiet full-circle moment.

Nok n Jo's

If there's one constant thread through every single Phuket trip, it's this one. Run by a Thai woman, Nok, married to an Canadian, Jo, Nok and Jo's became our must-return spot every time we were on the island, incredible food, a genuinely fun ladyboy cabaret show, and the kind of warmth that made it feel less like a restaurant and more like visiting old friends. We brought friends here. We brought the grandparents here. The kids loved it every single time, no matter how many times we'd already been.

On what would have been our next visit back in 2019, we learned that Joe had passed away. We wanted this post to hold space for that, for the restaurant he and Nok built together, and for all the nights our family spent laughing there over the years. Thank you, Joe, for the food, the shows, and for giving our family a place in Phuket that always felt like coming home.

The Surprise We'll Never Forget

Not something you can plan for a to-do list, but worth telling anyway. We were at Surin Beach when our closest friends from our UAE teaching days showed up completely unannounced (to me), timed perfectly with a belated 40th birthday celebration I didn't see coming. I ended up on stage at our favorite dinner spot that night, Nok n Jo's, and I was the only one in the group who had no idea what was about to happen. The kids, reunited after years apart, acted like no time had passed at all. Some friendships just work that way, especially international friendships which become more like family.

Phuket gave us so many versions of the same island over the years, quiet ones, chaotic ones, ones with people we loved unexpectedly showing up, and ones spent quietly loving on rescued dogs and elephants. We'll keep going back.

If you're looking for Chiang Mai, this post may interest you!