Transcript
What's going on everybody? This is Hopper TV. Today we're coming to you from Phuket, Thailand. Let's do it. In this Phuket, Thailand travel guide, we're going to take you around the island for seven days going from Patang Beach, Kata Beach, Raw, all the way to Phuket town for the night market. Most visitors only see 10% of Phuket. We're going to show you the very best. All right, now we're here at Pong Beach. This is one of the most famous beaches in all of Phuket. Mainly because of the nightife, but also because it's got a nice white sand beach. >> Here at the beach, you can swim, sunbathe, rent a jet ski, do parasailing over the Andaman Sea. It really shines at sunset. >> Yeah. Here's a map of Pong Beach. You can see we're right here in the middle, which is basically where Bangla Road is. You go north here. This is the area where they've got a little bit clearer water. Down here, they've got a river. So, it makes it a little bit more murky and muddy, not as clear. So, this is the area you want to be. It gets a bit hot down here on the beach around 11:00 in the morning. So, I got a coconut to get some of those electrolytes. Got to make sure you stay hydrated. You guys have bottle up here. >> Fresh cocoa. So, what we're going to do now is we're going to talk to some of these guys down here on the beach about getting a parasail over the Patang Beach area here. Goes up for about 2 minutes. You can get a longer ride if you wanted, but I think 2 minutes is just enough time. We go up on one of these parachutes here at Pong Beach, and we're trying to negotiate if we're going to land on the boat, in the water, or on the beach. So, the prices vary. I think it's around 2,000 bot. We'll let you know at the end. >> Just so you know, 2,000 bot is around $60 US. >> So, we're here with my friend Bon. I'm James. He's Bon. You guys get the idea. >> Yeah. We should go out to James Bond Island next, but we're going to be riding the parachute, right? >> Parasailing. >> Parasailing. Safe. >> 100% not safe for this. No work. >> So, you take good care. >> Take care. Many people. >> Okay. C. Thank you. He assured me that they take the necessary steps to make sure you're safe up there. I haven't seen or heard any incidents lately, although they have happened. So, so I would suggest as always doing your own research about parasailing here in Thailand, making sure that you're taking the necessary steps to ensure your safety and your loved ones. But it is quite the amazing view up here. They did move the Yona Beach Club over here as well. Every day except for one day, the waves were flat and it was just perfect swimming conditions at all the beaches across Phuket as you'll see. I mean, it really was flat water. If you like a little bit of waves, this wasn't the best time to visit here in February 2026. But I would say Pong Beach is definitely where the most action is. I'm not going to say it's the best beach on Phuket. I'll share that towards the end. But let's go around the beach area, show you around some of the other attractions along the beachfront boardwalk. As you can see, they've got the wave house here. They've got lots of cafes, restaurants, a lot of variety, not just one specific cuisine. Well, when I'm at the Tong Beach, this is one of the favorite places I eat kebab, but I've never seen them deliver it like that. It's like a big platter of meat right there on a rod. Here we are at Bangalore Road. Let's check it out at nighttime. All right, back again. Here we are at Bangal Road nighttime edition. This one's for the party people because as I've always said, if you've watched Island Hopper videos before, I say this is the biggest party on planet Earth. Every single night, literally every single night of the year, you're going to find action on Bangler Road if you love to party. Now, I'm getting older, so I'm not as big into party. But when I was in my 20s, this place was like an amazing place to be because it has so much energy and diversity of people and just really a lot going on down here. Kind of a sensory overload for me these days, especially with the loud music. I'm not a big fan of loud music anymore, but I mean, for those young people, I know some of you are young people, this is where they really love to be, and I can't blame them. Kind of reminds me of like a hangover three kind of story. Got a little crispy pork here for breakfast. Uh we've changed hotels. We'll be showing you the space capsule here momentarily, but uh little spicy. We're going to explore a bit south here. This is around Kata Beach. >> Okay guys, we're here at Katanoi. Katanoi means baby kata or little kata beach. Kata Beach main one is on the other side of that hill. You can see it's perfect weather conditions right now for swimming. The water is very calm. Calm is good for people who don't like to get swept away by rip currents, but it's not good for people who like to surf or do some body surfing on the big waves. Me personally, I like it calm. I like to be able to see what's under the water. And when it's calm, you can see what's in the water because the water is going to be a lot more clear. Not as much sand and debris getting kicked up under there. And you can see Kata Noi has a bit of a walking street or some shops. Nothing like you're going to have in Kata, but they've got some. So, it's just a more laid-back Kata beach. And you can stay down here at some really nice hotels like Katanoi Resort, Katatani, Phuket Beach. So, just go on to booking.com or trip.com and see what's in Katanoi if you want a little bit more laidback style. Now, if you're looking for a bigger beach with a lot more going on, Kata Beach is what you're going to want to stay at. They've got even more hotel selection. I just had to make a quick pit stop to get some fun duckets here. I'm picking up 10,000 Tide Bot, which is around $320. Well, guys, we've made it to Kata Beach. This is probably the best, most famous beach in all of Phuket. And you can see there's lots of people over here. So if you don't like crowds, this might not be the beach for you. >> Patang being the one for party, Kata being the one for lounging, sunbathing, chilling at the beach. It's the most famous. Like I said, this is not my favorite place to do lounging. I'll show you that a little later. Stay tuned. But you can see lots of umbrellas, plenty of beach chairs. They've got restaurants, and you can even learn to surf here, believe it or not. Although these conditions were not surfing friendly. Well, you caught me at a good time. I've got my San Miguel light. I got a light beer and beautiful views on a sunny day. The water probably the best conditions you could ask for. And this is a great view of Kata Beach. And you can see just how beautiful the beach is. One big difference about Kata from Patang is they don't have restaurants right there along the beach walk. So in Patang, you've got restaurants right across the street. Here you've got hotels across the street. So, it's a bit different. They do have some vendors selling coconuts and soft drinks and some beer. Not many food options. Look at that. That's kind of cool. You got that parrot kite with the flute. >> Y'all can see I'm wearing that UV resistant clothing that also has a hood that goes over the head. I'll put a product link right here in the lefthand corner. Yeah. So from Kata, we're actually going to drive over the hill and then go to Karan Beach. This transportation is like a tuk tuk. It's a tuk tuk van. They play a lot of music in there when you're cruising around. You can hook up the Bluetooth. Yeah. So we've now arrived at Kuran Beach. So we've got Katanoi, Kata, Kuran Beach. This one's the biggest of them all. Uh not as many hotels along here or street vendors, but nice swimming, especially right here on the south side. But honestly, this whole beach has good swimming. In Phuket, you really have to pay attention to the rip current signs or flags when they post them. On days like this, you don't have to worry so much about rip currents. But when it's choppy waters, high tide, you want to pay attention to that. But we got lucky. We got nature swimming pool on these days. You can see the water is just so tempting to get in. just very hot outside. So nice to cool down. >> Just like Kata has a village that's got a lot of restaurants and hotels. It's just there's no hotels on the beach. As you can see right here, if you look, you can see all the restaurants and the hotels. >> The Pullman seems to have a nice location. There is more trees for shade here in Karan. >> Yeah, it's hard to find transportation around here, but these are the most common kind of tuk tuks. If you're looking for an app, use in drive. I was using bolt and grab no good here on the island. It's very spotty, but in drive much better. You pay with cash, but this here, this is just a regular taxi you catch along the side of the road. I know a lot of you guys are probably curious about the Big Buddha. It's temporarily closed. It's been closed for about a year now. They had a heavy rain and a landslide, but you could just see his head right there. There is a rumor it's going to open again here in 2026, so stay tuned to see if it's going to be open by the time you get here. In the daytime, especially from about 12 to 4:00 p.m., it is very hot out here. So, finding things to do that don't allow you to get just absolutely dehydrated. So, some of those things include bathing at the beach, you know, getting in the water and swimming, or going to some of these adventure parks, preferably places with lots of trees around so you're not getting that direct sun. Here in Phuket, they've got many adventure parks. They've got skylines uh with the zipline. They've got elephants. They've got ATVs. We're stopping here to take a look at this one. It's not recommended that you try to ride elephants, but if I see elephants, I'll feed them at the very least. What you're really looking for with elephant attractions or sanctuaries is ones that have ethical treatment of the animals. For 100 bot, you get to give elephants some food, bananas. So, this here is C view elephant escape. And then over here we have Skyline. We're inquiring about doing some ziplining here. That's what we were really after. But it turns out the shortest route they have is about an hour to two hours long. That's longer than I want him to spend. They have two packages for zipline. One starts at 2500 for one person, takes an hour and a half. The other one is 1,500 bot and it takes about an hour. Cross bridges like this. You see this bridge that have these in the canopy up there. And uh yeah, seems like a good time for 1,500. I would do the 1 hour. What we're going to do now is actually head over to Raw Beach. We're going to see if we can get one of those boats to take us out to some of the islands towards the south. I'd really like to get out to Banana Island. So, let's see if we can get out there on a private boat. I misspoke. It's Banana Beach, but let's see if we can get out there. We're going to talk to some of the locals with the longtail. Banana Beach. 3,000 B. >> 3,000 B,000. >> But how how many minute is Banana Beach? >> Yeah. And 30 minutes. >> 30 minutes. >> Okay. 3,000 B. >> 3,000 go and for one boat. Okay, guys. So, we've got a boat. We're going to Coral Island Beach. There's Banana Beach and then Coral Island Beach. They say Coral Island Beach is better. So, that's the one we're going to. It's 3,000 bot. It doesn't matter how many people are going. If it's four people, two people, one people, it's 3,000 bot to get the boat to go and come back. So, you got to pay the going rate. I try to get a discount cuz I know you guys like discounts, but it's 3,000. and they're firm on the price. Don't worry, you don't have to take a private boat. You can also get a tour, but they're going to have specific hours for that and you need to book ahead. Now, the crazy thing is the beach looked calm, the water looked good, but then when we got out there, it was a lot more rough. They say it's going to take about a half hour. So, I don't know. Looks a little bit choppy. The other side was very flat. This side looks a little bit windy and choppy, though. I got a life jacket on. Just to be safe, you should always ride in boats with a life jacket. Make sure they got them or at least wear them. If you've ever seen those videos of people walking across those floating bridges, well, now's your chance. They're going to have those here in Thailand, but specifically here at this coral beach area. And you could see nice area for swimming. Again, the ocean was a bit more choppy out here than it was on the west side of Phuket where it was very calm. So, it just depends on where you're at. Weather conditions can vary. Now, out here in Coconut Island, along with having beautiful translucent blue waters, they also have two different kind of restaurant areas. You can get drinks, whatever you're looking for. I would say spending two to three hours here max would be my time frame, but some people come out here and spend a half a day or sometimes even a full day. It just depends on how much relaxation you want to get in here. In the Endaman Sea, there's about 400 islands. We're going to be going to a lot of these different islands. We're actually making a full travel documentary. We're going down from Bangkok all the way to Colanta. So, if you want to keep up with this route, I'll put a link down below in the description. You can also check the links down below. We'll put links to our other videos about Phuket, such as best places to stay in Phuket. But, we're going to keep showing you around the area of Phuket Island. And I still haven't even shown you my favorite beach for relaxing. We're going there soon. Yeah, guys, we're here at Raw. So, we went out to the islands there. It's a nice island. They got some swimming. They have two different beaches, Banana Beach and Coral Sea Beach, but uh yeah, the seas were a bit choppy. We're here in Raw. They got lots of food options for you here. Raw is really known for its seafood restaurants, but it's up and coming. They're building out this whole area around Raw with villas and other types of accommodation and really cool. Don't underestimate the idea or the concept of staying down in Raw. We've also got a lot of onins or maybe like sauna kind of healthc care centers and then it's great for people who want to learn Muay Thai. >> Well, I got some pinang curry. This is chicken. Although raw is known for its seafood. Not getting seafood right now. I'm in the mood for some panang curry. Whoops. Don't mind that little food fauxpaw right there. Got to show the bloopers, too. Right now, we're headed back to the accommodation. This here is the space capsule house or space capsule hotel here in Raw. They have a few different capsule houses all across the island, but they're fun to stay at. A little bit small, but cool. Well, guys, we're staying here at the Space House Capsules. This is in Raw. Come on, take a look. Yeah, look at this. Nice little working area for food and snacks. And you got the bed, got the pool right outside. I mean, how cool is this? It's really like a space house, isn't it? >> What I like about Rawa is it's not as busy as the other areas. Yes, it's getting more and more famous, but this area of Raw, it's got restaurants and it's got convenience cafes. I like it. Oh, don't forget about the Muay Thai gym. If you're a Muay Thai person, Raw is where it's at. And sure enough, there's the Rob Boxing Stadium for those of you who are looking to do some Muay Thai. >> Seems like a lot of people down here come with their families. And then people also get these motor scooters. I personally don't recommend riding motor scooters around Thailand. I've seen too much accidents. But if you're one of those types of people who has a lot of confidence or experience on a moped, maybe you can do it. I just personally don't. One of the iconic landmarks down here in Phuket Town is that clock tower. That's actually where the night market begins. >> There's many night markets in Phuket, but this one here is the weekend night market in Phuket. This was on a Sunday night. Now, when you're going through with the foods, the whole thing is you eat and walk. That's what the street markets in Thailand are all about. Picking up finger foods and walking and eating. That's why you'll see people eating dumplings and corn and chicken. It's really a nice place to go. Tonight is a Sunday night. Beautiful weather. >> Phuket town is the oldest settlement on the island. This is actually one of the main places they were extracting tin back in the old days. Before Phuket became a tourist hub, it was a tin mining island. Some things to know about the area around Phuket Town. It was set up by the Portuguese and the Chinese, the Baron. They're the Straits Chinese, but uh you'll see a lot of history from the Portuguese and the Chinese here. Oh, we got a uh spring roll. This is a chicken spring roll with some peanut sauce. >> Yep. So, this is one of my favorite fruits. It's literally like a popsicle. This is a mango ste. Cool thing about coming to a night market is you can support the local craftsman and the local vendors. >> Yeah, there's actually two roads to the night market. I thought there was just one, but a whole another road. I will say during high season Sunday night at the night market, lots of people. >> Wow, it is absolutely packed in here in Phuket Town. What a happening place. Now, if you're not one for big crowds like this, you can actually come down to Phuket Town during the week or an offseason. It's not going to always be this busy, and it's nice area to walk around. Just not always going to be this crowded. >> Yeah, my whole neck feels real cool from all that menthol kind of essential herbs, whatever's in there. I got the relaxing one. And that's a wrap. We're actually headed back to the hotel and we'll get ready for another big day of exploring the island. This time we're actually going to go to some of my favorite beaches, just a bit north of Batang Beach, actually. All right, guys. We've come up here now to Kamala Beach. We're going to walk around the little beachwalk here and show you the beach situation. They've got umbrellas, places to lay back. This is more chill than Patang. It's the next beach up. >> You can see here at 43, I'm more of the type of person who likes a little bit more laidback. I really think some people like to go where there's big crowds and lots of energy, especially the younger people. But if you're one of those types of people who likes to go where it's a bit more laidback, you can get those bungalows near the beach and at night you're not hearing lots of music and ruckus and big party, something like Kamala Beach can really work out for you. Nice calm beach, beautiful white sand. They got restaurants, cafes. >> Here's that massage menu for those of you who want to know the prices. That's in Thai price. 300 bot is around $10 to $11. >> Some famous branded hotels that are up here. There's the Hyatt Regency, there's the Intercontinental, and I believe there's a Novatel along with many other boutique type hotels. Stopped in for some lunch to get some pad karp. Yeah, when you're down here in uh Camala, you can easily get one of these little umbrellas here. It's a bit hot, but they got the beach massages for 300 bot. Uh you can get Thai massage, oil massage right there on the tables outside. Get a umbrella here. Get a beer, coconut, enjoy yourself. You can even get a longtail boat, which will take you to the other banana beach, the banana beach that's just north of here. So, we're going to go up to Surin Beach, check out what's going on over there. That's one of my favorite beaches on the island. Great sunset up there. Unfortunately, we're here during the day, so you're not going to be able to see it. You have