The Best Day Trips from Phuket

The Tiger Kingdom

This is undoubtedly not everyone’s idea of a good time, but for many, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to be up close and personal with tigers. A little outside of Patong, The Tiger Kingdom is a quick cab ride away. You chose what size tigers you want to see all at different prices. There were baby, small, medium, large, and extra-large tigers, or you could do a combination. The baby and small had the longest waits, so we opted for the extra-large, which was $30 USD.

I’dI talked myself out of doing this several times but knew I’d regret if I didn’t. Once you pay, you wait around until they call your group, and they give you a quick briefing of what to do when you’re in the cage. You enter and start by taking pictures at various spots in the cage with the tigers. Then they do a show where they put meat on a stick and make the tigers swim and run around to get it. It was one of the scariest and unreal experiences I’ve had! Just try it, you’ll be glad to be able to say you’ve been in a cage with such beautiful and wild creatures.

James Bond Island

There were so many different variations of this tour, but we opted for The James Bond Island Grand Vision tour. If we didn’t bundle it (we bought three tours together for a discount), the single tour would have been $80 USD. It included a trip to the Monkey Caves in the Suwan Kuha Tempe, cruising around Phang Na National Park on a long-tail boat, canoeing around sea caves by Talu Island, and lunch at the Fisherman’s Village of KohPan Yee.

The first stop was the Monkey Caves. Everywhere you walk around, different sized monkeys are trying to find food and take your food. It was a neat experience, but be careful not to touch the monkeys because they will bite and hiss at you (I learned this firsthand, they’re mean little creatures!)

We theIslanded on a long-tail boat and headed out to Phang Na National Park. I loved every minute of this ride! We cruised through lush islands, and everywhere you looked, the water was a pretty turquoise color. When we arrived at James Bond Island, it was extremely crowded. Several tour companies were trying to dock on the Island, and the actual land area is TINY. Tourists are wandering around everywhere, and there are even souvenir shops set up on the Island. We snapped our pictures and tried hiking around to find hidden spots where there were fewer people. All in all, I was excited to get off the Island. It was just so hectic!

Next up was canoeing around Talu Island. Our boat pulled up to a vast docked ship with canoes on it. We got 30 minutes to canoe around the caves; it was neat! We tried to get away from the crowds and find hidden areas. The final stop was at Fisherman’s Village. It’s a ton of floating houses and shops basically in the middle of nowhere. We had lunch here and shopped around. It was crazy to walk around because it just felt like you were on an enormous floating dock.

Overall this tour was great; just don’t set your expectations super high for James Bond Island, given all the tourists, and try to find a tour company that has other sights included!

Phi Phi Islands

Unless you’re far removed from social media, you’ve seen pictures of the Phi Phi Islands. Some come to Phuket for the sole reason of visiting the Phi Phi Islands. They’re a group of six beautiful islands a short trip away from Phuket or Krabi. We booked our tour through a local tour booth, and it was through the company See Sea Blue Marine Company.

After a quick breakfast, we took a speedboat to Monkey Beach. We didn’t dock on the beach because the monkeys can be pretty mean and bite, so we just watched them by boat and took pictures. Then, we cruised around and saw Loh Samah Bay, Pileh Cove, and Viking Cave by boat as we learned more about the history of the Phi Phi Islands.

Then, we docked at the famous Maya Bay. Don’t get me wrong; it didn’t disappoint by any means. The white sand beach and turquoise water look even better in person! The beach was flooded with so many people; you couldn’t move freely or get a picture with no one in it. As to be expected, for how famous Maya Bay is. We had a little time to walk around, lay on the beach and go swimming.

After the stop on Maya Bay, we headed to Khai Island to snorkel. We didn’t see a ton of fish, but the water wasn’t freezing, so it was perfect. Overall, I loved this day! The Phi Phi Islands are amazing, just be prepared for crowded beaches and a packed day.

Phuket Elephant Sanctuary

We went to the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary, about an hour outside of Phuket, and opted for the half-day afternoon visit. The visit included transportation, a full elephant experience, and lunch. The tour was advertised at $80 USD, but since we booked our tours all at once, we got a bundle discount.

The Elephant Sanctuary was, by far, one of my favorite experiences I’ve ever had! I’m also a HUGE elephant lover, but these creatures are so gentle, kind, and playful. You’ll feel good about going here because you can see the elephants treated ethically, and the workers genuinely care for these animals. They know each of the elephants by name and can speak of their specific personalities.

After an introduction to the Sanctuary and of how each elephant got there, you get to feed them. We made elephant food, grabbed watermelon and bananas. All of the elephants have specific personalities, even just how they eat. It was so special to interact with the elephants firsthand; they’re such pleasant and patient animals.

After a fantastic traditional Thai buffet lunch, we got in the water to bathe the elephants. We covered them in mud then washed them off. Be prepared to get muddy and dirty, but this is the best way to get up close and personal with the elephants! We then said bye to the elephants and were shuttled an hour back to our Airbnb.