Palai Beach | Pa Lai Beach

Name: Palai Beach | Pa Lai Beach
Rating: 5

16/01/2019 Sepp Hatzl 2,268 views No Comments

Palai Beach Phuket is a small tree-lined beach south of Phuket Town on Phuket Island’s southeast coast. The Palai Beach faces south and doesn’t pick up either sunrise or sunset directly, but the skies can still be beautiful at these times. Technically, Palai Beach is a beach, and deserves a spot on this list, but when you go, you’re going to see a long concrete boardwalk over the sand. While you can go walk along the sand, most people just stay up on the boardwalk because it’s a unique sort of experience in Phuket, and the water here, as it is at most beaches on the eastern coast of the island, rather muddy and not good for swimming or even wading. Palai Beach does have something for tourists besides swimming, snorkeling and other water activities though, a couple of good restaurants! Locals know about these, and the boat drivers all know how good they are, so if you’re in the area around meal-time, you should stop and treat yourself to a fine meal at Palai Seafood, it’s the best of the restaurants along the beach.

Palai Beach Clubs

There are no beach clubs at Palai Beach. It’s a quiet sort of place that is really more of a stop to explore if you have literally nothing else to do!

Palai Beach Restaurants / Bars

Mor Moo Dong Restaurant – though there are a handful of other restaurants at Palai Beach, but you should just head straight for Mor Moo Dong Restaurant behind the water reservoirs on the far east end of Palai Beach. This is the only restaurant in the entire beach area that has a great rating, and hundreds of people have eaten the food here and overall agreed that it’s high quality and worth a stop. Don’t be tempted to eat at one of the fish or seafood market restaurants closer to the beach boardwalk. Warning – you will NOT be impressed by the ambiance. The food is good though.
Palai Seafood (Chalong) – If you want a rustic and a genuine Thai experience, then try Palai Seafood restaurant. They offer an extensive list of Thai favorites including Spicy seafood soup, seafood salad with fresh squid and steamed sea bass. All dishes are cooked with fresh ingredients and reasonable priced

Palai Beach Accommodations

Tachawan Resort and Restaurant – this appears to be a homestay hotel in a big house. The pool is small but looks clean. There are very few accommodations in Palai Beach, and this is the only one which received at least a 4 out of 5 rating by reviewers, so we’re going with it. Rooms begin around 2,400 THB nightly.

Palai Beach Facts

Location in Phuket: Southeast part of Phuket, in Chalong Bay by Panwa Cape.
GPS Data: 7° 50’ 19” N, 98° 21’ 53” E
Distance to Patong / Phuket Town / Airport in km: 21 / 9 / 41
Taxis available: Yes
Surrounding Beaches: To the West is Friendship Beach. Khao Kad is the next beach to the east, located on the west side of Cape Panwa.
Direction Facing: South
Beach Length: 1.26 km (.8 mi.)
Beach Width: Couple of meters at the widest spot. (1 yd. ave.)
Estimated Beach Area: 1’260 m2 (1,507 square yd)
Beach Quality: Typical of Phuket’s east coast beaches with mixed mud and sand that is great for finding clams, but not good for swimming.
Ocean Bottom: Mud and sand
Restroom / showers facilities? There are restrooms at the couple of restaurants along the beach. No showers, nobody is swimming here.
Beach features: Large pier to take tourists out to the boats. The water is very shallow and muddy, and a pier is necessary.
Lifeguard Available? No
Sunbeds Available? No
Umbrellas? None
Public or Private? Entrance fees? Public, no fees. Easy access.
Water quality: Good
Boat anchorage possible? Yes, boats can anchor offshore here.
Boat dock and marina? Yes, a large dock is available.
Longtail boat rental possible? Yes
Speedboat/longtail boat tours possible? Yes/Yes
Sea inflow:: Yes
Slope into sea until 1m deep: unknown
Convenience shop available? No
Attractions: The Phuket Zoo is located less than 1 kilometer (.6 mi.) behind the beach. Ratings are just 2.8 out of 5 at Google, so it probably isn’t going to impress you much. Reviewers mentioned poor conditions for animals, and elephant shows. The process of breaking elephants to tame them is especially cruel, and there is a movement against zoos across the globe. There’s little else around the area except if you’re a surfer and want to check out Freedom Boardsports. They claim it’s the largest surf shop in Asia.
Activities: Walking and eating! There are a couple of markets here too – one just under 200 meters (219 yd.) east past the pier called the Seafood Market. All the seafood markets appear to be restaurants, and not markets at all.
FKK possible? Not permitted, but if empty…
Massage available? No
Picnic possible? No
Surfing? Absolutely not.
Smoking? In November Thailand is cracking down on smoking at beaches around the country. In November 2017 in Phuket, Patong Beach is affected. Soon they expect to make it a country-wide smoking ban – so do stay up to date because fines are high and can include prison time.
Warnings: Stingrays can lurk just under the muddy sand at all east coast Phuket beaches. The barbs on the tail are venomous and cause extreme pain if they puncture your skin.
Waste runoff into the sea? Yes