Bang Tao Beach
บางเทา
Home to white sands, Laguna Phuket and a huge number of quality hotels, villas and restaurants
- Best time
- Nov–Apr (dry season)
- From Bangkok
- 1h 20m flight to HKT + ~30m drive
- How long
- 3–5 days
- Getting around
- Grab, Bolt, scooter rental
Updated September 2026
Plan your trip
Recommended by us
Two Heroines Monument
The roundabout statues of Chan and Mook, the two sisters who rallied Phuket's defence in 1785. A two-minute stop that gives the island's history a face.
Wat Phra Thong
Famous for the half-buried gold Buddha image that legend says cannot be moved. The compound is calm and rarely crowded, a good counterpoint to Bang Tao's beach-resort strip.
Thalang National Museum
Phuket's main history museum, a short drive east of Bang Tao. Two floors covering the Heroines' War, tin-mining, and Peranakan culture, useful context before you head south to Old Town.
Half-Day Phuket Easy Thai Cooking
A 4.9 from 124 guests: a relaxed half-day class that covers the five dishes most visitors want to take home. Finishes in time for an afternoon on the beach.
Get to Bang Tao Beach
Fly into Phuket International Airport. Bang Tao is the closest beach, about 20 minutes south. Grab a metered taxi or arrange hotel transfer on arrival.
eSIM for Thailand
Land with data already working and skip the airport SIM queue. We compared six providers. Code THAIHOLIDAY saves 10%.
Travel insurance
Scooters and speedboat day trips are the norm around Bang Tao: sort cover before you go and check that the motorbike clause is included.
Getting to Bang Tao Beach
Compare buses, trains, ferries, and flights to Phuket.
Top sights & experiences
Things to do in Bang Tao Beach
Things to do on the map
Where to stay in Bang Tao Beach
Also nearby
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When to go
Bang Tao Beach
Gulf coast · Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao
From June to September, Bang Tao Beach is in its rainy season while the Gulf coast has its best months. Compare the two coasts
Nov–Feb Peak season for Bang Tao's beach club scene. Laguna Phuket hums with activity, the sand is wide and clean, and you can walk for kilometres without a crowd. Book ahead: the better pool villas fill fast from December.
Mar–Apr Still largely dry and the beach clubs stay open, but heat builds through April. Fewer package tourists than Patong means prices don't spike as sharply. Worth it if you're after the Laguna resort vibe without the December crush.
May–Oct Afternoon storms roll in and some beach club operations scale back, but the long beach empties out dramatically. Room rates drop across the Laguna strip. Mornings are often clear. Head out early and you'll have the sand to yourself.
Explore around Bang Tao Beach
About Bang Tao Beach
Last updated September 2026
Bang Tao Beach stretches six kilometres along Phuket’s northwest coast, one of the island’s longest unbroken stretches of sand. Laguna Phuket anchors the northern end, Asia’s first integrated resort (1987) with six hotels, Laguna Golf Phuket, Canal Village and a lagoon system linked by complimentary shuttle bus and lagoon boat. The southern half is quieter, with beach clubs, smaller boutique properties and a stretch of open beach that locals actually use.
The Beach
The sand is wide and white, and the gradient into the water is gentle, genuinely good for families and easy swimming in the November-April high season. The water turns rough from May to October when the southwest monsoon brings surf; red flag days are common and swimming outside designated safe zones is inadvisable. The lagoon behind the beach is worth a kayak trip: mangroves, birdlife and quiet channels away from the main tourist strip.
Beach clubs line the middle section of the beach. Xana is part of the Angsana Laguna resort, with a 35-metre pool facing the sea. RAVA, which opened in 2025 as part of Banyan Tree Phuket, has three infinity pools stretching across 150 metres of beachfront, currently one of the larger beach club setups in Phuket. Daybeds and cabanas at both require packages; cocktails run around 400-600 baht.
Where to Eat
Boat Avenue, adjacent to Laguna (not the same as on-estate Canal Village), is the main off-beach eating hub for many visitors. Suay Cherngatalay does modern Thai with Michelin recognition; Ta Wai offers traditional Thai in a garden setting; Hosay Bowl covers açaí and poke. The Fun Friday Night Market runs weekly at Boat Avenue from 4-9pm with Thai street food and craft stalls. Inside Laguna, Canal Village adds lagoon-side cafés, services and restaurants reachable by the free hotel shuttle or ferry. See the Laguna Phuket hub. For lower prices, walk south along the beach past the resort zone where Thai-run restaurants serve fresh seafood at roughly half the resort rates.
Where to Stay
Laguna’s official six hotels are covered on the Laguna Phuket hub, including Angsana Laguna Phuket, Banyan Tree Phuket, Cassia Phuket, Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket Hotel, HOMM Suites Laguna and SAii Laguna Phuket. SAii (8.7 on Agoda) is a strong contemporary beach-access pick; Dusit Thani (8.6) anchors the northern sand with Casuarina Beach Club. Budget options are scarce here: Bang Tao sits firmly at the mid-to-high end of Phuket’s accommodation market.
Family stay comparison
Use this section to place Bang Tao / Laguna family stays: hotels inside the estate, villas and residences, or neighbours just outside. The old /family-resorts-bang-tao/ URL still lands here; there is no separate standalone family page for this bay.
Choose between official Laguna hotels, Laguna villas / residences, and Bang Tao neighbours outside the estate. Island-wide comparison lives on best family resorts in Phuket. Whole-house villa rentals across the island are on the luxury villas grid, and 5-star hotel comparison on luxury hotels in Phuket. Kids’ clubs → family hotels with kids clubs. Hotels with water slides → family resorts with waterslides (HOMM’s pool slide is listed there). Full hotel detail also lives on the Laguna Phuket hub.
| Type | What it is | Family fit | Pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official Laguna hotels (six) | The six hotels on lagunaphuket.com/stay: Angsana, Banyan Tree, Cassia, Dusit Thani, HOMM, SAii. Guests share complimentary shuttle bus + lagoon boat | Beach / kids programmes vary by hotel: Angsana (Kids Club + Xana), Banyan Tree (Terra Kids Club; all-pool-villa), HOMM (suites, freeform pool with slide, playground, official “family and friends” framing), Cassia (apartment kitchens), Dusit Thani / SAii (beachfront access; Casuarina at Dusit) | Six hotel pages + Laguna hub |
| Laguna villas / residences | Branded residences and villa rentals in/near the destination (Laguna’s Live / property side), not substitutes for the six hotels | More space, kitchens, private pools | Angsana Villas Laguna (3BR), Laguna Park 4 Bedrooms Villa by NLA |
| Bang Tao neighbours (outside estate) | Villas south/east of Laguna. Beach clubs and Canal Village are a short Grab, not an in-estate hop | Privacy and self-catering; you arrange beach trips yourself. Gentle Bang Tao sand still applies in dry season | Andaman Villa (≈15 min to beach), Villa private swimming pool and garden |
How to choose quickly: pick an official Laguna hotel when you want kids clubs, beach clubs, and free internal transport in one booking; pick a Laguna villa when the group needs bedrooms and a kitchen inside/near the destination; pick a neighbour villa when you want space away from the resort village and are happy to Grab to sand and Boat Avenue.
Getting There
Bang Tao is about 30 minutes from Phuket Airport, one of its practical advantages over the southern beaches. Grab and Bolt both cover the area well and are the easiest way in from town or Patong (15-20 minutes). Songthaews from Phuket Town are infrequent and not reliable for a single trip.
Insider Tip: Walk south along the beach past the Laguna resort zone to reach the open sand where locals swim. Thai-run restaurants here serve fresh seafood at roughly half the resort prices. The contrast with the Laguna complex a kilometre north is immediate.