Phuket Town Attractions

Monkey Hill in Phuket Town

Take the first road left after Phuket Prison situated on Dammrong Road. This is Toe Sae Road which leads up to Toe Sae Hill that everyone calls Monkey Hill. The reason why becomes fairly obvious after a few hundred metres when you come across a troupe of macaques munching away on fruit brought to them by locals. There is one man in particular that is there daily and will do a 'show' for you with his little friends. These macaques are not aggressive and do not approach you as certain temple monkeys do, nevertheless care should be taken if you are with small children.

Near the bottom of the hill stands a colourful temple and halfway up there is a rudimentary exercise park. Unlike other viewpoints in Phuket the views on the way up are better than at the peak itself. This is because there is a TV station on the top and satellite towers dominate the summit, obscuring the views down over Phuket. There are several places to stop and peek through the trees at Phuket's port, the town and the sea. 

Phuket Philatelic Museum

Located inside an 80-year-old building on Montri Road, the stamp museum looks amazing from the outside and the interior is under development but still open for the public at no entrance fee. At the moment, there are three sections inside: The first part exhibits posters explaining how the Thai Postal Service has developed since its start during the reign of forward-thinking King Rama V.

The second room houses a good amount of old (some antique) equipment and machines such as telegraph tickers, telephones, and parcel-weighing machines. The last section is a souvenir room where sets of Thai stamps are on sale, along with other items. When the project is completed they expect to have over 700 sets (totaling more than 1,000 stamps) of real vintage and interesting Thai stamps on display. All information will be in both English and Thai. Currently most information on display is in Thai only.

Put Jaw Chinese Temple

 This is the oldest Chinese temple on the island. The original was built about 200 years ago and underwent a major renovation in 1908. Put Jaw Temple is also known as Kwan Im Teng as it was built in honour of Kwan Im, the Chinese Goddess of Mercy.

Many locals come here to seek help when they have health issues. They shake a box full of bamboo sticks until one falls out. They then use the number written on the stick to get a medication prescription from the temple (written only in Chinese) then take it to a Chinese herbal medicine shop. Many parents with Chinese heritage come to get names for their newborn babies at Put Jaw in the belief that, if properly named, their children with have a good and long life. Photography is allowed, and indeed recommended. 

Phuket Orchid Garden & Thai Village

Located on a former tin mine, Phuket Orchid Garden & Thai Village has four restaurant pavilions, a playground for children of all ages, handicraft shops, workshops and a twice-daily cultural show (at 11am and 5.30pm). It's a good chance to see displays of Thai martial arts and dancing. The attraction also has a large orchid nursery with exotic and rare varieties.

Shrine of the Serene Light

A few doors up to the west of the On On Hotel is the Shrine of the Serene Light but you will not notice it unless you walk down a short alley to it. This shrine was built in 1889 by a local Chinese family and is relatively little known due to its concealed location.

Further east, where Phang Nga Road meets Thepkassatri Road there is an old vacated bank building facing a police station. The police station was purposely built there after dissatisfied tin mine workers threatened to loot the bank. 

Thavorn Hotel Lobby Museum

Eclectic and eccentric are the two words that best describe the small museum in the lobby of the Thavorn Hotel in Phuket City. An assortment of artifacts and photos, gathered by the Chinese-Thai family who run the Thavorn group, are displayed erratically in a rather dingy and dim setting.

In addition to an extensive collection of photos of old Phuket and Thai royalty, there are traditional Chinese wedding hats, tin mining equipment, toy trains, opium smoking beds and pillows, and movie posters. Stepping into this place really does feel like entering another era.

Wat Kajonrangsan

 Wat Kajonrangsan, or Wat Kajon for short, is an unusual Buddhist temple in terms of architecture. The main building (or Pra U-bosod) was built in the Roman style (unique in Phuket). It also has a beautiful set of Thai-style pagodas.

At about 07:00 – 08:00 in the morning, visitors will come across quite a busy place. This is because Wat Kajonrangsan School is located in the same compound. It might be fun to be there early to observe the traditional Thai way of life where the temple is at the heart of everything, including education. 

Wat Putta Mongkon

Often referred to as Wat Klang (meaning centre temple) because of its location in the heart of Phuket Town, Wat Buddhamongkol has beautiful architectural features, including a yellow chedi (pagoda), a small bell tower and a Sino-Portuguese colonial mansion used as a dormitory for the temple monks. There are two ways to enter this wat; by Thepkasatri Road or by Dibuk Road opposite the famous Soi Romanee.