A Sunset Panoramic Restaurant over Kata Noi
After Beach Bar Phuket is a very popular Thai restaurant perched high on a cliffside above Kata Noi Beach, on the way to Nai Harn Beach. From the outside, the restaurant looks modest, with low thatched roofs and an old-fashioned reggae atmosphere that seems to defy time on any tropical island around the world. Walk through from the roadside and the beautiful panorama of the turquoise bay of Kata Noi opens up below you.
After Beach and its neighbours Small View Point and Baan Chom Restaurant feature wooden terraces built on stilts. If you see how it’s made, you might want to step away from the edge. Still, when sunset time approaches, you will forget everything and sit there in awe, like everyone else.
This cluster of restaurants has been there for more than two decades and has always been a popular stopover between Nai Harn and Kata Beach. Don’t miss the new and trendy rooftop nearby called The Sundeck.
After Beach is a bar, a restaurant, and a shop selling an eclectic collection of reggae accessories: handmade necklaces, T-shirts, and woollen hats in the three official yellow, red, and green Rasta colours. The whole place is decorated with the inevitable cannabis leaf plus a generous dose of Bob Marley songs.
If reggae is not your thing, it won’t matter. The music is rather discreet, and everyone comes here for the large terrace overlooking Kata Noi beach and the sunset. A cold beer or a fresh coconut on that upper terrace as the sun drops behind the headland is hard to argue with. The fresh coconut arrives whole with a straw. Order one and stay longer than planned.
The food is good without being exceptional, but the menu is vast and the prices are fair for the location. The service varies. The pad thai is reliable. The green curry is better. Come for the view and eat while you’re here.
How It Started
After Beach Bar has been part of this cliffside for more than two decades. It was already here when first driving the road between Kata and Nai Harn in the late 1990s: a reggae bar on stilts with a terrace that looked impossible until you were standing on it. Back then the crowd was almost entirely backpackers and long-stay travellers. The vibe was slow, the music was loud, and the view was the same as it is now.
Over the years the crowd has broadened, the menu has grown, and the neighbouring spots have changed hands more than once. After Beach has stayed. Other restaurants on this stretch have come and gone, tried to modernise, or quietly closed. This one just kept doing what it was doing. A reggae bar on a cliff above Kata Noi, open every day, same view, same atmosphere. That kind of consistency over two decades in Phuket is rarer than it sounds.
My Take
After Beach Bar does one thing exceptionally well. The view over Kata Noi from the wooden terrace is one of the best on the island, and the sunset from the upper section on a clear evening is worth the drive from anywhere in Phuket.
Arrive at least 30 minutes before sunset and head straight to the upper terrace. The front tables go quickly, especially on weekends. The food is honest Thai restaurant cooking: not the best meal in Phuket, but decent and reasonably priced for the setting. Order the green curry, get a cold drink, and find a seat near the edge. The light on Kata Noi Bay in the last hour before dark is the whole point of being here. Everything else is secondary.
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After Beach Bar Info
Location: Kata Noi Beach Address: 44 Thanon Kata, Tambon Karon, Phuket 83100 Hours: 9 am – 10 pm Phone: 084 745 9365 Price: Affordable Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afterbeachbarkata/After Beach Bar Map
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