Central Festival Phuket

The Original Wing of Central Phuket Shopping Mall

Central Festival Phuket is the original wing of Central Phuket, opened in 2004 and still the busiest part of the mall. It’s built around a large central courtyard that hosts weekend events, car shows, and the occasional beer garden. Four floors cover everything from SuperSports and fashion brands to food courts and the SFX Cinema on the top level.

We don’t usually list shopping malls as must-do attractions, but Central Festival is a solid option on a rainy day or when you need a break from the heat. Most visitors come for the food, the air conditioning, or a quick movie. The newer Floresta wing sits across the road and has its own page.

If you’ve come across names like Festival and Floresta and wondered what they mean, they are just two parts of the same Central Phuket mall, located in Phuket Town.

• Festival Wing is the original side, opened in 2004.
• Floresta Wing came later in 2018, built across the street on the old Thai Naan Restaurant site.

There’s a large glass sky bridge connecting both sides, so you don’t have to cross the road. If you’re in other parts of the island, there’s also Central Patong, Jungceylon, and Porto de Phuket up in Bang Tao.

Where to Eat in Central Festival Phuket?

People used to shop first and eat later. These days, it’s the opposite — food is often the main reason to go.

The Full List:

Restaurant	Cuisine	Floor
Sushiro	Conveyor belt sushi	3rd
Bar B Q Plaza	Thai Moo Kata	3rd
MK Restaurants	Thai suki	3rd
Fuji Japanese Restaurant	Japanese	3rd
Yayoi	Japanese set meals	3rd
Katsuya	Tonkatsu	3rd
Miyazaki Teppanyaki	Japanese teppanyaki	3rd
Hachiban Ramen	Ramen	3rd
Sizzler	Steaks and salad bar	3rd
The Pizza Company	Pizza	3rd
Sukishi	Korean charcoal grill	3rd
Yum Saap	Thai salads	3rd
Black Canyon Coffee	Cafe and Thai food	3rd
S&P	Bakery and Thai food	3rd
Haidilao Hot Pot	Chinese hot pot	2nd
Ginger Farm Kitchen	Northern Thai (Michelin)	1st
Azzurro Ristorante	Italian	1st
Zen Japanese Restaurant	Japanese	1st
Wine Connection	Wine bar and Western	1st
Sunshine Dessert Cafe	Desserts	1st

Central Festival Wing

The older wing still gets the most foot traffic, especially on weekends when something’s going on. It’s built in a wide loop with a central courtyard that often becomes a beer garden or event zone. It’s louder at the end of the month when there are car shows or sales events, but quieter on weekdays.

Central Phuket Shopping Gallery

The main shopping gallery is immense, often hosting loud commercial events on the weekend, and it gets even louder at the end of the month, such as motors show and property shows. The rest of the time, the area is a vast display of discounted items. Surrounding the central areas are the usual fashion and cosmetic shops: Sephora, Guess, Zara, Esprit, and Mango (MNG), Zara, Mango, Esprit, H&M, and other franchise restaurants like Pizza Company, Hachiban Ramen, Sizzler, and Black Canyon.

Central Food Hall

The 1st floor is where you’ll find the supermarket, everyday fashion, and the first food court.

• Central Food Hall – Good mix of imported groceries and deli items.
• Fashion stores – Jaspal, CC-OO, Uniqlo, and other Thai mid-range brands.
• Food court – Easy and cheap meals.

Studio 7

Studio7 has reopened on the second floor of Central Phuket’s Festival Zone in the new Apple Premium Partner format, the first in southern Thailand. The shop stocks the full range of Apple devices—iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, AirPods—and official accessories. Customers can try the products in-store and join free training sessions run by Apple specialists. Extra services include VAT refunds for visitors from abroad, instalment plans through UFUND for Thai customers, trade-in discounts on old devices, and an on-site iCare service centre for repairs.

Sports & Lifestyle

On the second floor of the Festival Wing at Central Phuket, you will find a large selection of sports shops. The highlight is SuperSports, a massive store offering equipment, shoes, and apparel for almost every sport and brand. In addition to SuperSports, there are dedicated shops for popular brands such as Under Armour, The North Face, and New Balance. These stores offer the latest collections and exclusive items, making it easy to find quality gear for fitness, running, and outdoor activities.

SFX Cinema

3rd Floor – Fast Food and Cinema

• Mostly food and entertainment here, with a second food court and the mall’s cinema.
• Food Court #2 – A fast-food zone with more Asian options.
• SFX Cinema – Movie theatres, including VIP sofas.

4th Floor

4th Floor – Beauty and Hair Salons

• The uppermost floor is all about beauty. Haircuts, nail salons, skincare — this is the salon level.
• Beauty zone – Haircuts, nails, brows, slimming clinics — the usual suspects

To the Floresta Wing

Central Floresta Phuket sounds like another mall on the island, but it is just a massive extension of the original Central Festival. The two wings combined cover an immense surface on three to four levels. With an ever-growing population, the Phuket Festival was getting too crowded, parking was impossible, and weekends were seriously packed. As it is on the outskirts of Phuket town, it somehow appeals more to the locals than tourists.

Read More!

How do you get to Central Phuket from Patong?

You can smoothly go from Patong to Central Phuket by using the free shuttle that runs every hour or every hour and a half from 11 am to 7 pm from Patong and from noon to 8.30 pm from Central Phuket (see schedule).

Keep in mind that while the bus stop in Patong is easy to find near Bangla Walking Street, Central Phuket Town is a bit on the outskirts of town, so you will need a second bus ride if you wish to continue to Old Town (Old Town is about 3 km away).

 

If you drive a car, we strongly recommend parking at Central Floresta; it’s a lot easier and has a lot of space (for now).

More about Central Phuket

More Photos of Central Festival Phuket

Where to Shop in Phuket

Frequently Asked Questions about Central Phuket