What to Do at Central Phuket?
Central Phuket, one of the major shopping malls on the island, is divided into two immense wings set on each side of a large avenue: the Festival Wing and the Floresta Wing. (the other famous shopping malls are Central Patong and Jungceylon in Patong Beach). Shopping malls may not be on our list of ‘Best Things to Do in Phuket‘ but we always keep in mind that a mall can be a good alternative to spend an occasional rainy day. Nowadays, shopping malls in Thailand offer so much in terms of restaurants and entertainment that shopping is often the least important reason we visit such a place.
What is Central Phuket?
If you are a little confused with the many names ‘Festival and Floresta’ when deciding to visit, you should know that they are the two main wings of the same Central Phuket Mall in Phuket Town. The Central Festival is the original wing (photo above), built in 2004 on the outskirts of town and the Central Floresta is an enormous new wing built later across the street, more than doubling the surface of this already large shopping centre. (image below)
In 2018, Central opened Central Floresta across the south road, where the once-famous Thai Naan Restaurant. This new building wing has become the high-end luxury and entertainment wing. So to make it easier, there are now three wings to the Central in Phuket town, a Central in Patong, plus a new ‘Porto de Phuket‘ community mall in Bang Tao Beach.
CENTRAL PHUKET FESTIVAL WING
The original main wing of Central Festival is now mainly addressing a mid-market clientele. It is divided into several floors, built in a circular shape wrapped around an open-air Biergarten. You can easily walk to the new luxury wing from this old wing via an immense covered glass sky bridge.
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 discounted items display. Surrounding the central areas are the usual fashion and cosmetic shops: Sephora, Guess, Zara, Esprit, and Mango (MNG)
1st Floor
- Central Food Hall: a huge deli and supermarket with high-end imported products on the Lower Floor
- A large food court: there are three of them in the entire complex
- Mid-range fashion stores: CC-00, Jaspal, etc
2nd Floor
- Central Shopping Gallery: A circular area with known brands and special events and many franchise restaurants: Pizza Company, Sizzler, Hachiban Ramen, Black Canyon, etc.
- Electronic and electric appliances areas
- SuperSports is an immense shop dedicated to sports attire and equipment.
- Under Armour, The North Face, New Balance and our favourite running shoe shop: RevRun.
3rd Floor
- Food Court: a fast-food concept trendy in Asia.
- SFX Cinemas with six rooms, including super VIP Sofas
4th Floor
- Beauty floor: this is where you will find all the hairdressers, slimming salons, eyebrows and cosmetic salons.
The Food at Central Festival Phuket
What made the success of Central Festival Phuket are the many well-known franchise restaurants. At first, the management might have thought that people would come shopping and have lunch or dinner when done with it. With the 2010 renovation, you can see how that trend has changed. People come for food, and maybe they’ll also buy something once done!
On the ground floor, the most popular is ‘Wine Connection’, a vast choice of European and Thai dishes and the large food court on the right-hand side of the Central Food Hall Supermarket. On the upper floors, a long list of favourites: MK Suki, Oishi Suki, and Ootoya and Fuji Japanese Restaurants are always popular venues. Also well-known are S&P, Sizzler, Yaam Sap, Hachi Ban Ramen and many more.
Some of our favourites:
Haidi Lao Hot Pot
Golden Chicken Restaurant
CENTRAL PHUKET FLORESTA WING
The Central Phuket Floresta wing is across the road. This is where you will find most designer brands and cosmetics, the most famous and most expensive are, as expected, on the ground floor, but note that ‘Central Department Store’ is a shop in the shop, often having its great promotions. Shops in the main gallery don’t participate in these promotions.
Underground Floor:
The basement is mostly dedicated to guests’ entertainment. Aquaria is an immense aquarium that also hosts Andasi, a restaurant where you can eat among the fish. Tribhum is a mini 3-D interactive theme park, and Happy Kids Club is a mini theme park and Kids Playground.
Basement:
You will find many Thai restaurants, souvenir shops and stalls in the main area, a food court, and even another Central Food Hall supermarket. Further is the kids and homeware section of the Central department store ( that used to be on the other side)
Ground Floor:
In a traditional mind, the ground floor is shared between luxury fashion boutiques and the cosmetic and fashion section of the department store.
How to 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)
Central Phuket Photos
Central Phuket Street View
Central Phuket Information
Location: Phuket Town
Address: 74-75 Wichitsongkran Road, Phuket 83000
Open: 10.30 am – 10 pm
Phone: 076 291 111
Distance from Patong Beach: 12 km
Distance from Airport: 31.7 km
Central Phuket Map
If you are on mobile, add the map here: https://goo.gl/maps/JqF6P92vMdCXWQvU6.
