History, Art & Rainy Day Ideas around Phuket
Phuket museums tell the story of an island that was wealthy long before tourists arrived. Tin mining, Chinese trade, and Peranakan culture shaped this place for centuries. Most museums are small and won’t take more than an hour, but the best ones, like Thavorn Museum and Thai Hua, are genuinely interesting. On a rainy day or between beach trips, they’re a good way to see the real Phuket. Old Phuket Town itself feels like a walk-in museum after years of renovation.
Here are the museums in Phuket: the Thai Hua Museum is well-designed, Baan Chinpracha is unique as its owners still occupy it, and the newly renovated Thavorn Phuket Museum is the most entertaining. I wouldn’t waste a sunny day visiting a museum, but museums can be an excellent distraction for half a day if it rains a bit too long.
Thavorn Museum
| Location: Phuket Town |
Built in 1960, the Thavorn Hotel has a long story in Old Phuket Town. The museum originally opened decades ago as a small, quirky hotel attraction that was more an anecdotal storage of all the old stuff and equipment used in the many years of the hotel’s operation, including phone dispatches, old, rusted movie projectors, and laundry machines. This new museum is a hidden trove of vintage artefacts with true human history attached to each object!
Chinpracha House Museum
| Location: Phuket Town |
Chinpracha House is a privately owned museum still occupied by the owners. It also ranks high on our list of the 18 most beautiful mansions in Phuket. Many other houses in Phuket are wrecks or abandoned; they renovated some with more or less success. Baan Chinpracha is still in excellent original condition, and you can visit it for 130 baht. At that price, it is worth having a look but expects something halfway between a museum and a collection of items gathered in time.
Location: Phuket Town Address: 98 Krabi, Talat Nuea, Mueang Phuket District, Phuket 83000 Open: 9 am – 4.30 pm Phone: 076 211281 Price: 150 Baht Thai Hua Museum
| Location: Phuket Town |
The Thai Hua Museum on Krabi Road in Phuket Town was just an empty building. Like other museums in Phuket, it was a soulless, run-down building for a long time. They put a lot of effort into reviving what is now a place worth visiting in your Phuket Town exploration.
Thalang National Museum
| Location: Thalang |
The Thalang Museum is a small building that was built in 1985. It is still under renovation, but two rooms are now open to visitors, and the display is promising. Expect to see a collection of prehistoric artefacts, old pottery, and stones, followed by sculptures and antiques displayed behind glass.
Phuket Mining Museum
| Location: Kathu |
The Phuket Mining Museum is built with grandeur in a remote and isolated location, before Patong. Museums in Phuket are not exactly exciting, but this one gives you a vision of what Phuket was famous for during the tin mining era. Unfortunately, despite its apparent ambition, its location played against its success.
Fantastic Phuket Museum
| Location: Kathu |
Fantastic Phuket, also known as Museum Thai Phuket, is bigger than it looks from the outside. The museum covers Thailand’s four historical eras with life-size statues, Buddha images, and recreated scenes. Guides explain the differences between the Buddha styles from each period. One room recreates a Chinese shrine with golden dragons, another shows a traditional Phuket bedroom. There’s a section with giant fabric flowers and LED lights for photos. The haunted house featuring Thai ghosts adds an unexpected twist.
Baan Ar Jor House Museum
| Location: Mai Khao Beach |
Peranakan Phuket Museum
| Location: Thalang |
Museum Phuket
| Location: Phuket Town |
Kathu Museum
| Location: Kathu |
Phuket Philatelic Museum
| Location: Phuket Town |
More Museum Photos
Map of Phuket Museums
