What to Do on Mai Khao Beach?
Mai Khao Beach is 11 kilometres long, the longest beach in Phuket, and because it is part of the Sirinat National Park, it still looks in some parts as deserted as when I first visited it in the early 1990s.
A few luxury hotels appeared at a respectable distance from the beach, but there are no beach chairs, no umbrellas and no food vendors in sight, except at the south end where the planes land over the beach. It might just be a question of time, but you can still walk kilometres and only meet a few local people fishing.
Despite being a national park, a few properties and resorts have appeared, and they are excellent. I loved Sala Phuket, Renaissance Phuket and Mai Khao Dreams Villas further north. The beach has remained mostly untouched, and it is such a welcome contrast with the crowded beaches in the south of Phuket.
Sala Phuket Resort
| On The Beach |
Sala Phuket Resort and Spa is one of my all-time favourite hideaways in Phuket. This hotel is a resort dedicated to couples, with a private pool in each villa for total privacy. Such a feature doesn’t come cheap but is still affordable. Read more
Range: 5-star
Swimming pools: 1 (plus 1 in each villa)
Restaurants and bars: 2
Distance to the beach: on the beach!
Check the rates:
Renaissance Phuket
| On The Beach |
Renaissance Phuket is a great luxury resort if you want to enjoy the relaxing side of a tropical island and still have the option to drive to discover the restless nights of Patong Beach. With so many restaurants and outlets, you can choose to chill in the resort or use it as a base to explore the north of Phuket. Read more
Range: 5-star
Swimming pools: 2
Restaurants and bars: 2
Distance to the beach: on the beach!
Check the rates:
JW Marriott Phuket
| On The Beach |
JW Marriott Phuket is an immense resort with a more traditional layout. It has many excellent restaurants, vast conference rooms, and the best for families: it has a fantastic kids club!
Range: 5-star
Swimming pools: 3 pools (2,810 sqm)
Restaurants and bars: 10
Distance to the beach: on the beach!
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Things to Do in Mai Khao
Mai Khao Beach starts at Sirinath National Park, where Nai Yang Beach ends, and runs for eleven kilometres to the very north of the island at Sai Keow Beach, close to the Sarasin Bridge. There are a few highlights worth mentioning in Mai Khao, excluding those five-star resorts.
The Beach
The immense and natural beach is obviously the main reason why travellers choose to visit or even stay here. The beach is an eleven-kilometre-long stripe of white sand with a clear warm blue ocean during the high season. The sand is a little more coarse than on the southern beaches, but it is still soft and beautiful. The beach has remained untouched, and there are no jet skis, parasailing, beach chairs or vendors.
Plane Spotting
My favourite spot is watching the planes landing at the very end of the runway of Phuket International Airport. It’s a bit of a walk in the sun, but it is awe-inspiring and loud. They get close to the beach, as you can see in the photos, and watching these monsters casting their massive shadow on the turquoise water is just amazing.
Baan Ar Jor House Museum
Baan Ar Jor is a hotel, a restaurant and a museum with a long history that started in 1936. This house has always been one of Phuket’s most mysterious old mansions, standing lonely near Mai Khao Beach in the north of Phuket.
Splash Jungle Waterpark
Splash Jungle Water Park is a popular theme park on Mai Khao Beach, just next to Phuket International Airport. It’s not huge and a bit pricey, but it’s a great way to spend the day with the kids and the family, having fun, eating or even drinking in the water of the pool bar.
Wat Mai Khao
Wat Mai Khao Temple is lesser known but worth a photo. The temple itself is tucked away from the road. It doesn’t have any particular architectural interest, but it hides a little treasure: a small bird sanctuary hidden in the park behind it. Surrounded by a protective wall, a small lake with trees growing in the water is a shelter for many white birds, probably cattle egrets. You can drive through the land and around the lake, but it is a nice gesture to stop and make a small donation.
Nai Yang Beach
Just south of Maikhao is the calm and relaxing Nai Yang Beach, a vast sandy crescent with shallow water. Since Mai Khao doesn’t have any facilities on the beach, Nai Yang is just a short drive away, and the many restaurants on the beach are perfect for slowly enjoying cocktails and a Thai dinner with a sunset.
Sea Turtle Releases
Annual turtle release events occur during Songkran Festival (Thai New Year) in April, organised by various resorts and the Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation. Participants can sponsor turtle releases with donations supporting conservation programs throughout the region. The ceremonies typically release rehabilitated green sea turtles aged 12-15 months that have been raised in protected environments. Events are organised by the Phuket Marine Biological Centre and supported by local resorts, including JW Marriott and Anantara properties. Natural nesting season occurs from November through February, with hatchlings released the following year after protective care. Multiple release events happen annually at different resort locations along Mai Khao Beach providing conservation education opportunities.
Where to Eat in Mai Khao?
Toh Daeng Restaurant
Toh Daeng (which means Red Table) is a beautifully decorated Thai restaurant at Baan Ar Jor House Museum on Mai Khao Beach. The place intelligently combines two rooms in one, allowing families and friends to sit together at very long tables. You can admire how they purposely kept part of the separation brick wall. The result was a bright and welcoming room that kept an antique and charming atmosphere. You can enjoy real Phuket cuisine prepared with family recipes, drinks and cakes. Toh Daeng is listed in the Michelin Guide for Phuket.
Kin Dee
Kin Dee is a long-established Thai restaurant hidden in the quiet northern part of Phuket, not far from Mai Khao Beach. It’s been around for more than 20 years, run by a local chef who uses ingredients from nearby farms and her own garden. The restaurant is quite charming, surrounded by trees and wooden walkways, with an open-air dining area that feels very local. The food is authentic, rich in southern flavours, and beautifully presented without being fancy. It’s the kind of place I always recommend if you want real Thai food away from the tourist crowds.
Natural Restaurant Airport
Natural Restaurant Airport is an excellent place serving excellent local Thai cuisine in a good atmosphere. As the name indicates, the restaurant is located just before reaching Phuket International Airport (2.4km to be precise), making it a perfect place for lunch, dinner or any meal at any time of the day if you have to be around there for any reason.
Where to Shop in Mai Khao?
Turtle Village Shopping
The small shopping village of Turtle Village in Mai Khao Beach started modestly more than a decade ago but grew and gained popularity recently as the area became more in demand with travellers wanting to escape the busy beaches of the south. The place is vast and spacious and is a mix of international brands and local vendors setting up their stalls in open spaces and by the street sides.
My Take
Mai Khao is where I go when I need to remember what Phuket felt like before it became one of the busiest islands in Southeast Asia. The beach looks almost the same as it did 30 years ago, and that is rare. It is not for everyone: there are no restaurants on the sand, no beach clubs, and the nearest nightlife is a 40-minute drive away. But if you want to walk on an empty beach, stay in a beautiful resort, and fall asleep to the sound of waves instead of traffic, Mai Khao is the place. Just don’t forget your sunscreen and water, because once you start walking, there is nowhere to buy anything for a long time.
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Through the Years
Mai Khao was an absolutely deserted beach when I arrived in Phuket in the early 1990s. Nobody had a good reason to come all the way up here when wider, more sandy beaches were available in the south. There was nothing, no hotels, no restaurants, just an endless strip of sand and a few fishermen.
I remember going to see the planes landing at the south end of the beach in the early 2000s, when no one else was there, and nobody was talking about it. Back then, parts of Mai Khao had quietly become a bit of a naturist beach. As you did the long walk along the sand toward the runway, you had to check behind the odd log for sunbathers who had forgotten their swimsuits.
The irony of lying naked on a deserted beach while hundreds of passengers flew just metres overhead was not lost on us. Of course, nobody in the plane would have had time to spot anything, but the thought always made us laugh. Nowadays, that stretch of beach is far too busy for any of that, and plane spotting has become one of Phuket’s most popular Instagram activities.
I still love coming to Mai Khao because Phuket has become so busy everywhere else. It is nice to find a hotel with a peaceful beach where you can walk for an hour without seeing another person. I have also been to a few turtle releases here over the years and even sponsored one. Watching a baby turtle crawl across the sand and disappear into the waves was a genuinely good feeling, knowing you did something positive for such a small, determined creature.
Mai Khao Beach Fast Facts
| ⛱️ Beach condition: | Good |
| ⛱️ Beach length: | 11 km |
| ⛱️ Other beach nearby: | Naiyang Beach |
| 📷 Instagram spot: | Landing Planes spotting!Landing Planes spotting! |
| 📷 Thing to do: | Splash Jungle Waterpark |
| 🍸 Best restaurant: | Toh Daeng at Baan Ar Jor |
| 🍹 Best beach club: | M Beach Club |
| 🛎️ Best luxury hotel: | Sala Phuket |
| 🚙 Distance to Bang Tao Beach: | 22 km |
| 🚙 Distance to Patong Beach: | 41 km |
| 🚙 Distance to Kata Beach: | 48 km |
| 🚙 Distance to Phuket Town: | 34 km |
| ✈️ Distance from Phuket International Airport: | 0 km |
Map of Mai Khao Beach
Mai Khao Beach Photos
