Phuket Old Town: shophouses, shrines and coffee

Pastel Sino-Portuguese shophouses, Hokkien shrines and old-school coffee shops in the town most visitors never see.

Area

Old town & culture

Start from

Anywhere on the island

Distance

15–40 min by car from the west coast

Time needed

half a day – 1 day

Best season

All year; Sunday evenings for the walking street

Difficulty

Easy

Transport

Grab, taxi, scooter or the blue songthaew bus from the beaches

Tickets & rules

None

Why go

Phuket Town is where the island's real history lives. In the nineteenth century tin mining brought wealth and thousands of Hokkien Chinese workers and traders, and the merchants built narrow shophouses with arched five-foot walkways, shuttered windows and tiled facades in a style everyone here calls Sino-Portuguese.

Thalang Road, Dibuk Road, Krabi Road and the tiny lane of Soi Romanee are the heart of it. Many buildings have been restored and painted in soft pinks, mints and yellows, and between the galleries and cafés you still find tailors, gold shops and old Chinese pharmacies.

It's also the best place on the island to eat. Hokkien noodles, moo hong (slow-braised pork belly), dim sum breakfasts and kopi in a glass cost a fraction of beach prices.

The story

Phuket's tin boom peaked in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Mining barons, many of them Hokkien Chinese, became the island's elite, and their descendants still run businesses in the old town. The local Peranakan, or Baba, culture mixes Chinese, Malay and Thai traditions, visible in the food, clothing and wedding customs.

Soi Romanee was once the town's red-light lane, with opium dens and gambling houses serving miners. Today it's the most photographed street in Phuket, which locals find rather funny.

The town is also the centre of the annual Vegetarian Festival, when Chinese shrines hold processions of devotees in trance, piercing their cheeks as an act of purification. It's intense, loud and unforgettable.

Getting there

From Patong, Kata or Karon, a Grab or taxi takes around 30–40 minutes depending on traffic. The local songthaew buses run from the beaches to the town market during the day and are the cheapest option, though slow.

Once there, walk. The old quarter is compact and best explored on foot, ideally early morning or late afternoon.

A suggested plan

1. MorningDim sum or a roti breakfast, then walk Thalang Road before the heat builds.
2. Late morningSoi Romanee for photos, then the Thai Hua Museum in a former Chinese school to understand the tin-mining story.
3. AfternoonCoffee in an old shophouse café, Jui Tui and Sang Tham shrines, a look at the mansions on Krabi Road.
4. Sunday eveningThe Lard Yai walking street market on Thalang Road: street food, crafts and live music.

Where to stay

A night or two in a boutique hotel in an old shophouse is a lovely contrast to the beaches, and the town is quiet at night.

Good to know

• Go early: by midday the streets are very hot and there's little shade.
• Dress respectfully when entering shrines and temples.
• Many family shops close on one weekday; Sunday is the liveliest day.
• Look up: the best details are on the upper floors of the shophouses.