Living in Phuket Town: Rents and Daily Life

Little, by island standards. The median condo in town and its sub-districts (Wichit, Ratsada, Talat Yai and Talat Nuea) asks 19,500 THB a month against 32,000 across Phuket. A one-bedroom is about 18,000 THB, a studio 16,000 and a two-bedroom 33,000. A square metre goes for about 530 THB, and the cheapest flat we found started at 9,000 THB.

With 621 listings, town is the biggest condo market on the island, and 60% of it is one-bedroom flats, a higher share than in any other area we looked at. Wichit alone has 377 listings. Flats are compact, about 34 m² for a one-bedroom, and buildings run taller than by the sea: one flat in six is above the seventh floor.

We are a guide, not an agency, and we do not show homes. If you want options in town, near a particular school or hospital, our housing partner in Phuket answers in the chat — the button is just below.

The Old Town is the centre: two-storey shophouses, narrow streets, flats right above the shops. Colourful to live in, but windows open onto the street and there is nowhere to park. Around it stand condos of every height, the most common choice for people who came to work or put children in school, with schools, hospitals, markets and the bus station nearby.

Further east and north begin the residential streets of Thai families, with houses and small complexes. That is the cheapest housing on the island, with no tourist infrastructure at all. A separate category is housing on the hills around town, with views of the bay and the port.

On the east side, the island's administrative centre. There are no beaches in the town itself; the east shore is ports and mangroves. The airport is about 30 km straight up Route 402, the fastest link on the island.

Town is better connected than anywhere else. West through Kathu is the shortest way to the west-coast beaches. South, a straight road runs to Chalong. South-east, the Panwa cape has quiet bays. Choose town when you need the whole island at once.

Less tied to the monsoon than anywhere, since town has no sea. What you watch instead is heat and water on the streets. March to May is the hardest: town sits in a bowl between hills, there is almost no wind, and the asphalt gives off heat into the night.

From June the monsoon cools things but brings downpours, and the old streets drain badly; after heavy rain junctions flood for an hour or two. September and October are the wettest. From November to February town has the best weather on the island, dry, with evenings cooler than on the coast.

Because the food is cooked for locals. The Old Town keeps a Chinese-Portuguese kitchen tradition: noodles, pork soup, coconut-milk desserts, coffee brewed through a cloth filter. Morning markets sell ready food to take away, a bag of curry and a bag of rice, and that is breakfast. Evening night markets are for locals too, eaten standing, with a wider range than at the resorts.

European food is scarcer and pricier than on the west coast; people come to town for the opposite. Many family kitchens close on their own day off, posted on the door.

Getting around. Songthaew buses from Ranong market have long run from town out to the beaches, and the bus station is here too, so the island's public transport starts in town.

The calendar. From November to February town hosts street festivals and parades, and the Sunday market, Lard Yai, is a weekly fixture. In the rains an umbrella works better here than on the coast, because rain in town tends to fall straight down, without the sideways wind.