Mai Khao Beach, Phuket
The island's longest and emptiest beach, in Sirinat National Park at the northern end.
Mai Khao Beach, Phuket
Mai Khao runs for around eleven kilometres along Phuket's north-west shore and is the longest beach on the island by a wide margin. Most of it lies inside Sirinat National Park, which is why it has casuarina trees behind it instead of hotels, and why it is usually close to empty.
It is a nesting beach for sea turtles, which come ashore between roughly November and February. Nesting sites are protected and should not be approached; the park runs a conservation programme along this stretch.
The beach shelves steeply and the undertow is strong, so it is not a good swimming beach and can be dangerous in the monsoon. The northern end is close under the airport approach, which some visitors seek out and others avoid.
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