Beach Battle: Phuket VS Krabi (Ao Nang)

Phuket-beach — Phuket’s beaches are long and wide.

Phuket and Krabi are both popular beach destinations in the Southern Thailand. Phuket has more gorgeous sandy beaches, whereas Krabi is known for its unforgettably scenery. Which, therefore, should you travel to, Phuket or Krabi?

Phuket or Krabi?

1–0 Phuket and Krabi both have airports, but there are more flights to Phuket from all over Thailand and the rest of Asia, and Phuket’s flights tend to be cheaper than Krabi’s. First point to Phuket!

Read more: Phuket’s Best Beaches

2–0 Phuket’s beaches are far superior for sunbathing, and there’s much more choice for beaches in Phuket. Phuket has several long and beautiful white sand beaches, whereas Krabi only has a handful of beaches to choose from. In particular Ao Nang, Krabi’s most popular beach, falls well behind of Phuket’s beaches.

2–1 Scenery in Krab is unforgettable. Even if you’ve seen Krabi’s vertical limestone mountains in numerous postcards they are even more breathtaking in real life.

krabi-princess-bay — Krabi’s Princess Bay is a stunner.

3–1 Phuket’s hotels tend to have larger swimming pools. Most of the hotels in Ao Nang, moreover, are more crammed together, and have smaller swimming pools. Hotels in Ao Nang are also usually located a good distance from the beach.

3–2 Krabi is more packed with adventurous activities: you can learn rock climbing and explore caves, and even though you can do canoe trips to beautiful Phang-Nga Bay from both of the destinations, it is more straightforward to do them from Krabi.

3–3 Phuket is taken over by “a taxi mafia” that keeps prices high for transportation. Moving around in Krabi is much cheaper.

4–3 If you are looking for parties, Phuket has much livelier nightlife. Krabi’s evenings are rather quiet.

4–4 Krabi does not have a notable sex tourism industry, which is quite prevalent in Phuket’s most popular beach Patong. Point to Krabi!

5–4 Phuket has better and more varied shopping and restaurants scene than Krabi. Phuket scores the last and decisive point!

All in all, Phuket is better for a pure beach holiday, but if you are into activities like rock-climbing or kayaking, Krabi is the right choice for you.