Nai Harn Beach

Nai Harn is the bay Phuket residents pick for a swim, a crescent of white sand between green headlands at the island's southern tip, near Rawai and just over the hill from Promthep Cape. Much of the land around it belongs to a monastery and is protected, so the beach never got the wall of hotels that Patong and Karon did. The Nai Harn resort sits on the hillside above the bay, and the rest is shade trees, a few beach cafés and a line of restaurants across the road.

Behind the beach is Nai Harn Lake, a freshwater lake with a jogging loop and pedal boats, and Wat Nai Harn sits between the lake and the sand. Ya Nui and Ao Sane, two small coves with better snorkeling, are about a kilometer away, and Promthep Cape, the island's best-known sunset viewpoint, is a short ride south.

From November to April the bay is usually calm and clear, and it's one of the safest swims on Phuket. From May to October the southwest monsoon sends surf straight in, which makes Nai Harn one of the island's surf spots and a bad place to swim. On those days the red flags go up, and they mean stay out of the water.