Phuket Airport to Patong, Karon and Kata

The Smart Bus is the best value off the plane, as long as you aren't in a hurry. It's a single ฿100 fare to any stop between the airport and Rawai, paid on board in cash or by card, and it leaves from outside Exit 3 of the domestic terminal, a short walk along the front of the building if you've landed at international arrivals. The first bus is at 08:15, the next at 09:00, and then there's one every 30 minutes until 22:00, followed by two late runs at 22:40 and 23:30.

It's slow because it works its way down the whole west coast. After the airport it stops in Thalang, Baan Khian and Cherngtalay, then Surin Beach, Kamala and Phuket Fantasea before it climbs over to Patong. The 09:00 bus reaches the PEA stop in Patong at 10:30, Karon Circle at 10:42, Kata Night Plaza at 10:52, Kata Palm at 10:57 and Rawai at 11:20. The last bus, at 23:30, gets to Patong at 01:00 and Kata at about 01:25.

It drops you on the main road, not at your hotel, so I'd only take it with one bag you can carry for 10 minutes. With a big suitcase, the ฿600 or so you save over a taxi buys you an hour and a half of sitting with your luggage on a bus that stops at every beach.

There's a second bus too. Phuket Bus Express runs from Exit 3 of the domestic terminal to Patong, Karon and Kata for about ฿100 at its counter, or about ฿180 booked ahead on 12Go, and is a useful backup if you've just missed a Smart Bus. For the Old Town, the separate airport bus runs hourly from about 08:30 to 20:30 for ฿100 and takes about 1h30.

Outside arrivals there are two kinds of car, and both are fair. The metered taxi stand charges whatever the meter says, usually ฿600 to ฿700 to Patong, plus a ฿100 airport fee, so about ฿700 to ฿800 in all. Phuket Airport Limousine, the fixed-fare counter at exit gate 1 of the domestic terminal and gate 2 of the international one, posts its prices by zone. It's ฿800 for a car with up to three people to Patong, ฿1,000 to Karon, Kata or Kata Noi, ฿1,000 to Rawai and Nai Harn and ฿750 to Kamala, with a Fortuner for four (07:00 to 18:00 only) at ฿1,200 to Patong and ฿1,400 to Kata, and a ten-seat minibus at ฿1,400 and ฿1,600.

The counter is what I'd choose with a family. The price is fixed before you get in, it's barely more than the meter, and there's no conversation to have at the end of a long flight. Ignore anyone offering you a taxi inside the arrivals hall before you reach either counter.

Grab is the one ride-hailing app allowed to collect at the terminal. Its booth is outside arrivals, and the app shows about ฿750 to ฿950 to Patong before you confirm, sometimes more at busy times, so it often costs about what the counter does. Bolt's own route page shows lower prices, about ฿570 for its standard car, ฿614 for a taxi and ฿681 for an XL. The catch is that Bolt and inDrive drivers can't come up to the terminal, so you'd be walking a few hundred meters out past the gates with your bags. That's fine with a backpack. With a suitcase in the heat, I'd pay the difference.

The best option is often a car booked before you fly. On 12Go, cars from the airport to Patong start at about ฿800, a sedan for three is about ฿950 and a nine-seat van about ฿1,035, paid by card in advance, with a driver holding your name in arrivals. It costs about the same as the counter, and it means the price and the pickup are settled before you've cleared immigration, which matters most when the flight lands late.

Phuket gets a lot of late arrivals, and the bus covers more of them than you'd think. The 22:40 Smart Bus reaches Patong at 00:15 and the 23:30 at 01:00, so a flight that lands by about 22:30 with hand luggage can still make one.

After that it's a car. The taxi stand and Grab work through the night, but the airport's own listing gives the counters a midnight close, and arriving at 1 am with no plan is exactly when people pay too much. A car booked ahead is the one thing I'd spend money on for a late landing, because the price and the driver are fixed before you board.

Going back, the Smart Bus picks up at the Bangla police box on Patong's beach road from 06:00, roughly every 30 minutes until 20:20, and takes about 1h32 to the airport. The 06:00 gets in at 07:32 and the 20:20 at 21:52. From Kata Palm it starts at 05:20 and takes about 2h10, and from Karon Circle about two hours. Be at the stop 10 minutes early, because buses that are ahead of schedule don't always wait.

By car, allow 50 minutes from Patong and an hour from Karon or Kata on a normal day, and add 30 to 45 minutes between 16:00 and 19:00 or in rain. Grab is easy to get from the beaches in this direction. Your hotel can book a car at a fixed price, and 12Go lists cars from Patong to the airport from about ฿930.

International flights want you at the airport 2.5 hours before departure and domestic ones 90 minutes, so for an evening international flight I'd leave Patong about 3.5 hours ahead, and Kata about four.