Tsunami Memorial Park

Come here for the history, not for a photo. Kamala was one of the hardest-hit stretches of Phuket's coast when the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami came ashore, and this park exists for the people who were lost. It matters to the community that lives around it, which is what makes it worth twenty minutes of your morning if you're staying anywhere along this coast.

Don't expect a museum or an interpretation centre. It's a small commemorative space with spiritual elements, open to the air, and the point of it is to stand still for a while. That said, it's a useful counterweight to a holiday spent entirely on beaches and in resorts. Kamala sits well north of the noise of Patong, so getting here means a deliberate trip rather than a stroll, and I'd fold it into a day heading up the west coast rather than making a special journey.