David Pritchard
Once Upon A Time, It Was Just A Quiet Fishing Village...
Phuket Island is home to the famous Rawai Village Beach, a beautiful spot to enjoy some Thai food or a great location to go island hopping to one of the many nearby small Islands. You can hire a longtail or speedboat from various vendors along the beach at fairly low prices. We rented a longtail boat for 30 minutes at only 500 Thai baht. You can expect to pay closer to 1000 on average for the nearest islands but you can fill a boat with about 4 – 6 people for that price. Right next to Rawai Pier you will find the Sea Gypsy Village. The Sea Gypsy’s sell freshly caught fish each day as well as a variety of souvenirs from the sea. A popular thing to do is buying fresh fish from the fish market and taking it to any nearby restaurant to cook up for you. This whole experience could cost you 200-300 for the fish and another 150 to cook it for 2.
Along the same road as Rawai Beach you can find a plethora of western restaurants, massage parlours and tour shops. It’s really developed in the last five years but is still quieter than most beach areas in Thailand. Out of all of these restaurants, the local favorites are definitely Flip Side if you want a truly sublime burger, Uoteru Sushi, if you want top class sushi from a real Japanese Chef and if you want Thai Food, Salaloy is the most famous and popular among Thai locals and expats alike.
Once you start to walk away from Rawai Beach and the pier the first thing you will surely notice is the number of bars full of mostly Thai girls on an evening. The nightlife in Rawai is among the most busy in Phuket in recent years with many tourists who come for the nightlife, preferring to stay in much quieter Rawai compared to the bustling city of Patong which never stops. The biggest club in the area is Laguna Complex and it’s only 5 minutes walk from Rawai Beach. Not to be confused with Laguna north of the Island. Laguna complex has about 30 bars, full of girls and once they close the night club stays open till around 4-5 am nightly.
On the opposite end of the scale to nightlife, Rawai has become an unlikely place for another community that has blossomed during the quiet island life of Phuket… The health and well-being crowd. Whether that be through fitness and detox or more spiritual retreats offering meditation and other alternative therapies to help various ailments or just improve the quality of your life. If you’re interested in doing something quick and highly effective that will dramatically increase your mood, clearness of mind and drop some weight fast we highly recommend trying an introduction detox at one of various centers while you’re on holiday. Everybody who does the detoxes raves about how good they feel after. Finally we will finish up by recommending after a cultural experience at Rawai beach, you then take a 7 minute drive along to Nai Harn Beach for some rest and relaxation.
