My favourite places: The Beach Bar
Phuket can be whatever you want it to be. Phuket is bars and girls. Phuket is crowded beaches and jet skis; shopping and good food. Phuket is groovy nightlife with trendy people. Phuket is a luxury getaway at a 5 star resort. Phuket is an island full of history and interesting culture. Phuket does have all this and more. Me? I am not into nightlife, clubs, bargirls and not rich enough to pamper myself at a fancy resort. Don't need a hotel anyway. Phuket is home. Phuket is where I work, where my kids go to school, and when I have time off work, I try to explore, which is what this blog is mostly about really. You can look other places for nightlife information, and if you want full on tourism, watersports and more food than you can eat, stay in Patong Beach, by all means, but do try to get out and explore some!
This blog is "my" Phuket (not actually mine, but you get the idea) and I give thanks to all readers and people who email or come to see me to say they've enjoyed the blog. If you can find some useful information here among all the "normal" tourism websites, great. Hope you may get some ideas of things to do - things that may otherwise have been unknown. The blog has been going for 4 years now, and there's plenty more to be added. More restaurants I want to try, more trips to take just off Phuket to small islands or attractions in nearby areas. Always new things to see - and at the same time, there are some places I/we (the family) keep going back to. Some days, especially in high season, a day off is very welcome, and all I want to do is relax. We have some favourite places to go, and The Beach Bar is maybe top of the list.
The Beach Bar is a small, cheap, friendly, rather basic restaurant right by the beach at Cape Panwa, overlooking Chalong Bay. It's just along the beach from the Panwa Beach resort, which sounds developed but you can't even see the hotel from the restaurant. There are some holiday apartments a bit further along called By The Sea. Many of the customers come from these 2 places, which helps explain why The Beach Bar closes during low season. It's normally open from about October to the end of April. Open for lunch or dinner, great for sunsets like the one above. Can be combined with a visit to the nearby Phuket Aquarium.
It's a family run restaurant, don't expect white suited waiters and silver platters here. We like the simplicity. We found the place back in 2006 and now we always enjoy a chat with the owners and have seen their kids growing up, as they have seen ours. The kids get on great. My wife and I like that - we can sit quietly while the kids go off and play on the beach, looking for shells or hunting crabs. I like to go in the late afternoon. By around 5pm they take all the tables out onto the sand, so you can sit right by the sea and wait for sunset.
Kids love it there, they are more or less free to roam, and it's safe. There is no road, no jet skis, no big crowds. If we're sitting out on the sand we can keep an eye on them if they wander along the beach. This year we did our son's birthday party there, which he and all the kids loved.
What? Oh, go on then, here are some more sunset views from The Beach Bar...
(above) Sunset 17th April 2010
(above) Sunset 15th November 2008
The beach itself is not perfect - pretty good for swimming at high tide, but totally rocky at low tide. Still pretty views, as you can see from the sunset pictures, but you can only swim at high tide, when things look more like this - much more like it!
The food at The Beach Bar is quite simple. They do seafood - lobster, crab, fish, prawns, it's maybe a bit cheaper than the main beach areas. We often just get "normal" Thai food. They do good Chicken with Cashew Nuts, Tom Yum, Glass Noodle Salad, and one of my favourites - Chicken wrapped in Pandan leaf ("Gai Hor Bai Toey"). Most of the easy dishes are only 70 - 80 Baht.
Last year we also went there for Loy Krathong, as we'd had enough of heading to the more crowded places and having to push our way through to the water. At The Beach Bar it was just us and a few other people plus the owners family launching our Krathongs into the water for good luck. I reckon we'll go there again this year.
(above) our daughter and her Grandma help the owner digging for shells
But what I really enjoy is the relaxed atmosphere, no rush, no noise, it's a place that I can feel totally at ease for a few hours, watching the sun set, watching our kids play and drink a few cold beers. Yes, one of our favourite places.
• More photos of The Beach Bar (on my Flickr pages)
• More of our favourite restaurants
The Beach Bar - Location Map
View The Beach Bar, Cape Panwa, Phuket in a larger map
This blog is "my" Phuket (not actually mine, but you get the idea) and I give thanks to all readers and people who email or come to see me to say they've enjoyed the blog. If you can find some useful information here among all the "normal" tourism websites, great. Hope you may get some ideas of things to do - things that may otherwise have been unknown. The blog has been going for 4 years now, and there's plenty more to be added. More restaurants I want to try, more trips to take just off Phuket to small islands or attractions in nearby areas. Always new things to see - and at the same time, there are some places I/we (the family) keep going back to. Some days, especially in high season, a day off is very welcome, and all I want to do is relax. We have some favourite places to go, and The Beach Bar is maybe top of the list.
The Beach Bar is a small, cheap, friendly, rather basic restaurant right by the beach at Cape Panwa, overlooking Chalong Bay. It's just along the beach from the Panwa Beach resort, which sounds developed but you can't even see the hotel from the restaurant. There are some holiday apartments a bit further along called By The Sea. Many of the customers come from these 2 places, which helps explain why The Beach Bar closes during low season. It's normally open from about October to the end of April. Open for lunch or dinner, great for sunsets like the one above. Can be combined with a visit to the nearby Phuket Aquarium.
It's a family run restaurant, don't expect white suited waiters and silver platters here. We like the simplicity. We found the place back in 2006 and now we always enjoy a chat with the owners and have seen their kids growing up, as they have seen ours. The kids get on great. My wife and I like that - we can sit quietly while the kids go off and play on the beach, looking for shells or hunting crabs. I like to go in the late afternoon. By around 5pm they take all the tables out onto the sand, so you can sit right by the sea and wait for sunset.
Kids love it there, they are more or less free to roam, and it's safe. There is no road, no jet skis, no big crowds. If we're sitting out on the sand we can keep an eye on them if they wander along the beach. This year we did our son's birthday party there, which he and all the kids loved.
What? Oh, go on then, here are some more sunset views from The Beach Bar...
(above) Sunset 17th April 2010
(above) Sunset 15th November 2008
The beach itself is not perfect - pretty good for swimming at high tide, but totally rocky at low tide. Still pretty views, as you can see from the sunset pictures, but you can only swim at high tide, when things look more like this - much more like it!
The food at The Beach Bar is quite simple. They do seafood - lobster, crab, fish, prawns, it's maybe a bit cheaper than the main beach areas. We often just get "normal" Thai food. They do good Chicken with Cashew Nuts, Tom Yum, Glass Noodle Salad, and one of my favourites - Chicken wrapped in Pandan leaf ("Gai Hor Bai Toey"). Most of the easy dishes are only 70 - 80 Baht.
Last year we also went there for Loy Krathong, as we'd had enough of heading to the more crowded places and having to push our way through to the water. At The Beach Bar it was just us and a few other people plus the owners family launching our Krathongs into the water for good luck. I reckon we'll go there again this year.
(above) our daughter and her Grandma help the owner digging for shells
But what I really enjoy is the relaxed atmosphere, no rush, no noise, it's a place that I can feel totally at ease for a few hours, watching the sun set, watching our kids play and drink a few cold beers. Yes, one of our favourite places.
• More photos of The Beach Bar (on my Flickr pages)
• More of our favourite restaurants
The Beach Bar - Location Map
View The Beach Bar, Cape Panwa, Phuket in a larger map
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My favourite places: The Beach Bar | Jamie's Phuket Blog
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Hi Jamie -
I have been following your blog for awhile now as my fiance and I have planned a honeymoon in Phuket, Krabi, and Bangkok in early June (less than 6 weeks away!) and i love your blog! this question is more due to the political unrest I keep hearing about in the US - have you heard anything in phuket so far that would lead us to cancel our trip down south (we are already assuming we will cancel bangkok)? i know the media sensationalizes things and lot could change in 6 weeks but just thought i would get your thoughts as of now. Thank you!
Hi Beth, life as normal in Phuket. Can't forsee any problems here. I have a family here, 2 kids, and would not dangle them infront of crocodiles to prove a point. Safe.
is the beach bar open on new year's eve?
Yes, The Beach Bar will be open on NYE, might see you there! Although more likely we will go on 1st January in the evening.
I saw that the last post was in year 2010. No more new post about good n cheap food in Phuket? I plan to go to Phuket in June. But i think the Beach Bar is close...:( any other places to have good, delish, n cheap Thai food? thanks in advance.
BTW< I love ur blog. The best so far. Very insightful and informative. And I can show my hubby the live camera...to show him that its not flooding in Phuket or HEAVY rain all the time.
Do update more bout Phuket...just love it Thanks
From Ariel M.Lee
Hi Ariel,
Not sure what you mean by "last post was in 2010" - the last post was a few days ago, April 2011. Try looking at the home page Jamies Phuket for latest posts. Lots of restaurants on there, check the links top left of page for Phuket Restaurants or the Site Map for a list of all posts. The live cams are on the Phuket Weather Blog.
Jamie, I was monitoring your blog for the best places to stay during my June 2011, trip but never came across this page whilst researching!
Incidentally, we ended up in Panwa (By the Sea Residence), literally 50m from this restaurant and we were stunned at the prices, the atmosphere and the quality food.
We were only out for a few drinks and unfortunately they were low on stock ("low season") but still convinced them (or they convinced us?) to share in some San Song Whiskey and Chang beer. We enjoyed a great night and, thankfully, a short walk back to the hotel :)
Hey there... I have a feeling you did not go to "The Beach Bar" since I am pretty sure it was closed all June, but there is another place with a similar name a little closer to "By The Sea" - anyway, same beach, great place for a sundowner!
Thanks Jamie. I was lucky on this trip and The Beach Bar had just reopened after low season.
Just wonderful spot with great food and service and what a view, right on the beach
Yes! Opened early this year, we were there the last 2 Saturdays :)
Hi Jamie
I'm planning a trip to Phuket in October and very interested in visiting The Beach Bar. Where could we park our car? Can we park in the Novotel and walk along the beach or does The Beach Bar have an area where we could park. Thanks.
Go just past the Novotel and you see the sign saying "The Beach Bar" and a small, steep track heading down to the restaurant on the right side, where they do have room to park cars. We always park there.
Hi there!
Love your blog, we are heading over to Phuket from New Zealand in November. We are staying in Karon, have google mapped the trip from there to the beach bar and it says it is a 28min trip. We don't have a car what would u say would be the most economical way to get there (4 adults).
Cheers
Well, from Karon it will certainly take more than 28 minutes, moere like 40 .. I guess you'd need a taxi if you don't have your own transport, a taxi will charge something like 500 Baht each way.
Hi Jamie, i was looking for a place to send u a private email, but could not find one, so i will ask you the quesion here.
iv asked before, we are coming to Karon beach on 17th November for 2 weeks, at the moment the best exchange rate i can get in the UK is 46.5 bhat to £1, iv just ordered 7000bhat which cost me £150, is the exchange rate still better than 46.5bhat to £1 in the Karon Beach area, the last time i asked you said it was 50baht to £1. i will be changing about £1500, so the differance in the exchange rate, would make a big differance to my holiday.
75,000bhat @ 50bt to £1 = £1500
75,000bhat @ 46.5bt to £1 = £1615
BIG DIFFERANCE, so please What is the best thing to do.
Thanks and this is a great blog, i have copy & pasted so many of your pages i could write a book :-)
I would always change my money in the destination country if my home country has a strong currency. Have a look at Siam Commercial Bank Exchange Rates.
Have been to the beach bar for lunch and also dinner the past few days, the food is really good and at a very reasonable price. I must say probably the best Thai food around Cape Panwa!
Staying at the fairly new Crowne Plaza Hotel just a short drive away.
Daryl
Sounds like a beautiful place my husband and I might enjoy! We are planning to visit Phuket in mid June! Would you say this is the best place to eat seafood (on the beach)?
Hi Mo .... the "best" place depends on what you like ... we like simple and not too expensive, away from the crowds, so The Beach Bar is good for us .. unfortunately for you it's normally open from about October to the end of April. Not in June.