| Phuket is the biggest island in Thailand. On the west coast of this paradise island you'll find a number of powder sand beaches lined with palm trees. Kamala Beach is one the bigger ones but still not as developed as many of the others. |
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Just north of Patong Beach, famous for it's vibrant nightlife, you'll find a more quiet thai village set in a valley with a picturesque beach. Kamala Beach still has the standard touristy stuff but you don't need to walk far to find a fairly unaffected place. The beach is more than 2km long, quite wide and the water is shallow for a long way out. Framing the whole scenery is the rainforest mountains of Phuket coming down all the way to the waterfront on both sides. Most of the development is at the southern end of the beach, where a handful of restaurants and a couple of mid-range hotels pull the smallish crowds. The northern end is pretty much undeveloped, with a few beachfront bamboo-hut type restaurants and cheaper guesthouses. During high season, water sports take up a lot of space here with scuba diving/snorkeling, windsurfing, fishing trips and island hopping all running on a daily basis. During the short wet season don't be surprised to find the locals and the occasional tourist trying to fit in a bit of surfing here.
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| Favourite spots: |
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The beach itself, feels like a breath of fresh air after spending time on some of the more crowded beaches around Phuket. In the evenings the sun settles over the horizon straight out at sea, just find yourself a spot in a small restaurant right on the beach, order a Beer Chang and enjoy the show. Being a scuba diver myself, I would recommend locating a dive shop and sign up for a 2-dive daytrip with longtail boat. The often overlooked west coast of Phuket, offers some easily accessible and sometimes just as good, or better, dive spots than the more popular southern & eastern sites such as Raya Island or Phi-PHi Island. If you come here during the off-season, Jun-Oct, then you should definately try some wind- or wave surfing. The steady westerly moonsoon wind makes for perfect windsurfing off the beach and some days you can catch some choice waves here on a surfboard as well.
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| What's really great: |
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Banana Rock, a small island 30min with longtail from the beach, is a hidden gem among Phuket dive sites, truly spectacular variety of marine life, here you can spot rarities like frogfish and harlequin shrimps as well as a resident turtle, cuttlefish, Napoleon wrasse and a lot more.
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| Sights: |
Kamala Temple
Local Market
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| Accommodations: |
Coconut Garden Bungalows
Kamala Beachfront Apartments
Deng's Resort & Guesthouse
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| Restaurants: |
Freedom Restaurant
Deng's Restaurant
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| Other recommendations: |
Kamala Dive Center
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Published on Thursday September 27th, 2007
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Mon, Nov 12 2007 - 06:52 PM
 by jgsoule
Hi Carl, we spent about 3 weeks in Kamala in 1996 and, although I'm not a diver, I loved it because of reasons u listed in your report. It was nice and quiet yet within a 10 minute drive of as much chaos as u want (Patong). In the evening locals would bring horses down to the beach and let them swim in the shallow water. We stayed in the Birdbeach Cottages in a 2 br house (quite reasonable). We made friends with some people that owned a restaurant and a couple rental cottages right on the beach about mid span. Very good restaurant. I heard that Kamala was wiped out during the tsunami. I fear that my friends might have gone with it. Would you happen to know anything about that?
Anyway, I enjoyed your report. It brought back lots of memories.
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Fri, Sep 28 2007 - 03:11 AM
by rangutan
| An excellent tip for windsurfers and divers. The report needs to be extended a bit to look less like advertising a specific place. More Dive sights and services? Day-Trips? More photos? [3.7] |
Thu, Sep 27 2007 - 07:51 AM
 by marianne
| Interesting first part, starts very promising with excellent information but then get less interesting. Maybe you can add some more detail and a few photos? |
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