Shopping in Phuket

Shoppers Paradise — Phuket

A Guide to Shopping In Phuket

Shopping in Phuket can be a colorful adventure. The city is packed with plenty of shopping avenues, from large departmental stores and hyper malls, to weekly bazaars and small shops. These offer a variety of items from precious gems and stones to traditional handicrafts, textiles, antiques, and clothes.  To get a real feel of the choices available here, a visit to the bazaars and street shops is highly recommended.  Patong and Phuket City offer the greatest varieties.  The best time to go shopping while in Phuket is during the evenings, although there are many shops that open early in the day as well.   

Bargaining is a quintessential aspect of shopping here, and most stores and shops will even expect a little haggling here and there.  The bigger departmental stores and shops, however, display fixed rates and do not encourage haggling. Another attractive feature of shopping in Phuket, and indeed all of Thailand, is the VAT refund available for tourists. Explore this option before beginning your shopping spree. 

Must Buys in Phuket

Explore a variety of shops and markets in Phuket before making any purchases. Apart from the shops lining Patong Beach road, the markets in the Old Town area also offer excellent bargains.  Make a trip to the local fresh produce markets where Thais do most of their shopping for essentials.  These colorful shopping areas with their meandering lanes offer a great way to experience the sights, sounds, flavors, and smells of the city. A few must buys while shopping in Phuket are ceramics, neilloware, lacquer ware, pewter ware, the famously exquisite Thai silks, and fabrics like cotton and batik.  For those who like their shopping with a lot more bling, there is a wide range of intricate gold and silver jewelry inlaid with precious stones like rubies and sapphires.