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Phuket Indy Market, Phuket Old Town. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved. One Day in Phuket Old Town Itinerary.

One Day in Phuket Old Town Itinerary for a Perfect Day in Phuket Old City, Southern Thailand

Our one day in Phuket Old Town itinerary provides a plan for a perfect day in the capital of the Southern Thai island, kicking off with a quintessential Old Town breakfast – or two – and taking you through snacks and lunch, punctuated by market walks and museum visits, and ending with a must-do dinner.

Most travellers to the island of Phuket in Southern Thailand are there for the beach and water-based activities. Too few see it as the food destination that we do, spending most of their time on the beach and at resort restaurants and bars. And who can blame them? Phuket is home to some of Thailand’s best beach resorts.

If visitors to Phuket do make it into the island’s capital, they tend to do little more than linger at the weekend market in the late afternoon and then stay on for dinner. We reckon Phuket Old Town with its wonderful Sino-Portuguese architecture, distinct Peranakan culture, and delicious Phuket-style Thai cuisine warrants a full day of your time and this is how we think you should spend it.

Here’s our one day in Phuket Old Town itinerary to guide you to the must-do experiences in the island capital. A warning: many of them involve food!

One Day in Phuket Old Town Itinerary for a Perfect Day in Phuket’s Capital

Where To Stay In Phuket Old Town

If you’re only allowing one day in Phuket Old Town, we suggest scheduling it at the beginning of your Phuket trip and staying a night in Phuket Town so you don’t waste a second. When you need to retreat from the heat or require a short siesta, it means you won’t have far to go for a quick nap or cool-down.

Check into one of the charming boutique hotels in Phuket Town in heritage buildings, such as The Memory at On On or Casa Blanca. Built in 1929, The Memory at On On is one of Phuket’s oldest hotels. It starred as the seedy backpackers in the movie The Beach before extensive renovations in 2013.

Book one of the lovely mid-range rooms with balcony, although note that most of the charm lies in the public spaces, which are furnished with vintage pieces, such as antique wireless radios, and the light-filled courtyards and tranquil nooks.

Casa Blanca is a comfortable boutique hotel with a feminine sensibility – pastel colours, pretty furnishings, fresh flowers – and a well-travelled, English-speaking Thai owner who is a passionate baker and foodie and generous with dining tips. Both are centrally located and handy to markets, shops, galleries, restaurants, and bars.

And when you are ready for some sun and sand, see the Phuket beach resorts we recommend.

Breakfast In Phuket Old Town

With only one day in Phuket Old Town, breakfast must be one of the quintessential Phuket Town breakfasts, khanom jeen or dim sum (siao boi). Whatever you decide on, you’ll have to wake early to join the locals for breakfast, which starts around 6am and is done by 8am or 9am.

For khanom jeen – freshly made, lightly fermented rice noodles served with curries, aromatic fresh herbs, and raw and steamed vegetables – make a beeline to Pa Mai Kanom Jeen on Satun Road (if it’s closed, try Mae Ting Kanom Jeen up the street toward Thungkar Road).

If there’s a lady behind the table laden with pots of rich curries (along with plates of fried chicken, grilled fish and hor mok, a steamed fish curry), let her know what curry you fancy and she’ll ladle it onto a dish of noodles. Otherwise, snag a table and a waitress will take your order.

For dim sum, try century-old Juan Hiang (18 Phoonpon Rd), where owner Yaowamal Woaranopakul offers some 50 different types of siao boi, including an array of seafood and pork dumplings, fluffy steamed buns, deep fried snacks, fried tofu, vegetables, and Portuguese egg tarts.

Grab a table then wait for staff to drop by with small plates of dim sum. Accept what you think looks good, politely decline what doesn’t, and wave when you’re ready for more.

Coffee In Phuket Old Town

Kickstart your one day in Phuket Old Town with coffee at Kopitiam by Wilai. Phuket Old Town has much in common with the ports of Penang, Malacca and Singapore due to the historic maritime trading routes. One aspect of everyday culture they share is the ‘kopitiam’, a type of old-school Chinese coffee shop originally established by Hokkien immigrants. ‘Kopi’ is Malay for coffee and ‘tiam’ is Hokkien for ‘shop’.  

Many of Phuket’s Thai-Chinese locals are of Hokkien heritage, which explains the red Chinese signs and the Chinese temples peppered around town. Furnished with antiques and bric-a-brac, with old black and white photos on the walls, Kopitiam by Wilai is popular with Thai tourists as much as foreigners, for its old-world atmosphere and traditional Thai coffee, made with robusta beans, and served with sweet, creamy condensed milk. Opt for the iced coffee if it’s a steamy day.

A Morning In Phuket Old Town

With only one day in Phuket Old Town you’ll only have time for a few sights. Start exploring the streets and then when the heat gets too much for you retreat indoors. For us, mornings in a Thai town mean market time.

In the centre of Phuket Town, Central Market (Ranong Road) is the main market in a big modern building, however, cross the road and head down Soi Phisai Sapphakit and you’ll find a small but busy market with stalls selling fresh farm produce, much of which comes from around the island, along with perfumed herbs, aromatic spices, pungent chilli relishes, fermented fish pastes, and dry and smoked fish.

Vehicles come and go, delivering and collecting goods, so there’s always something happening. If the food has made you peckish, make your way to lunch…

Lunch In Phuket Old Town

Elsewhere on the island, Thai food means food from central Thailand or the north-eastern Isaan region, which is different to Phuket cuisine, which has been influenced by historical connections to China and Malaysia, resulting in Peranakan or Baba Nyonya cuisine.

So with only one day in Phuket Old Town we recommend tasting Phuket-style street food at Lock Tien Food Court (corner Dibuk and Yaowarat Roads), a 1950s-era hawker centre. The ten or so stalls have been operated for about five decades by the same families dishing up their Phuket specialties.

Start with the Phuket-style popiah, char siu pork, grated turnips, bean sprouts, and peanuts rolled up in wheat-flour wraps roll and doused in a sweet and sour tamarind sauce, which hailed from China’s Fujian province but are also found in Singapore and Malaysia.

Then order the “ancient noodles” listed on the laminated menu: mee hoon pah chang, fried noodles with pork bone soup, and mee nam Hokkien, Hokkien-style prawn noodles.

If you had more than one day in Phuket Old Town, we’d also be recommending this Phuket Old Town 15-taster food tour for a comprehensive introduction to Phuket’s culinary history and culture.

Afternoon In Phuket Old Town

If it’s too hot for you, it might be time for that siesta back at the hotel. However, as you only have one day in Phuket Old Town, if you can cope with the heat walk off lunch and work up an appetite for your next meal on a wander around Phuket Old Town, dropping into a temple or a museum or three when you’re in need of some air-conditioning.

Scattered across Phuket Old Town are ornate incense-filled Chinese temples and grand Sino-Portuguese mansions built from the wealth of Phuket’s tin-mining boom and long history of trade. Many of them are now dilapidated with peeling paint, others transformed into fascinating museums.

Make your priorities the Thai Hua Museum, the new Phuket Peranakan Museum and Phuket Baba Museum, all of which reveal different aspects of Phuket’s intriguing history.

Early Evening In Phuket Old Town

With only one day in Phuket Old Town, if you’re here on a Thursday or Friday, you must make a beeline for the casual, cool little Indy Market (beside Limelight Avenue, Dibuk Road; 4-10pm), where young Thai designers, artists and makers sell handmade crafts, art, jewellery and accessories, along with vintage clothes and kitschy-cool gifts and souvenirs.

You can also get a tattoo, mani-pedi or your portrait sketched. Stalls serve up street food snacks, from burgers and barbecue chicken to som tam and ‘Thai tacos’ (khanom buang). There’s live music and small bars selling coconut water, sugar cane juice, cold beers, and cocktails.

Sundowners In Phuket Old Town

Unpretentious Quip Sky Bar (Quip B&B, 5th Floor, near corner of Phuket and Rasada Roads; 4pm-midnight) is the spot to head for sundowners if you only have only one day in Phuket Old Town.

It was the Old Town’s first rooftop bar and it remains popular with artsy young local Thais as much as travellers of all types and it’s easy to see why once you’re reclined on cushions sipping something cold as you watch the sun set over the Old City rooftops.

Dinner In Phuket Old Town

With only one day in Phuket Old Town, dinner must be at Raya (48 Dibuk Rd) in a grand yet faded century-old Sino-Portuguese mansion house with stained walls with peeling paint and worn antique floor tiles.

Arguably serving up Phuket’s finest local food, Raya is still ran by the elderly daughter of the original owners, who checks every plate as it leaves the kitchen – if she’s not working the woks herself of course.

Order the nam prik goong seab (spicy prawn chilli dip), pad bai liang (stir fried bai laing leaves), moo hong (stewed pork belly), and the fiery gang poo bai chaplu (crab meat curry with betel leaves).

If you can’t get into Raya, head to One Chun restaurant (48/1 Thepkasattri Road, near the corner of Dibuk Road), which is popular with Thai tourists and also does a great gaeng poo, although it doesn’t have the lethal heat of Raya’s, restaurant’s gaeng poo, which Central Thais sometimes struggle to eat.

Spread across a couple of Sino-Portuguese shophouses, it’s delightfully decorated with retro pieces, including old suitcases and record players, antique clocks, and even a vintage film projector. If downstairs looks full, there are often tables free in the courtyard garden.

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About Terence Carter

Terence Carter is an editorial food and travel photographer and infrequent travel writer with a love of photographing people, places and plates of food. After living in the Middle East for a dozen years, he settled in South-East Asia a dozen years ago with his wife, travel and food writer and sometime magazine editor Lara Dunston.

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About Grantourismo

Lara and Terence are an Australian-born, Southeast Asia-based travel and food writers and photographers who have authored scores of guidebooks, produced countless travel and food stories, are currently developing cookbooks and guidebooks, and host culinary tours and writing and photography retreats in Southeast Asia.
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Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check o Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check out our seafood recipe collection, especially if you celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve with a fish focused meal in the Southern Italian tradition, transformed by Italian-Americans into the Feast of the Seven Fishes, or like Australians, who celebrate Christmas in the sweltering summer, feast on seafood for Christmas Day lunch, we’ve got lots of easy seafood recipes for you.

Our recipes include a classic prawn cocktail, blini with smoked salmon, a ceviche-style appetiser, and devilled eggs with caviar. We’ve also got recipes for fish soup, seafood pies and pastas, salmon tray bake, and crispy salmon with creamy mashed potatoes.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/seafood-recipes-for-christmas-eve-and-christmas-day-menus/
(Link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas if you’re celebrating!! 

#christmas #christmasfood #seafood #fish #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #grantourismo #grantourismotravels #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you’re still looking for food inspo for Chris If you’re still looking for food inspo for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meals, my smoked salmon ‘carpaccio’ recipe is one of dozens of recipes in this compilation of our best Christmas recipes (link below). 

The Christmas recipe compilation includes collections of our best Christmas breakfast recipes, best Christmas brunch recipes, best Christmas starter recipes, best Christmas cocktails, best Christmas dessert recipes, and homemade edible Christmas gifts and more.

My smoked salmon carpaccio recipe makes an easy elegant appetiser that’s made in minutes. If you’re having guests over, you can make the dish ahead by assembling the salmon, capers and pickled onions, and refrigerate it, then pour on the dressing just before serving. 

Provide toasted baguette slices and bowls of additional capers, pickles and dressing, so guests can customise their carpaccio. And open the bubbly!

You’ll find that recipe and many more Christmas recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/best-christmas-recipes/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas!! X

#christmas #christmasfood #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #salmon #smokedsalmon #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels 
#xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I sh If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I shared a collection of recipes for homemade edible Christmas gifts — for condiments, hot sauces, chilli oils, a whole array of pickles, spice blends, chilli salt, furakake seasoning, and spicy snacks, such as our Cambodian and Vietnamese roasted peanuts. 

I love giving homemade edibles as gifts as much as I love receiving them. Who wouldn’t appreciate jars filled with their favourite chilli oils, hot sauces, piquant pickles, and spicy peanuts that loved-ones have taken the time to make? 

Aside from the gesture and affordability of gifting homemade edibles, you’re minimising waste. You can use recycled jars or if buying new mason jars or clip-top Kilner jars, you know they’ll get repurposed.

No need for wrapping, just attach some Christmas baubles or tinsel to the lid. I used squares of Cambodian kramas (cotton scarves), which can be repurposed as napkins or drink coasters, and tied a ribbon or two around the lids, and attached last year’s Christmas tree decorations to some.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/homemade-edible-christmas-gifts/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Yes, that’s Pepper... every time there’s a camera around... 

#christmasgiftideas #ediblegifts ##christmasfoodgifts #foodgifts #giftideas #homemadegifts #christmasfood #ediblegiftideas #hotsauce #chillisauce #sriracha #pickles #homemadepickles #recipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood 
#blackcat #blackcatsofinstagram #picoftheday 
#christmas #christmastree #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas #cambodia #siemreap
This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’ This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’s perfect if you’re just back from the fish markets armed with luxurious fresh crab meat. It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and very, very moreish.

Our crab omelette recipe was one of our 22 most popular egg recipes of 2022 on our website Grantourismo and it’s no surprise. It’s appeared more times than any other egg recipes on our annual round-ups of most popular recipes since Terence launched Weekend Eggs when we launched Grantourismo in 2010.

If you’re an eggs lover, do check out the recipe collection. It includes egg recipes from right around the world, from recipes for classic kopitiam eggs from Singapore and Malaysia and egg curries from India and Myanmar to all kinds of egg recipes from Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, Mexico, USA, Australia, UK, and Ireland.

And do browse our Weekend Eggs archives for further eggspiration (sorry). We have hundreds of egg recipes from the 13 year-old series of recipes for quintessential egg dishes from around the world, which we started on our 2010 year-long global grand tour focused on slow, local and experiential travel. 

We’re hoping 2023 will be the year we can finally publish the Weekend Eggs cookbook we’ve talked about for years based on that series. After we can find a publisher for the Cambodia cookbook of course... :( 

Recipe collection here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio):
https://grantourismotravels.com/22-most-popular-egg-recipes-of-2022-from-weekend-eggs/

If you cook the recipe and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either in the comments at the end of the recipe or share a pic with us here.

#recipe #recipes #eggs #eggslover #breakfasteggs #WeekendEggs #egg #breakfast #brunch #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #lookingforapublisher #writingacookbook  #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angko I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angkor Archaeological Park, home to stupendous Angkor Wat, pictured, celebrated 30 years of its UNESCO World Heritage listing. 

That’s as good an excuse as any to put this magnificent, sprawling archaeological site on your travel list this year.

While riverside Siem Reap, your base for exploring Angkor is bustling once more, there are still nowhere near the visitors of the last busy high season months of December-January 2018-2019 when there were 290,000 visitors. 

Last month there were just 55,000 visitors and December feels a little quieter. A tour guide friend said there were about 150 people at Angkor Wat for sunrise a few days ago.

If you’re looking for tips to visiting Angkor, Siem Reap and Cambodia, just ask us a question in the comments below or check Grantourismo as we’ve got loads of info on our site. Click through to the link in the bio and explore our Cambodia guide or search for ‘Angkor’. 

And please do let us know if you’re coming to Siem Reap. We’d love to see you here x

#siemreap #cambodia #asia #travel #instatravel #traveldeeper #slowtravel #localtravel #experientialtravel #exploremore #neverstopexploring #goexplore #igtravel #angkorwat #angkor #temple #temples #angkorwithoutcrowds #unesco #unescoworldheritagesite #unescoworldheritage #archaeology #archaeologicalsite #traveladdict #beautifuldestinations #beautifulplaces #travelgram #wanderlust #picoftheday📷 #grantourismotravels.
Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky, flavourful and succulent chicken thighs that are fantastic with steamed rice, Chinese greens or a salad, such as a Southeast Asian slaw. 

The chicken can be marinated for up to 24 hours before cooking, which ensures it’s packed with flavour, then it can be cooked on a barbecue or in a pan.

Terence’s soy ginger chicken recipe is one of our favourite recipes for a quick and easy meal. I love the sound of the sizzling thighs in the pan, and the warming aromas wafting through the apartment. 

It’s amazing how such flavourful juicy chicken thighs come from such a quick and easy recipe.

Recipe here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio): https://grantourismotravels.com/soy-ginger-chicken-recipe/

If you cook it and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either here or in the comments at the end of the recipe on the site or share a pic with us x 

#recipe #recipes #chicken #soygingerchicken #asianfood #southeastasianfood #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #cookingtime #recipe #recipes #comfortfood #foodblog #food #foodstagram #healthyfood #instafood #healthy #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re mak Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re making with my market haul from Psar Samaki in Siem Reap — all for a whopping 10,000 riel (US$2.50)?! 

Birds-eye chillies thrown in for free! They were on my list but the seller I spent most at (5,000 riel!) scooped up a handful and slipped them into my bag. She was my last stop and knew what I was making.

My Khmer is poor, even after all our years in Cambodia, as I don’t learn languages with the ease I did in my 20s, plus I’m mentally exhausted after researching and writing all day. I have a better vocabulary of Old and Middle Khmer than modern Khmer from studying the ancient inscriptions for the Cambodian culinary history component of our cookbook I’m writing.

So when one seller totalled my purchases I thought she said 5,000 riel but she handed back 4,500 riel! The sum total of two huge bunches of herbs and kaffir lime leaves was 500 riel.

Tip: if visiting Siem Reap, use Khmer riel for local shopping. We’ve mainly used riel since the pandemic started— rarely use US$ now as market sellers quote prices in riels, as do local shops and bakeries, and I tip tuk tuk drivers in riels. I find prices quoted in riels are lower.

Psar Samaki is cheaper than Psar Leu, which is cheaper than Psar Chas, as it’s a wholesale market, which means the produce is fresher. I see veggies arriving, piled high in the back of vehicles, with dirt still on them — as I did on this trip. 

The scent of a mountain of incredibly aromatic pineapples offloaded from the back of a dusty ute was so heady they smelt like they’d just been cut. More exotic European style veggies arrive by big trucks in boxes labelled in Vietnamese (from Dalat) and Mandarin (from China), such as beautiful snow-white cauliflower I spotted.

Note: the freshest produce is sold on the dirt road at the back of the market.

#cambodia #siemreap #foodwriter #foodblogger #foodphotography #igfood #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #instadaily #picoftheday #market #siemreapmarket #psarsamaki #marketfresh #vegetables #healthyfood #marketshopping #traveltips #foodtravel #culinarytravel #localtravel #cooking #cookingtime #curry #homemade #currypaste #grantourismotravels
My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recip My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recipe makes tender meatballs doused in a delightfully tangy-sweet sauce, sprinkled with crispy fried shallots, with carrot-daikon, crunchy cucumber and fragrant herbs. 

The dish is inspired by bún chả, a Hanoi specialty, but it’s not bún chả. No matter what Google or food bloggers tell you. Names are important, especially when cooking and writing about cuisines not our own.

This is an authentic bún chả recipe:  https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-bun-cha-recipe/ You’ll need to get the outdoor BBQ/grill going to do proper smoky bún chả meat patties (not meatballs).

My meatball noodle bowl is perhaps more closely related to dishes such as a Central Vietnam cousin bún thịt nướng (pork skewers on rice noodles in a bowl) and a Southern relation bún bò Nam Bộ (beef atop rice noodles, sprinkled with fried shallots (Nam Bộ=Southern Vietnam) though neither include meatballs. 

Xíu mại= meatballs although they’re different in flavour to mine, which taste more like bún chả patties. Xíu mại remind me of Southern Italian meatballs in tomato sauce.

In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, home to millions of Khmer, there’s bánh tằm xíu mại. Bánh tằm=silk worm noodles. They’re topped with meatballs, cucumber, daikon, carrot, fresh herbs, crispy fried onions. Difference: cold noodles doused in a sauce of coconut cream and fish sauce. 

Remove the meatballs, add chopped fried spring rolls and it’s Cambodia’s banh sung, which is a rice noodle salad similar to Vietnam’s bún chả giò :) 

Recipe here: (link in bio) https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-meatballs-and-rice-noodles-recipe/

For more on these culinary connections you’ll have to wait for our Cambodian cookbook and culinary history. In a hurry to know? Come support the project on Patreon. (link in bio)

#recipe #recipes #vietnamesefood #cambodianfood #asianfood #southeastasianfood #ricenoodles #rice #noodlebowl #meatballs #igfood #igfoodie #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #writingacookbook #writingacambodiancookbook #patreon #patreoncreator #grantourismo
It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour matches the furnishings of our rented apartment. So, no, I did not colour-coordinate the interiors to match our cat’s eyes. 

I keep getting DMs from pet clothing brands wanting to “partner” with Pepper and send her free cat clothes and cat accessories. Although she did wear a kerchief for a few years in her more adventurous fashion-forward teenage years, I cannot see this cat in clothes now, can you? 

#pepper #blackcat #blackcats #blackcatsofinstagram #blackcatsrule #blackcatsmatter #cat #cats #catsofinstagram #catstagram #catlover #catlovers #catlove #catoftheday #catphoto #catpic #catpics #cambodiancat #cambodiancatsofinstagram #catlife #catloversclub #catoftheday #catgram #catstagram #cats_of_instagram #catphotography #catsofig #catsoftheworld #catsofinsta #cats🐱 #siemreap #cambodia

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