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Weather in Phuket - August

kilobyte2

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Hi all

We are looking to spend 8 days in Phuket (3 adults and 2 children) for the 1st two weeks of August. we are concerned about the weather (monsoon) and "things" to do if the rain is prolonged. Should we consider a switch to Koh Samui which has a later monsoon from all accounts. Any input will be helpful

#1 Posted: 20/5/2010 - 01:21
exacto

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hey kb,

you picked an interesting time to post your first question!

in any case, it is a personal choice, and a balance between the two places. samui should definitely have less rain during those two weeks than phuket, but everyone knows that, so crowds will be larger and prices higher on the samui side of the peninsula. the good news is that even when it does rain, it is typically a late afternoon kind of thing although all-day showers are certainly possible.

personally, i've done both, and either choice is a good option, although the idea of smaller crowds definitely appeals to me. then again, big crowds may not be an issue this year. given the instability in thailand right now, phuket may be a good choice simply because it is easier to get a long-haul international flight out of there if needed.

let us know what you decide please. cheers.

#2 Posted: 20/5/2010 - 06:43
tezza

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I've spent quite a few Augusts in the Phuket area. I have always had enough sunshine for a good beach holiday and have never lost a full day to bad weather.
I'm a weather nerd - this is my usual spiel for August:
The southern Gulf islands (Samui, Phangan, Tao) are usually real good in August - still well short of their normal wet season of Oct into Jan. It does rain, but sunshine usually dominates.

Elsewhere is wet season, but travel is usually okay - we get plenty of posts saying people had a good holiday with the usual daily mixture of one or a few showers/storms and sunshine/scattered cloud, some days with no rain.
This has been the pattern in all my wet season visits. In August 07, I was on Phi Phi and Phuket in what the newspapers called the wettest period for some years. In 15 days got 2 days virtually cloudless, about 2 where it rained more often than not (but these still had some sunny breaks and were not write-offs), and the rest were the normal mixture of one or a few showers, sun/scattered cloud. I had a great holiday. In August 09 I spent 4 days on the Phuket side. One was real windy, mostly sunny, a few short showers - the others were not windy, otherwise similar. Check the uncredited shots on the 2 Phi Phi pages and 1 Phuket page in the link below, lots of sunshine in them. BTW, Phi Phi/Phuket and Krabi are within sight of each other, so weather patterns are similar.

The driest of the non-Southern Gulf islands tends to be Ko Samet near Bangkok. Most of Samet's beaches face east and are sheltered from the prevailing wet season winds which on the days when they get stronger can cause rough seas and blow a lot of flotsam and jetsom onto the beach.
The wettest are Big Ko Chang and neighbours + the Ranong area islands. Nevertheless I have seen plenty of posts from visitors to the former in the wet season saying they enjoyed themselves.

#3 Posted: 20/5/2010 - 08:48

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Lots of beaches and islands info - http://tezza-thailandbeachesandislands.blogspot.com/
kilobyte2

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Hey there Exacto and Tezza

Thank you for your informative replies. Currently looking at Koh Samui at the moment. Children are asking about the "James Bond" film location. Any idea where that is and can i reach it easily from Samui?

Thanks once again

Kilo

#4 Posted: 25/5/2010 - 00:00
AngelFish78

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Hey Kilo,

Ko Tapu or 'James Bond island' is in the Phang Nga bay, close to Phuket. Have a look here for more info: http://www.jamesbondisland.com/

#5 Posted: 25/5/2010 - 02:14