What is on in Phuket in August?
Queen Mother Sirikit's birthday and Mother's Day (August 12, 2027); Northern-hemisphere summer school holidays (June 15 – September 5, 2027).
Phuket in August: events, weather, sea, crowds and prices
Wet, warm and cheap, with Maya Bay closed for its annual reef recovery and the west coast still under red flags.
Dataset checked 2026-09-08: 39 entries covering September 2026 to December 2027, of which 17 carry an approximate date. Weather and crowd figures on this page are medians from our climate and tourism datasets.
August in numbers
270 mm
Median rain
25 days
Rain days
28.9 °C
Daily high
rough
West-coast sea
29.9 °C
Sea temperature
1,044,943
Guest arrivals, median
68.9 %
Occupancy
Closed
Similan islands
Source: Open-Meteo (ERA5), 2015–2026; Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Thailand · All sources
What is on in Phuket in August
Thai public holiday
Queen Mother Sirikit's birthday and Mother's Day
August 12, 2027
A domestic long weekend in a low month: east-coast restaurants and Thai-oriented resorts busy for three days, international rates unmoved, government counters closed.
Source-market holiday
Northern-hemisphere summer school holidays
June 15 – September 5, 2027 · approximate
A visible occupancy bump inside the low half of the index without a matching price rise — the monsoon caps what hotels can charge. Family rooms, connecting rooms and villas with big pools are the inventory that actually gets tight in July and August.
Seasonal windows covering August
Maya Bay annual closure
August 1 – September 30, 2027
Phi Phi day trips still run in August and September, at low-season prices, but they skip the one stop most people book them for. Operators do not always say so before you pay — check the itinerary for those two months.
Green season (south-west monsoon)
May 1 – September 30, 2027
The low half of the index. Hotel and villa medians sit well below the November-to-April figures, tours discount, and the trade-off is the sea rather than the sky: swimming on the west coast is unreliable, and Phang Nga Bay, Phuket Town and the east coast carry the itinerary.
West-coast swell and red-flag season
May 1 – October 31, 2027
Explains the low-season discount better than the rain does. It is also the reason island day trips are cancelled at short notice between May and October: book refundable, and treat a calm west-coast beach day as a bonus rather than the plan.
Weather and sea in August
Medians per calendar month over 2015–2025. Open-Meteo (ERA5), 2015–2026.
A median August carries 270 mm of rain over 25 days, of which 3 bring more than 20 mm. Daily highs sit around 28.9 °C and nights around 25.3 °C, with about 277 hours of sunshine in the month and humidity near 84%. The sea off the west coast is rough: a median August has 9 rough-sea days, and the surface water sits around 29.9 °C.
Mu Ko Similan National Park is closed in August — no day trips, liveaboards or charters run.
| Month | Median rain | Rain days | Daily high | Nightly low | Sunshine | Rough-sea days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37 | 10 | 29.5 | 24.4 | 329 | 0 |
| February | 21 | 7 | 30.7 | 24.7 | 312 | 0 |
| March | 73 | 14 | 31.7 | 25.4 | 343 | 0 |
| April | 183 | 25 | 30.7 | 25.7 | 311 | 0 |
| May | 343 | 28 | 29.8 | 25.6 | 298 | 4 |
| June | 275 | 22 | 29.3 | 25.9 | 284 | 8 |
| July | 241 | 24 | 29.2 | 25.8 | 279 | 13 |
| August | 270 | 25 | 28.9 | 25.3 | 277 | 9 |
| September | 309 | 25 | 28.7 | 24.8 | 248 | 12 |
| October | 340 | 28 | 29.0 | 24.4 | 286 | 2 |
| November | 270 | 27 | 28.7 | 24.5 | 260 | 0 |
| December | 113 | 16 | 29.2 | 24.1 | 298 | 0 |
Crowds and prices in August
A median August brings 1,044,943 hotel guest arrivals in Phuket with occupancy around 68.9%, which makes it the 6th busiest month of the twelve in the Ministry of Tourism and Sports series. Occupancy at this level is what pushes hotel and villa rate cards to their high-season level, and it is why the island’s best inventory is committed months ahead.
August sits in the low half of the year: hotel and villa rate cards are at their low-season level and most things can be booked at short notice.
| Segment | Median | n | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3★ hotel, island median per night | $34 | 177 | September 2026 |
| 4★ hotel, island median per night | $62 | 210 | September 2026 |
| 5★ hotel, island median per night | $141 | 87 | September 2026 |
| 3-bedroom villa, island median per month | $3,975 | 125 | September 2026 |
Current island medians, observed September 2026, with the sample size behind each figure. The index has one observation month so far, so no per-month price history exists yet — it accrues from September 2026. Price index →
Source: Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Thailand, 2023–2025 · All sources · 2026-09-05
August is the second half of the northern school holidays, so the island stays moderately busy while the weather is at its least cooperative. Rain totals are high, the swell is still running, and the difference between a good August day and a bad one is larger than in any other month.
Maya Bay closes for the whole of August and September so the reef and the blacktip shark nursery can recover. Phi Phi trips still run and still cost low-season money, but they skip the stop most people book them for, and not every operator says so before you pay.
Thai Mother's Day on the twelfth usually bridges into a domestic long weekend, and it is one of the few times in the monsoon when Rawai and Panwa fill with Phuket families rather than visitors — which is, incidentally, the best time to eat there.
Who August suits
- Budget travellers who want warm sea and empty rates.
- Anyone visiting for the inland attractions and the food.
- Visitors with flexible dates who can dodge the worst days.
Who should pick another month
Anyone booking a Phi Phi trip for Maya Bay, and anyone who needs dependable beach swimming.
Questions about August
What is the weather like in Phuket in August?
A median August has 270 mm of rain over 25 days, daily highs around 28.9 °C and nights around 25.3 °C, from eleven years of reanalysis data. Mu Ko Similan National Park is closed in August — no day trips, liveaboards or charters run.
Can you swim on the west coast beaches in August?
Often not. A median August has 9 rough-sea days on the west coast, and rip currents rather than waves are what drowns people here. Swim where a lifeguard is on duty, take the flags seriously, and use the sheltered east and south coasts on the bad days.
Is August an expensive month in Phuket?
August sits in the low half of the year: hotel and villa rate cards are at their low-season level and most things can be booked at short notice.