Phuket from China

China is Phuket's largest source market by arrivals in most years, and the island has been shaped by it: Chinese-language signage in Patong and Karon, tour-bus bays at the Big Buddha and Wat Chalong, mobile-payment QR codes at every counter, and, since the mutual visa exemption of 2024, a shift from group tours to independent travellers who rent villas, hire cars and eat in the Old Town. The relationship is old too: much of Phuket Town was built by Hokkien families, and the shrines that run the Vegetarian Festival are Chinese.

As of September 2026, Phuket has nonstop flights from more Chinese cities than from any other country. Year-round services include Shanghai (Shanghai Airlines, Juneyao, Spring Airlines), Guangzhou (China Southern, Spring), Chengdu (Air China, Sichuan Airlines, Spring) and Kunming (China Eastern), with Beijing, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Xi'an, Nanjing, Wuhan, Changsha and Hong Kong served by Chinese and Thai carriers, some year-round and some only in the winter and holiday seasons. Thai Airways, Thai AirAsia, Thai Lion Air and Thai VietJet operate many of the routes from the Thai side.

Chinese citizens with ordinary passports enter Thailand without a visa under the China–Thailand mutual visa-exemption agreement that took effect on 1 March 2024. Checked 4 September 2026: the stay is 30 days per entry, with a cumulative limit of 90 days in any 180-day period. Thailand's Royal Gazette notices of 31 August 2026, which cut the general visa exemption to 30 days from 15 September 2026, do not affect the bilateral agreement; the Thai authorities state that separate bilateral arrangements continue to apply. A single extension of up to 30 days can be requested at an immigration office for a fee, at the officer's discretion.

Thailand is one of the easiest countries outside China to pay with a phone. Alipay and WeChat Pay are accepted at the large chains, the malls, the airport, many hotels and a growing number of ordinary shops and restaurants in the tourist districts, through the tie-ups with Thai payment networks; the merchant scans your code or you scan theirs. UnionPay cards are accepted at most ATMs and at the larger shops, and UnionPay's rates are usually better than the exchange booths'. Bring some cash anyway: markets, street food, taxis, longtail boats and small shops in the south and the north of the island still want baht notes.

Chinese New Year (6 February 2027; 17 February 2026) is Phuket's second-highest peak after Christmas and the fortnight when Chinese arrivals dominate the island; hotels in Patong and Karon are booked months ahead and prices are at their annual high. The National Day Golden Week, 1 to 7 October, falls at the end of the wet season, when the rains are easing and the sea is often still rough on the west coast; the east coast and Phuket Town are better bets that week. Labour Day in early May is the start of the wet season, and the summer holidays in July and August are its middle: cheaper, wetter, with red flags on the west-coast beaches on many days.

Thailand runs on 220 volts and its sockets take flat two-pin plugs (the same as China's Type A) and round two-pin plugs; the angled three-pin Chinese plug does not fit, so bring one adapter for the laptop. Driving is on the left, the opposite of the mainland, which matters most in the first hours on a scooter; an international driving permit is required, and Chinese licences alone are not accepted by the police or insurers. Google, WhatsApp, Instagram and the rest are open in Thailand, so most visitors set up an eSIM or buy a Thai SIM at the airport for a week of unfiltered internet.

By observation, Chinese visitors on package and group tours stay overwhelmingly in Patong and Karon, where the large hotels, the shopping and the tour-bus logistics are, with Kata and Kamala as the family alternatives. Independent travellers, a growing share since 2024, have spread further: villas in Bang Tao and Layan for groups of friends and families, boutique hotels in the Old Town for the café and photography crowd, and resorts in Mai Khao and Nai Yang for those who want the pool and nothing else.