Phuket from South Korea

South Korea has been a Phuket market for thirty years, first as the honeymoon destination of choice and then as a family and golf market, and the island has a Korean layer that is easy to miss until you look: Korean restaurants and marts in Patong and Kata, Korean-speaking tour desks, golf packages built around Laguna and the Blue Canyon courses, and pool villas that were designed with Korean family groups in mind. Koreans also hold the longest visa-free stay of any visitor on this list, which has made Phuket a winter base for a small but growing number of remote workers.

As of September 2026, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines both fly nonstop from Seoul Incheon to Phuket, between them daily or better, on wide-body aircraft, with a flight time of about six and a quarter hours. Jin Air has operated the route as the low-cost option, and other Korean low-cost carriers have flown Incheon–Phuket and Busan–Phuket seasonally in past winters; check the schedule for your month, because these come and go. Asiana is due to be absorbed into Korean Air in December 2026, so flight numbers and branding will change while the seats remain.

South Korean citizens enter Thailand without a visa under a bilateral agreement. Checked 4 September 2026: the stay is 90 days per entry, the longest visa-free stay of any nationality on this site. The Royal Gazette notices of 31 August 2026 that cut Thailand's general visa exemption to 30 days from 15 September 2026 do not list South Korea; the Thai authorities state that separate bilateral arrangements continue to apply, and for Korea that is the 90-day agreement. Immigration officers may still ask for proof of onward travel and funds, and long or repeated stays attract questions.

The Thai baht is the only currency you will use. Korean won is accepted at many exchange booths on the island, but the rates are noticeably worse than for US dollars; if you exchange cash, change won to dollars at home and dollars to baht in Phuket, or simply use cards. Korean Visa and Mastercard cards work in Thai ATMs and at hotels, restaurants and larger shops, and the travel cards from the Korean banks and fintechs with no foreign-transaction fee are the cheapest way to pay.

The Korean calendar suits Phuket well. Seollal (16–18 February 2027) and the winter school holidays from late December to February fall in the dry season, when the island's sea is at its best and its prices at their highest; the year-end and Seollal weeks sell out the Incheon flights. Chuseok (24–26 September 2026) lands at the end of the rainy season, when the west-coast beaches are still often red-flagged but the east coast, Phuket Town and the resort pools are fine, and the prices are low.

Thailand runs on 220 volts with sockets that take the two-pin round plug, the same as Korea's, so chargers fit without an adapter; only earthed plugs sit loosely. Driving is on the left, the opposite of Korea, which catches scooter riders at every junction on the first day; an international driving permit is required, and the Korean licence alone will not satisfy the police or an insurer. Rental-car companies at the airport are used to Korean drivers.

By observation, Korean visitors on packages and honeymoons stay in Patong, especially the quieter Kalim end, and in Kata and Karon, where the resorts have long catered to the Korean market; families and groups take pool villas in Bang Tao, Layan and Kamala, and golfers base themselves at Laguna. The luxury end, Surin and the Millionaires' Mile of Kamala, draws Korean couples for anniversaries and photographs.