What to do in Phuket if it’s raining

It’s still raining in Phuket. Low season has finally arrived and some tourists may be wondering what to do when laying on a beach chair is out of the question.

A few Phuket rainy day suggestions:

Go to the Cinema. Latest movies are on show at Jung Ceylon in Patong Beach, Central Festival or in Phuket Town (close to Robinsons).
Go Bowling. Rock and Bowl in Patong is the best.
Shop ’til you drop. Central Festival and Jung Ceylon are always busier when it’s raining. Or you could visit a gem factory and buy something expensive and shiny.
Visit Museums. Try the Phuket Tin Mining Museum in Kathu or Thai Hua museum on Ranong Road in Phuket Town.
Take a Thai Cookery Class. Learn to cook delicious Thai food.
Pamper Yourself with a Spa treatment. Phuket has a wealth of luxury spa’s. Or you can just enjoy a traditional Thai massage at one of the many massage shops all over the island.
Visit temples. The biggest on Phuket is Wat Chalong but there are many others. Hire a taxi to take you around.
Fire some rounds at a shooting range. There is one in Chalong and one in Kathu. Or there is laser shooting in Jung Ceylon mall.
Eat and Drink. Sit in a bar or restaurant and watch the rain while you eat and drink yourself silly. Pick a restaurant on the water front and watch the waves of rain poor in. Relax with a book, listening to the sound of the rain on the roof. Or find a bar by the road and people watch.

The above list is all ideas which involve keeping dry but you could also take the opposite approach and revel in the water:

Go swimming. Hit the beach even though it’s raining, or visit Splash Jungle water park in Mai Khao beach.
Go diving. It’s more or less the same underwater whether it’s raining or not.
Go mountain biking or ATV riding. Ride around in the glorious mud.
Wakeboarding. Kathu has a cableski lake that is a great way to pass a wet afternoon.

A few things not to do in Phuket when it’s raining in low season:

Complain that it’s raining and there’s nothing to do. You booked to come at this time of year so just deal with it. Phuket is still a fun place whatever the weather.
Ride a motorbike while holding an umbrella. The locals are pretty good at it but I wouldn’t recommend riding one handed in the rain. If you are going to ride a motorbike/scooter/moped on Phuket’s flooded roads watch out for splashes from passing cars, potholes hidden under water and mud slides on the road that will stop you dead and send you over the bars, I know this from personal experience. I also know that it’s hard to kick start a bike if the kick start is under water, your flip flops fall off and float away!
Drown. I don’t know the exact numbers but I reckon about one tourist per week drowns off Phuket’s beaches in low season. These are often weak swimmers or drunks but there are certain beaches with strong rip tides that can catch anyone out. In front of Hilton Arcadia on Karon beach is a notorious location and beach lifeguards are not normally present.
Get electrocuted. Thailand’s electricity safety standards are poor. Every year tourists are electrocuted. Just this week a 20 year old Brit died in Patong when he somehow touched a submerged plug socked in Patong. Be careful.