I have 2.5 week trip to Thailand coming up in January that focuses on exploring the mainland. However, I wanted to see some of the southern beaches also so I arranged a flight to Phuket for the last few days of the trip. After doing some reading it sounds as though Phuket might be a pretty over developed area.

Can anyone recommed a quiet area within a reasonable distance from Phuket? I'm looking for a place to relax on the beach without the crowds.

In retrospect I might not have chosen Phuket but the ticket is purchased and I'm sure it will be lovely no matter what.

Have you thought of koh lanta you can travel by road from Phuket and the scenery is worth looking at. Only went for the day last christmas but loved it a lot quieter than phuket that we went to after and not keen on now.
The journey by road took 2.5 to 3 hours cant remeber the price now but about 35 quid. You could change your flight to Krabi. Who you flying with we were with Thai and it was easy to do this when we were there.

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Thanks for the response Jax. I'm flying Bangkok Airways direct from Siem Reap to Phuket. I'll look into changing the flight but I wonder if flying out of Cambodia complicates things.

A 3 hour drive doesn't seem bad at all and Koh Lanta looks very nice. One of my reasons for heading to this area is to see and hopefully kayak Phang Nga Bay. Is that still easily accomplished from Koh Lanta?

Hi Nai thon is a beautiful quiet area in Phuket. We found it by sheer fluke when we hired a car one day. I fell in love with it as it's picture post card stuff. If you Google there is lots on in including places to stay.
Hope this helps.
Cheers Geri

Thanks Geri. After your suggestion I've been looking up info on Nai Thon. It sounds nice also. Remote and peaceful but very few hotels which I guess is a good sign. Do you remember where you stayed? The one hotel that jumped out at me looks as though it might be booked for the time that I will be there.

I would recomment Khao Lak for a quiet few days. It is about 100km north of Phuket and has some lovely beaches with a small township. It had a lot of damage with the Tsmanui but has not recovered well. We stayed at the Le Meridien which is 10 KM north of Khao Lak but there are plenty of well priced places closer. In regards to Koh Lanta you definetly would be better off flying into krabi. If you want more remote fly into Krabi and head to the islands in the Trang area or fly into Koh Samui and head to Thong Nai beach in the north east region. No shops to speak of just little resorts along a wonderful stretch of beach. We stayed at The Santhiya which has a land and boat transfer from Samui airport 45 minutes. It is a luxury resort but well priced.

Here is a link to some of my khao lak, Samui and Koh Phangan photos for you to have a look at.

Picasa Web Albums - Marie - Thailand 2006

Pee Pee Island Village (Phi Phi)
Similana Hotel (Just north of Khao Lak - I think Khao Lak is way over-developed)
Sure, Koh Lanta

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We didn't stay in Nai Thon... we just came across it while driving around and had lunch there. I just fell in love with the place it was so beautiful and peaceful. I have some pics I can send you if you want to see them. I will pm you for an email addy.
Cheers Geri

Interested to Geri, can't you post a link here?

Thank you everyone for your input. It seems that with all the wonderful destinations in this area I have no choice but to plan a second trip to see more.