Phuket Temples and Shrines

Hey, this is Thailand you know! It's not just Bangkok that has temples, though the Grand Palace is pretty hard to beat. Phuket has many Buddhist Temples and if you want to see more than just a beach, get a taste of local life, a temple is a good place to start. The largest is Wat Chalong, which can be quite busy with locals and tourists, but every area has it's own small temple if you want more of a local flavour and a bit of history. In Kathu village close to where I live you find a Wat and a Chinese shrine. There are temples near all the main beaches too. My mission - to blog all the Buddhist temples in Phuket ... eventually... and the Chinese shrines... and maybe the mosques too!

Thalang Area

Thalang is a town right in the center of Phuket island, not near the beach, and was once the seat of government. In 1785, the people of Phuket rallied at Thalang to fight off a Burmese invasion, a date that lives long in the history of Phuket. Wat Phra Nang Sang was built on the battleground and a yearly festival celebrates the event. The Thalang area has some large and important historic temples...



(above) Buddha images at Wat Phra Tong



(above) reclining Buddha at Wat Sri Sunthorn

• Wat Phra Thong
• Wat Sri Sunthorn
• Wat Phra Nang Sang
• Wat Tha Reua Temple

Chalong Area

Wat Chalong is the largest temple in Phuket and the most visited. In the same area are other smaller local temples, not all blogged yet! I pass Chalong temple almost every day. It looks especially nice in the early morning.



• Chalong Temple (Wat Chalong)
• Early Morning at Wat Chalong
• Wat Luang Pu Supha
• Wat Ladthiwanaram

And of course there's the Phuket Big Buddha which is also near Chalong sitting 400m above sea level. Not exactly a temple, but certainly a site of pilgrimage and a place to say prayers to the 4 winds.



(above) The Big Buddha, still under construction in 2010. But great anyway!

Temples near the beaches

Most of the beach areas of Phuket also have older local communities even if the old way of life has largely been swamped by tourism. Before tourism hit Phuket, hardly anyone lived by the beach except fishing families. If you get off the beach and look on the back roads you can find the older areas, and that's where you find the temples. More to come - it took me ages to go take some photos of Karon and Kata temples, even though they're just down the road from my work! I still want to blog a very nice one up near Nai Yang Beach.

• Nai Harn Temple
• Karon Temple
• Patong Temple
• Kamala Temple
• Kata Temple
• Wat Sawang Arom (Rawai)

Local Temples

All over Phuket, in every village or tambon you will find a temple. I like the feel of the local temples. Every one has it's little differences and they are little havens of peace away from daily life.

• Wat Sapam
• Koh Sirey Temple
• Kathu and Ket Ho Temples
• Sam Kong Temple
• Wat Kosit Wiharn
• Wat Thep Nimit
• Naka Temple
• Wat Manik
• Wat Mongkhon Nimit (in old part of Phuket Town)
• Wat Vichit Sangkaram (Phuket Town)



(above) Monk at Sam Kong Temple on the edge of Phuket Town

Chinese Shrines

Many Chinese shrines are important during the annual Phuket Vegetarian Festival which has been a Phuket tradition since 1825. There are many more than those listed below, mostly in and around Phuket Town - I must get them blogged sometime!

• Shrine on Patong Hill
• Kathu Village Shrine - More of Kathu Shrine
• Sam Kong Shrine
• Jui Tui Shrine
• Shrine of the Serene Light
• Thau Reua Shrine



(above) at Kathu Chinese Shrine

Temples not in Phuket

Of course all of Thailand is a temple. Now and then we might visit a temple that is not in Phuket. We have stopped several times at Wat Suwan Kuha in Phang Nga province. Big reclining Buddha in a cave, monkeys, well worth a visit! And in Phang Nga town is Wat Thamtapan, a very odd place!

• Wat Suwan Kuha
• Wat Thamtapan

The Phuket temples featured so far are all Buddhist / Chinese. I should point out that Phuket has a sizeable Muslim population (around 30%), and there are several quite large mosques around the island. There is also at least 1 Catholic church (in Phuket town). There's a street in Phuket Town that features a mosque, church and chinese shrine! In Phuket the different religions and beliefs mix together without any problems, a good example for the rest of the world...

Phuket Temples - Map


View Phuket Temples in a larger map

Phuket Chinese Shrines - Map


View Phuket Chinese Shrines in a larger map