Living in Phuket: Schools, Hospitals, Seasons and the Real Cost of Everyday Life

Phuket is warm all year, roughly 25–33 °C, and humid. What changes is the wind and the sea.

Rain usually comes in heavy bursts rather than all day, but September and October can be grey. For residents the rainy season is pleasant in its own way: fewer tourists, lower prices, lush hills. It is also when you find out about a house's drainage, its access road and its damp.

Phuket has private hospitals with international departments, interpreters and specialists, mostly in and around Phuket Town: Bangkok Hospital Phuket, Bangkok Hospital Siriroj, Mission Hospital Phuket and others, plus the large public Vachira Phuket Hospital. Clinics are spread across the island, including in Bang Tao, Rawai, Chalong and Patong.

• Insurance: private care is good but not cheap. Most residents carry international or Thai health insurance; some visas require it.
• Distance: from the north and the Bang Tao area, the main hospitals are typically 25–40 minutes away, longer in traffic.
• Serious cases: complex treatment is sometimes referred to Bangkok, about 80 minutes by air.
• Language: major hospitals have interpreters for English, Russian and Chinese.

If someone in your family needs regular care, put the drive to hospital on the same list as the drive to school when choosing an area.

Phuket has a wider choice of international and bilingual schools than most resort islands. The main clusters:

• Thalang and Cherng Talay (north-west): UWC Thailand and HeadStart's Cherngtalay campus, convenient for Bang Tao, Layan and Laguna.
• Koh Kaew and Vichit (centre): British International School Phuket in Koh Kaew and HeadStart's city campus in Vichit, convenient for Kathu, Patong, town and, against the traffic, Bang Tao.
• Chalong / Rawai / town (south and east): several international, bilingual and language-specific schools, including Russian-language schools and kindergartens in the south.

Fees at the leading international schools are comparable to private schools in Europe; check each school's current fee schedule and waiting lists before you commit to an area. The school run is the single biggest factor in where families live: a 12 km trip at 7:30 can take 40 minutes.

Phuket can be inexpensive or expensive depending on how you live. A useful way to think about it:

• Cheaper than home for most Western and Russian buyers: local food and markets, Thai restaurants, domestic help, gardeners and pool service, fuel, scooter and car servicing.
• About the same as home: utilities in a large air-conditioned villa, international restaurants and beach clubs, gyms.
• Often more than home: imported groceries and wine, international school fees, private healthcare without insurance, cars (import duties make them expensive to buy).

Running a villa adds pool, garden, maintenance and electricity; our property management guide lists those costs. We do not publish a single monthly budget figure because household patterns differ too much; ask residents in the area you are considering, or ask us to put you in touch.

• Car first: Phuket has limited public transport. Most residents drive or use ride-hailing apps; scooters are common but accidents are frequent, so wear a helmet and hold the right licence.
• Traffic: the main north–south roads and the routes into town and Patong are slow at peak times and in high season. The planned Kathu–Patong expressway should help the centre; the light rail has slipped into the 2030s.
• Flights: Phuket International Airport has direct flights across Asia and to the Middle East, and seasonal flights to Europe and Russia. Phase 2 of the airport is designed to raise capacity to 18 million passengers a year.
• Internet: fibre broadband and 5G mobile coverage are widely available in populated areas; check the specific house if you work online.
• Visas and tax: living here needs a suitable long-stay visa, and 180 days or more in a calendar year makes you a Thai tax resident. See our visa guide.

When you are ready to choose an area, our best areas guide compares them, and our area pages show drive times to the airport, town, hospitals and schools.