Luxury villas for sale in Bang Tao

Bang Tao is a beach of roughly six kilometres on Phuket's west coast, in the Cherngtalay area of Thalang district. Surin lies to the south, Layan to the north. Laguna Phuket runs along the middle of the shoreline, a former tin mine rebuilt into lagoons, hotels and an 18-hole golf course. Boat Avenue and Porto de Phuket sit inland at its entrance. The resident mix is heavily foreign, with a lot of families.

Casuarina pines back the sand along most of its length, and the beach is long enough that it rarely feels crowded even when the beach clubs are busy. This is the open Andaman side, so the water is calm through the dry season and rough with rip currents during the May to October monsoon, when red flags go up along the whole west coast. Daily life runs through Boat Avenue and Porto de Phuket at the entrance to Laguna, where the supermarkets, cafés, gyms and the Friday night market are. Patong is under 20 km south, the airport about 17 km north, Phuket Town roughly 22 km southeast. HeadStart International School has a campus in Cherngtalay, and UWC Thailand is inland in Thalang off Thepkasattri Road. The trade-off is building work. Cranes, branded residences and slow traffic at the Laguna junction are part of the daily picture, and you need a car or scooter for almost everything. Anyone after a quiet Thai village should look elsewhere.