The trendy beach clubs in Phuket
Lat night I headed to a new beach club in Phuket that has just opened. I never really knew what a "Beach Club" was until I started hanging out in Bali a lot several years ago (but not since Covid). A beach club is essentially a bar/restaurant that kind of morphs in to a night club after dark with a DJ and dancing. Here is a classic Bali beach club pictured below and one I have often whiled away the sunset at then stretched into the evening. Cool as fuck architecture made from bamboo and thatch, comfy bean bags, great service and just a nice scene.
SOURCE: https://www.theungasan.com
Phuket is decades behind Thailand on this. Every time I was relaxing on a bean bag on the black sands of Canggu (cool beach area in Bali) drinking an ice cold beer for 3$, I used to think - why the fuck cant Thailand get this sorted out. Thailand was more about plastic chairs on the beach in a very ordinary setting serving a standard Thai menu and overpriced beer. Then in front of that would be rows of sun longers with umbrellas that you would need to rent by the hour. Pretty much like this photo.....
Pretty sad right! I mean this is really shows the difference in style between Bali and Phuket. Recently however - during the Covid pandemic it seems that the bamboo and beanbag concept has finally arrive to Phuket. I saw some Instagram advertising for a new "Beach Club opening on Karon beach that looked pretty dam fine. I headed down there for a look last night. Heres a few pictures of it - pretty nice! It's called the Taan Terrace
SOURCE: phuket101.net
SOURCE: wongnai.com
So we got there about 30 minutes before sunset. Place was devoid of customers - like not a soul. It's in an area hit especially bad by Covid restrictions so I wasn't expecting it to be busy but I thought there may be more customers than zero. Music was way too loud and terrible. No worries I thought - lets just get one of the beanbag setups out on the sand far away from the speakers and should be fine. The staff welcomed us and when we pointed to the beach and said we'd like to sit over there for the sunset, the waiter said yes no problem sir but I need to let you know that area has a minimum spend per table of 3000thb - this is about 90$.
I was incredulous. "Dude" I said, "we gonna have a couple of beers and a snack and leave after sunset".
"Sorry sir" was his response, "that area is reserved for minimum spend but you are welcome to have a seat back here near the entrance under the speaker where it's loud as fuck and you can't see the beach, the sea, or the sunset."
Well you can guess the end of this story right? I grabbed some beers from the 711, a mat from the car and sat under the shade of a palm tree 100m up the beach. Total price including sea view and pretty epic sunset - 6$.
Nice one for trying Phuket but you got a long way to go.