The island's middle — not a beach, and better for it. Chalong is a wide inland sprawl of Chao Fa Road, motorbike shops, gyms, condos and temple grounds, ending at a working pier where most of Phuket's day trips physically begin. Above it, Nakkerd Hill carries the 45-metre Big Buddha that half the island can see. North of Chalong the same corridor runs through Wichit — Central Phuket's malls, the Naka weekend market — and on into Kathu, the old tin-mining valley where the island's money originally came from. Nobody comes to Phuket for this district. Almost everybody passes through it, usually several times, and the two biggest things on the island are in it.
Who it's for: Anyone doing the island's two headline sights, which are both here and both free. Anyone taking a boat to Coral, Racha, Maiton or Phi Phi — you will be at Chalong Pier by 8am whether you planned to be or not. People who want to eat where the Michelin Guide actually sent it on this island outside the Old Town: Chalong and Kathu hold four listings between them, including two Bib Gourmands, and they are cheap. Long-stayers and fighters, for Soi Ta-iad. Families on a rained-out afternoon, for Central Phuket. Anyone with a rental car, because this is the one part of Phuket where having one stops being a liability.