Surin Beach

There is a line of casuarina trees along the back of Surin Beach that I think about with unreasonable frequency. They are tall and thin and they move in the sea breeze in a way that is specific to this part of the Andaman coast, and on a hot afternoon their shade falls across the sand in long stripes that make the beach feel organized — like someone designed it with comfort in mind. I arrived at Surin for the first time at around two in the afternoon, having come north from the noise of Patong on a scooter with the vague intention of finding somewhere quieter, and the trees stopped me immediately.

Surin’s sand is coarser than Kata’s and the beach is wide enough that even during high season there is room to spread out. The bay faces west and the surf is moderate in the dry season — enough for bodyboarding and to create a pleasant ambient roar, not so much that swimming requires courage. The northern end of the beach is slightly wilder, where the trees grow closer to the waterline and the fishing boats from the Surin village pull up. This is also where the Moken — the sea nomads who have lived along this coastline for generations — maintain a small community, and on some evenings you can hear music from their village that carries down to the beach with the wind.

The restaurant situation at Surin has improved substantially in the last decade. The Taste Bar at the back of the beach serves food that is genuinely good rather than merely convenient — a grilled barramundi with tamarind sauce that I ordered twice on the same day, which surprised even me. There is also a beach club scene here, Bimi and the Catch both operating during the high season, but the mood is more restrained than anything in Patong: the music is audible rather than structural, and the crowd arrives for the sunset rather than for the experience of being seen arriving for the sunset.

Kamala is a ten-minute scooter ride south and feels like a different proposition entirely — more local, less composed — and the contrast is useful. Surin is the beach you come to when you want to feel that Phuket has got it together. The combination of the trees and the moderate surf and the wide flat sand does something to the nervous system that I can only describe as calibration.

When to go: November to April for clear water and manageable surf. Surin is better for swimming than the more exposed beaches north of it. The beach clubs operate November through April; in the wet season the northern end near the village is quieter and better for walking.