Kata Beach Phuket
Kata Beach – located south of Karon Beach - is a popular Phuket vacation spot for families. Most activities take place around Kata Yai, a long beach with plentiful sun loungers and beach vendors to cater for the crowds. By day, relaxation and watersport are the main drawcards on the white sands of Kata Beach and little sister Kata Noi – another great snorkelling beach just a few minutes to the south. Snorkellers can also venture further out to Ko Pu - a small island offshore with several reefs on the way. Surfing and boogie-boarding is also popular during the warm monsoon season.
At Kata Beach , many hotels and resorts line the roads back from the beachfront with all tastes and budgets catered for. Several absolute beachfront resorts include Kata Beach Resort, Mom Tri’s Villa Royale and the Katathani Beach Resort which offer beautiful tropical garden settings, beachside dining, great swimming pools and wonderful sunsets. Modest guesthouses can also be discovered just a few minutes walk from the beach.
At night, most visitors seem content with dining, shopping and visiting a few nightspots. Kata village is an international affair with restaurants offering cuisines from around the globe – including Italian, Scandinavian and Steakhouses - as well as many Thai seafood cafes with traditional local feasts. A popular family spot is Dino Park with Jurassic-themed dining and mini-golf course set among roaring beasts and a billowing volcano. Nightlife is low-key, ranging from small bars to the famed Easy Rider Club with live bands in the busy tourist season from November to March.
On Phuket, Kata Beach really comes alive in the busy season. During the first week of December, Kata bay fills with yachts and crews from around the globe to compete in the annual King’s Cup Regatta. This week long yachting festival adds excitement to the area with daily sailing class races and parties until the wee hours. A popular nightspot for sailors and visitors is the Ska Bar on the beachfront tucked into the headland at the southern end of Kata Beach . With a reggae flavour and regular bands the bar is a funky place after dark.
There is a second section to Kata, over a small ridge, known as Kata Noi. This is a far more exclusive, smaller and more expensive beach to stay on. The middle section of the beach is fronted by empty land which forms a nice public space shaded by coconut groves. The area behind this is limited, making kata Noi an exclusive domain of posh hotels, with little room for the rampant commercialism of girlie bars, internet cafes and souvenir shops. But it remains a nice place for the public at large to spend a day away from the crowds of the bigger beaches.
