Phuket Airport to Chalong by Car

How long it takes and which road

On an empty road the terminal-to-Chalong run is about 30 min. You pull out of the airport, turn south on Thepkrasattri and stay on the direct highway for most of the trip, so there are very few junctions to read and almost no chance of a wrong turn. Hold the left lane, keep a steady speed and let scooters pass on either side without reacting to them.

Where the traffic stops

Chalong is the transport hub of the south: the roads to every southern beach meet here, and cars bound for Rawai, Nai Harn, the pier and Phuket Town all squeeze through the same junctions. That is where the minutes go at rush hour. In rain the whole highway slows, spray from trucks hides the lane markings, and the last stretch into Chalong becomes a slow queue.

For a first drive on the left, this route is a fair place to start: long straight sections, then one busy area at the end. Read our page on left-hand driving before the trip, and check the driving licence rules so the paperwork is settled before you reach the rental desk.

What that means for the car

Choose an automatic. The highway itself is easy, but the Chalong junctions mean stop, creep, stop again, and a manual clutch in that queue gets tiring after a long flight. If you plan to drive up the hill to the Big Buddha, an automatic also takes the stress out of a hill start behind a slow minibus.

Size the car by the bags. Two people with cabin luggage fit a hatchback. Four adults, or a family with two big suitcases and a stroller, need a sedan or a compact SUV; anything smaller means a bag on someone's knees for the whole 30 min.

Start the air conditioning before loading, so the cabin is cool by the time the doors close. In the wet season look at the tread before you drive off: the queues into Chalong mean a lot of braking on wet asphalt, and worn tyres show it there first.

A local living in Chalong usually drives an automatic compact SUV: it handles the flooded kerbs after a storm, carries a day's shopping from Phuket Town and still parks in a tight gap near the pier.

If you are landing at Phuket Airport and heading to Chalong, we can have the car waiting at arrivals: automatic, first-class commercial insurance, refundable deposit, the total for your dates fixed in chat. Send the dates on WhatsApp or through the booking form; the page on car rental in Chalong shows how the district works once you arrive.

Car at the airport or car at the hotel?

There is no single right answer; it depends on the hour you land and who is with you. For the island-wide picture, start with our page on car rental in Phuket.

Taking the car at arrivals works best after a night flight, with small children or with more luggage than a taxi boot holds. You sign once, load once and head south on your own schedule.

A taxi or Grab to the hotel, with the car brought there later, works best when you are worn out, landing in the dark and new to driving on the left. Your first run through the Chalong junctions then happens in daylight, after sleep.

• Landing late with kids — take the car at arrivals, one transfer instead of two
• Never driven on the left — Grab to the hotel, car delivered the next morning
• Heavy luggage — car at arrivals, the bags are handled only once
• Boat trip planned from the pier — car at arrivals, so you can reach the pier on your own time

Where to park in Chalong

Chalong is not a beach resort, so most of the time you park where you need to be: by your hotel, a shop or a restaurant on the main road. The pressure point is the pier, the main departure point for island boats, where tour groups gather before the boats leave. Arrive early and take the first proper space rather than circling.

From Chalong the rest of the south is close: 15 min to Rawai and Nai Harn, 20 min to Phuket Town. Many people stay here for exactly that reason and drive to a different beach each day.

The way back to the airport

Chalong to Phuket Airport is the same 30 min in calm traffic. Work backwards from check-in: the drive, a buffer for the Chalong junctions and for rain, then a few minutes to hand over the car and walk into departures.

Returning the car

Bring the fuel to the level written in your contract, clear out the door pockets and the boot, and take photos of every side and of the dashboard before you hand over the keys. Walk round the car with our driver; pickup and return photos side by side answer any question about a mark on the spot.

Renting a car for this drive

What a car costs for this trip depends on the class and on how long you keep it: see the price per day in Phuket, and the search gives the total for your dates. We deliver the car to your hotel or villa at any hour, and a refundable deposit is taken at handover, its size depending on the model. First-class commercial insurance is included, and every car we deliver is an automatic, since manual cars are rare in Phuket. Booking, payment and return are explained in how renting a car with Kolesio works. Starting from Phuket Airport? See car rental at Phuket Airport. Car rental near the end of the drive: cars for rent in Chalong.

Also useful before you book: can you rent without a deposit?.