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Nai Yang Beach

Phuket Province · Sakhu / Nai Yang, Thalang District

also known as Hat Nai Yang, Nai Yang Beach (Airport Reef), หาดในยาง

Part of Phuket →

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

beginner-friendlymedium crowds

On this page

The spot
Wind
Forecast
Month by month
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
Schools
Tips
Getting there
Photos
FAQ

Riding essentials

Season

Jun–Sep

Months riders and schools name

How windy

12-25 kt

Character: synoptic

Room to launch

huge

access rules on record, below

Water

mixed

29–30 °C in summer

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Beginner to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

medium crowds · busy Jul Aug Nov Dec

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

Phuket International Airport (HKT)

Transfer times under Getting there

When it fills in

Monsoon flow can be in all day, but the usable pattern in the June-August core is an afternoon build, when the sea breeze reinforces the south-westerly; mornings are commonly the lighter half of the day. Rain squalls carry their own gusts and arrive at any hour, so a strong reading on the forecast can be a passing cell rather than a session.

Nearbystraight-line distance

Backup spotsWhere riders go when the wind doesn't work here.

Mai Khao Beachno page yet
Chalong Bay
Rawai / Chalong Bay, Phuket
Nai Harn Beach / Ao Sane, Phuketno page yet
Mai Khao Beach / airport beach areano page yet
Nai Thon Beachno page yet

The spot

Location and season

Nai Yang is Phuket's northwest-coast kite beach, inside Sirinat National Park and just south of Phuket International Airport. The season is the southwest monsoon: June-September is the core, and operators stretch it from April or May out to September/October.

Wind

The wind is the weak part. It comes in bursts, gusts, and is often chased by rain, so a strong forecast can turn out to be a single squall cell.

Water

The water is mixed rather than flat, with a shallow flat on the right of the bay where the schools teach, deeper choppy water outside it for foiling, and small to medium reef waves farther out and to the left.

Conditions and access

Boardshorts all year, but the reef, the rocks under the shallow flat, the sections that dry at low water and the airport exclusion area 1 km north all mean you want a local briefing before the first launch. It is quieter, shadier and far closer to the terminal than Phuket's southern tourist beaches. Park entry is posted at 200 baht for a foreign adult with gate hours of 08:00-16:30 (2026), so budget for it and do not plan on a session at first light.

The wind

locals call it Southwest monsoon

Direction

cross-on

Direction to shore

cross-on

Dominant direction

SW/W to WSW in the main season

Kite sizes

67891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

8-12 m is what people bring. For a 75-85 kg rider that means a 12 m on the 12-16 kt days, a 9-10 m through the usual 18-22 kt, and an 8 m at the top of the range; the gusty, squall-driven nature of the season argues for the smaller end of any borderline choice.

Character

synoptic

When it fills in: see above ↑

Average strength

12-25 kt through the June-September core, with 12-20 kt the band advertised for lessons. Consistency is the weak point: the wind comes in bursts, is often gusty and is frequently followed by rain.

Typical strength

12-25 kt in the main SW monsoon season; one local school advertises 12-20 kt.

Seasonal monsoon wind that works through the southwest-monsoon months. How dependable it is inside them is disputed, from consistent to on and off and rain-affected, and it is gusty when the squalls come through.

The season is the southwest monsoon, broadly May or April through September or October, with June-September the core. The published windows disagree: April-September, May-October and April-November all appear, so check the school's operating dates before you book flights. Outside it, the island's kite scene moves to Rawai/Chalong on the southeast coast for November-April or November-March.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

7 ktJan
7 ktFeb
7 ktMar
7 ktApr
7 ktMay
7 ktJun
8 ktJul
8 ktAug
8 ktSep
7 ktOct
6 ktNov
7 ktDec

avg knots per month · season highlighted

Monthly averages. Highlighted: the months riders and schools name (Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep).

Measured at Phuket International Airport, ~NaN km from the spot (~21 (6/2005–7/2026)).

Every figure, month by monthKnots · Gusts · Wind from · Air

Month	Knots	Gusts	Wind from	Air
Jan	7 kt	21 kt	ENE	29 °C
Feb	7 kt	21 kt	ENE	30 °C
Mar	7 kt	19 kt	NNE	30 °C
Apr	7 kt	22 kt	WNW	30 °C
May	7 kt	24 kt	W	30 °C
Jun	7 kt	24 kt	W	29 °C
Jul	8 kt	25 kt	W	29 °C
Aug	8 kt	24 kt	W	29 °C
Sep	8 kt	25 kt	W	28 °C
Oct	7 kt	24 kt	WNW	28 °C
Nov	6 kt	20 kt	ENE	29 °C
Dec	7 kt	20 kt	ENE	29 °C

How this was measuredmeasured · ~21 (6/2005–7/2026)

A ground station recorded this, at the distance the page names.

The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

Phuket International Airport · Windfinder (observed station) · ~21 (6/2005–7/2026)

The water

Type

mixed

Standing depth

A shallow flat runs roughly 500-600 m out on the right-hand side of the bay and is where the teaching happens; it is standable through much of the tide but parts of it dry completely at low water, and there are rocks under it.Beyond the flat the bottom drops into deeper water where the foilers ride, with 1-2 m waves past the reef on the outside.

Tides

Tide-dependent beach and water depth; both high and low tide are listed as usable, but part of the right-hand shallow flat area dries at low tide.

Temperature

29–30 °C summer · 28–29 °C winter

Wetsuit

Boardshorts or bikini/rash vest; no wetsuit normally needed.

Currents

Strong monsoon currents are reported in the bay during the south-west season, alongside the reef, rock and drying hazards. Nothing is measured or published, so treat a big-swell day as one where you can be set down the beach and plan your launch and your walk back accordingly.

Conditions

Inside the bay the water is flat and shallow, with chop and small to medium waves outside and 1-2 m waves off the reef farther out and to the left. Reef, coral and rock are the constant hazard. This is the Andaman Sea side of Phuket, not a closed lagoon.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Beginners work the shallow flat on the right with a school, and only there. Intermediates and better use the chop, the deeper water and the reef waves, where the park boundary, the airport area and the rocks make a local briefing ten minutes well spent.

The scene

What riders come here for

foilflat waterbeginner lessonsfreeridewingfoilsmall waves

Who it suitsbeginner

Quieter and more local than Phuket's southern tourist beaches: beachfront restaurants, shade under the park trees, and a lesson scene through the kite season. The non-kite beach crowd matters most in the November-February high season, which is the half of the year the wind is not working.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

5 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: huge

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

2 spots nearby

All 2 spots within 40 km are under Nearby

Rescue

Rescue appears on the spot's facility list, but no public lifeboat or beach rescue service is confirmed for Nai Yang. Whatever cover exists belongs to the school working that day, so ask them before going out alone, and remember that the monsoon current in the bay can set you down the beach.

Launch

A sandy launch on a wide bay, roughly 1.5 km of soft sand, with tamarind and park trees right behind it and a beach width that moves with the tide. The schools set up on or beside the sand and mark the working launch areas.

Hazards riders report 13 reported

Wind

Rain squalls with sudden gusts, and rocky edges around the perimeter of the bay

Crowds and zones

Swimmers, boats/ships, buoys and other beach users.

Bottom

shallow reef patches in places
Reefs, corals and rocks, including rocks under the shallow flat-water area on the right.

Waves and currents

The right-hand shallow flat area can dry at low tide.
Trees close to the beach/rigging area and tide-dependent beach width.
Strong monsoon currents in the bay during the south-west season

Protected areas and rules

Nai Yang and neighboring Mai Khao are sea-turtle nesting beaches (roughly November-February), which can bring seasonal beach-use restrictions
The beach is within Sirinat National Park, a protected coastal/marine area.
Nai Yang and Mai Khao are historic sea-turtle nesting beaches with a November-February nesting period; how regularly they still nest is disputed.
Nai Yang and Mai Khao are historically cited as sea-turtle nesting beaches for November-February, but no turtle eggs have been observed in the park since 2013, so current nesting activity should not be assumed.

Other

sits within Sirinat National Park, next to Phuket International Airport's approach path
Do not enter the forbidden Phuket Airport area about 1 km to the right/north.

Rules & access

1 min read

Park entry and rules

2026: the beach lies inside Sirinat National Park, so park rules and ranger instructions apply. The park is posted as open 08:00-16:30 daily, with entry listed at 200 baht for a foreign adult and 100 baht for a child aged 3-14, and camping at 30 baht per person per night. No kitesurf permit and no published kite zone exist, but posted spot information gives zones and one hard boundary: do not enter the Phuket Airport area about 1 km to the north, on the right of the launch.

Turtle nesting

Nai Yang and neighbouring Mai Khao are historic turtle-nesting beaches with a November-February nesting period; no eggs have been recorded in the park since 2013, but any roped-off section or ranger instruction in that window is a no-go. Kayaking and snorkelling are named among permitted park activities; kitesurfing is named neither way.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Schools that ride here

Rider tips

Check the forecast for Nai Yang or Phuket Airport, then call the school; here a forecast is an indication rather than a promise.
Ask where the launch zone is before you rig, and stay out of the forbidden airport area about 1 km to the right/north.
Walk the right-hand shallow at low tide before you use it: rocks sit under it and parts of it dry out. Bring footwear if you plan to ride near the reef.
Aim your sessions at the afternoon in June-August, when the sea breeze reinforces the monsoon flow.
Budget 200 baht for park entry as a foreign adult (2026) and check the posted 08:00-16:30 gate hours before planning an early or late session.
Treat any turtle-nesting signage or roped-off sand in November-February as a hard no-go, and expect nobody staffed on the sand outside April to September; the main centre is at 74/10 Nai Yang Beach.

Getting there

Airport

Phuket International Airport (HKT)

Route

Nai Yang sits immediately south of Phuket International Airport, about 4 km from the terminal to the beach hotels on 2026 routings. Taxi is the quickest, hotel transfers are standard, and an hourly local bus runs to the Family Mart/The Slate area.

Transfer

5-15 minutes from HKT by taxi or private car in normal traffic; published estimates run from 4 minutes to one Nai Yang beach hotel up to 7-12 minutes for the beach area.

Cost level

Medium by Phuket standards, with beach stays running from simple airport hotels to upscale resorts. 2026 school pricing: private kitesurf or windsurf lessons from 4,000 baht for 2 hours, and a complete kite set from 4,000 baht per day.

Staying

Airport hotels, guesthouses, beachfront resorts and higher-end stays are available around Nai Yang/Sakhu; local school DKB advertises arranged accommodation within walking distance of the spot.

No-wind days

Snorkeling and island trips, Sirinat National Park walks/mangroves, Old Phuket Town, Thai cooking classes, surfing/SUP/e-foil/wingfoil options, diving, massages, beachfront dining and Phuket temples/viewpoints.

Photos

FAQ

When is the best time to kite at Nai Yang?

The core season is the southwest monsoon, broadly April/May to September/October, with June-September most often cited as the best window.

Is Nai Yang suitable for beginners?

Yes, a shallow flat section roughly 500-600 m long suits beginners with local schools, while deeper, choppier water and small reef waves serve intermediate and advanced riders.

What is the wind like?

Wind is a cross-onshore southwest monsoon breeze, commonly reported around 12-25 knots.

Are there rules or restricted zones?

Nai Yang sits within Sirinat National Park, so park rules apply; riders must not enter the forbidden Phuket Airport area about 1 km to the right, and turtle-nesting season (roughly November-February) can bring additional restrictions.

What are the main hazards?

Reefs, corals and rocks under the shallow flat-water area, a right-hand section that dries at low tide, and the adjacent airport exclusion zone are the main hazards.

The bigger pictureEverything about Phuket

Last updated: August 2026