Spot · tier 2 · Thailand
Rawai Beach
Rawai sits on Phuket's south coast within sheltered Chalong Bay, giving a shallow, lagoon-style stretch of water used for lessons and freestyle. Chalong Bay is one of Phuket's two seasonal kite hubs, working in the northeast monsoon (winter/'cool' season), which complements Nai Yang on the island's west coast used in the southwest monsoon summer.
beginnerfreestyleflat water
Wind
| best months |
|
|---|---|
| season notes | Wikivoyage lists Chalong Bay as Phuket's winter-season kite spot (roughly Nov-Feb, the island's cooler, drier season), as opposed to Nai Yang which is used in summer. |
| wind name | Northeast monsoon (winter/cool season) |
Water
| type | flat/shallow lagoon |
|---|---|
| wetsuit | Phuket's tropical climate generally does not require a wetsuit; not independently confirmed for this exact spot |
| standing depth | shallow, sheltered bay water suited to standing/wading during lessons |
Levels
| beginner | yes |
|---|---|
| intermediate | yes |
| advanced | no |
| notes | Multiple schools (Kite Surf Asia, Kite Zone, Skyla's Surf and SUP Club) are based here specifically for its shallow, protected water, which suits lessons and freestyle rather than wave/big-air riding. |
Launch & crowd
| description | Sandy beach launch inside Chalong Bay, with kite schools rigging and teaching on site. |
|---|---|
| busy months |
|
| vibe | Established lesson hub with several schools based directly on the beach; popular with beginners. |
Monthly wind statistics
Station: Talat Yai / Phuket (Windfinder, ~13.5 km) — Nearest windfinder station with any statistics is Talat Yai (Phuket Town area), ~13.5 km NE of Rawai across the southern tip of the island; Phuket International Airport (~30 km N) explicitly has no statistics published. Talat Yai's own annual average wind speed is very low (3 kt), which is inconsistent with Rawai's reputation as a NE-monsoon kite spot -- likely reflects a sheltered station location, not real conditions at the beach. Treat direction/temperature only as a rough regional signal. Windfinder's current site design no longer publishes the monthly wind-probability(>=4Bft)/avg-knots table as text -- it is only rendered as an unlabeled bar chart (confirmed on Tarifa, Talat Yai and other well-known spots too, so this is a site-wide change, not a data gap for this station). Recorded here instead: annual avg wind speed/direction, monthly dominant wind direction, and monthly avg daytime air temperature, all pulled from the station's windstatistics page via a text-rendering proxy after windfinder.com rate-limited direct fetches for a time.
| Month | Wind ≥4 Bft | Avg kn | Dir | Air °C | Water °C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | —% | — | ENE | 30 | — |
| Feb | —% | — | ENE | 31 | — |
| Mar | —% | — | E | 31 | — |
| Apr | —% | — | W | 31 | — |
| May | —% | — | W | 30 | — |
| Jun | —% | — | W | 30 | — |
| Jul | —% | — | W | 30 | — |
| Aug | —% | — | W | 29 | — |
| Sep | —% | — | W | 29 | — |
| Oct | —% | — | W | 29 | — |
| Nov | —% | — | ENE | 29 | — |
| Dec | —% | — | NE | 29 | — |
Hazards
- shallow/rocky patches possible at low tide in a sheltered bay
- boat traffic near Chalong pier and Rawai's boat-trip departure points
Travel basics
| airport | Phuket (HKT) |
|---|---|
| getting there | South end of Phuket island, roughly 30-40 minutes from the airport. |
| accommodation | Wide range from budget guesthouses to resorts in the Rawai/Chalong area. |
| cost level | mid |
| no wind | Rawai is known for its seafood pier restaurants and boat trips to nearby islands such as Coral Island and Koh Bon. |
Nearby: Friendship Beach (Chalong Bay)
Sources: en.wikivoyage.org · phuket101.net