Ao Makham

Ao Makham is the bay on the eastern side of the Cape Panwa peninsula, looking across a narrow channel to Koh Taphao Yai. Sakdidet Road, the road from Phuket Town to the cape, runs along it 10 to 15 minutes from town. Our area is the stretch of homes along the road and the bay's northern shore with its jetties; Phuket Deep Sea Port, just south, and the resorts beyond it are on our Cape Panwa page, and the Khao Khad hill rises to the west.

Ao Makham was once a subdistrict of its own, one of the eleven of old Mueang Phuket. In 1942 it was joined with Ra-ngaeng to form today's Wichit, except two of its villages, which went to Chalong. Wichit's motto still names a trading port and Thailand's tin smelter, and both stand on this eastern shore.

It is a working shore rather than a beach resort. The bay is wide and shallow, too muddy for swimming but good for a morning walk. From the jetties, speedboats and catamarans leave for Coral Island, Phi Phi and Maya Bay in the morning and come back in the late afternoon, and cruise liners on Andaman routes call at the port next door.

The hills between the bay and Khao Khad hold an old village grazing reserve. In July 2026 Phuket's governor ordered an urgent check of the public-land certificate being drawn up for about 2,000 rai of the Ao Makham–Khao Khad reserve, across villages Moo 6, 7 and 8; the map that had circulated was only a surveyor's draft.

Not a beach for children, but a short drive from the cape's family sights: the aquarium, a beginners' rope park, the Khao Khad tower and Ao Yon's calm water. Island day trips from the jetties suit older children.

• The bay is shallow and muddy: swim at Ao Yon instead.
• Speedboat days are long, from the morning to the late afternoon.
• The Phuket Aquarium is a ten-minute drive south; children's tickets are 150 THB (2026).
• The pier has toilets, showers and accessible parking.