HAT MAI KHAO BEACH

Phuket’s northwest coast with the longest and least-visited beach, the 12km Hat Mai Khao Beach, which starts a couple of kilometers north of the airport and 34km north west of Phuket town, and remains almost completely unsullied by any tourist enticements, with to date just a couple of discreet budget accommodations hidden behind a sand bank at the back of the shore. Together with Hat Nai Yang immediately to the south, Hat Mai Khao constitutes Sirinath National Park, chiefly because giant marine turtles come ashore here between October and February to lay their eggs. Mai Khao Beach is also a prime habitat of a much-revered but non-protected species – the sea grasshopper or sea louse, a tiny crustacean that’s considered a great delicacy. While you’re at Mai Khao beach, you might want to make a trip to the Thachatchai Nature Trail, which also comes under the protection of the Sirinath National Park, but is actually on Phuket’s northeast coast, very close to the Sarasin Bridge and about 8km north form the Hat Mai Khao beach accommodation.