Flying to Phuket on a budget
Phuket is a mid-sized city served by 1 airport in Thailand. Across the city's airports, around 20 airlines operate roughly 71 documented route pairings, connecting Phuket to approximately 25 direct destinations worldwide. For budget travellers, having multiple airports in one city is usually good news. Secondary airports tend to host the lowest-cost carriers and the cheapest fares, but the trade-off is a slower (and sometimes pricier) ground transfer to the city centre.
The cheapest combination of base fare plus ground transport almost never lives at the same airport. As a rule of thumb, fly into the most-served airport when you have luggage, late arrival times, or a fixed work meeting. Fly into the cheapest secondary airport when you are travelling light, have flexible plans, and are arriving mid-day with the buses still running. We break down the airports below in order of route volume, so you can quickly see which carriers and destinations each one specialises in.
Airports serving Phuket
Tips for landing in Phuket cheap
- Compare airports before booking. The headline-cheapest fare into the secondary airport is sometimes wiped out by a EUR 20+ ground transfer to the city centre.
- Check the last public-transport time. Late arrivals can force a pricey taxi if you miss the bus or train; verify against the inbound landing time, not the scheduled.
- Pre-book ground transport for arrival. A pre-paid bus ticket bought online is usually the cheapest predictable option; airport-counter taxi rates can run two to three times the metered fare.
- If you have multiple airports, fly in and out of different ones. Use Google Flights' multi-city search to capture the cheapest combination of one-ways across two airports.
- Watch for currency exchange traps. The airport bureaux are the worst place to change money; withdraw from a major-bank ATM in arrivals instead.
Top destinations from Phuket
| Code | City | Country |
|---|---|---|
| BKK | Bangkok | Thailand |
| SIN | Singapore | Singapore |
| KUL | Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia |
| HKG | Hong Kong | Hong Kong |
| ICN | Seoul | South Korea |
| PVG | Shanghai | China |
| DMK | Bangkok | Thailand |
| CKG | Chongqing | China |
| AUH | Abu Dhabi | United Arab Emirates |
| PEK | Beijing | China |
| CNX | Chiang Mai | Thailand |
| PEN | Penang | Malaysia |
| CTU | Chengdu | China |
| MNL | Manila | Philippines |
| CAN | Guangzhou | China |
| KWE | Guiyang | China |
| SZX | Shenzhen | China |
| DXB | Dubai | United Arab Emirates |
| UTH | Udon Thani | Thailand |
| MEL | Melbourne | Australia |
Airlines flying from Phuket
China Southern Airlines (CZ)
China
China Eastern Airlines (MU)
China
Air China (CA)
China
Air France (AF)
France
Air Berlin (AB)
Germany
British Airways (BA)
United Kingdom
Sichuan Airlines (3U)
China
Malaysia Airlines (MH)
Malaysia
Transaero Airlines (UN)
Russia
Qatar Airways (QR)
Qatar
Etihad Airways (EY)
United Arab Emirates
Thai Airways International (TG)
Thailand · Budget
Cebu Pacific (5J)
Philippines · Budget
AirAsia (AK)
Malaysia · Budget
Jetstar Airways (JQ)
Australia · Budget
China SSS (9C)
China · Budget
Thai AirAsia (FD)
Thailand
Bangkok Airways (PG)
Thailand