Phuket sea conditions today: where it is calmer, and calm beaches by month
From May to October the south-west monsoon drives waves onto the open west coast of Phuket. Bays sheltered from it — Ao Yon, Panwa and Rawai — were calm on 98–100% of days in every month from May to October (data for January 2017 – September 2026), while in July Karon was calm on 4% of days and Kata on 7% of days. From December to April the west coast is calmer too.
Estimate from an open-sea wave model and the shape of the bay; lifeguard flags decide.
Говорите по-русски? Те же данные на русском: волны на Пхукете сейчас и пляжи без волн по месяцам; вопрос агенту — в Telegram-боте.
The sea right now
The live snapshot appears here from the NOAA WAVEWATCH III forecast when fresh data are available (updated every 6 hours). If there is no snapshot, fresh data are missing right now: see the calm days by month below.
Estimate from an open-sea wave model and the shape of the bay; lifeguard flags decide. Wave classes at the beach: calm — up to 0.5 m, moderate — 0.5–1.0 m, waves — above 1.0 m.
Calm days by month at 25 beaches
| Beach | Jan 309 days | Feb 282 days | Mar 307 days | Apr 294 days | May 310 days | Jun 300 days | Jul 308 days | Aug 310 days | Sep 300 days | Oct 272 days | Nov 254 days | Dec 279 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paradise† | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Tri Trang† | 99% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 99% | 99% |
| Ao Yon | 99% | 99% | 100% | 100% | 99% | 100% | 100% | 98% | 100% | 100% | 99% | 99% |
| Ao Sane | 99% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 98% | 98% | 98% | 98% | 100% | 100% |
| Rawai | 86% | 84% | 97% | 99% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 95% | 91% |
| Panwa | 65–87%* | 79% | 96% | 99% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 99% | 100% | 100% | 76–98%* | 58–94%* |
| Layan | 97% | 98% | 99% | 97% | 73% | 63–90%* | 51–85%* | 59–90%* | 69% | 72% | 90% | 96% |
| Patong | 99% | 100% | 99% | 96% | 72% | 48% | 46% | 46% | 43% | 83% | 98% | 98% |
| Ya Nui | 99% | 100% | 99% | 98% | 67% | 37% | 37% | 35% | 35% | 75% | 98% | 96% |
| Kamala | 96% | 99% | 95% | 90% | 58% | 31% | 27% | 30% | 27% | 63% | 96% | 95% |
| Nai Yang | 95% | 96% | 93% | 90% | 58% | 33% | 28% | 31% | 29% | 65% | 96% | 94% |
| Banana | 95% | 96% | 92% | 90% | 56% | 30% | 26% | 29% | 27% | 61% | 96% | 94% |
| Kalim | 98% | 99% | 98% | 92% | 50% | 26% | 24% | 27% | 23% | 52% | 89% | 92% |
| Bang Tao | 95% | 97% | 95% | 87% | 46% | 18% | 17% | 18% | 18% | 50% | 79% | 90% |
| Freedom | 92% | 93% | 96% | 89% | 44% | 14% | 14% | 15% | 15% | 44% | 76% | 85% |
| Kata Noi | 90% | 92% | 94% | 86% | 43% | 11% | 12% | 11% | 11% | 43% | 71% | 78% |
| Laem Singh | 74–96%* | 78% | 89% | 81% | 36% | 6% | 6% | 6% | 7% | 35% | 63% | 63–86%* |
| Nai Thon | 74–96%* | 79% | 87% | 79% | 36% | 6% | 7% | 7% | 7% | 36% | 63% | 64–85%* |
| Surin | 67–95%* | 71–95%* | 82% | 74% | 33% | 3% | 5% | 4% | 5% | 32% | 57% | 54–83%* |
| Karon Noi | 50–97%* | 48–98%* | 64–97%* | 67–95%* | 38–66%* | 22–69%* | 15–52%* | 12–56%* | 30–63%* | 31–68%* | 45–85%* | 43–96%* |
| Nai Harn | 51–89%* | 49–88%* | 65–93%* | 67% | 37% | 18–45%* | 13% | 9–33%* | 26–46%* | 30% | 45–69%* | 43–81%* |
| Nui | 50–97%* | 49–98%* | 65–97%* | 67–93%* | 35–58%* | 16–54%* | 11–40%* | 8–41%* | 23–51%* | 29–61%* | 46–82%* | 43–95%* |
| Mai Khao | 61–91%* | 60–93%* | 74% | 70% | 32% | 2% | 4% | 2% | 4% | 28% | 52% | 47–80%* |
| Kata | 51–90%* | 49–89%* | 65–93%* | 67% | 34% | 13–38%* | 7% | 7% | 20% | 29% | 47–69%* | 43–81%* |
| Karon | 59–91%* | 57–92%* | 74% | 71% | 32% | 2% | 4% | 2% | 3% | 26% | 52% | 47–79%* |
* The estimate depends on the point at sea: the range across 2–3 open-sea cells on the sea side of the beach is shown; such beaches are ranked by the lower bound. In the monthly lists below, beaches with an equal share are listed alphabetically.
† Tri Trang and Paradise are small west-coast bays that face north: the model cuts the direct south-west swell off for them but cannot see waves wrapping around the headland, so their share of calm days is an upper estimate of the method.
Estimate from an open-sea wave model and the shape of the bay; lifeguard flags decide.
Calmest beaches in each month
- January: Paradise† — 100% (309 of 309), Patong — 99% (307 of 309), Ya Nui — 99% (307 of 309), Ao Sane — 99% (306 of 309), Tri Trang† — 99% (306 of 309).
- February: Ao Sane — 100% (282 of 282), Paradise† — 100% (282 of 282), Patong — 100% (282 of 282), Tri Trang† — 100% (281 of 282), Ya Nui — 100% (281 of 282).
- March: Ao Sane — 100% (307 of 307), Paradise† — 100% (307 of 307), Tri Trang† — 100% (307 of 307), Ao Yon — 100% (306 of 307), Patong — 99% (305 of 307), Ya Nui — 99% (305 of 307).
- April: Ao Sane — 100% (294 of 294), Paradise† — 100% (294 of 294), Tri Trang† — 100% (294 of 294), Ao Yon — 100% (293 of 294), Rawai — 99% (292 of 294).
- May: Panwa — 100% (310 of 310), Paradise† — 100% (310 of 310), Ao Sane — 100% (309 of 310), Rawai — 100% (309 of 310), Tri Trang† — 100% (309 of 310).
- June: Ao Yon — 100% (300 of 300), Panwa — 100% (300 of 300), Paradise† — 100% (300 of 300), Rawai — 100% (300 of 300), Tri Trang† — 100% (300 of 300).
- July: Ao Yon — 100% (308 of 308), Panwa — 100% (308 of 308), Paradise† — 100% (308 of 308), Rawai — 100% (308 of 308), Tri Trang† — 100% (308 of 308).
- August: Paradise† — 100% (310 of 310), Rawai — 100% (310 of 310), Tri Trang† — 100% (310 of 310), Panwa — 99% (308 of 310), Ao Yon — 98% (304 of 310).
- September: Ao Yon — 100% (300 of 300), Panwa — 100% (300 of 300), Paradise† — 100% (300 of 300), Rawai — 100% (300 of 300), Tri Trang† — 100% (300 of 300).
- October: Ao Yon — 100% (272 of 272), Paradise† — 100% (272 of 272), Rawai — 100% (272 of 272), Tri Trang† — 100% (272 of 272), Panwa — 100% (271 of 272).
- November: Ao Sane — 100% (253 of 254), Paradise† — 100% (253 of 254), Ao Yon — 99% (252 of 254), Tri Trang† — 99% (252 of 254), Patong — 98% (250 of 254).
- December: Ao Sane — 100% (279 of 279), Paradise† — 100% (279 of 279), Ao Yon — 99% (277 of 279), Tri Trang† — 99% (277 of 279), Patong — 98% (273 of 279).
What “calm” means and how it is calculated
For every beach and month we count the share of days on which the estimated wave height at the beach stays at or below 0.5 m all day (“calm”); 0.5–1.0 m is “moderate” and above 1.0 m — “waves”. The value of a day is the highest of three daytime steps (06, 12 and 18 h Phuket time, UTC+7), and a day counts only if all three steps have data. The estimate at each step is the significant wave height in the open sea from NOAA WAVEWATCH III (0.5° grid, dataset ww3_global on PacIOOS ERDDAP) multiplied by the exposure of the bay: rays in 16 directions from each beach over the OpenStreetMap coastline, so bays closed off by headlands and islands receive only part of the ocean swell.
Period: January 2017 – September 2026; 254–310 days with data per month, 3,525 days per beach. Robustness: every share is recomputed with 2–3 open-sea cells on the sea side of the beach; where they differ by more than 20 percentage points (57 of 300 beach-months) the tables show the range with an asterisk, and rankings use the lower bound. Tri Trang and Paradise are small west-coast bays that face north: the model cuts the direct south-west swell off for them and cannot see waves wrapping around the headland, so their shares are an upper estimate of the method.
This is a model of the open sea and the shape of the bay. It does not see surf, rip currents or the depth near the shore, and it does not replace the lifeguards: their flags decide.
Sources
- Open-sea waves: NOAA WAVEWATCH III (global model, 0.5° grid, dataset ww3_global on PacIOOS ERDDAP), January 2017 – September 2026. Dataset terms: “may be used and redistributed for free but is not intended for legal use”.
- Bay shape and coastline: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0.
- Live snapshot: NOAA WAVEWATCH III forecast (PacIOOS ERDDAP), updated every 6 hours; water temperature: NOAA OISST.
- The full method in Russian: «Пляжи без волн», раздел «Методика».
How to cite
Please credit Kvartiry-Phuket with a link to this page. Suggested citation:
Kvartiry-Phuket (2026). Phuket sea conditions today and calm beaches by month. Data: NOAA WAVEWATCH III (PacIOOS ERDDAP), January 2017 – September 2026; coastline © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). https://kvartiry-phuket.com/en/phuket-sea-today/As an HTML link:
<a href="https://kvartiry-phuket.com/en/phuket-sea-today/">Phuket sea conditions today and calm beaches by month — Kvartiry-Phuket</a>When you reuse these figures, keep the source notices — NOAA WAVEWATCH III via PacIOOS ERDDAP and © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) — and the caption: estimate from an open-sea wave model and the shape of the bay; lifeguard flags decide.
More open data in English
- Phuket weather by month — rain, rain days, day and night air, sea temperature, waves and cloud cover for every month (2015–2025 data).
- Phuket beaches compared — coast side, length and drive times for 25 beaches.
- Phuket condo asking prices — a documented snapshot of advertised asking prices with downloadable data.
- Official Phuket condominium assessment rates — Thai Treasury Department data, not market prices.