Children’s Activities in Phuket

Updated 25th Aug 2026

Phuket has one airport, and the attractions families come for are scattered across the island, so a day out here usually means a drive. This page covers what there is to do with children: an aquarium, the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project, the Soi Dog Foundation, an evening show, elephant sanctuaries, two water parks, a go-kart track and an upside-down house. Which beach to base yourself on is a separate question, and it has its own page on the beaches of Phuket.

Getting there by air

Phuket International Airport (HKT) is the island's only airport. It sits at Mai Khao in the north, about 32 kilometres from Phuket Town, and the drive to Patong on the west coast typically takes anything from 45 minutes to an hour and a quarter depending on traffic.

Domestic and international flights use separate terminals, linked by an internal walkway that takes roughly 10 minutes to cross. If you are connecting rather than starting here, that walk is worth allowing for with children and bags in tow. Phuket Airport carries the terminal and ground transport detail.

This site carries route pages for Bangkok to Phuket, Chiang Mai to Phuket, Koh Samui to Phuket and Hat Yai to Phuket. For the return leg, there is also Phuket to Bangkok.

Animal attractions

Several of Phuket's family attractions involve animals, and what a visit actually consists of differs between them.

Phuket Aquarium

Phuket Aquarium is at Cape Panwa, on the island's southeast coast, and is run by the Phuket Marine Biological Center, a government research institution. Cape Panwa is on the other side of the island from the west-coast beaches. As of August 2026 the aquarium's own website is not reachable, which makes its current opening hours difficult to confirm before you set out.

Gibbon Rehabilitation Project

The Gibbon Rehabilitation Project is at the Khao Phra Thaew Non-Hunting Area in Thalang district, near the Bang Pae waterfall. It takes in gibbons that were captured for the tourism industry and works to return them to the rainforest there. Visits and school-group visits are both booked through the project's own site.

The project says the animals are taken from the wild as babies, to be photographed with visitors, and that the parents are killed to obtain a baby.

Soi Dog Foundation

Soi Dog Foundation runs a sanctuary at Mai Khao in the north, the same subdistrict as the airport. It gives guided tours from Monday to Friday at 10:30 and 13:30, each lasting about 45 minutes, and no advance booking is required.

The sanctuary itself is open to visitors on weekdays only, so a weekend visit is not possible at all. Visitors are also not permitted to walk around the sanctuary unaccompanied.

Phuket FantaSea

Phuket FantaSea is an evening theatre complex at Kamala, on the west coast in Kathu district, about 9 kilometres from Patong. It opens from 17:30 to 23:30 every evening except Thursday, though the operator says it may open as normal when a public holiday falls on one. Its main show, Fantasy of a Kingdom, starts at 21:00 and runs for about 70 minutes.

The show features live elephants. The operator's own park information page puts the cast at over 150 performers and 44 elephants, in a theatre it calls the Palace of the Elephants.

A 21:00 start and a 70-minute running time make for a late night with young children. The complex also holds a buffet restaurant and a shopping village, and a visit taking in both runs longer still.

Elephant sanctuaries that do not offer riding

Several sanctuaries on Phuket keep elephants for visitors to watch, and do not offer rides. Two are named here because each sets out on its own site how it handles the elephants and whether children are welcome. Others on the island work on the same basis, and this is a starting point rather than the full list.

Phuket Elephant Sanctuary says it discontinued all feeding interactions in April 2026 and moved to a fully hands-off, observation-only model, with a canopy walkway that visitors watch from while the elephants roam below. Visitors meet at its office in Paklok, in Thalang district, and are driven to the sanctuary from there. It caters for all ages, it says, with transport around the site for families with young children and a nursery at its reception.

Phuket Elephant Nature Reserve, near the west-coast beaches at Bangtao and Layan, states plainly that it does not offer elephant riding, and gives the training methods riding requires as its reason. Visitors of all ages are welcome and there is a children's area with a trampoline, swings and a seesaw, the reserve says. It recommends booking ahead between November and April, the island's dry high season.

Water parks

Andamanda Phuket

Andamanda Phuket, a water park in Kathu district, is open daily year-round from 10:00 to 19:00, the park says. Children's tickets are set by height, not by age, so check the current bands before you book.

Splash Jungle Water Park

Splash Jungle Water Park, at Mai Khao in the north of the island, has a children's pool and an aqua play area, and children aged 5 to 11 have their own ticket category. As of August 2026 its own site gives its hours as 10:00 to 18:30 daily, and describes that as running until further notice rather than to a fixed season. Re-check it close to the day.

Other things to do

Patong Go-Kart Speedway

Patong Go-Kart Speedway has been running since 1991 and has a 750-metre track, and despite the name it is not at Patong: its own contact page puts it on Vichit Songkram Road in Kathu district. Its karts range from 140cc to 400cc and reach 40 to 110 km/h, and it opens from 10:00 to 19:00, with the track lit for evening racing.

Those speeds are not for every child. The operator's own FAQ sets a minimum of 8 years old and 1.25 metres tall for its children's events, and 16 for its race and exclusive events.

Upside Down House Phuket (Baan Teelanka)

Upside Down House Phuket, also called Baan Teelanka, is open every day of the year from 10:00 to 18:00, and no booking is needed. Its own site names no district, but the map it links to places it at Ratsada, in the Phuket Town area. The site describes it as a family attraction and says it suits any age.