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Peter Walbrook

Away from the bars and the crowded beaches lies another side of Thailand's biggest island. Colonial mansions, natural vistas and authentic cuisine are worth leaving your sun lounger for.

1. Rang Hill

Providing broad views across Phuket City and out to the Andaman Sea, Rang Hill - or  Khao Rang - is a popular spot for sightseers  and locals making the 10-minute drive up here to visit  Tunk-Ka. Also known as the  Hilltop Restaurant, this place advertises 'the best ice coffee in Thailand' and is widely reckoned to serve some of the finest Thai food on the island. It's reached by a series of steps made from teak railway sleepers torn up from the old  Surat Thani to  Penang line and has been run by the same family for about 35 years.

2. Thalang Road

(below left) Phuket City is often overlooked by tourists but is well worth a look, not least for the old Sino-Portuguese architecture along  Thalang Road and in the streets nearby. The area is undergoing a gradual renaissance and traditional businesses rub shoulders with trendy restaurants and shops. Adjoining streets worth exploring include  Soi Romanee, the town's red-light district during Phuket's tin-mining era, and  Dibuk Road, which runs parallel to Thalang Road one block to the north. Many shops in this area close on Sundays.

3. Chinpracha House

(bottom right)Heading west, Thalang Road becomes  Krabi Road, which is home to two of the town's most striking Sino-colonial mansions (built by Chinese merchants and tin-mine operators in the European style). The building farthest west is  Chinpracha House, which was used as a location in Oliver Stone's 1993 film Heaven & Earth and is the only such property open to the public. Madam Jaroonrat 'Daeng' Tandavanitj, whose late husband was the grandson of the original owner, lives upstairs and makes the occasional appearance for visitors. The interior is filled with antiques acquired by the family. The newer but even more impressive  Chinpracha Mansion next door is unfortunately closed to visitors.

4. Promthep Cape (bottom left)

Stiff ocean breezes and holiday-brochure sunsets await at Promthep Cape at the southernmost tip of Phuket. Follow the crowds to the top and while you're waiting for the sun to go down, wander over to the lighthouse for even better views and to check out a small nautical museum. If you're driving - probable if you've come this far - head across to the green-roofed hut beside the wind turbine along the coast road for a more peaceful sunset-viewing experience.

5. Phuket Provincial Hall

There are several attractive colonial-style government buildings in the northeast of Phuket City but the easiest and perhaps most interesting to visit is  Phuket Provincial Hall, also known as the Provincial Government Buildings, on  Narisorn Road. This compound and its early 20th-century buildings doubled as the French Embassy in Phnom Penh for the  1984 film   The Killing Fields. The outer walls of the main building display dozens of framed historical photographs of Phuket.

6.  Baan Klung Jinda Restaurant

More than a century old, the recently restored  Baan Klung Mansion at  158 Yaowarat Road in Phuket City now houses the Baan Klung Jinda Restaurant, a top spot for a fine-dining splurge away from the upmarket hotels and resorts. Live jazz, potted palms, white linen and period furniture combine to create a memorable ambience further enhanced by the quality of the classical Thai and Thai-Chinese cuisine and the attentive service.

7. Natural Restaurant

For a cheaper menu in unique surroundings try the  Natural Restaurant at 62  Soi Phutorn. While its claim to be 'the only truly authentic Thai food restaurant in Phuket' might be a bit ambitious, the salads are perfect for a heat-beating lunch. A spicy banana flower salad, spicy mixed fruit salad or spicy cockle salad with lemongrass costs only about 80 baht (HK$20). The Natural (below right) is furnished  to look like a cross between the Old Curiosity Shop and a garage sale, with a model railway, hanging plants, road signs, televisions made into tropical fish tanks ... the list is almost endless.

8.  Kata Beach

Considerably more laid back and relaxed than  Patong Beach, and championed by many as the best beach in Phuket, Kata Beach comprises two bays -  Kata Yai and  Kata Noi - separated by a tastefully developed Club Med. Kata Noi to the south is the quieter of the two. Both offer excellent swimming and snorkelling and there are enough shops and restaurants to make this a viable full-time family alternative to the more popular beach resorts up north. The best accommodation option here is  Mom Tri's Boathouse  (www.boathousephuket.com).

9. Historical Museums

Not many tourists take the time to find out about Phuket's past but for anyone interested in exploring its tin-mining history, indigenous sea-gypsy culture and Chinese heritage, the  Thalang National Museum  (www.phuket.com/island/museums.htm) on Phuket City's  Pa Khlok Road is the place to go. Less formally curated is the self-proclaimed Phuket Museum in the lobby of the  Thavorn Hotel at  74 Rassada Road, with its tin-mining equipment, opium-smoking beds, old movie posters, toy trains and countless photographs of old Phuket and its long-forgotten inhabitants.

10. On On Hotel

The On On Hotel at  19 Phang Nga Road is the oldest hotel on the island. Established in 1929, these days it attracts mostly budget travellers and Leonardo DiCaprio fans. This was his 'Bangkok' hotel in the  2000 film The Beach, and the street outside stood in for the  Khao San Road. Its run-down but spacious rooms won't be featuring in Conde Nast Traveller any time soon (although it is ripe for a Raffles-style makeover) but what would you expect for 190 baht a night? It makes for an interesting choice for the modestly pocketed traveller.



Phuket