Sirinat National Park — Attraction in Sakhu

Sirinat National Park, this national park of Phuket is about 90 km2 and consists mainly of sea (75%) and a quarter of land. In 1981, during the foundation of the park, it was called Nai Yang National Park.

In 1992, the name was changed to Sirinat National Park in honour of Queen Sirikit’s 60th birthday. In that year the 10 km long Mai Khao Beach was also added to Sirinat National Park.

You can visit the park by car, scooter or bicycle. There is a big road through the park. With a bicycle you pay nothing, a scooter costs 20 baht and a car 30 baht.

Towards the coast, on the beach, the forests consist mainly of pine trees. These provide a beautiful image when looking from the beach. Besides different kinds of trees, there are also many colourful flowers and beautiful plants in the park. There even is a small mangrove forest with a number of lakes that flow into the sea via a meandering freshwater stream.

Not only in the water and on land but also in the air, the Sirinat National Park is well represented. No less than 125 different species of birds live here, a true paradise for the avid birder. Apart from birds, you are likely to come across a monitor lizard or another species here and there.

Despite Mai Khao Beach being the longest beach on Phuket, Sirinat National Park is actually one of the smallest national parks in Thailand.

Address: 89 Sakhu, Thalang District, Phuket 83140

Opening hours: 06:00...

One star is for the beach itself really beautiful! HOWEVER, be careful with the entrance ticket fee! Even on the price board says local people 40 baht, foreigners 200 baht (I don’t understand ), in reality no local people is paying the tickets so that it’s actually just setting up for tourists. The first day we arrived here, our landlord told us we should not pay for the tickets. Then we walked into the park, the ticket lady stopped us and asked us to pay 200 baht each person, at the same time local people just drive/walk in and out at the side without giving a damn. No one even tried to stop them. We asked why other people don’t have to pay? She was trying to find excuses. We turned around walking 10 more minutes to another gate, no one is charging us! Since then we go to the park every day and never paid for that. Only the gate near the airport is annoying, as long as the ticket lady noticed you are foreigners, she will point at the price board asking you to pay. before 8 o’clock no one is there so you can also enter free. I don’t understand why they do this cuz I do love Thailand and Thai people. It’s ok to charge entrance fee but it is not ok to just charge foreigners. This park really disgusted us by that and no one wanna be treated...

The actual beach is beautiful, there are even stretches with shadow under the trees, and the water is full of seaweed patches which is great for snorkeling. However, on a walk along the beach, I was shocked by the sheer amount of trash I found everywhere. Plastic bottles, ropes, bags, big oil cans, spray cans, even a large gaslight lamp, glue bottles, lighters, food trays, shoes, deodorants, a soccer ball... everything was so full of trash, it looked horrible and it makes me wonder how this can be a national park when clearly no one seems to clean the place. While we've been there, red flags were raised to prohibit swimming (I guess either because of the amount of washed up jellyfish I saw or the quite strong current). When the tide was receding, a huge black bank of broken, slimy coral pieces started to show up on the horizon. Walking along the beach, I crossed a nearly black river coming from the town that flowed directly into the sea and smelled pretty bad. We did not pay any entrance fee at the part in front of NY Beach Restaurant where we entered the beach. It's a pity this stunning natural place is so full of waste and locals don't...