Freedom Beach is Phuket’s Best Kept Secret

It’s always exciting to make a little discovery on your travels. It’s the thrill of getting off the beaten path, it’s being in the ‘know’ about something, others don’t. One such place in Phuket is Freedom Beach. In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Freedom Beach is Phuket’s best kept secret. 

It’s a secret as it doesn’t seem to be on the average tourists radar. Freedom beach ticks all the boxes for that dreamy paradise feel. There’s the tropical palm trees framing the beach, pristine sand and lots of marine life swimming in crystal clear waters. Whilst it does see tourists visiting the beach, it certainly doesn’t see too many. If you were to get there early in the morning, you might not even see a soul. Peak hour is around lunch time.

The best part is the location of Freedom Beach. It is nestled between Patong and Karon beaches and can be accessed either by long tail boat or a hike on foot. The hike down to the beach might be a little challenging for some, but the views on the way down are spectacular. 

Peak hour at Freedom Beach

Freedom beach is a private beach, so you will need to pay 200 Baht to access the walking path down to the beach. The beach is also spotlessly clean and unfortunately on my visit there was a lot of rubbish on the path down. 

Set back from the beach and nestled in amongst the palm trees, you will find sun lounges to hire. These will set you back around 120 baht for the day. Having these lounges set back from the beach creates an unobtrusive or untouched feel to the beach. 

Sun lounges sheltered by the palm trees

Snorkelling

The beach is great for snorkelling, as there are plenty of marine life in the water. The shot I took below with my iPhone was less than waist deep. The rocks on either side of the beach also are home to some very large crabs too!

Sea life abounds in the crystal clear water

Eat and Drink

If you are a little hungry or thirsty, then Freedom Beach does have a cafe. Serving all types of food, beer and wine. It’s quite a large open space with tables having direct view of the beach. 

Getting to Freedom Beach

Getting to Freedom beach is by one of two ways. Firstly, you can take a long tail boat from Patong Beach, which will cost you a pretty penny (1500 baht upwards). The long tail boat will stay moored in the little cove for as long as you are prepared to stay. That’s the easy way. 

The second way, if you are up for a challenge, is to walk down to the beach. The pathway entrance is located about 100 meters from the Avista Hideaway resort in Patong. The hike down to the beach should take you around 20 minutes.

You could also get a tuk tuk or taxi to the car park leading to the beach, costing around 300 baht from Patong. At the car park you will pass by a cafe where you can buy some drinks for the hike down. This is also where you will be required to pay the 200 Baht entry. You then present your ticket to the little booth at the gate and you are on your way.

The stairs down are quite steep, if you have bad knees then you will struggle down the path. Once you reach the bottom of the stairs, you will be required to scramble down some rocks to get onto the beach. The stairs stop abruptly at a higher than a normal step height. 

 

The second part of the challenge is getting to the main part of the beach. There are large rocks that block part of the beach by jutting into the water. You can either swim your way around (provided you have no gear), climb over the top if you are fit or take the easy way and find the inland path that’s hidden amongst the scrub. This will lead you to another set of stairs that lands you on the other side of the rocks.