Phuket Island Sightseeing Tour

Almost everyone who comes to Thailand takes a sightseeing tour at some point — it is the quickest way to work out what the island actually consists of.

Over the course of the day you will see the Big Buddha, which sits above Chalong on Nakkerd Hill at 350 metres. From up there most of Phuket is laid out in front of you, everything but the far north.

Next comes the cashew factory, where you can see how the nuts are processed, what gets made from them, and taste your way through the varieties. After that, Wat Chalong — the oldest temple on Phuket, built before the war with Burma and now a cheerful sprawl of coloured roofs. You can tie a bracelet on your wrist for luck and make a wish.

Then Karon View Point, which looks down the west coast over Kata Noi, Kata and Karon. This is where the photographs happen.

The last stop is the orchid garden, a place worth seeing in its own right: every variety of the flower is collected here, and the collection keeps growing.