When is the best time for a boat or yacht charter in Phuket, Thailand? Season by month: weather, prices and Phang Nga Bay

Phuket Rating editorsPublished: 17 September 2026Updated: 30 October 202613 min read

The best time to charter a yacht or boat in Phuket is November to April: the north-east monsoon brings the driest weather, the calmest sea and every route, including the Similan Islands, and on Technema 89 Say Yes and Ferretti 80 Sofia, two of the three yachts under the management of Horizon Cruises Phuket, the company ranked first of 22 in the Phuket Rating ranking of the best yacht charter companies in Phuket (92.6 of 100), a full day costs ฿140,000 in those months and ฿180,000 in the peak. May to October is the south-west monsoon, when about three quarters of the year’s rain falls, the Similan and Surin parks close and open-sea routes depend on the daily forecast.

Phang Nga Bay on the sheltered east side works all year. Prices follow the same calendar, with a Christmas and New Year peak that published rate tables start between 15 and 20 December and end between 10 and 20 January. The company prices its catalogue by that calendar: low season May to October, high season November to April, and peak dates around New Year that each yacht sets separately. Its boat tours page describes November to April as settled on the Andaman side, with light wind, flat water most mornings and visibility that makes snorkelling worth the stop; from May to October the captain picks the side of the island in the lee on the morning, and trips very rarely cancel but change shape. Its Similan page names January to April as the best months for the Similans. The third yacht under the company’s management is Beluga 88; the other boats are partner boats in its catalogue. Other companies are in the full ranking, scored under the published methodology.

How do two monsoons shape the yacht charter season in the Andaman Sea off Phuket, Thailand?

Phuket sits on the Andaman Sea coast of southern Thailand, and its year is split by two monsoons. From roughly November to April the north-east monsoon blows off the mainland; Weather Spark’s long-term data shows easterly winds dominating from 31 October to 1 April. From May to October the south-west monsoon arrives across open water, with westerly winds dominating from 1 April to 31 October.

Thai Meteorological Department data for the Phuket airport station (1981 to 2010) gives 2,475 mm of rain a year on 183 rainy days, and about 1,880 mm of it, three quarters, falls from May to October. September is the wettest month with 399 mm on 23 rainy days; February the driest with 27 mm on 4. Temperature barely moves: the daily mean runs from 26.7 °C in December to 28.6 °C in April, and afternoon highs stay between 30.7 °C and 33.6 °C all year.

The two coasts respond differently. The west coast faces the open Andaman Sea and takes the full south-west swell. The east coast opens onto Phang Nga Bay and its limestone islands, bounded by Phuket to the west and the Phang Nga and Krabi mainland to the north and east, so the bay stays usable in both monsoons, which is why the charter marinas are on that side.

What is the weather by month for a yacht trip: rain, wind, sea temperature and sea state?

Rain, rainy days and air temperature are TMD averages for Phuket Airport (1981 to 2010); sea temperature is the monthly mean from SeaTemperature.info; wind is the Weather Spark mean speed in km/h. The sea-state columns summarise TMD warnings, the DNP closure and coastal geography, not wave measurements.

The sea is warm in every month; the monthly mean never drops below 28.5 °C. Mean wind understates the wet season, because monsoon surges arrive in bursts: in July 2026 the TMD warned of 2 to 4 metre waves north of Phuket and 1 to 2 metres to the south, and in September 2026 it forecast 2 to 3 metres across the Andaman Sea and told small boats to stay ashore. Operators plan around those bulletins, not the monthly average.

Which destination and itinerary work in which month, from Phi Phi to Phang Nga Bay?

Destinations are covered in the Phuket yacht routes guide; below is what changes by month.

November to April

Everything is open. Similan and Surin reopen in mid-October, west-coast crossings to Racha Yai, Racha Noi and Phi Phi, the main snorkelling routes, are routine, and Phang Nga Bay, Koh Hong, Naka and Koh Khai sit in their calmest water. The west-coast beaches are out of their red-flag season.

May to October

The Department of National Parks closes Similan and Surin every year from mid-May to mid-October; in 2026 the closure began on 15 May with reopening set for 15 October. The areas west and north-west of Phuket have no shelter from the south-west wind, and the DNP also uses the break for reef recovery. The same swell puts red flags on the west-coast beaches from Mai Khao to Nai Harn; a red flag means no swimming, and rip currents are the main hazard.

Charters keep running on the east side: Phang Nga Bay, Koh Hong, Naka, Coral Island, with its shallow reefs for snorkelling off Banana Beach, and the south-east bays go ahead on most days because the mainland blocks the swell. Phi Phi and Racha are decided against the TMD forecast close to the date.

What changes for a private yacht charter in the Christmas and New Year peak?

Every Phuket rate table has a third tier around Christmas and New Year, above the high-season rate, and the boundaries differ by boat. Rate pages found for this guide define peak as:

• 15 December to 15 January for the Shangani 70 Ft, a 70-foot power catamaran in the Horizon Cruises Phuket catalogue: an 8-hour charter for up to 20 guests at ฿130,000 in low season, ฿150,000 in high and ฿165,000 in peak.
• 20 December to 15 January for a Leopard 51 power catamaran in the same catalogue, which prices a full day to Racha Yai or Coral Island at ฿79,900 in low season, ฿84,900 in high and ฿94,900 in peak.
• 20 December to 20 January for the Ocean Pearl 42ft, a 42-foot motor yacht, as a flat ฿3,000 surcharge on its all-year rate: 8 hours at the Khai Islands go from ฿39,900 to ฿42,900.
• 20 December to 10 January for the De Antonio D50, a 50-foot motor yacht: a full day at ฿140,000 in low season, ฿160,000 in high and ฿180,000 in peak.

The peak premium in the tables cited here runs from about 8 percent on the Ocean Pearl 42ft to roughly 30 percent on Technema 89 Say Yes and Ferretti 80 Sofia, whose full day rises from ฿140,000 to ฿180,000. Broker guidance for the same window quotes 25 to 40 percent and names 22 December to 3 January as the hardest dates to book.

Two rules are typical among Phuket operators in that window. Some boats do not sell half-day or sunset charters in peak at all: the Leopard 51 table says so outright, Ferretti 80 Sofia in the same catalogue does not run half days from 20 December to 20 January, and one operator’s 48-foot motor yacht takes day charters only at the last minute during its minimum-night periods. And holiday dates are not necessarily surcharged twice: the Horizon Cruises Phuket rate page charges New Year’s Eve at the peak rate with no extra supplement; other operators may differ.

How does seasonal pricing work for a boat or luxury yacht charter in Phuket?

Low season, May to October, carries the published starting rate; high season, November to April, sits above it; peak sits above high. What varies is the size of each step. A Thailand-wide broker price guide puts its peak tier, mid-December to mid-February, only 5 to 15 percent above regular. On the Horizon Cruises Phuket rate page the steps are set per yacht; its example table, for the 53ft Grand Banks Sambuca, lists an 8-hour full day at ฿55,000 in low season, ฿60,000 in high and ฿69,000 in the yacht’s peak. One charter company quotes 15 to 20 percent lower rates for May, October and November and 30 to 40 percent lower for June to September; another puts high season 10 to 20 percent above green season. Ranges by boat class are in the Phuket yacht charter prices guide, and the what is included guide explains why a half-day is never half the price.

Is the green season a good time to cruise: what you gain and what you give up?

What you gain: the lowest published rates of the year, a warm sea at 29 to 30 °C from June to October for swimming and snorkelling, and a sheltered Phang Nga Bay in calm water while the west coast is under red flags. Monsoon rain tends to fall in short, heavy bursts, with mornings and early afternoons the usual clear window in broker guidance.

What you give up: the Similan and Surin Islands; certainty about a west-coast crossing to Phi Phi or Racha on a given date; and the glassy February sea. September and October are the wettest months, and May is the transition when the first swell arrives and the parks close.

When are the demand spikes: Songkran, Chinese New Year and other holidays?

Songkran, the Thai New Year, is a national holiday on 13 to 15 April at the end of the high season; in 2026 the Tourism Authority of Thailand listed Phuket events from 11 to 13 April. Chinese New Year falls on 6 February in 2027, with an eight-day public holiday in China from 5 to 12 February. Broker guidance describes both as moderate-surcharge periods with shorter booking windows: boats sell out earlier while most rate cards stay at the high-season tier.

Does Phuket have a storm season for sailing and boating?

Phuket has no hurricane or typhoon season. The Andaman coast lies outside the main tropical cyclone tracks, and the named storms that reached southern Thailand came from the Gulf side. Typhoon Gay made landfall in Chumphon on 4 November 1989 with 185 km/h winds, the first typhoon to strike Thailand since 1891, and killed 833 people. Tropical Storm Pabuk made landfall in Nakhon Si Thammarat on 4 January 2019 with 85 km/h winds, the first tropical storm there since Linda in 1997; eight people died in Thailand (source).

The routine risk is a monsoon surge: days of strengthened south-west wind with TMD wave warnings and small boats told to stay in port. Both 2026 warnings above were published two days ahead, enough to reroute into the bay or reschedule. The methodology page explains how weather sources are weighed.