Phuket is Thailand’s largest Island, it is 48.7 kilometres long and 21.3 kilometres wide of which 77% is mountain terrain with the highest elevation at 529 metres. The terrain is richly varied, with rocky headlands, numerous beaches of differing sizes and character, limestone cliffs, jungle-clad hills, small estuaries, lagoons and tropical vegetation of all kinds. It is surrounded by over 30 smaller Islands of similar topography, many of them prime tourist attractions in their own right.

The permanent population is estimated at roughly a quarter of a million, and Phuket is the only island in Thailand to have full provincial status. The Sarasin Bridge connecting it to the mainland was constructed in the mid 1970’s, and a second one parallel to it, the 660 metre Thao Thep Krasatri Bridge, opened more recently. Phuket International Airport saw its first aircraft land in 1976.