Phuket City Tour & Elephant Sanctuary – Town, Temple, Food & View
Description
Enjoy a relaxed half-day tour that combines Phuket’s city highlights with a meaningful elephant sanctuary experience. Taste two traditional local snacks, explore colorful Phuket Old Town, enjoy lunch at a long-established local restaurant, visit Chalong Temple with simple cultural activities, and spend quality time with rescued elephants in an ethical environment before finishing at the iconic Big Buddha viewpoint. • Visit an ethical elephant sanctuary focused on rescue and care • Feed and observe rescued elephants in a respectful environment • Explore Phuket Old Town’s colorful heritage streets • Taste traditional Phuket snacks and enjoy lunch at a local restaurant • Experience simple cultural activities at Chalong Temple • End at the iconic Big Buddha viewpoint overlooking the island
Tour Options
Itinerary
Start your day with Phuket’s famous A-Pong snack — a light, crispy pancake made fresh by local vendors.
Continue to Phuket Old Town, where colorful shophouses reflect the island’s multicultural heritage. Your guide shares stories about Phuket’s multicultural history and everyday life.
Taste Pao Lang, a traditional grilled sticky rice with banana wrapped in banana leaf. This warm and naturally sweet snack is a simple example of Phuket’s traditional street food culture.
Enjoy lunch at Mee Ton Poe, a long-established Phuket restaurant known for its Hokkien-style noodles. Choose from a selection of popular Thai dishes, including Pad Thai, Phat Kaphrao, Tom Yum noodles, Sweet & Sour, or Fried Rice.
Visit an ethical elephant sanctuary that focuses on rescue, care, and education. Feed the elephants, learn their stories, and observe them in a natural environment. There is no riding, no bathing — just meaningful time with these gentle giants.
At Chalong Temple, learn how locals visit temples and try simple, optional cultural activities such as folding a lotus flower, shaking a fortune-stick message (similar to receiving a fortune cookie), and placing a small sheet of gold foil.
End the day at Big Buddha viewpoint with sweeping island views. Please note: access inside the main structure is currently limited due to maintenance, but outdoor viewpoints remain open for great photos.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Pickup may take up to 1 hour depending on hotel location. Shared transfers include multiple stops. Transfer time may be shorter or longer based on distance and traffic. Thank you for your patience as we accommodate all guests. ————————————————————————————————————————————————— FREE PICKUP AREAS — select “Join Tour Free Pickup” Patong • Karon • Kata • Rawai • Chalong • Phuket Town • Kathu ————————————————————————————————————————————————— CHARGE TRANSFER AREAS — select “Join Tour Charge Transfer Area” Ao Yon • Cape Panwa • Ko Sire • Laem Hin • Ao Por • Naiyang • Naithorn • Layan • Mai Khao • Kamala • Surin • Bang Tao • Airport area ————————————————————————————————————————————————— ⚠ Important If the incorrect pickup option is selected additional fee 200 THB per person, paid in cash on the tour day
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Pickup time will be send and confirmed one day before tour day.
- Please advise special meal requirements. - (vegetarian food or allergies)
Reviews(103)
I cannot say enough about this tour. The elephant sanctuary, and the Buddhist temple where I was blessed by a Buddhist monk was truly one for the books. And our tour guide was exceptional. It ended up being a private tour so we got to spend as much time in places as we wanted. And the lunch spot was really good. Would highly recommend.
An outstanding experience Sao , was an amazing guide very polite explained everything in details , we love the old city , the temple and elephants
Rita & Mr T showed us Phuket with local food, temple guided tour and supported the Elephant Sanctuary. What a beautiful day! Rita is so knowledgable and passionate about her home and we were blessed to have her as our guide xx thank you for a wonderful introduction to Thailand.
We started from Marriott Mai Kao to our Old Town Phuket and then the peaceful Elephant Sanctuary with Princess, Grandma and there 6 other female rescues followed by a holy afternoon. Rita our guide shared the sites, people, food and and culture along the way. We learned to open lotus flowers and how Thai people revere their elders. The Big Buddha and some curious monkeys finished our day with a trip back to our hotel. Our driver was excellent in what can be a chaotic scene between motorcycles, vans, trucks and cars. Our morning pancakes and noon lunch of pad thai were delicious. Bring good shoesand respectful clothing for the temples.
Fab day out. Guide was great lots of info throughout the day of the area we were in. He even took lots of pics and shared them with us, A great added extra to our day as it captured special memories. The right amount of time at each venue. Seeing the elephants in natural habitat was so lovely. All in all a great day highly recommend this trip.
What an amazing experience, one that we will never forget. It certainly makes you think what these poor elephants have been through. Well recommended.
Well I would leave a review if I had gone twice my trip has been cancelled, I had my time in Thailand planned out, including doing this trip, now my plans are all over the place. I am not pleased one bit
The tour was excellent. We experienced so many new and exciting things, some of which were unexpected. The food was great and Noom was wonderful. I would highly recommend this excursion.
Operator cancelled on us 1 hour prior to tour start. Ignores communication which could have allowed us to make alternate arrangement instead of losing a day.
We had such a great day on this tour honestly everything just felt easy from the start. The driver picked us up right at our hotel on time and we didn’t have to think about anything. Our guide Rainy made the whole experience. She’s so kind and funny and just easy to be around. It didn’t feel like a typical tour at all. We started with local snacks like A Pong pancakes and other traditional food and then walked through Old Phuket Town. Rainy explained everything in a way that actually made sense and kept it interesting without overdoing it. Lunch at Mee Ton Poe was really good and she helped us pick what to try which made it even better. The elephant sanctuary was one of the best parts. We got to feed the elephants and learn about them and it felt really genuine not rushed or staged. We also went to Wat Chalong and the Big Buddha and the whole day just flowed really well nothing felt stressful or forced. What really stood out was how much Rainy cared. She was taking photos of us all day checking in on us making sure we were comfortable and just keeping everything fun. There were four of us and by the end we felt like we actually got to know her. Her English is really good which made everything easy and you can tell she really knows her history and the area. I would 100 percent recommend this to anyone coming to Thailand especially if you’re from Canada and want to feel comfortable right away. If you can ask for Rainy she honestly made the whole experience! 10000% recommend!
