Nui Beach Club is a different proposition to most beach clubs in Phuket, and it’s vital that you’re aware of that before you decide to travel here.
That’s because Nui Beach is a private beach. That means it’s not open to the general public, and due to that, you can only reach this beach on an ATV ride from the top of the cliffs.
The ride is 3 kilometres long, and you will feel every bit of it on the way down. This is not a journey for those in delicate states of health.
When you reach the bottom of the hill, you will also find that you must pay to enter the beach because it’s a private beach, and if you want to use the Nui Beach Club, which is the only facility on the beach, you must pay for that separately.
And yes, these are the lengths that our review team went through to bring you this review of Nui Beach Club in Phuket.
Introduction – Getting To Nui Beach Club, Phuket
Getting to Phuket is the easy part in the case of Nui Beach Club. You can jump on a plane in most parts of the world heading to Phuket’s International Airport.
If it’s in the off-season, you may find that it’s more practical to fly to Bangkok first and then on to Phuket. Phuket is less than an hour’s flight away from the Thai capital, so there’s no major stress there.
However, this is the most challenging beach club to get to in Phuket that we’ve visited so far, and we’ve been to clubs on private islands and floating on boats in the ocean.
As we said at the start, you get to Nui Beach Club by first getting to an ATV pickup point – take a ride-share or tuk-tuk, as there is a heavy parking fee for this spot.
Then, you need to pay for a bone-jarring ride down the cliff to the beach below. Once you reach the beach, you’ve guessed it, you also need to pay for access to the beach and then, again, if you want to use the beach club.
That’s both a physically and financially taxing way to start a day by the ocean.
Where Is Nui Beach Club, Phuket? Soi Laemmumnok, Karon, Mueang Phuket District, Phuket 83100, Thailand
Online: Instagram
Opening Hours: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, though times may vary on public holidays and local election days.
What’s Available At Nui Beach Club, Phuket?
There is a pristine beach as well as bar and restaurant facilities, along with some comfortable seating areas. There is no swimming pool and no entertainment of any kind at this beach club.
Our Detailed Review Of Nui Beach Club, Phuket
We consistently apply a standardised process to evaluate every beach club, ensuring fair treatment for owners, management, and staff, and providing reviews in a uniform format that enables effortless venue comparisons.
The review process is outlined as follows:
- A team is appointed to assess the venue.
- Each member is required to visit the beach club, with the flexibility to do so independently and on different days.
- During their visit, every reviewer completes a scorecard, rating the club from 1 (least proficient) to 5 (most proficient) in designated categories, while also noting their observations.
- After all team members have submitted their scorecards, they convene to discuss their experiences and finalise scores for each category.
- A designated team member then writes the review, capturing the team’s discussions and final scores, before it is published on our website.
Reservation and Booking Process
If ever there was a beach club that needed a reservation system, it was Nui Beach Club, which makes it all the more frustrating that there isn’t one.
You can send them an email, which may or may not get answered in true Thai-style before you actually want to go.
So, you’re left with the insane proposition of rocking up to an ATV stop in the middle of nowhere, and rattling down a cliff in the hope that they’re not too busy and you can grab a seat.
Of course, this is a beach you’re going to, so you can always flop around on the sand if there’s no seating, but really? This could be so much better, and frankly, it ought to be.
Ambience and Atmosphere
We like the vibe, though. Once you get down to Nui Beach, the privacy is awesome and the whole thing has an old-school beach bar feel to it, back when Thailand was still a footnote in a few backpackers’ diaries rather than a tourist destination that sees millions of arrivals a year.
There’s some piped music playing gently in the background, but the star of the show here is the ocean view and the sound of the waves.
You don’t need to pack your partying gear; there won’t be any. But you will find casual conversation and happy folks pleased to get away from the hustle and bustle of Thailand’s busiest coastal tourist town.
Location And Accessibility
This beach club has to be among the least accessible beach clubs in the world, and that ATV trip should put a lot of people off going.
It’s not the sort of trip that you should undertake if you’re at all physically frail, and wheelchair users have absolutely no hope of making this journey.
The location itself is lovely, mind you. Though apparently, that loveliness came at the price of a large number of local people being evicted and their homes destroyed to make way for a private beach… so, yeah, there’s that.
Aesthetic And Design
This is old school beach bar vibes, and you will find that you get bean bags, some cushioned seating and wooden tables, and not much more.
That’s perfectly fine by us; we don’t mind when places dress down a little. The beach club scene has become ever more corporate over the last decade, and it’s good to see independent places flying their own flag.
You’re going to love how this looks in your Instagram feed, particularly if you crave “authenticity” rather than “manufactured”, and given the drive down the cliff, you will have earned your snaps here, too.
We should note, though, that the Wi-Fi coverage isn’t great, so don’t expect to post your photos until you get out of the beach club.
Staff Friendliness and Professionalism (Service Standard)
The staff are very friendly and decently professional too. They’re not as polished as at some of the other beach clubs, but frankly, they are excellent for people who have to endure that ride every day to get to work.
Service Speed and Efficiency
There is a little touch of the basic laid-back nature of Thailand in the service here, but that’s OK. This is not the sort of place where you ever really feel like you’re in a rush for anything.
Food Quality and Variety
The menu is pretty short, we suspect due to the fact that getting food to this location is a pain, but the ingredients are all fresh, and the output from the kitchens is delicious.
It’s also surprisingly cheap for a beach club, and that’s a good thing.
Beverage Selection and Creativity
They have a surprisingly decent drinks list given the location of this beach club, and we thought that the prices were reasonable for Thailand.
The cocktails are well presented and will look nice in your Instagram feed, though they’re not the prettiest drinks that we’ve ever seen by a long chalk.
Overall, this is a strong positive for Nui Beach Club, and it makes you want to spend more time there.
Cleanliness and Hygiene
There’s not much to clean with no pool and no changing rooms to take care of, but what there is to clean is kept pretty much spotless.
We had no hygiene concerns at Nui Beach Club at all.
Comfort of Seating and Lounging Areas
The furniture here is all pretty basic, but it looks fine in Instagram pictures, and while it may not be the most comfortable we’ve ever used, it certainly doesn’t leave you wishing you’d never sat down, either.
Overall, we were perfectly fine on the cushions by the sand here, and we suspect that you will be too. It was never busy enough that someone was left without a seat, though in the event that they were packed out, we doubt that sitting on the sand all day would be much fun.
Music and Entertainment
There is some very basic piped music which appears to have been chosen for its laidbackness and inability to offend anyone from any walk of life.
That’s it. This is not a beach club built around entertainment. You won’t find dance floors full of partygoers or anything like that.
That’s not a bad thing; we feel that this beach club knows what it’s about, and it’s simply about chilling on the sand.
Seasonality
The people of Phuket will tell you that this is tropical Thailand, and thus, there’s no real seasonality; it’s warm all year round.
That’s true, it’s warm all year round. However, it rains for a substantial amount of time, and in the rainy season, which is half the year, effectively in the tropics, it can rain for days or even weeks on end.
The journey to Nui Beach Club is nerve-racking enough without doing it in the middle of a tropical downpour.
We wouldn’t visit this beach club at all if there’s any chance of rain at any time of the year, but in the rainy season, we recommend avoiding Phuket entirely and just going to Bali instead.
Pricing and Value for Money
The menu prices are surprisingly reasonable here, though we feel that reflects that they are a beach bar more than a beach club.
However, getting to Nui Beach Club and getting in is more expensive than we’d normally feel that this experience was worth.
But, in combination with the reasonable menu prices, overall, we think that this is just about a value-for-money destination.
Beach Access and Quality
This is a beach club in the truest sense of the word. It’s a place directly on the beach, and to be fair, given the environmental concerns regarding this beach club, the place is kept clean, and the sand is free of waste.
The sand is soft beneath your feet, and the shallow water gives plenty of wading room so that you can cool off in the heat of the day without swimming.
Our only question mark here is the water quality; Phuket’s waters are notoriously polluted.
Sustainability Practices
We can’t avoid the fact that this beach club is on land that is supposed to be under the protection of the Royal Thai Forestry Service and has been threatened regularly with demolition by local officials.
With no website or other open commitment to sustainability, we have to award Nui Beach Club our lowest score in this category.
Exclusive Perks for Guests
You get a seat to sit on. That’s it, and you have to pay a lot of money to get to that point in entry fees and ATV rides.
Overall, it’s just about OK, and we can understand that providing much more is a challenge, but there’s no doubt that this is bare minimum stuff for a beach club.
Safety and Security
We need to state up front that we don’t think anyone is in any real danger at this beach club, but it gets a low score in this category for three reasons.
The ride there and back has potential for accidents, and ATV crashes are nothing to laugh about; you can be seriously injured.
There are no bag checks to get into the beach club; we doubt that anyone’s going to go to the effort to smuggle anything dangerous in, but the principle is simple – bag checks show a commitment to security.
We also didn’t feel that there was any real security presence at the club. We doubt anyone’s going to travel all this way to be obnoxious, but the possibility remains all the same.
Event Hosting Capabilities
We’re sure they’d be happy to host your event at this beach club as long as it wasn’t a big party, but you’d need to arrange it all in person.
But realistically, who is going to put a big group of friends, family, etc., on ATVs and then send them down the cliff? Nobody sane, that’s for sure.
So, we have to say that while events might be theoretically possible at Nui Beach Club, the practicalities make it very unlikely that any will ever materialise.
Consistency of Experience
Our review team, the few other customers that we spoke to and online reviews speak of a remarkably consistent vibe at this beach club.
Sure, there are a few people out there who are annoyed by the existence of the beach club on what they feel should be protected land, but it really doesn’t do any harm that we can see.
Overall, though, there’s no interest here in an evolving experience to take the club to the next level. They’re happy with this being a beach bar that is comfortably different from the rest of the beach club scene.
Additional Amenities and Facilities
This is beach club life at its most basic, and yes, if you want a towel, you should take one with you. In fact, you should take everything you need with you (including some cash money – just in case the card machines are out of order) that you expect to need for the day.
You definitely do not need to deal with an extra round-trip ATV ride in one day if you find that you forgot something.
There are a lot of good things about Nui Beach Club, but this remote location is simply not a good place to go back and forth from.
Summary
We very much enjoyed our time at Nui Beach Club, though we don’t quite know if we’d be willing to put up with the ATV journey there and back again any time soon.
Overall, though it felt like a welcome return to the past of Southeast Asia’s beach bar scene, when you used to lounge around by the waves all day, drinking beer with no other agenda except to soak up the natural vibe of the world.
Places like this are getting fewer and farther between as the corporate world pushes into the beach club scene, and Nui Beach Club isn’t without pressing challenges over its legitimacy (more on that in the FAQ section).
So, we’d recommend that if you are in Phuket and up for a bouncy clifftop journey, you visit Nui Beach Club before it disappears.
FAQs
Can You Go Swimming At Nui Beach Club, Phuket?
There is no swimming pool at Nui Beach Club, Phuket, which means you can’t expect to swim in safe conditions here.
You do have unfettered access to the beach, though, and if you want to swim in the ocean, no one will stop you from doing so, as long as you have a towel to dry off with.
However, the water in Phuket is generally pretty polluted, and there is always a risk of riptides dragging people out to deep water. This can affect even the strongest swimmers.
So, our recommendation is that you don’t swim in the sea here, even if you can. Just enjoy the sound of the waves as you sip cocktails on a beach chair.
What Is There To Do At Nui Beach Club, Phuket?
Not much, and that’s kind of the point. You can walk and play in the sand, eat and drink and chill in the sunshine.
This is not a place that people visit for wild parties; they come to get away from the hectic environment of Phuket and to relax and unwind.
The beach club is a great environment for that.
Is Nui Beach Club, Phuket, A Child-Friendly Venue?
There are no age restrictions at Nui Beach Club, though we’re not sure that we’d want to take kids on an ATV ride like that – under-12s are at some danger of falling off ATVs even in less bouncy circumstances.
If you do decide to take your kids to the beach, then be aware that parents are expected to watch over their own children, and there are no lifeguards on duty anywhere on Nui Beach.
You are also meant to stop your kids from pestering or annoying any of the other guests.
Who Is The Owner Of Nui Beach Club, Phuket?
This is somewhat contentious. The beach club is owned by “private interests”; however, the local government says that this ought to be a public beach, which is under the protection of the Royal Thai Forest Department.
They have moved to close down this beach club on several occasions, but somehow, it continues to live on to see another day. Who knows how long this saga will continue? What we do know is that if you want to see Nui Beach Club, it’s probably better to go sooner rather than later.
Final Thoughts On The Review Of Nui Beach Club, Phuket
If you can put up with the rough ride down the cliff on an ATV, then Nui Beach Club is sort of like a vision of the paradise island that Phuket used to be before the advent of mass tourism.
However, there’s no doubt that things are a little rough around the edges at this venue, and if you’re expecting 5-star luxury, you’re going to be a bit disappointed.
Set your sights on an old school beach bar vibe, that’s often a little too relaxed for its own good, and you’ve got the vibe sorted.
Then, don’t forget to arrange an ATV ride back up the cliff just after sunset, we wouldn’t fancy doing that journey in the dark.
