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(111)
Amazing view and great experience
DO NOT BOOK THIS! If you value your time and trip don’t book with these people they will gladly take the money just to cancel and refund it later. Read all the other reviews and believe them!
Was a really good trip. Great way to see a lot of things in one hit. Elephant sanctuary was great. Our guide Chan was fantastic, very helpful, very knowledgeable and funny as well, great with the kids. Tour was on time and in the right spot.
A truly mega Tour, so glad we did this, you get to see so much. Our guide Raney was brilliant explained the history behind the sights we were seeing, from Temples to Big Buddha, old Town Phuket and the amazing elephant sanctuary. Also the driver was very good keeping us in one piece on manic roads!
This tour was amazing! Sofia our tour guide was very knowledgeable and fun. The price and food were well worth it. The full day was a great way to see temples, big Buddha and the elephants. My 11 year old loved the atmosphere and our guide!
Tour operator cancelled at the last minute. What happened to the 24 hrs notice so we can at least book another activity? We get penalized should we cancelled after 24 hrs, they should too. Viator should do a better job in vetting the operators. Shame on both of these "organizations".
We had a fantastic day with Rany! She was super informative and very friendly! It felt like we were travelling around with a friend by the end of the day! Rany was so helpful with photos and looking after all of our questions and needs. Thank you Rany!
This was a very nice trip, we had a “pretty woman” as tour guude Renee. She was very enthusiastic and nice. Especialy about lamkings 5~10😀. The elephants was super to visit they do a good job here! Al with all a very nice day trip we had with a good driver and host guide Renee we loved it.
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
