Phuket in March

The weather in March

March has the highest average daytime temperature of Phuket's year, just ahead of April: the thermometer reaches 34°C on an average afternoon, and nights stay near 26°C. Humidity is about 71%.

Thunderstorms come back, on about four days a month, and about 81 mm of rain falls on 7 or 8 days. That's the Thai Meteorological Department's average for its Phuket weather station, 1991 to 2020. Years vary: in three years out of five, March had between 10 mm and 146 mm of rain, and one March of the period brought 377 mm.

The sun is at its strongest of the year in March. On the hottest days the weather office's heat index, which adds the humidity to the temperature, can reach its "danger" band for Phuket, as it did in the forecast for 6 March 2024. Keep to the shade at midday, drink plenty of water and wear a hat.

The sea in March

March is in the weather office's hot season, mid-February to mid-May, and the sea is usually calm: waves of about a metre, the wind from the east, and water about 29–30°C. The rough surf and rip currents of the south-west monsoon, May to October, are still to come.

A calm month still has red-flag days, so swim where the flags allow: red means stay out, yellow means take care, green means calm. A red-and-yellow flag means lifeguards are on duty.

The Similan and Surin island parks stay open until 15 May. Whale sharks turn up now and then in the dry months, at dive sites such as Richelieu Rock, by Ko Surin, and one was spotted off Phi Phi on 14 March 2026, though they never come to order. Thai law gives them its strictest protection: in 2024 the park charged a diver who touched one's tail at Richelieu Rock. Keep your distance.

In the parks, leave sun cream with oxybenzone, octinoxate, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor or butylparaben behind: it has been banned since 2021.

Sunset, golden hour and haze

The sun sets between 18:36 and 18:38 through March, and cloud covers less than half the sky on an average day.

March is also the haziest month at the weather station, with haze logged on 6 or 7 days in an average March. Some years it settles over the island for a few days, as it did late in March 2025, and dims the sky. Other years the air stays clear: in early March 2026, the daily air report put the south in its top band, “very good”.

Today's sunset, and where to watch it: Sunset in Phuket

What's on in March

On 13 March, Phuket honours its heroines, Thao Thep Kasattri and Thao Si Sunthon, the women who rallied Thalang against a Burmese siege. The day opens with tributes at their monument, at the Tha Ruea crossroads on the island's main road north.

In recent years the evenings have brought a light-and-sound show of their story in Thalang, on dates the province announces a few weeks ahead: in 2026 it ran 13 to 16 March, from 17:00, free to watch.

Makha Bucha usually falls at a full moon in February, but some years it comes in early March, as it did on 3 March 2026. What the day is like: Phuket in February

Yachts race through Phang Nga Bay in the Bay Regatta, from 3 to 7 March.

Songkran, the Thai new year, follows in April: When to visit Phuket

The season eases

March is the tail of the high season the Tourism Authority of Thailand recommends, November to April, and the crowds thin. In 2025, the hotel association for southern Thailand put Phuket's hotels at about 92% full in January and February, and expected about 75% in March, with lower room rates.

Rooms are easier to find at short notice than earlier in the year.

What to pack

• The lightest clothes you own, in pale colours.
• A wide hat, sunglasses and a water bottle to refill.
• Plenty of sun cream, safe for coral if you're heading to the island parks.
• A light rain jacket for the odd afternoon storm.
• A sarong or scarf to cover up at a temple.