Royal Phuket Marina (Thailand)
| Location | Ko Kaeo (also spelled Koh Kaew), Muang district, Phuket's east coast, about 10 minutes' drive north of Phuket Town, at 68 Moo 2, Thepkasattri Road |
|---|---|
| Position | the marina's own site gives 07 degrees 58.65 minutes N, 098 degrees 24.90 minutes E; Southeast Asia Pilot gives 07 degrees 57.977 minutes N, 098 degrees 23.496 minutes E for the shared approach channel entrance |
| Berths | 100 for vessels up to 35 m / 115 ft per the marina's own 2026 wet-berth and hardstand brochures and Southeast Asia Pilot; Superyachts.com and Yachtly Crew instead give about 81 berths and a 30 m / 3 m draft ceiling |
| VHF | channel 79 per both of the marina's own 2026 brochures, Southeast Asia Pilot, Yachtly Crew and Superyachts.com; the marina's own website contact footer instead lists channel 15 International |
| Basin depth | 4 m at low tide per the marina's own FAQ, matching Southeast Asia Pilot's figure for the shared channel |
| Draft | independent sources cap it at 3 m at the pontoons; Southeast Asia Pilot's cruising account describes a 2.5 m tide-dependent limit in the entrance channel that the marina's 2026 brochure says a completed dredging project has since removed, a claim not independently verified |
| Founder | Gulu Lalvani, founder of the cordless-phone maker Binatone, who told Thailand's prime minister he would build a world class marina if yacht import duty came down; the duty was cut from 220 percent to zero in February 2004 and he broke ground the same year |
| Opened | first villas complete and the marina full of boats by 2005, per Lalvani's own account to SuperyachtNews.com and independent trade coverage |
| Haul-out | a 50-tonne travel lift for boats 7 to 22 m, a 2-tonne jib crane, a 5-tonne forklift, hardstand for 26 vessels and a covered dry stack for up to 60 boats to 12 m and 5 tonnes, all per the marina's own 2026 hardstand brochure |
| Port of entry | not one; arriving yachts clear at the Phuket Yacht Control Centre, Ao Chalong, the same office every other Phuket marina uses |
| Tariff | no berth rate published anywhere on the marina's own site; two independent cost guides, Forbes and Partners and Phuket Expat Guide, disagree by close to a factor of ten for a similarly sized boat |
| Certification | Thailand's only Yacht Harbour Association 5 Gold Anchor and International Clean Marina certified facility, and, per press coverage carried by Bangkok Post and Phuket News and Scoop, certified carbon neutral for two consecutive years by the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation |
| Sustainability detail | solar panels cover about 38 percent of daily energy use; solar-powered Seabin V5 units remove up to 48 kg of floating debris and microplastics from the basin daily |
| Reviews | TripAdvisor ranks it Phuket's number one attraction among more than 30 listed, 4.3 out of 5 across 279 reviews, Hall of Fame 2019 |
| Residential | the Aquaminium condominium's flagship penthouse, advertised as the world's first with its own in-water private yacht garage, was reported at about USD 3.1 million around 2010; a similar unit was listed at THB 88 million, about USD 2.8 million, in a March 2021 listing |
| Not published anywhere Yotters checked | a berth tariff, dry-storage pricing, an independent post-dredging survey of the entrance channel's tidal restriction, and a single agreed berth count across the marina's own materials and third-party directories |
A canal marina inside a residential development, not a bay
The marina's own site gives its position as 07 degrees 58.65 minutes north, 098 degrees 24.90 minutes east, at 68 Moo 2, Thepkasattri Road, Ko Kaeo, in Muang district on Phuket's east coast. Trip.com and TripAdvisor both list the same suburb, Koh Kaew, Phuket Town, placing the marina roughly ten minutes' drive north of the old town, a genuinely urban location by the standards of Southeast Asian yachting infrastructure. Southeast Asia Pilot's cruising notes on the area group Royal Phuket Marina with its immediate neighbour, Phuket Boat Lagoon, as facilities that share the same dredged approach channel off the island's east coast, distinct from Ao Po Grand Marina's private bay well to the north or Yacht Haven Marina at Laem Phrao.
That shared-channel, urban setting is also the marina's whole business model. Royal Phuket Marina was built as a single development: wet berths and a boardwalk of restaurants and shops sit directly beneath the Aquaminium condominium block and a run of waterfront Royal Villas, several with their own private docks. Ao Po, by contrast, is a marina first and a small clubhouse second, set in a bay with Phang Nga Bay's limestone islands at its doorstep. A buyer choosing between the two is really choosing between two different products: a residential, in-town marina with shops and condominiums on the quay at Royal Phuket Marina, against a larger, more remote superyacht basin built for cruising range at Ao Po.
Who built it, and why the duty rate mattered more than the dock
Lalvani's own account, given to SuperyachtNews.com, starts as a holiday story: between 1970 and 1991 his hobby was three new destinations a year built around sun, sand, sea and sailing and a tip about a new resort called Amanpuri brought him to Phuket for a Christmas trip with his family. He rented a villa, found out it was for sale, bought it and by his own telling that decision changed the rest of his life and, eventually, the island's coastline. In the early 2000s, with what he judged the best cruising ground in the world on his doorstep, he identified two problems standing between Phuket and a real yachting industry: a 220 percent import duty on yachts, and a lack of any marina built to international standard.
His solution was direct: he told the prime minister that if the government brought the duty down, he would build the marina himself. In February 2004 Thailand cut the duty to zero, and Lalvani broke ground on Royal Phuket Marina the same year; the first villas were complete and the marina full of boats by 2005, according to both his own account and independent trade coverage of the project. Two decades on, the marina he built has become Thailand's only 5 Gold Anchor and internationally certified Clean Marina, and, as of 2026, its only marina certified carbon neutral for two consecutive years by the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation, a genuinely different founding story from the mangrove-encroachment inquiry that shadows Ao Po Grand Marina's own history.
Royal Phuket Marina's own 2026 wet-berth and hardstand brochures both print VHF channel 79 for the marina office. The same marina's own website, on its contact page, prints VHF: 15 INTERNATIONAL instead.
Getting there, and the VHF channel the marina's own website disagrees with itself about
Road-distance estimates place Phuket International Airport at roughly 24.8 km from Royal Phuket Marina, with drive times of about 20 to 31 minutes depending on the source and traffic; the marina's own promotional copy claims a flat 20 minutes, the faster end of that range. Once on the water, the two dated 2026 brochures Royal Phuket Marina publishes for its wet berths and its hardstand both give the same radio channel, VHF 79, at the marina's coordinates of 07 degrees 58.65 minutes north, 098 degrees 24.90 minutes east; two independent cruising directories, Southeast Asia Pilot and the crew-booking platform Yachtly Crew, separately confirm channel 79, as does the specification page on Superyachts.com.
Against all four of those sources sits the marina's own website. The contact footer on royalphuketmarina.com, on the very same domain as the two brochures, states plainly: VHF: 15 INTERNATIONAL. Nobody at the marina appears to have reconciled the two, and Yotters is not going to average a working ship's channel with a website error; call VHF 79 first, since it is the figure every independent source and the marina's own printed materials agree on, and treat the website footer as the outlier. It is a small thing on paper and a genuinely unhelpful one on the water, where a captain calling the wrong channel on a first approach loses time he would rather spend watching his depth sounder.
Arriving by sea, clearing into Thailand and the tide question
The marina's own FAQ page states a basin depth of 4 metres at low tide, matching Southeast Asia Pilot's own figure for the shared approach channel it uses with neighbouring Phuket Boat Lagoon. Two independent specification sources, Yachtly Crew and Superyachts.com, separately cap the practical draft at the pontoons at 3 metres. Southeast Asia Pilot's cruising notes, describing the approach in more operational detail than either brochure, say the entrance channel is marked with concrete pilings roughly 13 metres apart and that deep-draft vessels up to 35 metres can enter on either side of high tide provided draft does not exceed 2.5 metres, a real tidal window rather than the unrestricted, all-tide entrance Ao Po Grand Marina offers behind its rock breakwater further north. Royal Phuket Marina's own 2026 wet-berth brochure describes a completed inner-channel dredging project delivering, in its own words, a marina where you control what time you come in or go out; Yotters could not find an independent, post-dredging survey confirming that the 2.5 metre tidal limit no longer applies, so a captain planning to bring anything close to the marina's advertised 35 metre, 3 metre draft ceiling in should confirm current channel depth with the marina office directly rather than rely on either account alone.
None of that changes where the paperwork happens. Like every marina on Phuket, Royal Phuket Marina is not a Thai port of entry; arriving yachts must clear at the Phuket Yacht Control Centre at Ao Chalong, on the opposite side of the island, the same one-stop office Ao Po Grand Marina's own arrivals use. Thailand's foreign-flagged yacht rules changed again in 2026: the Ministry of Transport lowered the minimum length for a commercial charter licence from 30 metres to 24 metres, opening commercial chartering to a meaningfully larger share of the size range Royal Phuket Marina's own berths are built for. The marina's own FAQ separately states that a visiting yacht's tourist stay runs 6 months on arrival, extendable a further 6 months if the boat is berthed at the marina itself; that is shorter than the up to 30 month temporary import permit period cited more generally for Thailand by industry sources such as the Asia-Pacific Superyacht Association, and Yotters is presenting both rather than picking one, since the marina's own answer may describe a different permit than the general rule.
Berths, haul-out and the size of boat this marina cannot actually lift
The marina's own wet-berth and hardstand brochures, both dated 2026, state 100 berths for vessels up to 35 metres or 115 feet, available in eight fixed sizes from 10 to 35 metres, on a concrete pontoon system with wooden whalers; Southeast Asia Pilot's independent cruising entry gives the same 100-berth, 35-metre figure. Two third-party specification aggregators, Superyachts.com and Yachtly Crew, instead list around 81 berths and cap maximum LOA at 30 metres with a 3 metre draft limit, a real disagreement between the marina's own current published material and the directories that catalogue it, though the marina's own two 2026 brochures at least agree with each other and with an independent cruising guide, which is more corroboration than the smaller figure has.
The haul-out gap is the more practical finding. Royal Phuket Marina's own hardstand brochure states its travel lift handles boats from 7 to 22 metres at 50 tonnes capacity, backed by a 2 tonne jib crane and a 5 tonne forklift, servicing a hardstand for 26 vessels; a separate covered dry stack holds up to 60 boats to 12 metres and 5 tonnes. None of that equipment reaches the 35 metre ceiling the marina advertises for its wet berths, so an owner basing a 30 metre-plus yacht at Royal Phuket Marina has to look elsewhere on the island, most likely Ao Po Grand Marina's own larger 80 tonne and 47 tonne trailer lifts or Boat Lagoon next door, for anything beyond routine in-water repair at Royal Phuket Marina's own service dock.
What it costs, afloat and ashore
Neither of the marina's own 2026 brochures, nor its FAQ page, nor its online Wet-Berth Enquiry form states a daily, monthly or annual berthing rate; a written quote, tied to the boat's actual dimensions and dates, is the only route in. Two independent cost-comparison guides aimed at boat owners in Thailand do quote figures, and they do not agree: one, Forbes and Partners, gives Royal Phuket Marina's rate as roughly THB 25 to 40 per foot per month, positioning it above Ao Po Grand Marina's quoted 20 to 35 per foot; the other, Phuket Expat Guide, gives a flat THB 12,000 to 18,000 a month for a 10 metre boat, which works out closer to ten times the first guide's per-foot figure once converted to the same size vessel. That is too large a gap to be the same number stated two different ways, so Yotters is treating both as unverified rather than averaging them into a false middle.
The residential side of the business is easier to price, if only because real estate listings are public in a way berth tariffs are not. The Aquaminium condominium block's headline unit, a penthouse advertised as the world's first with its own in-water private yacht garage, was reported at roughly USD 3.1 million when the building launched around 2010; a four-bedroom, 872 square metre penthouse with the same private yacht garage was listed at THB 88 million, then about USD 2.8 million, as of a March 2021 listing. Those two figures, eleven years apart, read as broadly consistent with each other rather than contradictory, and they say something a berth tariff cannot: Royal Phuket Marina's real business, more than Ao Po's, is selling a waterfront address with a boat parked outside it, not simply renting dock space to a passing yacht.
The boardwalk, the sustainability record and what visitors actually say
Solavita, the marina's own wellness cafe, serves bowls, salads, sourdough tartines and coffee from 08:00 to 18:00; BLUU, its Asian kitchen and bar, runs coastal small plates and cocktails from 12:00 to 22:00. Independent tenants along the same boardwalk include The Dock Bar, the cocktail bar The Speakeasy Phuket, Pasta Basta, the Vietnamese restaurant Madame Saigon, Sea Breeze, the pastry shop Les Anges, the coffee house BAKE and the Italian restaurant Isola Ristorante, which has hosted the marina's own Valentine's Day events; that is a materially longer dining list than Ao Po Grand Marina's two on-site venues, again a function of Royal Phuket Marina being built as a mixed residential and retail development rather than a marina with a clubhouse attached.
On sustainability, Royal Phuket Marina holds the Yacht Harbour Association's 5 Gold Anchor certification and the Marina Industries Association's International Clean Marina award, the only Thai marina with either and has been certified carbon neutral for two consecutive years by Thailand's own Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation, reported in press coverage carried by Bangkok Post and by Phuket News and Scoop, though both read as syndicated announcements rather than independent investigation. Solar panels cover about 38 percent of the marina's daily energy use, and solar-powered Seabin V5 units remove up to 48 kg of floating debris and microplastics from the basin each day, according to the marina's own figures, repeated in that same press coverage. Visitor sentiment backs the certificates: TripAdvisor ranks Royal Phuket Marina the number one attraction in Phuket among more than 30 listed, at 4.3 out of 5 across 279 reviews and a 2019 Hall of Fame award, though the reviews that are not five-star tend toward small practical gripes rather than serious complaints, from a 2020 visitor noting stretched shower facilities at high passenger volume to a 2022 visitor's half-joking complaint that the on-site shop sold nothing stronger than factor 15 sunscreen.
What is wrong with it
Start with the self-contradictions, because they are entirely the marina's own doing. Its 2026 wet-berth and hardstand brochures both print VHF channel 79 and describe the office as open Daily 08:30-17:30, 7 days a week, 365 days a year; its own website contact footer, on the same domain, instead lists VHF: 15 INTERNATIONAL and separately states Saturday hours ending at midday with Sunday closed. A prospective visitor reading only the website would call the wrong channel and could show up on a Sunday the brochure says is a working day. Layer onto that the size mismatch between the marina's advertised 35 metre wet-berth ceiling and its own 22 metre, 50 tonne travel lift and an owner at the top end of what the marina can berth cannot actually have that boat hauled out on site, a genuine practical gap rather than a paperwork one.
The commercial picture is just as unsettled. No berth tariff is published anywhere on the marina's own site, and the two outside guides that attempt to price one disagree by close to a factor of ten for the same size boat, which tells a prospective owner more about the quality of published cost data for Thai marinas generally than it does about what Royal Phuket Marina will actually charge; budget for a written quote and expect it to take real negotiation. The tidal picture at the entrance channel is the least resolved of all: the marina says a completed dredging project has removed the old tidal restriction for boats up to 35 metres, but the most detailed independent cruising account of the approach still describes a 2.5 metre draft limit tied to the state of the tide, and Yotters could not find an independent survey settling which is now true. None of that erases a genuinely well-run, well-certified, centrally located marina; it does mean treating Royal Phuket Marina's own published numbers with exactly the scrutiny Yotters would apply to any other operator's marketing copy.
Ashore, access and booking
| Getting there | Phuket International Airport is about 24.8 km from the marina, roughly 20 to 31 minutes by road depending on traffic and route; the marina's own marketing copy advertises a flat 20 minutes, the faster end of that range. |
|---|---|
| Arriving by sea | Call the marina office on VHF channel 79, confirmed by two independent cruising directories (Southeast Asia Pilot, Yachtly Crew) and by both of the marina's own 2026 brochures; the marina's own website contact footer instead lists VHF: 15 INTERNATIONAL, so try 79 first. Coordinates 07 degrees 58.65 minutes N, 098 degrees 24.90 minutes E. Basin depth is 4 m at low tide; independent sources give a 3 m draft limit at the pontoons and describe boats over 2.5 m draft needing to time entry around high tide, though the marina says a completed dredging project now gives round-the-clock access to 35 m, a claim Yotters could not independently verify. |
| Clearing into Thailand | Royal Phuket Marina is not a port of entry. Clear at the Phuket Yacht Control Centre, Ao Chalong, on the opposite side of Phuket, the same one-stop office every other Phuket marina uses. A 2026 regulatory change lowered Thailand's commercial charter licence threshold from 30 m to 24 m. |
| How you actually reserve a berth | Submit the marina's online Wet-Berth Enquiry form or call the marina office directly: tel +66(0)76 379397-8 or +66(0)81 958 1959, [email protected]. Office hours per the marina's own 2026 brochures are daily 08:30-17:30, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, though the marina's own website separately states Saturday closes at midday and Sunday is closed. |
| What a berth costs | Not published anywhere on the marina's own site or FAQ. Two independent cost guides disagree by close to a factor of ten for a similar size boat (roughly THB 25-40 per foot per month against roughly THB 12,000-18,000 a month for a 10 m boat), so neither is treated as authoritative here. Request a written quote. |
| Haul-out and hardstand | A 50-tonne travel lift for boats 7 to 22 m, a 2-tonne jib crane and a 5-tonne forklift, hardstand space for 26 vessels and a covered dry stack for up to 60 boats to 12 m and 5 tonnes. None of this reaches the 35 m ceiling advertised for wet berths. |
| Fuel, water and power | Fuel dock with diesel and gasohol. Metered fresh water, potable on request. Shore power at 32 amp 220V single phase, 63 amp 230V single phase or 100 amp 220V three phase depending on berth size, generated in part by the marina's own solar array, about 38 percent of daily use. |
| Where to eat, and after dark | Solavita cafe (08:00-18:00) and BLUU Asian Kitchen and Bar (12:00-22:00) are the marina's own venues. Independent boardwalk tenants include The Dock Bar, The Speakeasy Phuket, Pasta Basta, Madame Saigon, Sea Breeze, Les Anges, BAKE and Isola Ristorante. |
| Certifications and fixed dates | Thailand's only Yacht Harbour Association 5 Gold Anchor and International Clean Marina certified facility, certified carbon neutral for two consecutive years by the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation. DCH Marine Thailand, a Sunseeker distributor, opened its base here in January 2026. The marina hosted the Thailand Yacht Show and Rendezvous in past years; the 2026 Thailand International Boat Show is instead at Phuket Yacht Haven Marina. |
| What is NOT published | A berth tariff of any kind; dry-storage pricing; an independent, post-dredging survey confirming the entrance channel's tidal restriction is actually gone; and a single agreed berth count (100 per the marina's own brochures and Southeast Asia Pilot, versus about 81 per Superyachts.com and Yachtly Crew). |
What owners and crew report
The founder credits a personal deal with the prime minister, not just capital, for making the marina possible
Gulu Lalvani, the Binatone founder who built Royal Phuket Marina, told SuperyachtNews.com that he informed Thailand's prime minister he would build a world class marina if the government brought down the 220 percent yacht import duty; the duty was cut to zero in February 2004 and he broke ground the same year
Gulu Lalvani, via SuperyachtNews.comIndependently aggregated reviews rank it Phuket's top attraction, not just a well-marketed one
TripAdvisor lists Royal Phuket Marina as the number one ranked attraction in Phuket among more than 30 listed, at 4.3 out of 5 across 279 reviews, with a 2019 Hall of Fame award
TripAdvisorA 2020 visitor's mixed review points at a real operational limit: shower capacity under peak passenger loads
reviewer Shahrzad sh gave the marina a positive overall rating but specifically noted limited shower facilities when passenger volume for day-trip boats was high
Shahrzad sh, via TripAdvisorA 2022 visitor's complaint is trivial on its face but points at a genuine retail gap on site
reviewer Sheena A rated the marina positively but noted that the on-site shop sold sunscreen no stronger than factor 15, a small but specific gap for a facility built around a full day on the water
Sheena A, via TripAdvisor
What is good, and what to watch
Strong points
- A genuinely central, walkable, mixed-use locationabout ten minutes north of Phuket Town by road, with a boardwalk of a dozen or more restaurants and bars on site, rather than a marina reached only by a long drive from anywhere to eat or shop
- Thailand's only 5 Gold Anchor and internationally Clean Marina certified facility, now independently certified carbon neutral for two consecutive yearsthe Yacht Harbour Association's 5 Gold Anchor award, the Marina Industries Association's International Clean Marina award, and certification from the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation are all held by no other Thai marina
- A founding story backed by a real policy change, not just marketingthe 2004 cut in Thailand's yacht import duty from 220 percent to zero, which founder Gulu Lalvani is credited with securing, still underpins Thailand's yachting industry two decades later
- Independently well reviewed, not just self-promotedTripAdvisor's number one ranked Phuket attraction, 4.3 out of 5 across 279 reviews and a 2019 Hall of Fame award, with the negative reviews limited to small practical gripes rather than serious complaints
- A real, if imperfectly documented, residential product alongside the marinathe Aquaminium condominiums and Royal Villas put an owner on the water with a boat outside the door, a genuinely different offer from a marina that only rents dock space
What to watch
- The marina's own current materials contradict the marina's own website on VHF channel and opening hoursboth 2026 brochures and three independent directories give VHF 79, but the marina's own website contact footer prints channel 15 International; the brochures say 08:30-17:30 seven days a week, 365 days a year, while the website separately states Saturday closes at midday and Sunday is closed
- The travel lift cannot haul out the largest boats the wet berths are built to holdthe 50 tonne lift handles boats from 7 to 22 metres, well short of the 35 metre maximum the marina advertises for its wet berths, so an owner at the top of that range has to haul out elsewhere on the island
- No published berth tariff, and the two outside guides that estimate one disagree by close to a factor of tenForbes and Partners gives roughly THB 25 to 40 per foot per month, Phuket Expat Guide gives roughly THB 12,000 to 18,000 a month for a 10 metre boat, a gap too large to reconcile, so a written quote is the only reliable route to a real number
- The entrance channel's tidal draft limit is not clearly resolvedthe marina says a completed dredging project gives round-the-clock access to 35 metres, but the most detailed independent cruising account, from Southeast Asia Pilot, still describes a 2.5 metre draft limit tied to the state of the tide, with no independent post-dredging survey found to settle which is now true
- Third-party directories disagree with the marina's own brochures on basic numbersSuperyachts.com and Yachtly Crew give about 81 berths and a 30 metre, 3 metre draft ceiling, against the marina's own current 100-berth, 35 metre figure, which at least agrees with an independent cruising guide
Who it is for: An owner who wants to live on the water in central Phuket, in a residence with a private or nearby berth, rather than commute to a marina from a hotel or villa elsewhere on the island, and who is prepared to verify the marina's own published operating details directly before arriving, since its brochures and its website do not always agree with each other.