Discover family-run hotels, chap restaurants and magical day trips away from the main tourist traps in Thailand's most popular resort, says LYDIA BELL

THAILAND’S most popular resort welcomes streams of tourists but there is another side to the island with its landscapes of quiet lushness and rich history.

In the early 19th century it attracted Arab, Indian, Malay, Chinese and Portuguese migrants. Tin mining was big and the Chinese were its rulers. Phuket Town, undergoing gentrifi cation with the restoration of its Sino-Portuguese (Chinese meets colonial Portuguese) buildings, is where you uncover the past.

THE HOLLYWOOD LOCATION
On Phang Nga Road in Phuket Town, the On On Hotel is a once-grand colonial house with a beautiful entrance archway and fan-wafted atmosphere. It’s the kind of place you see in romantic Hollywood depictions of the Far East and where they fi lmed part of the backpacker thriller The Beach.

If you are on a budget and can stand paper-thin walls, a capricious plumbing system, hit-or-miss cleaning rota and staff who have defi nitely not been trained in Switzerland, then you can’t go wrong for £5 a night. Just imagine, Leonardo DiCaprio could have touched those sheets.

THE SUPPER WITH LOCALS
Lively Phuket Town, with its markets and businesses, feels a long way from the resorts of the coast. Evocative traces of the Sino-Portuguese architecture remain and Dibuk, Thalang and Phang Nga roads are the best for savouring a bit of history. Raya, a two-storey restaurant in an old mansion on New Deebuk Cross Road, is owned by Madame Rose, who is also the cook and maitre d’.

Her authentic southern Thai Hokkien cuisine includes spicy mango salad with fi sh roe, four-hour braised pork with secret herbs and for dessert “O-Aew”: shaved ice with grenadine and banana jelly. A meal for two from £50.

THE CHINATOWN MEAL
A visit to Rasada Road’s Hong Kong Seafood Restaurant in Phuket Town will prove that the interiors of Chinatown restaurants are cousins the world over. Think fl uorescent strip lighting and soap opera on the TV in the background.

The food is great. Popular with locals, this is where to sample generous portions of Cantonese seafood at reasonable prices, from £80 for two including wine. Tender stonefish flavoured with sweet soy and shallots is a speciality. If you can recognise a prime live morsel you can choose it yourself .

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THE COCKTAIL JOINT
The Blue Elephant restaurant group has taken over the Governor’s Mansion, set in large, fragrant, palm-fringed gardens in the Muang District.

Built in 1903 by Tan Ma Sieng, a Chinese tin baron, it is one of the area’s best-known buildings and has been used as the backdrop for several fi lms, including The Killing Fields. It has now been restored and scattered with exquisite antiques belonging to its restaurateur Karl Steppe. Perfect for a lycheetini cocktail.

THE EXQUISITE SUNSET
Phromthep Cape is Phuket Island’s southern-most point, where waves pound the rocky cliffs. It was once a landmark for seafarers travelling up the Malay Peninsula. Home to a Brahma shrine and a lighthouse, it is a popular place for visitors to watch a giant tangerine sun setting over the Andaman Sea: fiery and spectacular.

There is a little restaurant here, though prices are elevated for tourists so it is best to eat at the markets at the foot of the stairs to the cape.

THE ULTIMATE DAY TRIP
Phuket is surrounded by the amazing islands Racha, Maiton, Phi Phi, Coral, Lon, Kai and Hay. Day trips are sold by most hotels from group trips on modest vessels to private days on lavish speedboats, or by an agency.

The most evocative trip is to Pannyi Village on Koh Pannyi in Phang Nga. It is built over water on stilts, with a giant rock monolith guarding its rear. The inhabitants are Malayan-speaking tribes, nomadic seafarers and the first dwellers of the Andaman coastal regions of Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia. Spend the day dipping in and out of limestone cliffs, eating seafood and swimming off a boat.

THE FANTASY BEACH
Bordering a lagoon at the southern end of Phuket, tranquil Nai Harn Beach is one of the island’s most beautiful locations, popular with those in-the-know. The Samnak Song Nai Han monastery, which has protected the beach from excessive development, dominates the middle of the sandy stretch.

There are only a few hotels and restaurants and it’s a favourite anchorage for yachts. It’s great for paddling but watch for riptides between May and October.

At the end of a day of beach massages, eating, snorkelling and sunbathing, take the short walk to Promthep Cape to see the sunset.

THE ‘ONCE IN A LIFETIME’ HOTEL
Hogging both sides of a hill on the Cape Panwa peninsula on the southern tip of Phuket, glamorous Sri Panwa (above) is the baby of 29-year-old Vorasit “Wan” Issara.

Its spectacular modern villas, speckled across 12 hectares of rainforest, have vistas across the dreamy blue sea and beds built out over swimming pools.

The new Baba Poolclub should be your port of call for a blow-out meal. Expect authentic Thai, European and Japanese cuisine. The club prides itself on the freshest sashimi and sushi, prime cuts of Matsuzaka beef, Japanese King Crab and Wagyu beef from Australia.

A nightclub and the new Cool Spa, built down a hill and incorporating waterfalls, plunge pools and lily-filled meditation decks, complete this idyllic picture.

The hotel can also organise day trips in the region, from diving to island-hopping.

● GETTING THERE: Seasons In Style (01244 20200/ www.seasonsinstyle.com) offers seven nights at the Sri Panwa from £3,435pp (two sharing) B&B. Price includes return British Airways flights and private transfers.

Tourism Thailand: 0870 900 2007/ www.tourismthailand.co.uk