Nai Yang Beach, Nai Yang National Park

Nai Yang Beach is noted for its impressive forest of tall casuarina trees, and as a picnic spot for Thais. Mobile food and fruit venders gather around the perimeter of the park and do a brisk business especially on weekends.
If you find a beach that is popular with local Thais it will also have a wonderful selection of grilled seafood stalls and other Thai munchies and Nai Yang Beach is no exception.
During low tide swimming can be good and a large coral reef a short distance offshore harbors a considerable variety us sea life and seashells are known to wash ashore here, especially after a monsoon storm. Nai Yang Beach is where the Nation Park office are located. The beach itself is a long curving bay lined with evergreens that provide shade to picnickers for which activity this a very popular spot. The large coral reef is home to many different species of fish, and Nai Yang is well known as a site where sea turtles come to lay their eggs during the period from November to February; the population of these has, however, dropped off greatly. First class accommodations are available, and small food vendors cater to the many day trippers that visit.

Nai Yang National Park
Comprises two beaches the Nai Yang and the Mai Khao beach and covers over 10 miles of beautiful white sandy beach on the north end of the island. Most planes fly over the park when landing at Phuket’s airport. At low tide from the air the sea can appear muddy compared with the translucent water off the beaches farther to the south and partly for that reason the beaches here have always been less popular with tourists and are not as developed. Another reason is the shore drops steeply into deeper levels, creating unpredictable and potentially hazardous water currents during the monsoon season. All of which is just fine with the Giant Ridley Sea Turtle who can weigh up to 850 kg and who tend to be shy creatures and prefer the beach to themselves. Between November and February each year these lumbering giants clamber onto the sandy shore at night to lay their eggs. Digging holes with their flippers, they lay up to 200 leathery-shelled eggs, an instinctual behavior said to be 90 million years old. Unfortunately the number of sea-turtles who make there yearly appearance continues to decline. This has led to efforts locally to increase the turtle population, with education programs for villagers and the release into the wild of turtles spawned in captivity. The turtles usually lay the eggs very late at night and you are allowed to witness this wonder of nature, but try not to disturb the turtles laboring at their task. Authorities maintain strict surveillance on the turtle eggs and move many of them to special hatchery fields.
Located on the north end of Nai Yang Beach is the Nai Yang Park Visitor’s Center, which offers displays of corals shells butterflies, turtles, and other interesting fauna found on the island. Camping is allowed on both beaches and the park maintains a few modest bungalows near the Visitor’s Center.