Jeff Mills Coastal Vacations Club Blog

Thinking about a kiteboarding vacation in Asia? Some very good reasons to check out Thailand. Here some great tips where to go in Thailand and what you can expect there.

Before all, Thailand is a great place for a holiday, with an amazing Buddhist culture. The landscapes and the weather are a dream. Whether you want to party or you look for quiet places, you can easily find the right things to do and it’s for sure not far away from your hotel room. Also Thailand as a tourist destination had some negative press in the past year, it must be said that Thais are very friendly people and it’s calm in all regions, except the Islamic southern part of Thailand. The reports have been extremely exaggerated in the media coverage. Rest assured, to stay in Thailand is quite safe.

Kiteboarding in Thailand has become very popular over the past few seasons. Along the coastline of Thailand you will find a couple of very good places. Important when you plan your holiday is to consider the different wind seasons in Thailand. Various websites provide credible information about the wind conditions. A beautiful web service covering kitesurfing in Thailand and the rest of Asia is KITOONS Asia Kitesurfing Spots. Thailand has normally thermal winds and it’s important to know, that web services like Windguru won’t pick up on them correctly or not at all. The wind range is typically between 12kn and 20kn. So pack especially your bigger kitesurfing kites. The pattern is a thermal wind, that begins to blow around noon with increasing wind speeds until sunset. Therefore the wind conditions allow to have several kiteboarding sessions per day.

Hua Hin – The Biggest Kitesurfing Crowd in Thailand

Not far from Bangkok you will find Hua Hin. Hua Hin is the most famous kitesurfing destination in Thailand. The wind season begins end of October and lasts typically until April. Hua Hin is a developed little town with a good range of hotels for all kinds of budgets. Kiteboarders will enjoy the 5km long wide and sandy beach. Here you can join the largest kiteboarding crowd in Thailand. The best wind blows every season from mid February until April just before the monsoon begins.

Pranburi – A Cosy New Spot

Not far from Hua Hin is Pranburi. This is a relatively new spot and not many took note of it yet. You will find it just 30km to the south of Hua Hin. It’s a quiet little town with a rural atmosphere and just a few hotels. The beach at this place is surrounded by small hills and is wonderful for kiteboarding. Some reports mention the wind picks up earlier here and is a bit stronger than in Hua Hin. The newly formed KTA (Kiteboard Tour Asia) will hold an international kitesurfing competition in Pranburi from March 25 to March 28, 2010 as part of their tour. If you want to see a competition with Asia’s best professionals in action, the beach of Pranburi is the place to be in March.

Chumphon – Thailand’s Windiest Place

Arguably the windiest place in Thailand is Chumphon, 265km south of Hua Hin. In comparison with all other spots in the country, the place definitely offers some extra knots. The beaches in Chumphon are wonderful and you can get a beach bungalow right where the kitesurfing action is. It’s a bigger town, but yet provides only little infrastructure for tourists. The nightlife options for westerners are scarce, but you can always hit the Thai places. If you like it quiet and kiteboarding is your main concern, go to Chumphon.

Phuket – A Destination with a Different Wind Season

While all the locations above have a wind season from end of October till beginning of April the southern island of Phuket is not the same. The season there is from April until September. Phuket is one of Thailand’s major tourist hubs and offers everything from cheap stays to 5 star hotels. The nightlife scene ranges from classy clubs to seedy beer bars and everything in between. The kitesurfing beaches are Chalong Bay and Nai Yang beach. These two beaches are a bit off the tourist track and you need to be prepared to hire a car or taxi to go there. The most entertaining places to stay are the main tourist areas Patong, Kamala and Karon.

Samui and Phangan – Kiteboarding on the Islands

Koh Samui and Koh Panghan are also worthwhile mentioning. The islands are situated next to each other and the kitesurfing season is here from beginning of November until end of February. You will need a little bit of luck, because the winds are usually not too stable. Nevertheless, these islands are beautiful and if you have some time and want to do other things as well, one of them could be your pick. If you want to party: on Koh Panghan are each month the world famous full moon parties.

Kiteboarding Courses and Lessons

You look for a place to learn kitesurfing? Then Thailand could be it. All the destinations in Thailand have a few Kitesurfing Schools spread around each spot. You can typically decide between private and semi-private lessons with an experienced IKO teacher. Make your reservation before your holiday to make sure you can take the course where and when you like. The schools include all rental gear in the course price. A first level course takes around 3 days and you will be able to practice on your own hereafter. How fast you can make progress, depends on good wind too. Plan at least a week in for the course to give yourself some margin.

KitesurfShops in Thailand

Kitesurfing Equipment is a bit cheaper in Thailand than in most other countries. For Europeans the exchange rate is very good and you can find great deals. All the schools sell gear and have usually one or two kite brands in their shop section. A word of caution: be aware of grey market products. Some schools are very aggressive in their selling tactics and claim falsely to be a distributor of certain brands. The products that you will buy are grey imports with no warranty by the manufacturer. Up to 15% lower prices is what you can reckon with, everything lower than that is quite likely not regular. To find out information about a certain dealer you can always check the website of the kitesurfing brand they sell. There is normally a link to a page where all their dealers are listed.

See you in Thailand this season.

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Filed under: Backcountry Adventure Travel