Photographes à Phuket

Phuket is big enough to hold several different sessions, which is why most Andaman trips start here. The west coast is a chain of bays facing the sunset — Kata, Karon and the smaller coves between them — and the viewpoint above Kata Noi looks north over three of them at once, best in the late afternoon. Laem Promthep, the cape at the island's southern tip, is where the day traditionally ends, with the sun going down over the Andaman and a crowd that thins only once it has set. Phuket Town is the island's other face: the Sino-Portuguese shophouses of Thalang Road and Soi Romanee, built in the tin-mining boom and restored in pastel colours with shuttered windows, gentle in morning or late-afternoon light. The island is joined to the mainland by a bridge and has an international airport, which makes it the easy choice for a honeymoon or a family holiday with a beach session in it. The best weather runs from about November to April; the southwest monsoon brings rougher seas and heavier rain from May to October, usually wettest around September.