Promthep Cape: Phuket's sunset point

Picture a tall lump of rock and short grass sticking out into the sea. Open water straight ahead, the little bitten-out bays of the south coast left and right. It's windy — nearly always, since the cape is open on three sides. Nice in the heat. Less nice for your hat.

Past the main viewpoint: a lighthouse with a small room about seafaring, and a corner packed with elephant figures that people leave as offerings. Then there's the path. It drops down along the ridge towards the very tip, and most people never take it, so it's quieter and the view opens up. The stones are loose in places, though. Not a flip-flop walk.

The upper platform next to the car park is easy to reach, which is exactly the problem: the front row is gone an hour before sunset. Walk down the ridge and the crowd thins out, horizon still wide open. Or head for the terrace by the lighthouse — it sits a bit higher and to one side, so you get the cape itself in the frame, not just an orange ball.

Packed already? Drive back up the road to the windmill lookout above Nai Harn. Same sunset, cape seen side-on, and no wall of phones in front of you.

Midday here is empty and hot. Fine if it's the landscape you're after. For the sunset — evening, obviously.

We'd take a scooter over a car for this one. Parking is simpler, and when the sun drops you're out of the car park before the queue forms. Coming by taxi? Agree the ride back in advance. The moment it gets dark everyone leaves together, there aren't enough cars, and waiting on a dark road is nobody's idea of fun.

Nai Harn beach is right there for an afternoon swim. Rawai, a short way along the coast, is where people eat seafood after sunset. Wat Chalong and the Big Buddha are both within half an hour, which makes the cape a good last stop on a day in the south.