It’s not just the sea that’s becoming more expensive in Phuket. Access is becoming more expensive. New roads, access to the airport and the future express corridor are already changing the map of strong locations.
Phuket has an eternal drama: the island makes money as an international hub, but travels around as if it still hasn’t decided what it wants to be when it grows up. And that is why any news about roads here should be read not as a boring state chronicle, but as a direct investment card. Because on the island, travel time has long cost money as much as the view of the water.
In October 2025, the Government Public Relations Department stated the problem quite honestly: Highway 402 remains the main road to Phuket City and passes through 13 major intersections. That is, the main artery of the island has long been working at the limit of the nervous system. In such a situation, any new connection automatically becomes not just infrastructure, but a future price factor.
In the short term, the authorities have already identified three key projects: completion of the road widening to four lanes in 2024-2026, a new direct road to the airport with construction starting in 2025 and completion in 2028, as well as a new link from Baan Pa Khlok to Baan Bang Ku, which should give the northern part a new entrance to Phuket City. Translating from bureaucratic to human: the north and east of the island get a chance to be closer not only geographically, but also in time.
In the long horizon the picture is even more interesting. A new expressway is planned according to the Airport-Kathu-Patong-Phuket City scheme, with the first phase Kathu-Patong going to be built from 2026, the second Airport-Kathu from 2027, and the service should start in 2030. Additionally, a 42-kilometer light rail corridor from the airport to Chalong is being promoted, with EV-bus in the first stage and a complete system by 2031. That is, the island is no longer being rebuilt for seasonal trips, but for full-fledged urban mobility.
Who wins first? First of all, locations where already strong demand can be strengthened by reducing friction. The northwest receives an additional bonus almost automatically: Nai Yang, Mai Khao, areas around the airport and northern areas of Thalang become more logical for long stay, second home and family scenarios. Where the road is no longer an annoyance, real estate quickly begins to be sold not as a compromise, but as a smart choice.
But it is important not to fall into the romance of infrastructure speculation. A new road does not make a weak project strong. It just reinforces good initial conditions: the right microlocation, a normal product, an adequate form of ownership, strong management and a clear use case. If the project is bad, asphalt will not replace its brains.
Phuket prices will rise unevenly in the coming years. And this is great news for those who know how to read a map not along the beaches, but along the access corridors. In a mature market, the most expensive sea has often already been purchased. But you can still catch good travel time before the rest.
