Phuket International Airport, HKT, sits at the northern end of the island, and it is the island's only airport. It is one of the two places on Phuket where the car is handed over at a named point that already exists on a map; the four points at Cape Panwa are the other. Everywhere else, from the run down to Patong to the far side of the island, you give an address and the car is brought to it.
Prepare your home licence and the international driving permit for Thailand before departure, so the documents are ready when you collect the car. A terminal handover happens at the airport rather than at an address, so there is no second appointment to keep. Delivery somewhere else needs a time agreed with the supplier.
01
Where do you actually collect the car?
At the airport. The pickup point is Phuket International Airport, and the precise spot you meet the person with the keys is agreed with the supplier rather than fixed here. The support details for your booking are in the confirmation email, and that is where to raise anything about the meeting that needs changing.
The handover itself is the same every time. Somebody meets you, you look the car over together, and you photograph it before you sign anything. The photographs record the car's condition at collection and are the comparison when you return it.
Deposit, mileage limit and cover level are set per car rather than across the board, so each is shown on the listing before you pay. Where a deposit applies, the listing says whether it is taken in cash or held against a card in the main driver's name.
02
How long is the drive to where you are staying?
These are routed free-flow times from the terminal, so they are a minimum. The west coast slows badly between about four and seven in the evening, and the hill sections run slower than their distance suggests.
Patong is 37 km and about forty-five minutes, and it is the one that includes the hill road. Every pickup point on the island is listed with its own drive time from the terminal. Kata and Karon are further round the same coast: Karon at 43 km and forty-eight minutes, Kata at 46 km and fifty-two.
Phuket Town is 31 km and about forty minutes straight down the middle of the island, and Cape Panwa is 44 km and fifty-three minutes, out past the town and down the headland. Khao Lak is the long one, and one of the few that leave Phuket: 83 km and about eighty minutes north, over the Sarasin Bridge onto the mainland.
03
Which car suits the drive out of the terminal?
Route 402 runs south from the airport down the spine of the island: dual carriageway for much of it. For the airport, the town and back, almost any car in the search will do.
Choosing the size of rental car depends on where you will park at the other end rather than on the airport roads. A smaller car fits better in Patong and the Old Town. On the west-coast hill roads, a heavily loaded small engine will feel the climbs.
Nearly everything in the search is automatic; filter for a manual if you want one. Mileage is set per vehicle, so if you are crossing the island daily, or running up to Khao Lak and back, read it before the price.
Cars for Phuket Airport, on your dates
414 cars listed for this pickup point today, from ฿331 a day, each stating its own deposit, mileage and delivery terms.
04
What do you need to have with you?
The minimum age is 18 and the minimum driving experience is one year. Individual cars ask for more, and each listing states its own requirement. Both are conditions of the rental, and both are checked at the handover.
Bring your passport, your home licence and the international driving permit your own country issues. Thailand is a contracting party to both road-traffic conventions, the 1949 Geneva and the 1968 Vienna, so carry whatever your issuing authority gives you for Thailand. Read the expiry printed on the document before you fly.
Have cash or a payment card in the main driver's name, because the listing states whether a deposit is taken in cash or held against a card. The supplier's own conditions are the authority on all of this, and the car's own listing says which of it applies to the car you are booking.
Before you pick a car
The deposit is set per car
About 6% of the cars listed today are taking no deposit at all. Where a deposit applies, check its amount and payment requirements on the listing before you pay.
Cancellation is per car
About 17% of today's listings allow free cancellation. It is set on the car rather than across the board, so the terms are on the listing you choose.
You can finish somewhere else
The daily rate does not change on a one-way; the difference sits in the delivery and return charge, and it is set at the search stage rather than on the day.
How the car reaches you
You can collect at the airport or arrange delivery to your address. Check the available pickup options and delivery price for the car you choose.
05
Is it better to collect here or have the car brought to you?
Collecting at the terminal needs no second appointment: you land and you drive.
The alternative is a transfer to the hotel and delivery of the car the next morning, for a late landing or a first stay over an hour away such as Khao Lak. Delivery away from the airport is priced per car and the charge is on the listing before you book.
You can also do the reverse and finish at the terminal on the way out. Collecting and dropping at different points is set at the search stage rather than raised on the day, because it changes which cars are offered and what they cost.
FAQ
Renting a car in Phuket Airport
Airport collection, the documents to bring and the drive times from the terminal.
The pickup point is Phuket International Airport itself. The exact meeting spot is agreed with the supplier rather than fixed in advance, and the support details for your booking are in the confirmation email, which is where to raise anything that needs changing.
About forty-five minutes for 37 km, including the hill road down into Patong. The west coast slows considerably between about four and seven in the evening.
Eighteen, with a minimum of one year's driving experience. Individual cars ask for more, and each listing states its own requirement. Both are conditions of the rental and both are checked when the car is handed over.
Bring the permit your own country issues for Thailand, alongside your home licence. Thailand is party to both the 1949 Geneva and the 1968 Vienna conventions, so the permit to carry is the one your issuing authority gives you rather than a particular convention. Check the expiry printed on it before you travel.
Where a deposit applies, the listing states whether it is taken in cash or held against a card in the main driver's name. It is set per car rather than across the board, so the figure, or its absence, is shown on the listing before you pay anything.
Yes, and it is set at the search stage rather than agreed on the day, because a different drop-off changes which cars come back and what they cost. The daily rate itself does not change; the difference is carried in the delivery and return charge shown on each car.
See what is free while you are reading
Rates, deposits and mileage terms sit on each car in Phuket Airport, in Thai baht, before anything is paid.
Check dates and prices →