The nightlife scene is well and truly alive in Phuket and particularly in Patong where you will find the majority of the bars and clubs. Here you will witness the craziness of Bangla Road, with thumping loud music and bars and clubs all lit up. 
From late afternoon till the sun comes up, Bangla Road is closed off to the traffic and becomes a walking street and its party time and every night of the week is like a Saturday night, all year round.
Bangla Road has many Soi’s or side streets running off the road and expect to be hassled to enter the bars or clubs walking down any of these to enter a bar, a nightclub, or to see a show.
There are Beer Bars, Go Go Bars, Night Clubs, Discos, Live Music Venues, Sports Pubs, Cabaret Shows, and Karaoke Bars in Bangla and you are spoilt for choice as all these venues are located all right next to each other.
Bars: There are too many bars in Patong to name them all and there are some different types of bars, to keep all kinds of tourists entertained. Most of the bars cater for single males of all ages and employ women to keep them entertained. The Aussie Bar, located about half way down Bangla Road, is a favourite place for Aussie’s to have a drink and the bar is one of the largest in Bangla Road and you can’t miss it when you walk past as it is so big. There are many other smaller bars all around Patong with most of them being very small open air bars, which are located right next to other competing bars, especially in Bangla Road. The Kangaroo Bar, the Honky Tonk Bar and P-One, are also very popular bars on Bangla.
Beer Bars: These bars are everywhere in Bangla Road and are basically a bar that employs pretty girls known as bar girls to stand out the front trying to lure customers inside to drink at the bar or keep them there by entertaining them.
Once you enter the bar, you will more than likely be asked to play connect four, the jackpot game, or hammer the nail into a piece of wood. When plying these games, don’t play for drinks because you will most likely lose. Remember these girls play these games every night and have had a lot of practice, so don’t waste your money on this.
The best option is the jackpot game, because its simply a game of rolling 2 dice to match the numbers on the top of the panel, and its all luck. You can actually score yourself free drinks playing the jackpot game.
For a small fee known as a bar fine, the bar girl can be relieved of her duties at the bar and is allowed to go with anyone she wants. The prices of the bar fines vary but are usually around 300 to 500 Baht.
Go Go Bars: There are go go bars in Patong and a go go bar is a bar where good looking girls who are wearing very little, dance around poles to the music. Expect to pay more for drinks at these places than what you would at a Beer Bar and any other place in Patong. Some of the most popular go go bars here are Rock Hard A Go Go and Roxy A Go Go.
Nightclubs and Discos
Patong has quite a few decent nightclubs and discos with loud pumping sound systems and the occasional international dj. The clubs here have a mixture of Thai people (mostly females) and tourists from all over the world.
Hollywood: Plays mostly hip hop and electro music every night and this is a favourite place for the Thai girls to have a dance and it is jam packed every night of the week. 
Hollywood has quality lighting and a really good sound system and the management here know what they are doing as they put on ladies nights and prizes and extra free drinks to keep the women coming back every night. You can expect to be approached by many friendly ladies when you are in this club. Hollywood is open till very late and it really gets going after 2 am.
Tiger: Is also a hot spot for the Thai girls, here they pump out a mixture of dance music from house to hip hop and electro. Its big and gets a large crowd here, especially later on in the night. The women are not shy here either.
Seduction: Is more popular among the tourists but you will still see many Thai women here. Seduction often has well known international dj’s playing and 2 floors of quality thumping sound systems pumping out hip hop and house.
Banana Disco: Is on the main beach road around the corner from Bangla Road and is an older club that has been around for a while. The disco is more suited to an older tourist crowd.
Tai Pan: Located on Rat U Thit Road, strait across the road from Bangla. The club has a mixture of djs and live bands with the bands playing early in the night and dj’s later on in the night.
Baya Beach: A smaller club situated right between Tai Pan and Rock City and is pretty popular with both the tourists and the Thai girls. It is known to get busy here after 2.00am and is often still open until daylight.
Factory Bar: One of the newer clubs to hit the scene. This club has a slightly open air setting with a large bar and views over Bangla Road. The club plays hip hop, dance music and classic hits. There are also regular bikini shows.
Famous: The newest club in Phuket which is located where Sound Club used to be. Some world class dj’s have played here and it is the place to be if you are into dance music. Famous has a beach club and a rooftop swimming pool which has a clear bottom which you can look up into from the nightclub or down into the nightclub. The club is very popular with Russian tourists.
Live Music Venues: There are some live music venues particularly where the end of Bangla Road, meets Rat U Thit Road. Margaritas, Rock City and Tai Pan are the main venues for live bands which play throughout the night. 
Sports Pubs: The name pretty much says it all, pubs with big screens in them where you can enjoy a drink and watch your favourite sport. They have live satellite viewing from around the world with soccer, racing, rugby and rugby league.
Pubs: There are your usual pubs here too, which also show some sports events when they are available and have the typical things in them that most pubs have, such as – pool, darts, etc. Many of these pubs are also part restaurant.
Cabaret Shows: Surprisingly enough, people like to go and see these shows, where transvestites (Lady Boys) dress up and put on a show. Here you can see Thai men who look a lot like ladies and put on a colourful display.
Karaoke Bars: There are a few karaoke bars in the Bangla Road area, most of them have a band with live music that you can sing along to. These bars cater mostly for the older crowds and play older styles of music. Most of the karaoke places outside of the Bangla Road area cater for Thai people and play mostly Thai songs, which no westerner would know. As a westerner at one of these places, listening to people sing Thai love songs can be torture.
Thai Boxing: You only have to be in Patong for not even a day when you would have heard the annoying voices coming out of a loudspeaker of a ute – repeating the same things over and over, trying to promote the Thai Boxing. The boxing at Bangla Boxing Stadium, is fake which some tourists either don’t know about or don’t really care and just want to see a good show. The real boxing is at Patong Boxing Stadium. Here you will see fights for real titles.
Lady Boys: There are many lady boys in Phuket and Patong has the largest concentration of them and you will see most of them hanging around Club Crocodile and in and out the front of Soi Crocodile.
Most newcomers here love to have their photo taken with them, but expect them to ask you for money to get the picture taken. If you don’t pay them they can get quiet nasty and they don’t care if they make a scene or not.
Lady boys can be serial pests, annoying the drunk tourists, hoping you will think their real woman so they can go back to your hotel. Towards the end of the night, they can get pretty desperate and will hassle any man who walks past them.
Most lady boys are tall, much taller than the usual Thai girl, so that is one way to spot them out. Other ways are to watch them walk, they walk like gay men, also listen to them talk, if the voice is deep or there is any doubt, don’t go there, unless of coarse you are interested in lady boys and believe it or not, some men actually are interested in them. Other things to look for are the Adams Apple, really long fake eyelashes, contact lenses and way too much makeup.
Nightlife in Other Phuket Areas
Karon: There are a number of bars here and even some beer bars. Most of the bars here are concentrated in and near the area known as The Circle. Some people prefer the laid back feel of Karon over places like Patong.
Kata: Has a similar nightlife scene to Karon and has many bars all located together at the northern end with plenty ofbar girls around and the occasional bar here and there in other areas of Kata.
Surin Beach: Has some bars located near or on the beach and a well known nightclub and bar called - Stereo Lab. Djs here play a range of dance music such as – house, hip hop, breaks and lounge music and the occasional international dj has been known to drop in to spin a few tunes from time to time.
Phuket Town: Most clubs and bars here cater for Thai people, with places that are filled with locals having a good time dancing to there favourite tunes or singing Karaoke. Tourists have been known to go out in Phuket Town too, but its a bit of a hike to get here for a night out if you are staying on the western side of the island. There are many places in Phuket Town to sing Karaoke, but as mentioned before, it can be quiet boring for any westerner who doesn’t know any of the Thai songs or language.
More info on Phuket nightlife with HolidayGuideThailand.com
