Choosing a camp
Should I train in Phuket or Chiang Mai?
Updated 2026-09-01
The short answer
Phuket if this is your first trip, you want beach and nightlife around the training, and you can absorb higher costs. Chiang Mai if you are staying longer, want your money to go further, and prefer a city you can live in rather than a resort island.
From the records
Of the 7 camps we list in Phuket, 5 publish a month rate, and of the 5 in Chiang Mai, 2 do. These records cannot price one city's training against the other, so the money half of the advice above is a general reading rather than anything you can check here.
Every camp we listPhuket puts seven camps on one island, five of them in Chalong and Rawai at the south and the other two up the west coast. The closest two sit 500 m apart, and that is the real advantage: if a camp turns out to be wrong for you, another one is a short ride away and you have not wasted the trip. Everything is set up for a visitor who has never been to Thailand, which is exactly what you want the first time and exactly what starts to grate by month three.
Chiang Mai is a city with a camp scene rather than a camp scene with a city attached. Rent, food and transport all cost less, which is why long-stay trainees drift north. The cool months from November to February are the most comfortable training weather in Thailand. The burning season from roughly February to April is the counterargument and it is a serious one, because air quality drops hard exactly when you are breathing your hardest.
If you are travelling with someone who is not training, Phuket wins on most weeks of the year. If you are going alone for a month or more and want to feel like you live somewhere, Chiang Mai usually wins.
Worth knowing
Neither answer survives contact with a specific camp. A great camp in the wrong region beats an average camp in the right one, so pick the shortlist by region and then throw out anything that does not fit how you actually train.
Still deciding where to go?
Six questions, and we will tell you which camps fit and which facts about them we have not confirmed.
Choosing a camp
Asked alongside this one
What is the best Muay Thai camp in Thailand?
There is no best camp, and the reason is specific rather than diplomatic: the things you would rank on are the things Thai camps do not publish. Of the 44 camps listed here, none publish a sparring policy, one publishes anything addressed to women training there and 3 state that the coaching is in English. Rank on what is on the record instead, which is price, location, rooms and sessions a day.
Is a big camp or a small camp better?
Big camps give you structure, English, training partners at every level and a social scene. Small camps give you more trainer attention per session and a closer read on how you are actually moving. Beginners usually get more out of a big camp for a first trip, and more out of a small one on the second.
Should I stay in on-site camp accommodation?
For a first trip of two weeks or less, yes: it removes every decision and puts you thirty seconds from the ring. Past about six weeks it usually stops making sense, because a normal apartment nearby costs less and gives you a life outside the camp.