Kathu Tin Mining Museum In Phuket

The Kathu Tin Mining museum was built with a high social importance in 2009 at a remote and isolated location behind Loch Palm Golf Club of Kathu, in the hills before Patong and is one of Phuket's most impressive museums, featuring tin mining models, old furniture, books, displays of old household items and even a recreated scene in an opium den. It is also one of the most informative cultural and history attraction. The museum is built in a Sino-Portuguese architectural style that is similiar to the old buildings in the Old Phuket Town area. The architects have done a great job at giving you an image on what Phuket was famous for hundreds of years ago. 

The entrance fee used to be free and donations were available, now they have a fixed fee of 100 Baht per adult and 50 baht per child for tourists, and 50 baht per adult and 20 baht per child for Thai people. Open only from Monday to Friday.

The first thing you will see when you enter the museum is an old bus, parked in a room where the walls are painted like how Phuket's streets used to be for people sit in an take pictures and after you've walked past the next room, which is filled with a display of old furniture, household items, etc., you will see the most informative room of the museum, a big well presented both in English and Thai educational area about how the tin mining techniques progressed over the years, the history of mining, and there is even a wax models of workers hitting rocks with pickaxes. 

One of the most photographed part of the museum is the scaled model of a hundred tin miners working in their mine.


There is also a cave with hidden wax models of stone-age men which scares a lot of the tourists. Another highlight is a recreation of the Old Phuket Town, with barges, shops, workshops, and some more of the wax figures.