Cafe del Mar Phuket sits at the north end of Kamala Beach, a large open air beach club from the Ibiza brand that spreads across two outdoor stages and an indoor room. DJ Mag placed it inside its Top 100 Clubs for 2026, and the pools and sound system keep it running from late morning into the night.
Who would love it: travellers who want a full day by the water that rolls into a club night, with day beds, a pool and a sea view bar. Who would find it less their speed: anyone after a quiet local bar, because this is a destination venue built for scale and a dress code applies after dark.
The club is laid out in tiers down toward the sand, with cabanas, a pool deck and two stages designed around natural stone and wood. The brand opened a boutique hotel above the club in 2025, so the site now runs as a day and night resort rather than a single bar.
The day session opens around late morning, with sun loungers and cabanas available on a minimum spend and food and drink credit folded into the booking. The room shifts in the late afternoon as the sunset set begins and the crowd moves from the pool toward the stages.
The cocktail list runs long and leans tropical, with rum and fresh fruit builds aimed at the pool deck. Bottle service and shared jugs are the norm at the cabanas, and the kitchen sends Mediterranean and Thai sharing plates through the day. Prices sit at the top of the Phuket range, in line with a flagship beach club.
Music is the real draw after dark. The venue has booked Carl Cox, Fatboy Slim, Bonobo, Jamie Jones and Damian Lazarus over the past year, which is why DJ Mag tracks it among the world’s top clubs.
The crowd is mostly visitors and a dressed up regional set, and it skews younger as the night runs on. Sundays draw the biggest day crowd, when the club room programme pulls a long queue for cabanas.
The best time to arrive is the late afternoon, when a day bed still buys the sunset and the walk down to the sand is easy before the evening rush. Reserve ahead for weekends and for any of the headline dates, since cabanas sell out first.
Tripadvisor reviewers through 2026 rate the setting and the sound highly, with the common note that it is pricey and best treated as a planned day out rather than a casual stop. The official site lists current event dates and the day use packages.
For a first trip to the west coast it is the simplest way to pair a beach day with a club night in one booking. Bring swimwear for the day session and a change for the evening, and plan transport back, since Kamala sits a drive from the main nightlife strips.
Cafe del Mar suits a celebration, a group day out, or a sunset session with a headline DJ to follow. For more of the coast see our guide to cocktail bars in Phuket, the beachfront tables at Catch Beach Club, the sunset terrace at HQ Beach Lounge, and more rooms around Kamala.
Few venues on the island match this scale on the sand, which is why it anchors so many west coast itineraries. The value lands when you use the day and the night together rather than dropping in for one drink.