A water sports venue in Phuket perfect for families with older kids
We’re devasated to share Blue Tree are ceasing operation of the Blue Tree Lagoon from 1 August 2024.
It’s difficult to place Blue Tree Phuket precisely in an attraction category as it’s not a typical water park. It has features you’d expect to see and is based around water, but it has so much more!
Blue Tree is a water sports-based entertainment hub with thrilling activities largely centred around a huge blue lagoon. There are some slides and a water play structure for the littles, but that’s really where the similarities with your everyday water park end the fun for your adventure-seekers starts; think freedom to do back flips, cliff dives, rock climbing, and zip lines – basically all the things you get told off for doing in a traditional water park!
In this guide, I will explain all that Blue Tree offers so you can decide if it’s the type of place you’d like to book for a day of family activities in Phuket with your kids (hint: I dreaded the idea of ‘wasting’ a day we could have spent at the beach, but now I’m a convert!)
Table of Contents
What’s on Offer at Blue Tree Lagoon
Blue Tree has several different ‘zones’, including a shopping village (the colourful buildings visible from the road), an amphitheatre for concerts, a skate park, and a neighbouring forest park. The main action, though, is all set around Blue Tree Lagoon, which has an all-inclusive entry fee for use of all facilities and water sports.
More than a dozen sporting activities are available here, from super slides and cliff jumping to wakeboarding and kayaking. If you want to try everything, you’ll want to set aside a complete day to explore (they open at 10:00 a.m.!).
I won’t cover absolutely everything – you can find the full menu of activities here on their website – but these are the activities that my tween and teen kids love the most:
Super Fly Water Slides
This is the heart of the park’s action, offering four different sliding challenges (though only two were operational during our last visit). You’ll slide down at fairly high speed, and then as they grow in confidence, they can add flips to make a spectacular entrance into the water.
Cliff Jumping
Now this is the one that appealed to my boys the most and what drove the begging/pleading to go check Blue Tree out in the first place – if you’ve got adrenaline junkies too, this will definitely be a highlight of their trip to Phuket!
As they build their confidence, they can try two different heights: the 5-metre jump and the 10-metre jump.
I won’t lie; I chickened out even at the first one! My 40-something body and gravity couldn’t agree on this one! But even my fairly fearful 13-year-old could take on the 5-metre with a lot of encouragement from staff and other guests who are really supportive of one another.
The youngest took absolutely no hesitation in going straight up to the 10-metre and did it over and over! While my fearless 11-year-old took a few hours and attempts, he finally conquered the top platform and is begging to go back again so he can do some fancier jumps now.
The jumps are well supervised by the lifeguards, and there are a few rules to follow. However, we found they give participants a lot of freedom too in how they enter the water, as long as they think it’s safe.
(Do note, though, that with great thrills can come great pain; the kids were rather stiff for a few days afterwards, and we think it was the combination of the slides and rock jumps that may have caused this, ouch!)
Climbing Wall
This one is more sedate but still quite challenging as you work around the climbing wall. If you do fall into the fairly deep water adjacent to the cliff jump, lifeguards are on duty underneath, but your competent swimmers will be fine.
Zip Line
This is quite a fun one to take over the entire lagoon. It’s a bit of a trek across the park to the starting point back at the entrance, where they’ll fit you up with all the safety gear you need and guide you through how to complete the ride safely.
Beach Sports Area
You’ll find the beach sports on the far side of the Lagoon, opposite the slides and main restaurant. A huge variety of activities are on offer here. For some activities, you might have to wait until a few other kids or families want to join in, like the water polo, or you can try others on your own, like the dunk tank or skim boarding.
Stand Up Paddle Board & Kayaking
There are a few spots around the lagoon where you can pick up a board and paddle or a translucent kayak and try your hand at different water sports.
The water here is obviously completely flat, so it’s an ideal spot for beginners to learn some techniques. Staff are happy to help with instructions (in English, for the most part!).
Family Fun Zone
If you have children under 6, you’ll no doubt spend some time here, where there’s a reasonable variety of slides, obstacles, and dunk buckets to help you keep your cool in the Tarzan and Jane water structure.
It’s not too far from the bigger slides, but it’ll be hard to keep your eye on both at once if you have older kids on the big slides – we’d suggest trying to seat yourself between the two though.
If your kids aren’t quite tall or confident enough for the super fly slides, there are some ‘medium’ slides for them to enjoy – but if they’ve conquered the Super Fly, these are going to feel pretty lame!
Wake Boarding
They only offer the opportunity to try this once daily in the late afternoon, and the queue fills up fast, so look out for when they’re getting set up! It was definitely the most challenging activity for my boys, who are still relatively small and inexperienced (but seeing most of the smaller kids fail at this one made them feel a little better!)
With this experience, I can firmly say you’ll want to give wakeboarding a go somewhere like Blue Tree first, where you can just do a taster before paying for a longer session at somewhere like Phuket Water Park when they may not be quite ready for such a physically demanding sport.
Timing of Activities & How it All Works
We ‘checked in’ to Blue Tree near the front of the complex in Blue Tree Village, where there’s a visitor centre, only to be then transported down to the entrance of Blue Tree Lagoon (really not a long walk away if you want to complete the journey on foot!)
I understand you can also pay at the entrance to Blue Tree Lagoon without stopping at the village entry office first.
On checking in, you’ll all be fitted with a thin electronic wristband. When you enter, you need to top these up with cash, as all purchases are cashless within the park (we just put money on the adults, but you can give the kids a small balance, too, if you want them off buying their own treats).
They also work for opening lockers if you choose to hire one for the day.
Navigating the park is pretty straightforward. You can choose to sit in the heart of the action; the best spot, if you’re an early bird, is between the Bay Grill restaurant and the Super Fly slides. On the other hand, if you like it more chilled, head to the left on entry and find your own little umbrella poolside near the beach bungalow.
There is a timetable of sorts for activities available online if you want to plan your day out a bit, but we found you could pretty much wander up to any activity, and someone would come along to help you. The exception seems to be that wakeboarding only happens once in the early evening.
There was also a flying mermaid show several times during the afternoon. Hmm, interesting, unique… maybe quite small kids will find it captivating, but it seemed an odd addition, or maybe she just lacked an enthusiastic audience!
A Water Extreme Show has now been added to the available activities online (where you watch the pros take on the Super Slides), with two shows daily at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., which may be more entertaining for your older kids. Check out some footage here from their Insta to get more of an idea:
Drinks and Dining Options at Blue Tree
Bay Grill in the centre of the park offers multiple Western and Thai menu choices (though I should note that we attended on a relatively quiet weekday; not all other dining venues were open).
In the afternoon, a DJ comes in, and it has a super chilled poolside atmosphere, as well as an in-water bar where you can sit back with a drink and watch the crazy stunts and cliff-jumpers! There’s a pool table here, too, a nice way to spend some time out of the sun.
We thought it was pricey overall for what you got, but unfortunately, you’re a captive audience, and there are rules disallowing your own food.
- Kids meals were about ฿150
- Western meals and Thai rice dishes around ฿250-300
- Ice cream ฿50
- Soft drinks ฿100
- Can of beer ฿120 (though randomly, we found a 2-4-1 happy hour mid-afternoon that was not visibly advertised)
(Top Tip – top up more than you think on the electronic band to save you lining up for this again mid-afternoon – you will get anything refunded that you didn’t spend)
Other Areas of Blue Tree to Explore
If you want to extend your journey to Blue Tree, there are a few more dining and retail options in Blue Tree Village on your way out of the Lagoon. There are some pretty nice-looking bakeries and cafes, Chef’s Market and several food trucks – it could be a good option if you want to sort kids’ dinners early after a long day in the sun.
Blue Tree Arena is a small stage set up in the central area adjacent to Blue Tree Village, which sits in front of Blue Tree Lagoon. Occasional concerts and events are advertised here through the year.
Kids Planet
If you have younger ones (18 months to 6 years) to keep happy while your older kids enjoy a day out, you could also consider a day at Kids Planet, a full-service childcare facility in Blue Tree Village.
Their rates vary; under 2’s, you have to pay a babysitting fee of ฿200 plus ฿300 per hour, while 3-6 year-olds are ฿250 per hour.
Forest Park, Skate Park and Padel
There are clearly plans to expand Blue Tree further as a lifestyle centre, with multiple sporting options at the venue.
On our last visit (December 2023), things still looked a little closed up and unloved other than the Lagoon, so I’m not sure if/when some of these additional advertised venues will become available – I’ll keep you posted on subsequent visits what we find!
What Does A Day at Blue Tree Cost?
This won’t be the cheapest activity you undertake in Phuket, but if we looked at how many tasters they got of different water sports and activities, and what you’d pay in a western country for a trial of each, I think you can quickly see where the value stacks up paying for one day pass for an active an interested child in the right age group:
Tourist Prices for Blue Tree Lagoon
- Adults: ฿1200
- Kids: ฿650
- Towel hire is free, but you need a deposit of ฿300 per towel.
Resident Prices for Blue Tree Lagoon
- Adults: ฿700
- Kids ฿270
NB Kids are classified as 6 to 12 years old. We saw conflicting advice online that the kid’s ticket price is based on height, but they asked our kid’s ages at entry and didn’t measure them.
When deciding if it’s the right place for your kids, note that they must be over 120cm for most of the thrilling attractions.
Also, if they are under 12, you need to sign a waiver for them to do some of the activities. I’m not sure why you don’t sign a general waiver as they come in, but just note that if you send them off on their own, they may come running back for you to sign them up the first time they do the slides and the zip line!
On the whole, we thought the meal and drink prices were a little high, especially compared to the prices you pay at the beach, but I guess that’s what you get in ‘tourist attractions’ in Phuket. They do not allow outside food and drink (but as no one was closely checking bags, we wish we had brought several more big water bottles with us!)
NB—You may find tickets to Blue Tree online that are a little more expensive than what we’ve listed above. If this is the case, they might also package your transportation from your accommodation or add perks inside the park like meal vouchers. Read the fine print to see if you’re getting a better deal—it may or may not be better than paying at the counter!
How to Get to Blue Tree Phuket
- Address: 2 Srisoonthorn Rd, Tambon Si Sunthon, Amphoe Thalang, Phuket 83110
- 📱 (+66) 61 175 2896 📩 sportsadmin@bluetree.fun
Blue Tree is pretty near Bang Tao Beach and Laguna resort hotels, on the road that connects these beachside towns to the main highway. Unless you have your own car or motorcycle, you’ll likely be best arriving by Grab/Bolt/taxi.
There’s plentiful parking if you have your own rental car/bike.
Can You Stay at Blue Tree?
There is no on-site accommodation at Blue Tree at present; however, the luxury glamping site The Phana looks like it will soon open and provide guests with access to Blue Lagoon as part of an immersive nature experience. (This never opened and the website has been taken down, but may be part of the new ‘lifestyle concept they are advertising)
So is Blue Tree Worth a Stop on Your Phuket Itinerary?
Overall, this is an activity we’d highly recommend for families with active tweens and teens who love outdoor adventures and pushing their limits with new experiences.
It is more expensive than other family activities in Phuket but certainly not the priciest. When you add up the variety of water sports you can try, all included in the price, we think it’s actually quite good value if you give everything a go. The park truly lived up to its motto, “thrill and chill“, with a great ambience and not overly crowded.
If you have younger children under 120cm or who hate heights and big thrills, I will not lie; they’ll likely get bored quickly. It is a water park made for your older ones who love their thrills.
Blue Tree Vs Andamanda
Andamanda is likely one of the other water park options you’ll be considering in Phuket. If your budget can stretch and you have plenty of days in Phuket, undoubtedly with kids, you’ll want to do both, as you really are getting too different experiences, just both are based around water.
However, when I asked my kids (ages 13, 11, and 9) if they needed to choose between them next time, they all surprisingly said Blue Tree, hands down.
Andamanda is undoubtedly more expensive and much, much busier. It has some great slides, but I guess when you spend three-quarters of your day queuing rather than riding, it’s easy to see how quickly kids can get bored and want a more thrilling experience.
If you like wave pools, Andamanda definitely has one of the best in the world! And if you have younger children, their kiddy play section is extensive and offers more slides and thrills than they’ll get at Blue Tree.
However, if your tweens and teens prefer freedom and you’re just there as the chaperone and not fussed about the slides, Blue Tree should undoubtedly be given your consideration as a fun alternative to Andamanda at a decent price point.
Find our complete review of Andamanda Water Park Phuket here
Over to you! Have you been to Blue Tree recently, what ages were your kids? We’d love to get some extra opinions added in the comments to help others decide if it’s the right family day trip for their Phuket itinerary.
Adventure seekers, you may also want to read about our experience at Hanuman World Phuket – ziplining, abseiling, roller zip coasters and luge in the rainforest.
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