Only a few years ago, Phuket was attracting mainly holiday travellers in search of a fun-filled paradise centred on soft-sand beaches and a funky nightlife. Tourists continue to arrive in increasing numbers, but today there’s a new wave of visitors who see Phuket as the perfect place to live. It’s not just great beaches and gorgeous scenery that draw them. Phuket offers more. It’s a lifestyle that feeds the imagination. A leisure playground where sunshine, good food, tropical sunsets, year-round sailing and the opportunity to play golf every day in great surroundings figure highly in life’s priorities.

For many, the good life has already been translated into reality, as Phuket continues to offer more ingredients to sustain a sophisticated lifestyle. Improved infra-structure, expanding international schools, regular international flights to Asia and Europe, plus a strong euro are attracting more wannabe residents. Many are prompted by early retirement, relocation, the desire for a second home in paradise, or an escape to a healthy tropical lifestyle. All simply fall in love with the place.

Until recently, most long-stay visitors and developers opted for the obvious charms of the west coast, with its sweeping beaches, ocean views, stunning sunsets and access to Phuket’s nightlife. But times are changing. With prices rising faster than a tropical sunrise, beachfront property on the west coast has soared increasingly out of reach to all but the occasional celebrity. High-priced beachfront land, higher property density and less available land have all helped to steer developers in another direction — the eastern side of the island.

While the east coast doesn’t have the unsurpassed beaches of the west coast, it does offer masses of green space, good roads, easy access to the centre of the island and great beauty. Luxuriant and tranquil, with a welcoming sunrise aspect, it still offers a sense of the undiscovered. And the views are simply gorgeous. Virtually any spot on the coast presents a vista of islands. With views over Phang Nga’s dramatic seascape to the north and a string of pretty islands stretching south, it’s easy to understand why the sheltered bays and impressive head-lands from Ao Po to Cape Panwa are attracting some of the most exclusive de-velopments on the island.

Two years ago, the area east of Heroines Monument was a quiet, unfashionable backwater. Ao Po, on the coast, was a small fishing village where local boats and eco-tours departed for Phang Nga Bay. The rickety jetty that still forms a picturesque part of the scene will soon be no more. Work is due to start soon on a brand-new departure point, one that looks set to place Ao Po as a future hub for Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi.

The new jetty will complement a quiet expansion in infrastructure that has occurred over the last couple of years. Road im-provement has been steadily increasing all over Phuket Island, but with new roads opening up more remote places around the northeast, and diggers already widening the main road from Heroines Monument to Ao Po, this sleepy area is beginning to beckon. The realization that the airport, Phuket Town, Dulwich International School, and shopping centres such as Tesco Lotus, Big C and Central all lie within easy reach, has opened wider possibilities, especially for the growing residential market. While the west coast has developed through tourism, the east coast looks more focused on property development, fulfilling the dream of a home in the sun.

Savvy investors have already begun to recognize the potential, fuelled by com-paratively cheap land prices and clear land titles. Much of the initial investment has focused on the high-end market, with the headlands and bays around Ao Po and Cape Yamu already earmarked for upscale projects. Available land around the coastal area has allowed developers to offer generous plots with unparalleled sea views.

Mission Hills Golf Course, a superb 18-hole course with an additional 9-hole floodlit course designed by Jack Nicklaus, is also expected to provide an impetus to the area around the northeast coast. Khun Suraphan Ngamjitsuksri, the enigmatic driving force behind Mission Hills, and his aptly named son, Golf, are aiming to provide an experience that will clinch Phuket’s place as one of Asia’s premier golf destinations. Cradled by hills on one side and scenic coastal views along the rolling fairways, Mission Hills will also provide top-class resort facilities.

The impressive Thai-style clubhouse including restaurants, a business centre, spa and swimming pool will complement 72 deluxe hotel rooms, further enhancing the image of Phuket as a lifestyle destination. Beyond the golf course, residential developments are also under way and more are anticipated. The aptly named Lersuan (Thai for "paradise"), an apartment complex located opposite the 18th hole, has already sold out — and it hasn’t even been built yet.

Matt Rayner, president of Tactical Capital Company — developers of The Estate, a 28-rai (45,000 square metres) site at Laem Yang, near Ao Po — sees the northeast coast, in the long term, becoming one of the best property locations in Phuket. Sparked by a desire to "exit from corporate life" and move to a location with views, space and beautiful surroundings, Rayner found his perfect spot. Occupying a hillside location with splendid views of Phang Nga Bay and year-round breezes, the Estate will offer custom-designed homes on spacious plots averaging 2.3 rai, (3,750 square metres) close to a headland where further high-end development is planned.

Around Cape Yamu, developments such as Baan Nern Khao are offering spacious upscale villas on plots of up to 2,000 square metres. Then there is the Cape Yamu resort enclave itself. Spanning the kilometre-long tip of this exclusive peninsula, Cape Yamu is destined to become a unique gated residential and resort community with over 40 residential villas on large ocean front lots, a five-star resort, hotel villas and luxury cabanas. What makes this project particularly interesting is the teaming of international design superstar Philippe Starck, on interiors, with the architectural eminence of Jean Michel Gathy, famed for the luxury Aman Resorts. The villas will retain elements of Thai traditional architecture, yet offer fresh and inspiring spatial and visual approaches to ocean front living.

"Developments like Cape Yamu are driving the interest in the east coast," says Red Graham of East West Properties. "In the same way as Amanpuri made west coast de-velopments so desirable for both mid- to high-end buyers."