Monkey Hill

Monkey Hill

Monkey Hill
4.5
Nature & Wildlife AreasLookoutsScenic Walking Areas
7:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Monday
7:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Tuesday
7:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Wednesday
7:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Thursday
7:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Friday
7:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Saturday
7:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Sunday
7:00 AM - 10:00 PM
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  • Lilijuju06000
    Nice, France303 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Please! do not feed the monkeys
    The best is good but very polluted because of the tourists who feed the monkeys. I remind you that you should not feed wild animals, this is a rule to be applied throughout the world. Because of this, you will see plastic in abundance on the ground in the forest. People give them plastic bottles and obviously don’t get them back… Don't buy food from small wild sellers, they normally don't even have the right to be there! In short, otherwise the monkeys are adorable and not at all aggressive. There were some babies that were so cute. No need to do the whole walk to see them, we walked 5 minutes. There is also a pretty temple at the start of the walk. I recommend but with respect Lang the places and the animals 🥰
    Visited February 2024
    Traveled as a couple
    Written February 19, 2024
  • Яна
    Nizhny Novgorod, Russia26 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    I recommend visiting!
    As soon as you approach this place, you are immediately surrounded by a huge number of monkeys. For the treat, we chose the usual bananas, although many people take them without much pleasure. And, I would like to say, with bananas it was the most correct choice, since whoever has nuts, corn, etc. - monkeys attack people and snatch food without any embarrassment at all. And going without food is perhaps even better - they will look at you without interest. We didn’t reach the observation deck - the higher we went, the fewer people we came across. We didn't take any chances. They didn’t snatch my bag, I didn’t take off my glasses, everything remained with me 😅 on the way back I had to pick up a stick, they surrounded me twice. Of course, it’s worth coming to visit the monkeys; it’s very interesting to watch them in nature. But people, be careful! It is not known what to expect from them. When I started taking pictures, one of them bared her teeth at me, I backed away, I was very scared.
    Visited January 2024
    Traveled as a couple
    Written February 28, 2024
  • Em C
    33 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    A must do experience!
    This was such an amazing experience. It is certainly a hike so be prepared for burning thighs, but it’s so worth it when you get to the top and see the view! Take some water. Recommend going between 12-1pm as that’s when the truck arrives with the lunch feed for the monkeys and they all come running out of the bushland- the feeder even let us feed them! (You can’t take food up yourself). You don’t see too many monkeys around/get near them if you go at non-feeding times. We walked from Phuket Old Town centre it’s only 15 mins, so if you don’t have a scooter don’t waste money on a taxi it’s a flat/easy walk!
    Visited March 2024
    Traveled as a couple
    Written March 18, 2024
  • Apple Juice On ... P
    1 contribution
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Cool but be careful
    Very cool, we saw a lot of monkeys. However, I wouldn't recommend going near them. The monkeys are huge and really forward, even though we watched from a distance they kept advancing towards us. Because of this we decided not to continue to the top. Based on previous reviews we made sure to hide all personal belongings under our clothes/in pockets. We also met another girl who said they stole her water bottle. Very cool to visit but be careful, watch from a distance and hide all belongings. Would not recommend approaching the monkeys or even walking by them. If careful and considerate this is a great place to see some monkey.
    Visited June 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written June 29, 2024
  • Owen
    22 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Naught Monkeys!
    This was the second time I visited Monkey Hill. Very nice trip to get out of the town and see some monkeys. DO NOT carry any food or drinks, even if sealed and in your pockets and do not feed the monkeys and you should be fine. We walked to the top which was quite a trek for us on a humid day. There are 2 nice viewpoints along the way. After the second one there is little point of going any further as there is not much else to see. You’ll see a lot of monkeys and dogs along the route with some great views and photo opportunities.
    Visited July 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written July 26, 2024
  • Robert L
    Zeist, The Netherlands1,118 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Monkey Hill hosts 400-500 macaques, can be a tough hike, and offers a better monkey encounter than city views.
    Monkey Hill: It's easy to see how Toh Sae Hill got its nickname. The hill is home to a colony of 400-500 macaque monkeys, fully accustomed to locals and tourists. In fact, they’re entirely focused on the food they regularly receive from humans. Tip: Don’t bring food, don’t feed the monkeys, and don’t carry bags that might suggest food is inside, as the monkeys can be pushy and even aggressive. Tip 2: Monkey Hill is closed to traffic due to the number of monkeys on the road. The walk up is steep (10-15% incline), long (about 3 kilometers), and quite challenging. Only go up if you're in decent to good shape. Tip 3: Go to Monkey Hill just for the monkey experience; the view over the city, sea, and surroundings is quite disappointing.
    Visited October 2024
    Traveled as a couple
    Written September 30, 2024
  • Deniel B
    6 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Cool walk but a bit tiring
    It’s a long walk, more or less 2,5km, in the mountain, there is a normal street and you can walk in the middle of the monkeys, they are calm and don’t care about you, only if you do something wrong like touch or feed them they could be dangerous. To go up and down you stay about 2 hours. At the top you can find 2 different views points, one that sees the ovest, one the est. Very calm, you are sheltered from the sun by the trees. Only bad thing is that there is a little bit of waste.
    Visited December 2024
    Traveled as a couple
    Written December 23, 2024
  • stefanodmethonos
    Lecce, Italy5 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Very nice and fun if you follow a few rules
    That's very funny. Two basic things: don't be silly with monkeys by making noises or jumps (which also make you laugh), they may receive it as a threat and attack you. Never open your backpack, drink or eat if you are within 20/30 meters. They'll do anything to take it from you.
    Visited January 2025
    Traveled with family
    Written January 10, 2025
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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radkz
Krnov, Czech Republic6 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2023 • Family
Great experience. The monkeys look happy. They live there together with the dogs and they seem to be doing well. There are two types of people there. One is tourists like we were. They admire the monkeys and possibly even feed them. And there are also people who come just to run up the hill as part of training or for a walk. And it is interesting that monkeys can safely distinguish it. They annoy and only care about tourists and leave runners alone. If they see that a tourist is reaching into his pocket or has a closed hand that might contain something, they are very intrusive and pushy and want something from you. In my opinion, they are also quite dangerous. They are so tame that even if you have a stick in your hand, they often have no respect for it, and on the contrary, if you point it towards them to discourage them from being intrusive, they will deliver the stick to you. It is interesting to observe how they have strictly divided territories there. when we came across a very annoying monkey somewhere, we threw treats further to distract it and quickly moved a few meters further. She stopped in a precisely defined place and did not go any further, because the territory of the other monkeys began there. So we shook it off and didn't show the others that we had anything, so they left us alone. They say it's not good to laugh too much at monkeys, because when they see the teeth, they think you're challenging them to fight. So we were careful about that. I tried growling at one to scare her off when she was very clingy. On the contrary, I pissed her off, so I didn't try it a second time. There are also large spiders to be seen. They tend to be somewhere near electricity. knowledge. Overall a great experience and especially because we got away with healthy skin.
Google
Written December 16, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Az A
19 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2022 • Family
Great to see the monkeys with no intervention from humans.

They seemed healthy, happy & just did their thing. It was nice to see!

Some advice… take an umbrella, not incase it rains, but to stomp on the ground and scare monkeys off. Many of the monkeys tried to approach ourselves & pram, and some succeeded and took things from the pram.

Do not take food. We loved the idea of feeding them, but they just swarmed us and took the food, and not in a nice way either. Lesson learnt for us.

The hill is somewhat steep, but still okay for children & adults to walk up, but wear something comfortable.

All in all, it’s definitely worth the trip in our opinion.
Written July 15, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Nicola89
Phuket, Thailand32 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2020 • Solo
Just took a walk up monkey hill. It is quiet, only a few locals walking up getting their daily excersize in. You have to leave your scooter at the bottom, they don't allow you to drive up,the walk up is about 2km from there. There is a little shop half way up at the temple and there is also a toilet at the first Viewpoint. There are about 3 packs of dogs before you reach the monkeys and another pack laying with the monkeys. Dogs and monkeys were no trouble, just walked loudly, stomped and clapped my hands every now and then just to keep them aware of me. At the top Viewpoint I took a few videos and photos with my phone that was already in my hand, but I couldn't take any with my camera as every time a reached for my backpack a bunch of the monkeys would walk closer towards me watching my every move with their big eyes, probably thinking I had food in there, so I just gave up. There are many signs saying "Don't feed any animals" and no one was selling bananas or nuts on the way, I read a lot of reviews saying they fed the monkeys, I don't think that's an option anymore (legally)... I have also heard that they do get fed, vaccinated and neutered on occasion, which is great!
Written December 3, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jen S
Ohio2 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2023 • Couples
Wish I knew....
Basically next time I will walk the hill without feeding them. You will still be very close to them and can watch the young ones playing and see the moms with the babies for great pictures but they will leave you alone. When you have food it is not a fun experience

1. There is only ONE designated 'feeding area' for the monkeys and it is far up the hill, but most of the monkeys will be at the bottom of the hill because that's where the food is sold. You are supposed to make a long hike up the mountain to the feeding area, but they will get in your way when they see the food so I STONGLY recommend bringing a thick backpack that they can't see or smell the food so that you can walk past them.
2. The monkeys are VERY pushy and they will SWARM you. The reviews I read said they would snatch things out of your hands, so I tried to be careful, but one snuck up behind me and grabbed the whole bag of bananas so I had to buy a new bag. I bought two, one of corn and one of bananas. Even though I held it up and in front of me, another monkey jumped and grabbed the new banana bag and wouldn't let go so when I pulled at it, the plastic bag tore and the bananas went everywhere. I only had the corn left, so I held is close to my chest.
3. The monkeys will bare their teeth at you. When I tried to stomp, clap, and shout to get them to make room for me to walk they would not back up and would bare their teeth. They were, however, very afraid of the stray dogs who were all over the hill (they didn't bother us at all and sometimes they would come over near us to scare off the monkeys....next time I will bring dog food instead)
4. I do NOT recommend for kids. One of the monkeys jumped on me and held on, riding on my hip by holding on to my shirt with his hands and his feet on my legs. He only let go when I touched his stomach with my free hand.
5. The end point of the hike is a u-turn lookout point where you can see over the city. There is a little stand that sells water for 15 baht. Turn around here. If you keep going up, there is an old broadcast station and a bunch of junk, nothing nice to see.
Written July 22, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Steven H
Sydney, Australia21 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2024 • Family
0 star rating. Tourist bus cannot park in car park and your forced to walk up along hill before you reach the shops and dedicated car park. I use to love coming here. I brought 25 people up including seniors and they would not allow the bus up. Won’t be coming back here again and definitely do not recommend it at all anymore.. stupidity at its highest.
Written August 2, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Amber
1 contribution
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2019 • Solo
I got attacked y’all and it was not a good time. I get there, get off my rented motorbike and take one photo of a monkey. I had bananas in the seat of my bike from the beach earlier and did not take them out at all. I turned around to check the view and that’s when I heard a blood curdling scream. Almost human like. I turned around towards the scream just in time to see a full grown monkey charging me. I did what any normal person would do, I booked it! The monkey is on my heels, pulling at the shorts of my romper, running on its two hind legs like a small rabid toddler and snapping at me. I see a little bathroom hut to the left and start to swing at the monkey with my backpack and make it into the hut and lock the little hook latch. I was relieved, I thought i was safe. WRONG. The monkeys fingers are curled around the bottom of the hut door and pulling it, almost snapping the door. I must have been trapped in the hut for a half hour before he finally gave up. I very timidly came out, calmly walked to my bike and got on. I got down the hill to a local family mart and stopped for a bottled water. When I got off the bike I noticed I was “stuck” at the butt area on the left side. I had blood all down my leg. I didn’t notice in the moment but the monkey had gashed my leg and butt check open in the struggle. I ended up going to the hospital close by where I had to go back in staggering weeks to receive a rabies treatment and cleaning of the wound. Luckily I was staying in Thailand indefinitely so I could receive all my shots there, which is much cheaper (literally thousands of dollars cheaper) than having to continue the treatment in the US when I got back. Long story short, it’s a monkey. It’s not worth it and trust me, you’ll have many opportunities to see monkeys all around Thailand from a safe distance.
Written April 11, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Lauren B
9 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2023 • Couples
I had read a bunch of reviews about how aggressive the monkeys can be, so I was a bit nervous to visit, and definitely wasn't planning on feeding them. However, once I got there I saw a woman very calmly feeding monkeys and they were well behaved. Note, the monkeys at the bottom of the hill were going crazy. We took the scooter up to where the road closes to cars. I ended up buying some corn for 20 baht at this entry, and hand fed them with no issues. We went late in the afternoon, so perhaps they're less aggressive for food when they've already been eating all day.
Written August 3, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Rohan
Phuket, Thailand2 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019
I live in Phuket, and my go-to-spot for some relaxation is the Monkey Hill.
The view, the nature and the calmness puts my mind at ease every single time.

Altough you won't see any monkeys during the night, the view is in my opinion totally worth the travel! During a clear night, you can see the mountain tops over the horizon, the moving traffic in the far distance and the wonderfull colors of the city.

I strongly recommend to go with either car or motorbike to the viewpoint if you go during night as there are A LOT of stray dogs on the road and it is not well lighted. At some points of the road to the view point, you will have to drive with no lighting at all, except from your vehicle.
Written January 3, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jennifer
San Rafael, CA6 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2022 • Couples
After reading the terrifying reviews about monkey hill we went anyway in our car. there are four of us adults in the car and we proceeded very carefully up the hill where we saw many monkeys along the road. We never rolled out our windows and we took pictures through the glass. At one point a monkey jumped up on the passenger rear side into the window and scared me to death! We kept going down the hill until we saw a 25-year-old woman screaming and running from a group of marauding monkeys. She was clearly terrified and so we pulled over cracked the window and instructed her to jump in our car. She was able to do so but was very upset! We drove her to safety and her boyfriend came down with his Moto and took her away. I was shaken up for the rest of the day. I would advise anyone who’s interested in seeing monkeys to stay away from this place.
Written October 13, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Zoi
Dubai, United Arab Emirates31 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2023
I went solo just to spent some time. I left the scooter just before the entrance. For my safety i did not carry any food and always kept distance from monkeys. There were a few dogs around so i was paying attention to them too. I did not walked all the way since there were a lot of monkeys around already and just stayed there to observe them. If you don't go after them they only mind their business so ended up very chilled walk. It was afternoon so there were not many people around.
Written June 7, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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