Motorcycle rental in Phuket

Motorcycle rental in Phuket starts from ฿500 a day for a Honda MSX 125 or a Kawasaki KSR 110, and the 58 models on this page run up to ฿5,500 for a Ducati Streetfighter V4 S. Half of them cost ฿1,800 a day or less. Riders need a motorcycle-category licence and an International Driving Permit.

Engine size and the daily rate: ฿500 to ฿5,500

Engine size sets the first price steps on the island, but above 650 cc it explains less than the model and the riding style. The 58 bikes fall into six engine bands.

Six engine bands and their day rates

Where the price steps are

The first step is small: six light bikes from 111 to 155 cc cost ฿500 to ฿600 a day, and a 249 cc trail bike such as the Kawasaki KLX 250 starts at ฿800. Between 321 and 471 cc the spread widens to ฿900–1,870, because a ฿900 Yamaha R3 shares the band with a ฿1,870 Honda CB 500X. From 645 cc upwards, engine size stops working as a price scale. The cheapest bike in the 749–948 cc band, a Ducati Monster 797 at ฿1,800, costs less than ten of the thirteen models in the 645–700 cc band. And the Yamaha Tenere 700 at ฿3,300 is dearer than every 750–950 cc bike on the page, the Triumph Street Triple 765 RS at ฿3,200 included. When two big bikes are on the shortlist, compare the models themselves, not the cc figures.

What ฿500 buys compared with a scooter

The ฿500 entry point belongs to two mini bikes, the Honda MSX 125 and the Kawasaki KSR 110 — small geared machines with a manual gearbox, at twice the ฿250 day rate of a Honda Click 125i automatic scooter. At the top of the scooter range the overlap runs the other way: a Yamaha TMAX 560 maxi-scooter at ฿2,200 costs exactly what a Kawasaki Versys 650 or a Honda CBR 650R does. The Rent-Trip section on this page brings together 58 motorcycles from 10 brands, and every one of them is a two-seater. Honda accounts for 18 models and Kawasaki for 11, so most riders will find a familiar name. In my view, the useful question for motorcycle rental in Phuket is not “how many cc” but “what kind of riding” — and the riding styles below answer it.

Adventure, naked, sport and the other riding styles

Every model card names a riding style. Naked and adventure bikes make up half of the 58, and each style has its own price corridor that overlaps with its neighbours only in part.

Seven riding styles side by side

Adventure bikes from ฿1,200 to ฿4,500

Adventure bikes are the second-largest group, with 14 models from the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 at ฿1,200 a day to the BMW R 1250 GS Adventure at ฿4,500. The middle ground is crowded. The Honda NX500 starts at ฿1,500 and the CB 500X at ฿1,870; the Kawasaki Versys 650 and the Suzuki V-Strom 650 sit at ฿2,200 and ฿2,530. Higher up come the BMW F 850 GS Adventure and the Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro (both ฿2,800), the Honda Transalp 750 (฿2,860), the KTM 890 Adventure and the BMW F 900 GS (both ฿3,000), the Suzuki V-Strom 800DE (฿3,080) and the Yamaha Tenere 700 (฿3,300). For motorbike rental in Phuket with a passenger and luggage, the real decision is the last step: moving from a 650–900 cc adventure bike to a 1,084–1,254 cc flagship adds ฿1,130 to ฿2,300 to every single day.

Naked and sport bikes

Naked bikes cover the widest span of any style, from the 155 cc Yamaha MT-15 at ฿600 to the 1,103 cc Ducati Streetfighter V4 S at ฿5,500 — more than nine times as much. The busiest stretch is 649 to 948 cc, where the Yamaha MT-07 and the Suzuki GSX-S750 (both ฿1,999), the Kawasaki Z650 (฿2,000), the Honda CB 650R (฿2,100) and the Kawasaki Z900 (฿2,199) all sit within ฿200 of one another. Sport bikes are cheaper as a group: eight models from ฿600 for the Yamaha R15 and the Honda CBR 150R to ฿2,200 for the Honda CBR 650R. The faired Kawasaki Ninja 400 (฿1,760) costs ฿110 more than the naked KTM Duke 390 (฿1,650). Inside the ฿1,999–2,199 naked band, the engine grows from 649 to 948 cc for about ฿200 a day — so there the choice is about riding feel rather than budget.

Enduro, supermoto, classic, cruiser and sport-tourer

• Enduro: six trail bikes, from ฿800 for the Kawasaki KLX 250 and the Honda CRF 250 Rally to ฿1,980 for the Kawasaki KLR 650.
• Supermoto: two road-biased dirt bikes at opposite ends: the Kawasaki D-Tracker 250 at ฿800 and the Ducati Hypermotard 950 at ฿2,500.
• Classic: three Royal Enfields, from ฿900 for the Hunter 350 to ฿1,800 for the Continental GT 650 and the Interceptor 650, plus a Triumph Bonneville T100 at ฿2,399.
• Cruiser and scrambler: the Honda Phantom 200 at ฿800, the Honda Rebel 500 at ฿1,400, the Kawasaki Vulcan 650S at ฿1,760, the Ducati Scrambler 803 Icon at ฿1,800 and the Harley-Davidson Nightster 975 at ฿2,899.
• Sport-tourer: the Ducati Multistrada V2 S at ฿2,200 and the BMW S 1000 XR at ฿4,950, the second dearest bike in the range.

One engine, one model, several prices

Two bikes with the same engine, or even two examples of the same model, can start at very different rates. Knowing where those gaps sit saves money on an identical machine.

The same model at two day rates

Why a card shows the lower figure

The price on each model card in the Rent-Trip section is the lowest regular one-day rate for that model among the shops compared, so it is a floor, not a quote for your dates. The gaps in the table come from different shops pricing the same bike their own way: the Kawasaki Z900 starts at ฿2,199 at one shop and at ฿3,500 at another, a difference of ฿1,301 a day, or ฿9,107 over a week. Rates that apply only to long rentals are kept out of the card price, so a lower daily figure can still appear once a booking reaches six days or more. Starting prices also carry no dates. Before you book, ask for the total on your exact dates for the exact model, and check that the quote is for the same bike you picked on the card, not “a similar one”.

One engine, five Honda models

Honda's 471 cc twin powers five models on the page, and their day rates spread by ฿470: the Rebel 500 cruiser at ฿1,400, the CB 500F naked at ฿1,430, the NX500 adventure bike at ฿1,500, the CBR 500R sport bike at ฿1,650 and the CB 500X at ฿1,870. The 649 cc twins behave the same way. Honda's CB 650F, CB 650R and CBR 650R run from ฿1,980 to ฿2,200, and Kawasaki's 649 cc range goes from ฿1,760 for the Vulcan 650S cruiser to ฿2,200 for the Versys 650. Some pairs match exactly: the Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 and Interceptor 650 both start at ฿1,800, the KTM 890 Adventure and 890 Duke R both at ฿3,000. If the engine is what you are after, the cheapest body around it saves ฿200 to ฿470 a day.

Weekly, monthly and low-season rates

After the model itself, the length of the rental moves the daily price more than anything else. Two rules matter: the low-season discount needs six days, and a month costs about 17 to 19 daily rates.

The May to October discount and its six-day condition

A big-bike shop in Kamala takes 20% off between 15 May and 15 October, but only on rentals of six days or more. There the Honda CB 500X drops from ฿1,870 to ฿1,500 a day, the Kawasaki KLR 650 and the Honda CB 650F from ฿1,980 to ฿1,580, the Suzuki V-Strom 800DE from ฿3,080 to ฿2,460 and the BMW S 1000 XR from ฿4,950 to ฿3,960. Over six days, the saving is ฿2,220 on the CB 500X and ฿5,940 on the BMW. An enduro specialist works on a similar threshold, cutting the Kawasaki KLX 230 from ฿1,000 to ฿800 a day for rentals of six days or more. A five-day rental in June gets none of this. If your trip is close to six days, price both lengths: on the CB 500X, five days at the regular rate cost ฿9,350 and six discounted days ฿9,000.

Day and month at one shop

What a month really saves

For big bike rental in Phuket over a long stay, a month there works out 36% to 45% cheaper per day than its shortest term. The Yamaha MT-07 drops from ฿1,999 to about ฿1,267 a day, the Kawasaki Z900 from ฿2,199 to about ฿1,333, and the Harley-Davidson Nightster 975 from ฿2,899 to about ฿1,600 — the deepest cut in the table. The dearer the bike, the larger the monthly saving tends to be. One exception sits at the very top. The Ducati Streetfighter V4 S costs ฿109,999 for two weeks and ฿179,999 for a month there, about ฿7,857 and ฿6,000 a day, while its lowest one-day rate elsewhere on the island is ฿5,500. A monthly package is not automatically cheaper than daily rates at another shop, so compare both before committing to thirty days.

Two-day starts and hidden short rates

Not every shop rents a big bike for a single day. At the shop with monthly rates, the Honda Rebel 500 and the Triumph Speed 400 start with a two-day price — ฿2,799 and ฿2,999, or about ฿1,400 and ฿1,500 a day. Elsewhere on the island both models start at a one-day rate: ฿1,400 for the Rebel and ฿1,200 for the Speed 400. On the Ducati Streetfighter V4 S, the same shop shows no rate for one to ten days at all, and the first visible figure is the two-week one. A third rental says only that the daily rate falls the longer you book. For a one-day ride, ask first whether a single day is possible on that model, and only then compare prices.

Licence, IDP, helmets and roadside fines

Rider guides for the island describe one set of document rules for every bike, from a 111 cc mini bike to a 1,254 cc adventure flagship.

Which licence a big bike needs

A rider needs a valid home driving licence that includes the motorcycle category, plus an International Driving Permit issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention. A car licence alone does not cover even a scooter, let alone a 650 cc twin. The rule is identical at ฿500 and at ฿5,500 a day: the documents follow the type of vehicle, not the price of the bike. Rider guides for the island name the two documents together, so both should travel with you on every ride rather than stay in the hotel safe. For motorcycle hire in Phuket, check the categories printed on your licence before you pick a model. If that category is missing, no choice of bike on this page solves the problem — and a cheaper bike does not lower the risk.

Helmets for both seats

Thai law requires a helmet for the rider and for the passenger. All 58 models on this page are two-seaters, so a ride with a passenger means two helmets, each one worn and fastened, on every trip — a five-minute run to the beach included. Ask for the second helmet when you book rather than at the handover, and check the strap and the fit of both before riding off; a helmet that sits loosely is little use on a 1,000 cc bike at speed. The rule does not change with engine size either. The passenger on a ฿500 Honda MSX 125 needs a helmet just as the passenger on a ฿4,500 BMW R 1250 GS Adventure does, and the rider is the one who answers for both at a roadside check.

What to carry and what it costs to forget

• Home licence: a valid licence from your home country with the right category printed on it, carried on every ride.
• International Driving Permit: issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention and carried together with the home licence, never instead of it.
• Helmets: one for the rider and one for the passenger; riding without one typically costs ฿400–2,000 at a roadside check.
• Missing licence category: riding without a valid motorcycle licence typically costs ฿500–1,000 — up to a day on a Kawasaki KLX 230.

Deposit, insurance, pick-up and riding range

The day rate is only part of the money and paperwork involved. The deposit, the limits of compulsory insurance and the rules on distance shape the rental as much as the price does.

Deposit without handing over a passport

At least one big-bike shop on the island states plainly that no passport is required as a deposit. That matters most on a long rental: a passport left at a counter for a month is a passport you cannot show at a hotel check-in. Deposit amounts for big bikes are not stated next to the day rates, so ask for the figure together with the price, and ask in what form it is taken and when it comes back. The value at stake differs widely across the range — a ฿4,950-a-day sport-tourer is a very different object from a ฿500 mini bike, and the two deposits should not be expected to match. If a shop insists on keeping the original passport, treat that as a reason to compare other offers before you sign.

What compulsory insurance leaves out

Por Ror Bor is Thailand's compulsory motor insurance, and it covers only injury to other people — not damage to the bike, and not injury to you. Ten models on this page rent for ฿3,000 a day or more, and damage to any of them falls outside that policy entirely. Rider guides also name the most common reason foreign riders lose an insurance claim after a crash: riding without the correct licence category. So the licence rule above is not only about roadside fines. When a quote mentions insurance, ask what it covers beyond Por Ror Bor, whether there is an excess, and what you pay if the bike is damaged. Get the answer in writing before you take the keys.

Where the bikes are and how far they may go

The models on this page are offered from rentals along the west coast. One big-bike shop works from Kamala, another rents from Choeng Thale with delivery, and a large part of the range is offered from Patong. Delivery saves a taxi ride, while a shop near your hotel makes the return simple. Distance rules differ as well. At least one rental on the island allows its big bikes to be ridden anywhere in Thailand, with no area restriction. Each rental sets its own rule, so if a ride to the mainland is part of the plan, confirm it before the handover, together with what happens if the bike breaks down far from base.

Key points before you choose a bike

Five figures to keep in mind

• Price: 58 models start between ฿500 and ฿5,500 a day, and half of them cost ฿1,800 or less.
• Engine and model: above 645 cc the model sets the price more than the cc figure; a Tenere 700 costs more than any 750–950 cc bike.
• Same model: two shops can price one model up to 65% apart, as the Honda CRF 250 Rally shows at ฿800 and ฿1,320.
• Term and season: the 20% low-season discount from 15 May to 15 October needs six days; a month costs about 17 to 19 daily rates.
• Documents: a home licence with the motorcycle category, an International Driving Permit and two helmets for two people.