Getting the hang of the rather unique setup of Phuket bars takes some time. Hopefully I can give you some quick information on understanding what’s going on!
Phuket’s nightlife, and the place where you will find the vast majority of Phuket bars and night clubs, is based around Bangla road and its many diverse side streets. A side streets in this context is called a Soi. Usually each Soi will have a lot of establishments all catering for different things: Phuket bars, restaurants, market stalls and night clubs will all be found on a Soi.
Some of the Soi’s will have a single DJ providing music for all the venues there. This gives each Soi a distinct feel and makes them feel almost ‘themed’. This theming may be intentional as a branding exercise because the majority of each Soi is owned by one landlord.
There are plenty of Phuket bars for you to explore and you will most likely not get to try them all. One thing that you should try to do is to visit one of each of Phuket bars on each Soi: this should give you a better impression of what each ‘area’ has to offer you on your vacation.