Southern Thailand, The Beaches | Thailand 2015/2058
Flying from Northern Thailand to the beaches in the South was like being in another country. The south is all about the beaches which have an incredible beauty, but are not always the soft white sand you might expect. The beaches we experienced had course sand, were hemmed in by unique limestone cliffs, had a beautiful vista of smaller islands. We did experience a few with pristine white sand, but these also were the areas most crowded. The tide every six hours is extreme and completely changes the view. A man we met from England described them as “…beautiful during high tide, but rubbish at low tide.”
Sunset at Railay Beach (low tide)
We used Airbnb to find an apartment for the week. It’s a great way to save money and stay in a more homelike setting. Follow the link here for a $25 coupon for Airbnb, a great option to a hotel with places available all over the world. Our apartment was near Ao Nang Beach in Krabi and connected to Mandawee Resort & Spa. We were able to use their free shuttle to town and the beach at Ao Nang as well as book day trips through their services. The first Day trip we took was a full day speed boat 4 island tour. The amazing day including lunch was only $67.77 for two people. We visited Tup, Moore, and Koh Tap islands for snorkeling, swimming and walks on the beach.
I love how the 3-D effect of this shot is deceiving. Depending on how you look at it the coral heart is down in the sand or sitting on top. Any suggestions for a quote to go in the blank space?
The tour included a “drive by” of Chicken Island (Koh Khai), known for it’s shape that looks like a chicken head standing in the Adaman sea.
Koh Poda island, our stop for a picnic lunch was one of my favorites. The last stop was Railay Beach, but more about that later.
Our second day trip was by speed boat to Hong Island. It was another beautiful day with lunch on the beach, swimming and snorkeling.
Other than the great day trips and beautiful islands, Ao Nang was not a destination I would recommend. It is very touristy and there was a t-shirt that described the pushiness of the vendors perfectly “I don’t want your (insert bad word) massage, suit, or tuk tuk ride.” This is also the place where we had a horrible massage experience on the beach. If you didn’t read about it in my last blog, you can see more here. We did have some nice days there, but if you go I wouldn’t recommend staying for more than a couple of days.
The stoplights were the most interesting thing we found in Krabi City.
Sunsets at Ao Nang were beautiful every single night.
A local family fishing along the beach just before sunset.
From Ao Nang, we headed to the Bhu Nga Thani Resort at Railay Beach. Railay is one of the most famous places for rock climbers. It’s Krabi mainland, but not accessible by car. Just getting there was quite an experience. We were picked up in a car, transferred to a tuk tuk, and finally a long tail boat.
Notice his seat – extra gasoline, just in case?
There are 2 sides of Railay beach, “Railay West” & “Railay East”. The beach on Railay West is more beautiful with views of the limestone caves. We were staying on Railay East which did have beautiful sunrises, but horrible smells and a not very pretty beach, especially at low tide.
High tide sunrise at Railay East, view through the mangroves.
Our balcony had a great view of the limestone cliffs, the perfect place to sip coffee and watch early morning monkey activity.
The monkeys at Railay are everywhere. These were sitting on a fence along the trail while walking to the beach.
Our stay here was interesting to say the least. This is also the place where I had a visit to the clinic. More details on my last blog here. While trying to find a walk through nature without passing piles of trash and horrible smells we came across the sign below. And why would we want to disturb the venomous snakes?
There was a really nice beach on the West side of Railay where we enjoyed hanging out. When the tide went out each afternoon these little crabs made the most amazing designs of sand balls.
The corn on the cob & smoothies from the floating food trucks were delicious!
There were some really interesting areas at Railay Beach. One example is Phra Nang (Princess) Cave where fisherman in the past have made offerings before going to sea. They believe the offerings will bring success in their fishing and protect them from danger as well as help with fertility. The best part was watching tourists reactions as they started taking in the sight before them.
Railay Beach is definitely a place for the more adventurous.
The inside of this cave looked to be a much less expensive option to spend the night than the one we had chosen.
Railay beach is the perfect destination for climbers. They are climbing the cliff walls all over the island. It is incredible to watch.
We actually did a little climbing of our own the last day at Railay. Too bad we didn’t climb this amazing viewpoint sooner.
It felt a little like a scene out of Jurassic Park
The view from the top was incredible!
Railay Beach is not an island, but being accessible only by boat, it kind of feels that way. After 11 days we were ready to get “off the island”. At least it was low tide so they did not need to drive the tractor out to meet the boat for us.
After a ride on a long tail boat, a tuk tuk, a taxi, and finally a short flight we made it to the island of Koh Samui. We stayed at the Elements Boutique which is a little ways from the hub of activity. Koh Samui is Thailand’s second largest island after Phuket and with 1.5 million tourists a year parts of it are very busy. The Elements was a nice place to stay with great, healthy food choices and amazing massages.
Once again, the beach was very rough looking at low tide, but it was fun to watch the local people go out to fish and fill their buckets with clams.
Our last two nights in Thailand we did a huge splurge at the Conrad Koh Samui. This was way out of the budget, but we justified it by the amount of money we had saved in our travels so far. It’s a luxury hotel that we could actually afford at Thai prices so we considered it to be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Amazing how you can justify something when you really want to do it ;).
The view from our private balcony and infinity pool.
Stunning sunsets in the Gulf of Thailand
The beaches in Southern Thailand were not what I had expected, but they each had a charm and beauty all their own. When it comes to beaches, like anything else, I guess it just depends on what you are looking for. What do you look for in a beach destination? What’s the most beautiful beach you’ve ever seen? Or is your favorite not the most beautiful, but maybe the most unique?
