Krabi Beach / Koh Phi Phi / Koh Lanta Area Guide

When people say “Krabi Beach” they actually mean Ao Phra Nang or simply Ao Nang as Krabi, some 10Km away, has no beach. Ao Nang, a popular low to medium budget tourist destination has a relatively short beach along which the road runs with shops, restaurants, bars and a few lower budget hotels the other side of this road. Ao Nang road is U-shaped and most of the hotels run alongside the road out, so the closer you are to the bend, the closer you are to the beach; only a very small number of beachfront hotels actually exist here. Nearby Railay and Nopparat Thara Beaches offer up-market beach hotels; the former being inaccessible by road and having just two very expensive top end resorts. Fortunately the Go-Go bar scene is very limited in Ao Nang, so family hotels tend to be just that with no unpleasant surprises regarding fellow breakfast guests at nearby dining room tables; although the culture (renting young Thais for the night) does exist and particularly in Krabi Town’s karaoke bars.

Koh Phi Phi has a wide range of accommodations all on Phi Phi Don (the northernmost of the two islands) with Phi Phi Ley (where “The Beach” was filmed) an uninhabited nature reserve. Most hotels are located in Ton Sai or Loh Dalem Bay, two bays facing south and north respectfully separated by half a kilometer isthmus; these tend to be lower budget hotels in the main and the area is very popular with backpackers. Further up near the top of the main island is Laem Tong Beach which has both budget and higher range hotels. Some remote bays / beaches such as Loh Bagoa, inaccessible by road, around Phi Phi also have some very secluded hotel options. Koh Phi Phi has no go-go bar scene thankfully, making it suitable for families. Ferries run from Phuket and Krabi to Phi Phi Island, plus many speedboat operators based chiefly in Phuket also provide a faster alternative to your hotel’s beach, if it is on the beach of course.

Koh Lanta is developing up from the backpacker long sandy beach capital of the Andaman Sea as it once was, but many of the hotels along its white sandy beaches do still resemble British 1960’s holiday camps. Access to Koh Lanta is either by road and vehicle ferry (it takes 2 ferries; one after the other via small island in between) from the mainland or by passenger ferry from either Krabi Town (2 hours) Ao Nang (2 hours 15 minutes via Railay Beach) or Koh Phi Phi (1 hour 10 minutes); check for seasonal restrictions due to sea conditions. With Koh Lanta having had more beachfront land available for development, it has opened up quite a lot in recent years and now boasts, besides the budget hotels, a range of family and luxury resorts plus boutique accommodations including retreats. There are no go-go bars or other pick-up points where you can rent a young Thai for the night so Koh Lanta is eminently suitable in that respect for families and discerning travellers who wish to avoid such sleaze.

We donate all of our direct reservation earnings from the hotels and villas on our site to a charity in one of the most deprived areas of Thailand, which helps keep poor even homeless children off the streets and out of child labour and the sex industry. When you book with and then stay and pay a hotel or villa directly via our site you are basically making a donation to a very worthy cause at the same time, thank you (see our charity page).

If you would like to correct anything you believe is wrong or out-of-date here or provide extra text that could help others get the best out of Ao Nang, Phi Phi and / or Koh Lanta, please feel free to contact us. If you would like more tourism information on any aspect of travel to / holidays in Koh Phi Phi and Krabi, please visit our associated Thailand Travel Forum.

If you have a favorite hotel or villa in Koh Phi Phi, Krabi Beach or Koh Lanta which does not have a direct reservations facility with us, please feel free to either contact us with a name and email address for that hotel / villa or ask them to visit our site and register. The more hotels and villas in the Ao Phra Nang / Lanta / Phi Phi area that join Travel Ethos, the more we can help needy children in Thailand.