Trading the mountains of Thailand for its verdant islands, we strapped our packs on and headed out to Koh Lanta with a stop along the way in Krabi. Before coming to this decision we were faced with a choice- which Thai set of islands did we want to visit? There are two major choices- the western islands (Koh Lanta, Koh Samui) or the Eastern Islands (Koh Pagnan, Koh Tao etc). We had two weeks but after doing the math, jumping between the eastern and western islands would take way too much effort and time- so we decided on going to the western isles.
In order to get to the western islands you’ll likely need to fly into Krabi and spend at least a night there (the way the ferry transfers work you’ll miss them all unless you fly in at the crack of dawn). Krabi is a dusty coastal town that is decidedly a stopping off point. There isn’t much to see here except for one place- Railay Beach. Railay is beach protected by two large impassable ridges (you can only get there by water taxi) with a gorgeous beach that stretches between the two ridges. We decided to check it out and it was a gorgeous break from the bustle of Krabi and it did not disappoint.
The white sands beaches were a dream to chill on- especially with a frosty beverage from the many stands that line the beach. There’s also other activities to do here including full on rock climbing (several outfits also line the beach). After a day of chillaxin though, you’ll have seen probably all you can and its time to head back to Krabi. Again, there’s not a lot see here but we did have a nice steak and seafood meal at Divers Inn and got some drinks at one of the MANY reggae themed bars here.
In the morning we were on our way to Koh Lanta on our ferry. Now the word “ferry” probably brings to mind a big boat, maybe with cars on it…that is decidedly not the case with these islands. Ours was pretty much a big speedboat and the crew just piled every piece of luggage onto the front. For these intra-islands ferrys, we HIGHLY recommend you consolidating any roller bags down into carryon friendly sizes or better yet, backpacks/duffel bags. We watched many a tourist struggling heaving their luggage on and off the boats- it’s better to save yourself the trouble. We left our bigger bags in left luggage at our hotel and this strategy we’ve used in pretty much all of the countries we’ve visited since.
Koh Lanta is long island that is made up of resorts, hotels, hostels and little strings of restaurants and huts along the beaches serving drinks. The beautiful beaches stretch most of the length of the island and offer incredible swimming, snorkeling and sunset watching opportunities. In terms of activities, there’s not a lot to do besides chilling- which is awesome because they’ve got chilling down. Hungry? Walk up to a shack on the beach and get some awesome seafood or a spicy Thai curry. Thirsty? Go to a shack on the beach and get some tiki drink! It’s pretty straightforward. We went in late February and it was already hot so expect the days to be spent under the shade somewhere, in the ocean or in a pool somewhere.
Speaking of being in the ocean, the scuba diving is AMAZING in Koh Lanta. Koh Ha is a tiny island that’s a protected national park with incredible dive opportunities. Here you can find a mind-blowing array of colorful fish, corals, sea turtles and even manta rays (if you’re lucky!). I dove here twice and the variety between the days was stunning. I’ll never forget swimming through an underwater chimney surrounded by a swirling school of yellow fish. For more advanced dive, you can head to which is two volcanic towers that are covered in coral- one fire red, the other purple. Here you can find another wide variety of fish but what’s truly spectacular is you can also find manta rays. is a cleaning station for mantas and they come here every week or so from their usual depths to be cleaned by fish who…literally clean the mantas. We got stupendously lucky and halfway through my dive I found I was swimming next to a huge manta who gave me a sideways look and then glided out into the dark depths. It was absolutely stunning. You can book these dives with various operators but I dived with Anti Gravity Divers.
Some amazing pics of our dive by Juliette Alemany
Back on Koh Lanta, we ended up getting a great deal at the resort Lanta Casa Blanca and it was an incredible place. Rather new, its got a great pool and super friendly staff. If you’re looking for adults-only time, this might not be the place as there are a number of families who stay here but outside of some dubious lawn chair hogging, everyone was great. While we were staying there our friend Chris even swung by to grab happy hour drinks with us which was totally rad. Which bring us to our next point-the location of your stay on Koh Lanta is kind of important as its very long and not easy to get around from place to place without renting a scooter or being at the mercy of the dreaded “tuk tuk” mafia. If you’ve seen tuk tuks before in place like Bangkok or India…..these are NOT them. These Koh Lanta ‘tuks are hilariously improvised carriages welded to rinky dinky scooters. That in no way reduces the cost to you though as the drivers will make up whatever price they want. Bargain hard before taking one of them.
After a week, we totally fell in love with the chill vibe in Koh Lanta and ended up staying another week at which point….we had reached our maximum limit for island living. We bid adieu to our super friendly Koh Lantan hosts and headed off to our next adventure- the wild city of Bangkok!
