• Thailand Guide

  • Introduction to Thailand
  • Weather
  • Things Not to Miss
  • Getting around
  • Money
  • Public holidays
  • Entry requirements

• Explore Thailand

  • The central plains
  • The north
  • The east coast
  • The northeast: Isaan
  • Southern Thailand: the Gulf coast
  • Southern Thailand: the Andaman coast
  • The deep south

• Cities

  • Bangkok
    
  • Chiang Mai
    
  • Chiang Rai
    
  • Chumphon
    
  • Hat Yai
    
  • Kamphaeng Phet
    
  • Nakhon Si Thammarat
    
  • Pattaya
    
  • Phitsanulok
    
  • Surat Thani
    

Thailand Guide

Southern Thailand: the Andaman coast

Ko Lanta Yai

The thickly forested 25-kilometre-long island of KO LANTA YAI has the longest beaches in the Krabi area – and plenty of them. There's decent snorkelling and diving nearby, plus caves to explore, elephant trekking and kayaking, so many tourists base themselves here for their entire holiday fortnight. The island is especially popular with families, in part because of the local laws that have so far prevented jet-skis, beachfront parasols and girlie bars from turning it into another Phuket, though resort facilities are expanding fast.

Broadly speaking, the busiest and most mainstream beaches are at the north end of the west coast, within easy reach of the port at Ban Sala Dan: Hat Khlong Dao is the family beach and Ao Phra-Ae the longer and more beautiful. The middle section of the west coast has variable sands but some interesting places to stay, at Hat Khlong Khong, Hat Khlong Nin and southerly Ao Kantiang. Lanta Yai's mangrove-fringed east coast has no real tourist development but is both good for kayaking and culturally interesting because of the traditional homes in Lanta Old Town.

The majority of Ko Lanta Yai's ten thousand indigenous residents are mixed-blood descendants of Muslim Chinese-Malay or animist chao ley ("sea gypsy") peoples, most of whom supported themselves by fishing and cultivating the land before the tourist boom brought new jobs, and challenges. One of those challenges is that the tourist season is quite short, with the weather and seas at their calmest and safest from November to April; the main ferries don't run outside that period, and some hotels close. The short season means that accommodation prices on Ko Lanta fluctuate wildly.

Every March Ko Lanta Yai celebrates its rich ethnic heritage at the Laanta Lanta Festival, which is held over three days in Lanta Old Town and features traditional and modern music and dance (check lantaoldtown.com for dates).