Hi you !
Here's my second article about Thailand, the middle one in my 3-article-Thailand-saga !
I'm about to tell you everything concerning my experience in Krabi and Koh Phi Phi which is one of my favourite part of the trip ... no, in fact I loved them all !
Tonsai Bay, Koh Phi Phi
So we flew from Koh Samui to Krabi by plane through Travel2be with Bangkok Airways and paid about a 100€ one way p/p (with a checked baggage each). Everything was perfect : flight one time, nice crew, fast luggage delivery.
When we arrived at Krabi, we had booked a driver with HolidayTaxis to bring us from the airport to Ao Nammao Pier. The driver dropped at the port but we had to pay again for the boat (circa 100 Baht p/p) and wait one more hour (obviously HolidayTaxis agency isn't very reliable).
We then took the boat to Railay Beach, where I would definitely recommend you to take your hotel in Krabi. To me, it's the best area to sleep in when in Krabi.
Railay Beach
During the high season (November to end of March, more or less), every hotel is extremely expensive (relatively to Thailand prices) so the only beautiful "affordable" one we found was Bhu Nga Thani. We paid 465€ for 2 people for 3 nights in the Deluxe Grand Room (Dani has an obsession with "upper" standard rooms in hotels haha) and booked through Agoda website.
Bhu Nga Thani's swimming pool
Railay Beach is a super living area. Tons of shops, restaurants, travel/ excursions agencies, concerts bars and nice hotels.
On top of that, so many cute monkeys all over the streets !
Krabi is also the town we got to watch the nicest sunsets (oh Thai sunsets, you're so famous) during our trip.
Sunset time is one of the best time in Railay because restaurants lay mattresses on the beach, people play music, practice yoga and dance while sipping drinks. Chill and fun atmosphere, real holidays.
Krabi's sunsets on Railay Beach
From Railay Beach, we decided to visit the 4 islands : Phra Nang Beach, Chicken Island, Poda Island and Tup Islands (many excursions desk offer it at different prices in Railay).
Leaving from Railay Beach
Such a magical experience, all places have translucide waters, white sand beaches and coco trees everywhere. On the way, we stopped twice to snorkel, riding through those giant rocks going out from the sea, a truly exceptional landscape.
Phra Nang Beach is fantastic, because on top of being one of the nicest beach I've ever seen, it owns caves. And one of this cave is particularly famous because it is full of ... dicks ! Indeed, people leave penis statues in Princess Cave in order to provide fertility in their home and family. Very unique scene.
Princess Cave in Phra Nang Beach
Phra Nang Beach
We then headed to Poda Island where we had lunch. Poda's famous for this conic rock in front of the beach. Be careful with the jelly fish though, we got many bites ! Under the sea you'll be able to watch huge orange/ white/ pink jellyfish, it's beautiful but don't approach their tentacles too close, it can be very painful.
Poda Island
We ended the tour in Tup Islands, these are two twin islands that are linked with a sand bench at low tide and separated during high tide.
Tup also is a nice spot to snorkel !
Tup Islands
I always swim all dressed-up to avoid sunstrokes !
We came back early enough to enjoy Railay beach sunset.
Another very fun (hard though !) thing to do in Railay is to visit Railay Island viewpoint. Especially if it's a cloudy day as it was for us, and you can't really plan "beach" activities. You need to reach Phra Nang's caves and climb the mountain up to the viewpoint (ropes helping to walk on this muddy way). If you're not a good climber (as I am) this might look kind of difficult to you, but you will for sure have fun doing it. The heat is probably the most difficult thing to handle during the climbing. Wear your sneakers !
Up there, the viewpoint is breathe-taking. There is another trail that leads to a lagoon but apparently very hard to access and dangerous to take, and as the way was wet after the rain, we preferred not to.
Phra Nang's caves
Railay Island viewpoint
Again, the day ended so well on Phra Nang Beach, watching the sunset over the sea.
Sunset in Phra Nang
We stayed 3 days in Krabi and took the ferry to Koh Phi Phi on the 4th one.
We chose Phi Phi Coco Beach Resort. Cutest hotel but don't chose it if you can't stand noise at night (located right next to a bar).
Apart from this inconvenient, this hotel is so central and very complete; it owns a restaurant, a pool, its beach and a massage area over the water.
Phi Phi Coco Resort's pool and room
Phi Phi Coco offered us one of the best hotel's breakfasts of the trip. The rooms inside little individual bungalows took our hearts.
Breakfast and bungalows
As said before, the resort is located on the beach but also 3 minutes away from another wonderful one, Tonsai Bay.
We took a drink and ate at the Sunshine Bar on Tonsai Beach and stayed there for hours while sipping coconuts juice.
Tonsai Bay
You need to book a day across Phi Phi Islands + Viking Cave. I don't remember the exact name of the company we did it with but I know Sea Eagle Tours offers really good speed boat excursions (some start early to avoid the crowd) for 1270 Baht.
You'll visit Bamboo Island, Monkey beach, Maya Bay (Maya Beach still closed because of the tourists disrespect), Phi Leh Bay, and Viking Cave. We even ended the day swimming with bioluminescent planktons a night.
Duck face fish in Maya Bay
Entering Bamboo Island requires 400 Baht, as it's a national preserved park, where mother nature grows freely with no human impact. This island is a little paradise with much less tourists than other beaches.
Bamboo Island
Monkey Beach is a dreamy beach though we saw less monkeys there than in Railay Beach !
Quite touristic-ish but still very worthy to visit.
Monkey Beach
I've been astonished by Maya Bay (and even more breathe taken when I discovered Phi Leh Bay) as the water is turquoise blue and the landscape is so fantastically wild. This also is one of the best spot to snorkel as you'll see so many different fish species living right under your feet.
Maya Bay water color
Snorkeling in Maya Bay
We then headed to Phi Leh Bay, last stop before the sunset and the night swim with bioluminescent planktons.
Phi Leh is unforgettable. The color of those lagoons surrounded by surreal cliffs is one lifetime show : the beauty just can't be described with "simple" words.
Phi Leh Bay
Here ends everything I had to tell you about Krabi and Koh Phi Phi.
Of course I'll share with you below the summary of every important detail of these two places + some cool addresses that I didn't necessarily mention in the article.
I'll try to be faster to release the next post about Bangkok, sorry for the wait, I know you've been a lot asking me about my Thailand trip !
Don't forget you can watch all of this travel "live" in my Insta stories highlights.
Poda Island
SUMMARY
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THAILAND
- Thai people are the nicest Nation on Earth
- Hope you like fried rice and chilli cause you're gonna eat meals based on them in the breakfast/ lunch/ dinner
- It is very simple to move one place another all across Thailand (at least to touristic places) via boat & ferry/ plane/ train/ bus
- December to March is dry season (still very humid and hot, between 30 to 36°C daily)
- 1€ = 36 Baht
KRABI
WHERE TO SLEEP
WHERE TO GO
- Railay Beach
- Phra Nang Beach
- Poda Island
- Tup Islands
WHAT TO SEE
- Princess Cave
- Phra Nang's caves
- Railay Beach Viewpoint
- Turtle Island
WHERE TO EAT/ HAVE A DRINK
- Tew Lay Bar
KOH PHI PHI
WHERE TO SLEEP
WHERE TO GO
- Tonsai Bay
- Monkey Beach
- Bamboo Island
- Viking Cave
- Maya Bay
- Phi Leh Bay
WHAT TO DO
- Swim with bioluminescent planktons
- Get massaged at Phi Phi Coco Beach Resort
WHERE TO EAT/ HAVE A DRINK
- Sunshine Bar
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