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Thailand Beach/Island Recs
Posted on 6/28/16 at 8:26 pm
Posted on 6/28/16 at 8:26 pm
Going to SE Asia in early December. We have a full itemerary and want to end with a few days on the beach. I've done a lot of reading but wanted to see if any here had first hand accounts and recommendations.
1
Posted on 6/28/16 at 9:39 pm to HollierThanThou
Here's what I'll say from experience, there are so many options it will blow your mind. Each island has its pros and cons and not all have everything you may be looking for.
1st thing is time of year. December usually favors the Andaman Sea over the Gulf of Thailand, as it will rain more on the Gulf side. However, my understanding is its like Monsoon, where it rains then goes away, so maybe you may want to try GoT.
How many days do you have for the beach? The more days you have the further out you can go.
Next is interests. Do you want to party? Scuba dive? Be on a tourist island or none tourist island?
We had about 4.5 days and wanted a non-touristy island. Diving was low priority so getting to a close island in the Bay worked for us, even if the water/beach isn't the best. My wife also wanted to see Thailand's famous karst formations.
That's how we chose Ko Yao Noi. By the way, if this freaks you out, Yao Noi is something like 90% Muslim. Doesn't bother me but may bother others. I'm not gonna judge.
If scuba diving is high, try to stay near the Similans. Google it, incredible diving. If you want to party, then you have Ko Phi Phi. If you want a nice family beach Ko Lanta/Ko Jum. If you want to get as far away as possible Ko Lipe. Even further, try staying near Tarutao. ETA: I forgot Railay beach but that is on the mainland.
On the GoT side you have Tourist Island Ko Samui, party island Ko Phagnan, and diving Ko Tao. Angthong National Park is also in the GoT.
View from our room:
Rice field on the Ko Yao Noi:
I rented a scooter so I could find a secret beach on the island (which I did) but you don't get more Thai island then stuff like this: Not pictured is giant fricking snake that crossed my path.
Ko Hong: Island you can visit during the day. There's a cool lagoon on the backside but it's hard to post a photo to give it justice.
1st thing is time of year. December usually favors the Andaman Sea over the Gulf of Thailand, as it will rain more on the Gulf side. However, my understanding is its like Monsoon, where it rains then goes away, so maybe you may want to try GoT.
How many days do you have for the beach? The more days you have the further out you can go.
Next is interests. Do you want to party? Scuba dive? Be on a tourist island or none tourist island?
We had about 4.5 days and wanted a non-touristy island. Diving was low priority so getting to a close island in the Bay worked for us, even if the water/beach isn't the best. My wife also wanted to see Thailand's famous karst formations.
That's how we chose Ko Yao Noi. By the way, if this freaks you out, Yao Noi is something like 90% Muslim. Doesn't bother me but may bother others. I'm not gonna judge.
If scuba diving is high, try to stay near the Similans. Google it, incredible diving. If you want to party, then you have Ko Phi Phi. If you want a nice family beach Ko Lanta/Ko Jum. If you want to get as far away as possible Ko Lipe. Even further, try staying near Tarutao. ETA: I forgot Railay beach but that is on the mainland.
On the GoT side you have Tourist Island Ko Samui, party island Ko Phagnan, and diving Ko Tao. Angthong National Park is also in the GoT.
View from our room:
Rice field on the Ko Yao Noi:
I rented a scooter so I could find a secret beach on the island (which I did) but you don't get more Thai island then stuff like this: Not pictured is giant fricking snake that crossed my path.
Ko Hong: Island you can visit during the day. There's a cool lagoon on the backside but it's hard to post a photo to give it justice.
This post was edited on 6/28/16 at 10:20 pm
Posted on 6/28/16 at 10:31 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
We are doing two weeks total.
Days 1-2
Flying into HKG for a 16 hour layover to see the city for a bit. From reading other reports its a good city for a long layover and move on to BKK.
Days 3-4
Exploring BKK and one of the floating markets, perhaps the cobra show.
Day 5
Flying to Siem Reap for a day trip to see Angkor Wat and the nearby temples.
Day 6
Lazy day then flight to Chiang Mai
Day 7-8
Tiger Kingdom and Elephant Sanctuary
Day 9-11
Beach
Day 12-13
Singapore then fly home
Day 14
Sleep in my own fricking bed and recover
We were looking at a resort on Ko Yao Yai. Did you happen to spend any time there? I know it's right next to Ko Yao Noi.
I think we will avoid GoT because we would like the better weather chance on the west side.
Days 1-2
Flying into HKG for a 16 hour layover to see the city for a bit. From reading other reports its a good city for a long layover and move on to BKK.
Days 3-4
Exploring BKK and one of the floating markets, perhaps the cobra show.
Day 5
Flying to Siem Reap for a day trip to see Angkor Wat and the nearby temples.
Day 6
Lazy day then flight to Chiang Mai
Day 7-8
Tiger Kingdom and Elephant Sanctuary
Day 9-11
Beach
Day 12-13
Singapore then fly home
Day 14
Sleep in my own fricking bed and recover
We were looking at a resort on Ko Yao Yai. Did you happen to spend any time there? I know it's right next to Ko Yao Noi.
I think we will avoid GoT because we would like the better weather chance on the west side.
This post was edited on 6/28/16 at 10:37 pm
Posted on 6/28/16 at 10:40 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
Thanks for the pics 
Did you go to Phi Phi, Maya Bay or Monkey Island??
Is the landscape pretty similar on all the islands in the AS?
Did you go to Phi Phi, Maya Bay or Monkey Island??
Is the landscape pretty similar on all the islands in the AS?
Posted on 6/28/16 at 10:40 pm to HollierThanThou
I did not go to Yai, however, from what I know it's like Noi except it has even less people on it.
I don't even think Yai has a proper village, but I think overall the experiences will be largely similar. People say Noi is a quiet island, so Yai would be more. The good thing is with 2 days of beach these islands are only an hour transit from Phuket airport. 30 minutes by car to pier, 30 minute speedboat ferry.
I don't even think Yai has a proper village, but I think overall the experiences will be largely similar. People say Noi is a quiet island, so Yai would be more. The good thing is with 2 days of beach these islands are only an hour transit from Phuket airport. 30 minutes by car to pier, 30 minute speedboat ferry.
Posted on 6/28/16 at 10:44 pm to HollierThanThou
We didn't go south. If you look at Google Maps we visited all those karst islands to the east of Noi.
Those formations are not generally to the south. The trade off is the water gets much bluer the more south you go but the ferry times get longer as well and you have to wait for connecting ferries.
For example to get from Yai to Phi Phi there is a good chance you'll have to cross to Noi then to Railay or Phuket island then to Phi PhI
If you don't stay on an overnight boat at Maya Bay it is going to be fricking slammed in December
Those formations are not generally to the south. The trade off is the water gets much bluer the more south you go but the ferry times get longer as well and you have to wait for connecting ferries.
For example to get from Yai to Phi Phi there is a good chance you'll have to cross to Noi then to Railay or Phuket island then to Phi PhI
If you don't stay on an overnight boat at Maya Bay it is going to be fricking slammed in December
This post was edited on 6/28/16 at 10:47 pm
Posted on 6/28/16 at 10:54 pm to HollierThanThou
Posted on 6/28/16 at 11:09 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
Did you visit anywhere else while in SE Asia?
Posted on 6/28/16 at 11:21 pm to HollierThanThou
quote:
Did you visit anywhere else while in SE Asia?
I've been to Northern India and Siem Reap.
A few other posters have been to Thailand/Cambodia, etc as well. There was a thread recently on Siem Reap that you may be able to find. We all don't mind answering any questions. I'm surprised they haven't shown up yet. They can tell you more about Chiang Mai. I had to cut that out due to time constraints.
This post was edited on 6/28/16 at 11:24 pm
Posted on 6/29/16 at 8:15 am to HollierThanThou
quote:
Did you go to Phi Phi, Maya Bay or Monkey Island??
Had a day package that that went to all three plus Phi Phi Dong. Monkey Island is hit or miss, our visit as well as many others consists of pulling up in the boat where they usually are and if you get luck they are there at that time, stay for 5 minutes and then leave.
Photos from my trip
Collection of TB travel reviews
Posted on 6/29/16 at 8:54 am to Teddy Ruxpin
quote:
Siem Reap.
We are planning on doing just a day trip there to see Angkor Wat.
I've read that Angkor Wat isn't nearly as impressive as others in the area. Is this true in your experience?
Would you say the temples in the area are a doable day trip?
Posted on 6/29/16 at 9:18 am to DoUrden
Thanks for the tip and links!
I'm looking through your photobucket, judging your right now
I'm looking through your photobucket, judging your right now
Posted on 6/29/16 at 9:19 am to HollierThanThou
quote:
Would you say the temples in the area are a doable day trip?
I did a tour that went to 4 temples, from pick up at the hotel to return it was 8.5 hours, but one of the temples was 1/2 hour drive each way. You can do Angkor and a couple of other close ones in a day trip. I have an email address of a driver and guide that are brothers and were fantastic.
Posted on 6/29/16 at 9:21 am to HollierThanThou
quote:
I'm looking through your photobucket, judging your right now
No worries before we had this board the OT was used to post travel threads so you can't say anything that they didn't.
Posted on 6/29/16 at 10:20 am to HollierThanThou
quote:
Would you say the temples in the area are a doable day trip?
There are about a billion temples in the area.
Angkor is impressive, don't let people be all hipster and shite on it.
Bayon
Ta Prohm
Pre Rup
I enjoyed those as well. After that some get repetitive or are less than impressive ie the size of a small local church, but if you dig the history you may never get bored.
Not saying to do the ones I listed but those would most certainly take up a day and are all near and around Angkor.
Posted on 6/29/16 at 10:48 am to DoUrden
8 hours would be about right. The flight arrives at 11AM and leaves at 10PM.
Posted on 6/29/16 at 10:56 am to Teddy Ruxpin
Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm and Bayon were on our must do list.
Anything else in the area you would consider must do??
Mind you we have 9 hours
Anything else in the area you would consider must do??
Mind you we have 9 hours
Posted on 6/29/16 at 11:13 am to HollierThanThou
You are going at the busiest time of the year so consider that when planning airport time. Getting your VISA is a pain you will need $30 per person in cash (price earlier this year) and if you don't have a spare passport photo it's another $2 per person. You will also have travel from the airport to the temples and back. I personally would have transportation and a guide (if you are using one) lined up before getting there with the time constraints. Figure time for lunch too.
The way I did it is I flew in about noon, caught a taxi to the hotel which turned out to be the transport and guide I used for the tour, it was just me one on one with the guide and transport. Went into town that afternoon and evening. Caught the sunrise Angkor tour which may not apply given the time of the year. It started at 5:30 am and I was back around 2:00 PM. I was wiped from all the stair climbing and walking in 100 degrees, I had arranged to get access to a shower at the hotel when I got back (check out was noon) and after that I hung out at the pool and in the lobby until I left for my flight at 10 PM. Flew back to Bangkok.
I was considering a day trip but am glad I spent at least one night there and wish I would have stayed more.
The way I did it is I flew in about noon, caught a taxi to the hotel which turned out to be the transport and guide I used for the tour, it was just me one on one with the guide and transport. Went into town that afternoon and evening. Caught the sunrise Angkor tour which may not apply given the time of the year. It started at 5:30 am and I was back around 2:00 PM. I was wiped from all the stair climbing and walking in 100 degrees, I had arranged to get access to a shower at the hotel when I got back (check out was noon) and after that I hung out at the pool and in the lobby until I left for my flight at 10 PM. Flew back to Bangkok.
I was considering a day trip but am glad I spent at least one night there and wish I would have stayed more.
This post was edited on 6/29/16 at 11:17 am
Posted on 6/29/16 at 11:13 am to HollierThanThou
With that amount of to time I doubt you could get to the floating villages, nor get to the national park Phnom Kulen.
So I'd try to do the Khmer Rouge landmine museum thing or just enjoy the town. It's worth hanging out in the actual town.
It will be pretty warm so good chance yall will be wiped.
So I'd try to do the Khmer Rouge landmine museum thing or just enjoy the town. It's worth hanging out in the actual town.
It will be pretty warm so good chance yall will be wiped.
This post was edited on 6/29/16 at 11:15 am
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