Another day, another island….

Koh Lanta?

A skip and a hop’s ride away from Krabi, Thailand. Located in the Andaman Coastal line.

Koh Lanta is a cute island where tourism is on the boom, but it’s still very serene and quiet. You get amazing resorts that are all beach front, a mix of cute clean and nicely kept hostels and lots of coastal line. It is still so traditional that the only modes of transport are scooter, tuk tuks and pick up trucks. 

Roads are paved, one lane each way. One road on each side of the island a small middle point road that connect one many road to other in the middle of the island if you had up to the mountains. Street lights are pretty non existent most on most roads and everyone is super friendly!

Perfect way to describe it – Amazing resort island with amazing quiet beaches but still old school island life.

Things to do:

• Chill out 
• Bake on the beach
• Ride around the island and visit the old town, various different points, national parks, catch lots of amazing sunsets over the water…
• Eat lots of amazing Thai food
• Watch lots and lots of amazing sunsets….

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How to get there?

Multiple options:

1. Get a ferry from which ever island you are at and get dropped on the island at Saladan
2. Go by road and ferry and come over the bridge from Koh Lanta Noi, the larger island

I was coming from Krabi and opted on option one above, the ferry, a more direct route which dropped you off at Saladan pier. The ride over was a bit of fun. From Krabi you get ferried off in a smaller speed boat which then you can transported to a larger ferry.

This ferry then does a few island pickups, it’s all quite interesting so long tail boats coming up to drop off other passengers as well as other larger ferries transferring their passengers and their luggage over, boat 2 boat!

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Arrival into Saladan Ferry Pier

The pier is very busy, everyone is trying to get off the ferry, picking up their luggage on the way, it’s a tiny bit chaotic! And then there is walk in on the pier, which is not that big. Lots of tuk tuk drivers are on the pier scouting for new business! Upon arrival, all visitors need to pay for the entrance fee into the island. It’s tuk tuk business galore. Then there is lots of little ferry ticket sales operators and scalpers for hostels. Dotted around the pier is lots of small guest houses and a bit further out are all the resorts.

I awesomely scored a pimped-up pink hello kitty ride to my resort! wohooo ♥ hello kitty… the inner child in me!

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Island Touring

So I may have gotten super lucky and had the best scooter rider on the island…  who also can ride in the dark at super safe speed through the wind and bugs!

The island literally has one road down on each side, with a few tiny little roads connecting these 2 main roads in the middle of the island, up some mountain range. 

Modes of transport are pretty limiting on the island:

• Push Bike
• Scooter
• Tuk Tuk
• Car? Impossible to almost hire

The adventures begin….. Old town and the pier…

Pirates Paradise Resort & Bar, right at the bottom of the right hand side of the island is very cute and something to check out.. It’s literally a cute resort all AHOY! themed… There is a gang plank in the pool and a cave, an awesome spot at the base of the island to kick back, take a dip in the pool and cool down over a bucket! Yes you can jump in their pool even though you’re not staying there!

Surrounding Pirates is some very old local fishing villages which are still in operation, it’s nice to do a quick ride down the streets to check out local life.

Mountain connection … through the national park, got to see some local rubber tapping of the trees as well as then heading down to be coaxed into a bit of a ride to go up to some limestone caves, which we skipped and check out a DAM for free instead hahaha

And the road south is amazing… with monkeys about!

The recommendation is to head all the way down to the west coast and enter the Mu Ko National Park, but we kinda skipped the national park as it was another couple hundred THB entrance per person to enter as well as a bit of a hike out to the lighthouse to do the loop and at this stage was chasing the sun … But tailed back to Bamboo Bay to catch the sunset… Any where along the west coast of the island you can catch the most amazing sunsets.. the further south you go, the more remote, the better…

TIP:

• Once the sun goes down, you are in a very traditional island, there are no lights anywhere.. it’s picth black on the beach and on the roads – which means finding your scooter in the middle of the dark can be a bit of fun! hahaha just don’t fall down and get swept out in the ocean!
• You can do the speedy check out the island in a day as I did, but if you are keen to do the caves, you’ll need a bit longer to check it all out!

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Food!!!

Food in Koh Lanta… Options are endless, lot of little local thai and western restaurants / eateries, a German Bakery – Nang Sabai, it even does Leberkaese!!! Omg so excited that they make Leberkaese  so had to have some… and Koh Lanta being surrounded by ocean, has amazing fresh SEAFOOD! 

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Accommodation

I stayed at  Royal Lanta Resort & Spa, it’s not far from the ferry terminal about 5-10mins in a Tuk Tuk. But it’s smack right bang on the beach, the resort backs on to the beach side. It has a gym, but it’s ancient and in need of a decent upgrade! There are 2 pools to cool down in and countless deck chairs to bake in beach side. Also you can walk up and down the beach and it’s resort after resort after resort….. 

NB: The resort is also not too far from the main road, and if you’re up for the challenge, you can walk back towards the pier at nite for the night markets – your usual fair of trinkets and souveniers and towards the south of the island, you have more restaurants and food options.

Resort life

And the best part of the resort.. doing nothing……  and baking….

Okay maybe also taking walks along the beach to make more room for ice cream!

The walks are actually stunning…. pre-breakie, post-breakie, pre-lunch, post -unch, pre-nana nap…

And the sunsets at the resort are absolutely to die for!