Krabi

The three bases

Krabi is a province, not a single place, and where you stay decides what your trip looks like.

• Ao Nang — the main tourist strip. Restaurants, shops, and the pier for every boat trip. Convenient rather than beautiful.
• Railay — a peninsula cut off from the mainland by cliffs, reached only by longtail boat. No roads, and the best setting on this coast. Two sides: Railay West for sunsets, Railay East for mangroves and access.
• Krabi Town — the real town, on the river. Cheap, local, and 20 minutes from the beaches.

The island and bay trips

Almost everyone does at least one longtail or speedboat day. The tours are standardised and the differences are mainly in timing and crowd size.

• The Four Islands — Koh Poda, Koh Gai, Koh Tub and Koh Mor, with the sandbar that appears between them at low tide.
• Hong Islands — quieter, with a lagoon inside the island that is the highlight of the trip.
• Phi Phi — reachable from Krabi as well as Phuket, and usually combined with Bamboo Island.
• Phang Nga Bay and James Bond Island, to the north.

On the mainland

Krabi is not only coastline, and the inland stops are usually folded into an afternoon.

• Wat Tham Suea, the Tiger Cave Temple — a 1,237-step climb to a viewpoint that justifies every one of them.
• The Emerald Pool and the Krabi Hot Springs, in the jungle inland — often combined, and best early before the coaches arrive.
• Khao Khanab Nam, the twin limestone peaks that frame the river at Krabi Town.

When to go

November to February is the dry season and the best weather. March and April are hot but still dry.

May to October is the monsoon, and Krabi takes it directly. Boat trips are frequently cancelled or curtailed, and some services to the smaller islands stop altogether. If your trip depends on a specific island, do not book it in the monsoon.