Klong Muang

Introduction

This village has three beaches and is 15 minutes drive from Ao Nang, making it an inconvenient location from which to enjoy the many facilities the town has to offer. The only reason to stay on Klong Muang is because you want to stay in one of the resorts there. The Klong Muang district offers hardly anything to do outside the resorts there - there is hardly any life to the area.

The only worthwhile daytrip that picks up here is that to Koh Hong, which is great, but only once. For all other daytrips you have to transfer to and from Ao Nang before and after the daytrip. All the huge range of daytrips available from Ao Nang are also available from Klong Muang. This means that for couples the Nakamanda and the Tubkaek have definite merits, as they are both good hideaway resorts.

Seeing as there isn't much to do in the village, we recommend the Klong Muang area for honeymooners and families with small children looking for a primarily resort-based vacation. Daytrips and excursions are noticeably more difficult to organize out of this area than in nearby Ao Nang, due to Klong Muang's out-of-the-way location. The hotels we list all offer daily shuttle services to and from Ao Nang.

Khlong Muang has 3 beaches, as follows:

Klong Muang North Beach

The Northern Beach is covered with rocks and boulders. It resembles a madmax post-apocalyptic wasteland zone, with a large industrial pier, abandoned and rusty trucks, a gravel mine and mining trucks driving up and down the road continuously, covering the area in dust. It is obviously not a recommended place for a picnic or a daytrip.

Klong Muang South Beach

Klong Muang South Beach, on the other hand, is a good sandy beach offering plenty of swimming opportunities.

Tubkaek Beach

Further South lies another, little-publicized beach by the name of Tubkaek. Tubkaek Beach offers a grandstand view of the karst cathedrals of Phang Nga Bay. The islands in the middle distance are superimposed on the shapes of the islands further away, which in turn are superimposed on the large silhouette of Koh Yao Noi.

At sunset, the different shades of silhouette form one of the most captivatingly beautiful sunsets most people will have ever seen, anywhere. A rather sophisticated piece of local lore has it that limestone has the peculiar property of refracting colours in a rather unusual way, giving the sunsets here their unsurpassed orange and purple hues.

Tubkaek Beach is never overcrowded and oversees the entire bay - on a clear day you can see all the way to Phuket.

This website's editor, Simon Ramsden, writes :

"I've lived in Ao Nang since 2005. When I want to go a beach without taking a boatride, I go to Tubkaek Beach to relax, because its quieter than the beaches nearer home and still has that pristine feel to it."

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