|
 |
Koh Lanta
Introduction
Lanta is now firmly established on the Thai tourism map but, as one of Thailand’s largest islands, it has been able to absorb the tourism boom of recent years without significant environmental impact.
|
The lack of crowds on some of Lanta’s long beaches and its laid-back atmosphere are big draws, along with Lanta’s convenient location for some of the kingdom’s best diving and snorkeling spots - plus it is within day-trip range of Koh Muk’s amazing Emerald Cave (see '4-island trip', below).
|
During the dry season (Nov to Apr) spectacular sunsets are a near daily certainty.
Ko Lanta means ‘dazzling island’ and with its ten beaches, breathtaking sunsets and laid back atmosphere, it does indeed dazzle. |
|
|
The degree to which you are dazzled will depend upon where you'll just arrived from. If you've just come from one of the more crowded destinations like Phi Phi, Phuket or Samui, or have just stepped off a plane from a frigid Western winter, you will no doubt have to keep pinching yourself, to make sure you haven't died and gone to heaven.
If, however, you've just arrived from more pristine idylls like Koh Lao Liang, Koh Bulone or Koh Yao Noi, you may find Lanta, especially the two northernmost beaches, over-developed. |
|
There are now over 100 resorts on the island, most of which are best avoided. We've visited them all and loaded most on this site (see below).
If you take care when you stay, Lanta is a great destination. If you end up in one of the island's many over-priced flea-pits, however, you are likely to be somewhat underwhelmed by Lanta.
|
|
|
|
Koh Lanta is long (27km from north to south) and narrow (4 km) and has a spine of 500 metre high hills clad in untouched rainforest running down the middle.
|
|
The western-facing coast is studded with a series of fine long beaches, while the east coast is edged by mudflats and mangrove swamps, making swimming impossible.
|
|
|
The southern tip of the island is reserved as a National Park, where visitors can explore virgin jungle, admire the dramatic coastline and bathe in crystal-clear waterfalls.
|
A 2 ½ km cliff-top trek starts at the National Park headquarters at Hat Hin Ngam and offers the chance to spot deer, wild pigs and monitor lizards, as well as to enjoy scenic sea and mountain vistas from a small white lighthouse at the trek’s highest point.
|
|
|
The island’s infrastructure has improved considerably in recent years and has caused a veritable explosion in tourism to the island, to the detriment of the ferry pier at the main town, the rather unsightly Saladan.
|
As well as the ferries from Ao Nang, Krabi and Phuket, minivans from the mainland arrive here – almost every visitor to Lanta arrives at the pier at Saladan.
|
|
|
The interior of the island is mainly covered in plantations of rubber, cashew-nut, fruit and palm trees.
There are still pockets of primeval forest left, mostly on the most southerly and steepest hillsides. |
The island is a great place for independent exploration, whether on foot along the beaches, trekking to the waterfalls and viewpoints in the interior, or touring the southern tip’s National Park by moped. |
|
 |
It's difficult to get lost, as there are so few roads and tracks to choose from, so you can just forget planning and randomly explore - if your chosen track ends in a dead end, it will do so pretty quickly, so you won’t have to back-track far.
Some hardy souls rent mountain bikes to go exploring.
|
| Others prefer a less energetic transport method. |
 |
 |
As well as reasonable elephant trekking, the islands offers superb snorkelling and scuba diving (for more, see the 'Tours' section below). |
| The sunsets are so photogenic, it's no surprise that websites use so many images of them. Here's one showing Koh Haa in the background, it's worth clicking on to take a look at the full sized version. |
 |
After this one last sunset image (I just can't resist this one), we'll take a look at some beaches.
Beaches
Khlong Dao Beach
This silky-soft beach starts on the edge of the town at which the ferries arrive, and was consequently the first to be developed for tourism. Some people will find this beach rather over-developed these days - we do.
Phra Ae (Long Beach)
A couple of kilometers south of Khlong Dao beach, 4 km-long Long Beach is shaded by large numbers of coconut palms and has soft sand and good waters for swimming, both at low and high tide, making it a perfect and archetypically tropical idyll. These prodigious charms, combined with the beach’s proximity to the ferry pier, have made it Lanta’s main tourist destination, and a beach on which all the resorts are nearly full all high season.
Unfortunately this has led to high prices and complacency, as most resorts on Long Beach have now ceased to care about the quality of their establishments or service, as they know they will get enough guests whether or not they make an effort. Unless you can afford to stay at one of the more up-market places such as Lanta Resort, Long Beach is now best avoided, as the mid-range resorts offer bad value for money. Lanta Resort occupies a prime spot at the end of the beach, is in great shape and is recommended.
Khlong Khong Beach
Whilst this laid-back 3 km-long beach just south of Long Beach isn’t the island’s best swimming beach, it offers great snorkeling at low tide. Accommodation is cheaper than on the preceding two beaches, with the emphasis being on more modest, but still clean bungalows. The beach is a lively place at night, with dining on the beach, fire-shows and rustic beach bars among the charms on offer. The Moonwalk resort on this beach is a spotless and great value budget place to stay.
Klong Nin Beach
This long beach is approximately 20 minutes south of Long Beach, and is well worth the extra travel time. The central portion of the beach, which is covered in silky, soft sand but not too many people, is best for swimming. This isn't Lanta's best beach.
Kantiang Beach
This beach was in 2009 selected by the UK newspaper The Sunday Times as "Best Best in Thailand", with good reason. Kantiang's charms are immediately obvious - a long bowed bay backed by an amphitheatre of jungle-clad hills and fronted by the craggy island Koh Haa, Kantiang's braod swathe of light sand begs to be sprawled on, while its waters are perfect for swimming at all tides.
It is as much what Kantiang lacks, as what it boasts, that make it so special. There are no jet-skis, no lager louts, no crowds, no seried ranks of deck-chairs, and no annoying hawkers.
The central portion of the beach is completely undeveloped, only the northern and southern ends have been developed. The owners of Pimalai Resort, the 5 star resort at the southern end of the beach, have left a stretch of 500 metres of the middle of the beach in a completely pristine condition. The beach never suffers from any litter, thanks to a zealous cleaning campaign run by Pimalai.
While the beach is as perfectly peaceful and prisitine as any traveller could wish for, it is far from a dull place to stay. There are two very popular beach bars here. The Aqua bar at the Baan Laanta resort is a comfortable and atmospheric place to socialise, particularly at high tide, when it sits perched above the water. Later on in the evening, the scene at the Why Not bar really kicks off, due to the brilliant beach band that plays here every night in high season.
This superb location makes the resorts here very desirable. Pimalai is the best resort on the island by a mile, while the Baan Lanta's location makes it a good contender for the best 3 star resort. The Lanta Marine Park View is the island's best-located budget resort.
Koh Lanta Tours
Koh Lanta Resorts
|
 |
|
Getting There & Away
There are three ways of reaching and/or leaving Lanta, which are as follows:
By private taxi or minivan. This is the most comfortable way of accessing or leaving Lanta. These are the times and costs to/from Ao Nang and Krabi
| |
| Ao Nang |
Taxi THB 3,200, minivan THB 3,500, time 3 hours |
Taxi THB 2,900, minivan THB 3,200, time 2,5 hours |
| Krabi Airport |
Taxi THB 3,200, minivan THB 3,500, time 2.5 hours |
Taxi THB 2,900, minivan THB 3,200, time 2 hours |
To turn the journey from a boring taxi ride into a fun day out, it is possible to book stopoffs at some worthwhile attractions. This These attractions are as follows:
The following table gives the prices for private minivan/taxi rides from Lanta to or from either Ao Nang or Krabi airport. We are the only travel company that offers this stopoff service, which we offer in order to maximise your enjoyment of your holiday. We only accept bookings for transfers from customers who also book their hotels with us. Note that if you book one of the stopoff-transfers in the table below, then we will invoice you for the ammount shown in the Flat Fee Cost column. Ona rrival at the stopoff attraction(s), please pay, directly, the prices shown in the last 2 columns.
The "Total Detour Time" in the table below is in addition to the time taken to drive from Ao Nang or Krabi to/from Lanta, as is detailed in the table above.
| 1 |
|
|
 |
|
|
1 hr |
3 hrs |
4 hrs |
5,500 |
|
|
| 2 |
|
|
|
 |
|
1 hr |
2 hrs |
3 hrs |
5,000 |
|
|
| 3 |
|
|
|
|
|
30 mins |
1.5 hrs |
2 hrs |
4,500 |
600 |
300 |
| 4 |
|
|
|
|
|
30 mins |
2 hrs |
2.5 hrs |
4,500 |
|
|
| 5 |
|
|
|
|
|
10 mins |
50 mins |
1 hr |
4,500 |
|
|
| 6 |
|
|
|
|
|
1 hr |
3.5 hrs |
4.5 hrs |
5,000 |
600 |
300 |
| 7 |
|
|
|
|
|
1.5 hrs |
4 hrs |
5.5 hrs |
5,500 |
|
|
| 8 |
|
|
|
|
|
1 hr |
3 hrs |
4 hrs |
5,500 |
|
|
| 9 |
|
|
|
|
|
1 hr |
3 hrs |
4 hrs |
5,000 |
|
|
| 10 |
|
|
|
|
|
1 hr |
2.5 hrs |
3.5 hrs |
5,000 |
600 |
300 |
| 11 |
|
|
|
|
|
30 mins |
3 hrs |
3.5 hrs |
5,000 |
|
|
| 12 |
|
|
|
|
|
1 hr |
4 hrs |
5 hrs |
5,500 |
600 |
300 |
| 13 |
|
|
|
|
|
1.5 hrs |
4.5 hrs |
6 hrs |
5,500 |
|
|
National Park fees are not included in the above prices, please pay these directly at the entrances to the attractions. These NP fees are currently as follows, but are subject to change without notice:
-
Hot Springs - adult THB 100, child 3 to 11 inclusive THB 50
-
Emerald Pool - adult THB 500, child 300
-
Huay To waterfall - adult THB 100, child 50
By Ferry. During high season ferries run from the island's town and main pier at Saladan, at the island's northern tip, to the following places: Ao Nang, Railay, Koh Phi Phi, Krabi Town and Phuket.
By shared minivan. It is possible to catch a shared minivan to Lanta from Krabi Town or from Ao Nang. This costs about THB 300 per person. You can also easily book and catch a shared minivan from Lanta to Ao Nang, Krabi Town, Krabi airport or Hat Yai down south. The trip to the airport takes at least 3 hours and can be uncomfortable when the minivan is full. |
Packages
The following packages include a visit to Koh Lanta. Click on a package for more information:
Andaman Sky, Co., Ltd, 454/2 Moo 1, Ao Nang, Thailand
|
|
|
|
|
|
