The son of a friend of mine is currently in KL, Malaysia, attending a wedding of a cousin. He is with his wife and three year old son.

After the wedding, he would like to travel up to southern Thailand, exploring the Andaman coast. He likes beaches, his wife likes some town life, they both like to explore clubs with local music, not sure they will find modern jazz in southern Thailand!

They don't want to be walking past bars with bargirls ushering them in, plenty of that in Kl, apparently.

Secondly, they can't stand the smell of weed, so they're apprehensive about heading to Krabi, Ao Nang, Railay beach.

I thought Khao Lak might be a better idea but not having spent time in southern Thailand since 1989, I'm really not the one to offer advice!

Is there anywhere on the Andaman coast with a reasonable beach, some town life and dope free air that anyone would recommend?

A tall order, I know, but if anyone has any suggestions, they'd be much appreciated.

Ko Lipe.... From KL Head to Langkawi (If slow travellling go via Penang, Georgetown is awesome for food) and then get the ferry across to Ko Lipe.

After Ko Lipe get the ferry to Pak Bara Pier and from there you can get transport to Phuket / Krabi etc...

Hat Yai's reasonably ganja stench free. There's not much in the way of traditional girlie bars in town, but if they're interested in local music and clubs the area around Prince Songkhla University would be where to go and that's well away from Malaysian mongers territory. Songkhla town and beaches are only 45 minutes away from Hat Yai. If they're around in March there's the Chang music festival, but the jazz festival is usually held in May.