Does anyone know of any good islands near Trang in the south? I'm looking for somewhere fairly quiet but still with a few restaurants and bars and things to do.

Don't mind if it's mostly thai tourists or farangs.

My mrs mentioned Kho Kratan - has anyone been there? Not sure on the spelling.

I've been to a few beaches on the mainland in the area. One was beautiful and the others were pretty rubbish (compared to KPG, Samui etc.)

Budget = accom 500 baht a night - give or take.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Good answer for you is Bulone island.

Quiet, cheap room, few restaurants and bar. Good place for readings, sun bathing, swimming.... nice sea view, crystal clear water.

Only one hour from Pakbara pier, which is one hour driving from Trang...

Believe me, it's cool!!!!

Koh Kradan is not that great. Beaches not the best and I didn't bother to go back.

What about island hopping ? Easy to do and grea to explore. If you like it stay, if not, move on. Great memories for a honeymoon.

Thanks for the feedback.

Island hopping isn't really ideal because we'll only have about 4-5 days so just want to relax in one place. Want to make sure it's good though!! We have a couple of weeks on KPG before the wedding so want somewhere quite different to this.

Alenhan - can you point me towards any info on Bulone island? Sounds spot on!

When in Trang absolutely do not miss Tham Marokot (Emerald Cave). One of two in the world. It is a huge open roofed cave in the middle of the sea with a beach inside! Crawl into with long-tail boat and get out before the tide rises (or get stuck inside over-night).

Another Trang wonder is Koh Rok (no accommodation on island) can make the day-trip by speedboat (slow boat takes like 3 hours!). It's far almost in international waters. Beautiful! Koh Por was the location of a Survivor series a few years back.

Do not miss Trang (like most foreign tourists) it has as much as Krabi but only a small percentage of the visitors.

Hi byoung2

i found http://www.bulone-resort.net/en/0.html is a good place to start, but some info needs updates. I went Bulone one year before Tsunami visited here. I was so impressed with the sea view, the service, people, and from other tourists. I noticed that tourists here were people like you... need wonderful view, not crowded, quiet, but enough facilities.

Tarutao is quite like Bulone, just bigger and in natural park(bulone is not). nice sea view, clear water, bird seeing, treking, crocodile cave, ..

Bulone has more places if you want some snorkeling to see the coralsss...

When in Trang absolutely do not miss Tham Marokot (Emerald Cave). One of two in the world. It is a huge open roofed cave in the middle of the sea with a beach inside! Crawl into with long-tail boat and get out before the tide rises (or get stuck inside over-night).

Another Trang wonder is Koh Rok (no accommodation on island) can make the day-trip by speedboat (slow boat takes like 3 hours!). It's far almost in international waters. Beautiful! Koh Por was the location of a Survivor series a few years back.

Do not miss Trang (like most foreign tourists) it has as much as Krabi but only a small percentage of the visitors.

not sure about taking a longtail boat into Tham Morakot! ive never been able to do this. every time i have been there, i have swam the length of the cave.

to the OP, how about Ko Ngai (also known as Ko Hai)? not sure if the accom will be in your price range, but its lovely.

there is actually some government run accom on Ko Rok these days. nice little bungalows. not sure of pricing though.

When in Trang absolutely do not miss Tham Marokot (Emerald Cave). One of two in the world. It is a huge open roofed cave in the middle of the sea with a beach inside! Crawl into with long-tail boat and get out before the tide rises (or get stuck inside over-night).

Another Trang wonder is Koh Rok (no accommodation on island) can make the day-trip by speedboat (slow boat takes like 3 hours!). It's far almost in international waters. Beautiful! Koh Por was the location of a Survivor series a few years back.

Do not miss Trang (like most foreign tourists) it has as much as Krabi but only a small percentage of the visitors.

not sure about taking a longtail boat into Tham Morakot! ive never been able to do this. every time i have been there, i have swam the length of the cave.

to the OP, how about Ko Ngai (also known as Ko Hai)? not sure if the accom will be in your price range, but its lovely.

there is actually some government run accom on Ko Rok these days. nice little bungalows. not sure of pricing though.

Sorry for the above dodgy English about going into Tham Morakot.

My girlfreind Google accommodation on Koh Rok and youre right, it's pretty brand-new. It is not cheap - big chalets are 4,500-5,000 baht per night. Below is example photo. Accommodation can be booked via Nemo Tour, nemotour.com

Thanks Donna.

I've been checking out Koh Ngai. Looks wonderful but hard to get to the bottom of real current prices. Looks like they start at 800B but can never trust the internet prices ...

I'll definately be checking out Tham Morakot too.

Davidandaman... Thank you. I've seen (and responded to) your marketing on your other post. Definately could be helpful... but no info on resorts, prices etc??

At 5000B per night Kho Rok will have to wait until our golden anniversary

Koh Ngai is leading the race at this stage...

Thanks Donna.

I've been checking out Koh Ngai. Looks wonderful but hard to get to the bottom of real current prices. Looks like they start at 800B but can never trust the internet prices ...

I'll definately be checking out Tham Morakot too.

Davidandaman... Thank you. I've seen (and responded to) your marketing on your other post. Definately could be helpful... but no info on resorts, prices etc??

At 5000B per night Kho Rok will have to wait until our golden anniversary

Koh Ngai is leading the race at this stage...

I spent a couple of nights at Koh Ngai it was wonderful. Food good and not overly expensive. Not too far from the Emerald caves. But choose your times carefully as the caves can get a bit crowded.

If I remember correctly these islands are difficult to get during end Feb/Mar/Apr.

Don't go to Phi-Phi a.k.a. The Island of Death.

Link to The Island of Death story