Suggestions/Info Neded For Koh Lanta

[JemJem]

I would appreciate it if I could get some replies within 4-5 days, as I plan to go to Koh Lanta around the 21 st May.

What I am seeking is :

*Quiet, nice beach ; shallow, clear and non-rocky-surfaced water (I am mainly going for swimming and relaxing by the beach).

*Just some basic air-con accommodation (own bathroom is important though) of under 1,000 baht a night (600-700 baht a night would be nice). Close proximity to the beach would be nice of course.

Which beach and which hotel/s would you recommend ? And, just to have an idea (so as to I wouldn't get overcharged), how much would I pay for the taxi or boat service or whatever to get to that beach area from the island pier ?

Cheers,

Jem

[klongmuang]

Most of the beaches on Koh Lanta are sandy, nice and shallow. Certainly best is Klong Dao or Long Beach. Surf the net, I am sure you'll find an accommodation for less than 1'000 Baht this time of the year. Check once i.e. the Laguna Beach Club or the Noble House just next door. Both are right on the beach. I suppose you'll arrive at Krabi Airport and usually you can settle the taxi price somehow between 2500-3000 Baht, which includes the ferry price.

[JemJem]

Most of the beaches on Koh Lanta are sandy, nice and shallow. Certainly best is Klong Dao or Long Beach. Surf the net, I am sure you'll find an accommodation for less than 1'000 Baht this time of the year. Check once i.e. the Laguna Beach Club or the Noble House just next door. Both are right on the beach. I suppose you'll arrive at Krabi Airport and usually you can settle the taxi price somehow between 2500-3000 Baht, which includes the ferry price.

Thanks for the info, Klongmuang. Yeah, surely, I am surfing the Net for info but I have posted here in case someone here has some recommendations/suggestions from personal experience.

I have gone into the sites of the two hotels you mentioned. Even for this time of the year (ie. lowest rates), the cheapest room at L.B.Club is 1,350 baht and at Noble H, it is 1,600 baht.

No, I won't go by air. From Bangkok, I will go for either the coach+boat option or the train+van+boat option.

Cheers,

Jem

[grumpyoldman]

I like Bee Garden Bungalow, it's on Khlong Dao, and not so far from the pier, maybe 100thb motorbike/side car. You can Google the place maybe they can have someone pick you up.

They have a couple rooms pretty much right on the sand, this time of year, 500-700thb a night.

Nice thing here is there are restaurants/bars/beach hangouts to both the left and right of you and you are close to Saladan Town, in case you want to go wander around there.

Otherwise Kantiang Beach resort has a number of room options, although very far from the pier, Kantiang Bay is one of my favorite beaches on the island.

[JemJem]

I like Bee Garden Bungalow, it's on Khlong Dao, and not so far from the pier, maybe 100thb motorbike/side car. You can Google the place maybe they can have someone pick you up.

They have a couple rooms pretty much right on the sand, this time of year, 500-700thb a night.

Nice thing here is there are restaurants/bars/beach hangouts to both the left and right of you and you are close to Saladan Town, in case you want to go wander around there.

Otherwise Kantiang Beach resort has a number of room options, although very far from the pier, Kantiang Bay is one of my favorite beaches on the island.

Thanks a lot, Grumpyoldman !

Cheers,

Jem

[Roel]

JemJem said:

I have gone into the sites of the two hotels you mentioned. Even for this time of the year (ie. lowest rates), the cheapest room at L.B.Club is 1,350 baht and at Noble H, it is 1,600 baht.

Prices on hotel websites are not necessarily the same as they will offer you as a walk-in. Low season - certainly on Koh Lanta - offers good price negotiation opportunities. Avoid the touts and taxi drivers who take you to a hotel of their choice. They say it is the best and the cheapest but they will bring you to the one that offers them the highest commission. So beware. Also on the ferry you might be approached by touts. There happen to be a few local hotel owners on Koh Lanta who also own the ferry service. The touts are of course only allowed to promote/sell their hotels. Most are sh#t places.

[Rooo]

Where do you get the car ferry from please ?

[smokie36]

Where do you get the car ferry from please ?

http://lanta.krabi.info/how-to-get-lanta.htm two ferries Rooo with a short drive in between.

For a place to stay on long beach I like this place. Nice cocktails and quiet end of Long Beach not too far from Saladin.

[grumpyoldman]

Where do you get the car ferry from please ?

Hi Roo,

smokie36's info link was good, but in plain language, from Krabi Airport hit the road towards Trang and about 20KM's up is a right hand turn that says Lanta. Big sign, tough to miss just past a big Lemon Gas Station.

That road takes you all the way to the pier, about another 25kms.

Once off the first ferry, head on out and make a right first intersection, from there only about 5kms to left turn to second ferry. Careful here as not as well marked but typically you will be following a bunch of other cars doing the same.

Right now I have to think Lanta is perfect. Good weather, still a lot of sand, nobody around.

[LivinginKata]

Right now I have to think Lanta is perfect. Good weather, still a lot of sand, nobody around.

Depends if you think that low season is 'perfect'. We visited Lanta in May and found that many bars and resturants had closed 1st May. Left us very little choice other than hotel bars & restaurants. We booked/paid our hotel for 3 nights and wished we could leave Lanta after 2 days. When I checked out hotel booking web sites I had wondered why the sudden drop in prices from 1st May. I found out why ...

And Rooo - Once you arrive in Krabi you just follow the road signs to Trang, and there is a big sign for the Lanta turn-off. It's a very easy route as we found the first time. Just a note that you pay for both ferries at the first ticket booth. The price for car & pax is not expensive.

[Rooo]

Thank you guys. Might have a look in a few days.

[grumpyoldman]

Right now I have to think Lanta is perfect. Good weather, still a lot of sand, nobody around.

Depends if you think that low season is 'perfect'. We visited Lanta in May and found that many bars and resturants had closed 1st May. Left us very little choice other than hotel bars & restaurants.

You are absolutely correct LIK, perfection I guess is subjective. For the opposite of bustling Phuket, this is Lanta this time of year.

Maybe I should have said, perfectly peacefully quite, or as John Mayer sings "Perfectly Lonely" as we are getting to the time of year where you can fire a cannon off in Saladan Town and no one would notice, just not many people around thus the restaurant closures.

[LivinginKata]

You are absolutely correct LIK, perfection I guess is subjective. For the opposite of bustling Phuket, this is Lanta this time of year.

Maybe I should have said, perfectly peacefully quite, or as John Mayer sings "Perfectly Lonely" as we are getting to the time of year where you can fire a cannon off in Saladan Town and no one would notice, just not many people around thus the restaurant closures.

quite right GOM, it is subjective. We did enjoy our short holiday in Lanta, and we plan to return again. I'm just pointing out to all TV members that Lanta has very little entertainment to offer after 1st May (not that there is much of that any time of the year) , other than the beautiful beaches. We were just disappointed that almost all the small bars & eateries were closed. On the other side of the coin we had a fantastic hotel beach bungalow right on the sand for quite small money.

[grumpyoldman]

You are absolutely correct LIK, perfection I guess is subjective. For the opposite of bustling Phuket, this is Lanta this time of year.

Maybe I should have said, perfectly peacefully quite, or as John Mayer sings "Perfectly Lonely" as we are getting to the time of year where you can fire a cannon off in Saladan Town and no one would notice, just not many people around thus the restaurant closures.

quite right GOM, it is subjective. We did enjoy our short holiday in Lanta, and we plan to return again. I'm just pointing out to all TV members that Lanta has very little entertainment to offer after 1st May (not that there is much of that any time of the year) , other than the beautiful beaches. We were just disappointed that almost all the small bars & eateries were closed. On the other side of the coin we had a fantastic hotel beach bungalow right on the sand for quite small money.

July and August some of these eateries open back up. For instance Red Snapper which is an excellent restaurant is back open come mid-July.

And yes, now you can get exceptional rates on rooms right on the sand, just have to get lucky to not get the strong onshore winds.

[tonysamui]

the ancient realm resort , very nice bungalow close to the beach : http://ancientrealmresort.com/ , now u can get very good deal!

[Gally1]

We are likely to be visiting in October so I am taking note of all the hotel recommendations. I have heard that October can be the wettest month but others say not. I guess we will have to wait and see on that one. Another question, are the restaurants that are mentioned as re-opening in July likely to stay open thru to October? Or will they close again and re-open in Nov/Dec?

[grumpyoldman]

We are likely to be visiting in October so I am taking note of all the hotel recommendations. I have heard that October can be the wettest month but others say not. I guess we will have to wait and see on that one. Another question, are the restaurants that are mentioned as re-opening in July likely to stay open thru to October? Or will they close again and re-open in Nov/Dec?

Gally1 you are basically looking at 50%-50% on both of your question topics.

Some years I've seen October rain the whole month, others every other day and less. Regarding restaurants, they usually start preparing for high season then as they want to be pretty much up and running by November 1, but in recent years we've had rain continue even into December so I wouldn't be surprised if some open a little later.

So as Clint Eastwood said to a collar in a Dirty Harry movie "so tell me, do you feel lucky"?

[bifftastic]

You are absolutely correct LIK, perfection I guess is subjective. For the opposite of bustling Phuket, this is Lanta this time of year.

Maybe I should have said, perfectly peacefully quite, or as John Mayer sings "Perfectly Lonely" as we are getting to the time of year where you can fire a cannon off in Saladan Town and no one would notice, just not many people around thus the restaurant closures.

quite right GOM, it is subjective. We did enjoy our short holiday in Lanta, and we plan to return again. I'm just pointing out to all TV members that Lanta has very little entertainment to offer after 1st May (not that there is much of that any time of the year) , other than the beautiful beaches. We were just disappointed that almost all the small bars & eateries were closed. On the other side of the coin we had a fantastic hotel beach bungalow right on the sand for quite small money.

Snap, we went there on the 25th May for a week, and whilst it was very nice and peaceful, we got a great deal at Otto's in Klong Nin through a friend. We were disappointed that all the cheap Thai places to eat seemed to be non-existent, or closed. Only the more expensive places seemed to be open, still, we had a great time and will definitely be going back.

Sounds a bit 'cheap charlie' I know but we do like a street food stall or a small Thai style 'plastic chairs on the road' type place the food is, often, better and the atmosphere is..well, the outside world as opposed to a deck and some potted plants!

For example, when we were in Bangkok on our way back up north, the four of us eat well for 180 baht, in Lanta it was more like 800.

The bus, from Bangkok (Mo Chit, I know everyone says buses from Mo Chit don't go south, but they do!) took us to Krabi but then went on to drop us near the ferry where a tuk-tuk took us all the way to Klong Nin for 500 baht (2 adults 2 kids)