Hi folks,

We're planning on leaving Ko Tao tomorrow and getting a boat/bus to the west coast of Thailand. Our problem is we don't know where to start.

What we want to do is slowly make our way up North to Bangkok over a 3 week period. We have, so far, put in our itenary: Ko Lanta, PiPi, Krabi (ReiLei) and Phuket.

We just don't know where to start. Looking at a map, it makes sense to start as far South as possible, which would mean a bus to Krabi, then see Ko Lanta, PiPi and Phuket.

But should we go further South? Are there any 'must sees' South of Ko Lanta/Krabi? Even if we know this it would be a good place to start our research.... we just don't want to be crossing over ourselves multiple times while travelling as we only have 3 weeks of our trip left.

We're looking for a mix of nice beaches/chilling-out/diving but also would like a bit of lively nightlife the odd time.

We are budgeting about 1,000 baht per night (double bed) for 5 nights of the week, and can 'splash out' 2 nights of the week by going up to about 2,000 baht

We'd much appreciate any advise you can offer!

So many choices. This is a great website to help you decide:

http://tezzasthaiinfo.blogspot.com/

IMHO, diving in that area is just so so. If you want great diving, the Andaman sea is the way to go. But liveaboards only.

You might want to try a kayak safari. A bit expensive, but fantastic.

Go to Satun to catch ferry to Koh Tarutao, quite scenic and some sights. From Tarutao get ferry further west to Koh Lippe and Koh Adan, return to Satun. Then up the coast to Krabi, good limestone cliffs and knobs as well as beaches. From there to Koh Lanta, relaxed beach life. Thence ferry to Phi Phi, but not really much fun, just a tourist trap. Get ferry from there to Phuket, many great beaches, good diving, big tourist trap. Day dive trips are very good, can do multi-day liveaboards to Similans. Then fly/bus back to BKK or whatever.