Me and my family might need to spend a couple of days in Trang town during March 2016. If so, we thought of having some vacation as well. Could you recommend somewhere with a nice beach and possibility to go scuba diving. It's not necessarily one of the islands, if there's good beaches on the mainland that will do as well.

And about how much should a standard car with chauffeur cost me per day (thinking of around 5-7 days)? I have a Thai drivers licence, but prefer not to drive rented cars in Thailand.

No need really to rent a car, just jump one of the vans down to Hat Chao Mai. The National Park actually has cabins you can rent, the beach there is really nice. 5KMs of white sand, also the park has equipment you can rent, kayaks and such.

http://www.tourismthailand.org/Attraction/Hat-Chao-Mai-National-Park--816

Otherwise you have Pak Meng Pier as well as Chao Mai, (I think Pak Meng better if coming direct from Trang town) if you want to pop out to Koh Libong, Koh Muk or Koh Kradan.

Van ride back, my buddies and I were like television for this little girl, she had us under watch the whole way, hilarious !

No need really to rent a car, just jump one of the vans down to Hat Chao Mai. The National Park actually has cabins you can rent, the beach there is really nice. 5KMs of white sand, also the park has equipment you can rent, kayaks and such.

http://www.tourismthailand.org/Attraction/Hat-Chao-Mai-National-Park--816

Otherwise you have Pak Meng Pier as well as Chao Mai, (I think Pak Meng better if coming direct from Trang town) if you want to pop out to Koh Libong, Koh Muk or Koh Kradan

Looks lovely. Is the pic from Hat Chao Mai?

No need really to rent a car, just jump one of the vans down to Hat Chao Mai. The National Park actually has cabins you can rent, the beach there is really nice. 5KMs of white sand, also the park has equipment you can rent, kayaks and such.

http://www.tourismthailand.org/Attraction/Hat-Chao-Mai-National-Park--816

Otherwise you have Pak Meng Pier as well as Chao Mai, (I think Pak Meng better if coming direct from Trang town) if you want to pop out to Koh Libong, Koh Muk or Koh Kradan

Looks lovely. Is the pic from Hat Chao Mai?

Just around the big rock corner. If you look closely down the beach are kayaks people used to paddle over from the national park.

All kinds of caves to explore too, it's really neat down there.

I head out to Trang every couple of months to spend a couple of days at the Anantara Si Kao resort. Lovely place with a wonderful private beach, massive swimming pool, wonderful spa, etc. They can arrange all sorts of trips as well, to the islands, diving (I think they have their own diving operation as well).

I think hat chao mai is one of the worst national parks I have been to in Thailand. Messy and unorganized, I didn't see one employee apart from in the ticket shed at the entrance - I looked over at the huts and they didn't appeal .. Maybe there are newer blocks somewhere else.

If you hire a driver, one of the best attractions in Trang is Leh Khao gop .. It's a cave, you ride through it on a boat, but it's not for the claustrophobic, the missus loved it.

There are also some nice waterfalls, rapids, hills with temples. We were there last New Years holiday, i was surprised how much there is to see in Trang.