Koh Lipe or Koh Kradan?

[jphasia]

...Thanks. I never worried to get cash in Thailand because there are ATM's everywhere but never been to Lipe. So as i saw the topic and going there next week, Lipe seems very small and quite far, i wouldn't have any surprise.

Try to go the land route via Krabi/Phuket, the boat ride from phuket is tedious and long (as in 8 or 9 hours long) and it stops at the mainland and Ko Kradan on the way.

Best way is a minibus straught to Pak Bara, then take the 2 hr fast speed boat and do the zippy 90 km to Ko lipe, otherwise you are doing doing 190 km in 2 slow boats from Phuket.

Thanks. Actually yes. My plan is to go with my own car from Phuket. I am taking some time off and our original plan is to drive down south. We will stop few days in Lanta visit a friend and will do some day trip around (Koh RoK mainly) then going down to Pak Bara and catch a boat to Lipe. I am familiar with the area, just never been to Tarutao and Lipe area. I might also try a hop to Langkawi for a few days.

Just been told you can not take money out of an ATM on a visa or mastercard as credit(not sure this counts for all banks), it is only debit visa account types so be warned if you're maxing out your cards!

1 or 2 of the shops/hotels still do a visa/mastercard/foreign cash to baht for around 5-7% but there are no banks. So change your cash beforehand if you do not have a debit facility on your account.

Thanks for the tip! No much problem for me as I am using Thai ATM / debit cards or even Thai Credit Cards but that explain why my wife was telling this morning that her friend who was there last month couldn't get any cash from ATM's. Probably because she is using foreign credit cards.

[jphasia]

...Thanks. I never worried to get cash in Thailand because there are ATM's everywhere but never been to Lipe. So as i saw the topic and going there next week, Lipe seems very small and quite far, i wouldn't have any surprise.

Try to go the land route via Krabi/Phuket, the boat ride from phuket is tedious and long (as in 8 or 9 hours long) and it stops at the mainland and Ko Kradan on the way.

Best way is a minibus straught to Pak Bara, then take the 2 hr fast speed boat and do the zippy 90 km to Ko lipe, otherwise you are doing doing 190 km in 2 slow boats from Phuket.

Thanks. Actually yes. My plan is to go with my own car from Phuket. I am taking some time off and our original plan is to drive down south. We will stop few days in Lanta visit a friend and will do some day trip around (Koh RoK mainly) then going down to Pak Bara and catch a boat to Lipe. I am familiar with the area, just never been to Tarutao and Lipe area. I might also try a hop to Langkawi for a few days.

Just been told you can not take money out of an ATM on a visa or mastercard as credit(not sure this counts for all banks), it is only debit visa account types so be warned if you're maxing out your cards!

1 or 2 of the shops/hotels still do a visa/mastercard/foreign cash to baht for around 5-7% but there are no banks. So change your cash beforehand if you do not have a debit facility on your account.

Thanks for the tip! No much problem for me as I am using Thai ATM / debit cards or even Thai Credit Cards but that explain why my wife was telling this morning that her friend who was there last month couldn't get any cash from ATM's. Probably because she is using foreign credit cards.

I am just back from my trip to Lipe. I actually stayed less than expected and also did not go to Langkawi as I extended my stay in Ko Lanta and also did few additional trips to Koh Rok, Koh Kradan, Koh Mook and others small islands in the area.

Koh Lipe is beautiful, no questions about it! Water so clear and so much fish and corails. I did a day trip on private longtail boat for snorkeling around, Koh Adang, Rewi...beautiful!

Koh Lipe was not busy, mainly Thai tourist, not much foreigners. As I didn't know Lipe and on short stay (2 nights only), I booked a resort online (Anda resort) with a private villa on the beach. Sunrise beach. That was ok but i saw many others options that i will consider next time.

As mentioned before, yes there is only 1 seven eleven on the island but plenty of ATM's now (all from Krungsri bank). I did not use it as i had enough cash with me.

I parked my car at Pak Bara pier in a private facility with cover, fence, cctv. It cost me 100b per day.

On my trip to the south, i really enjoyed Koh Kradan. So beautiful place! I didn't sleep there as i was on day trip from Lanta but it is a beautiful place which i will do again. I also stopped at Pak Meng beach. Nice but the beach is very dirty with rubbish everywhere.

I will most probably do another longer trip later this year including Satun area, Tarutao islands, Lipe islands which an area that I really like.

From Pak Bara pier to Phuket, it take about 6 hours drive by car and the road is nice.

[squatncrunch]

In lipe now, low season and great. The Koh Kradan/Mook area is nice but pretty much dead right now.

[wellred]

I went to Lipe last in January 2014 and although there were plenty of people on the island, it never felt that busy when compared to Phi Phi or Phuket. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and plan to spend 5 days or so there next January. It looks like there are now 6 ATMs on the island which is great!

Where is the best place to find a longtail boat to negotiate a private hire? I would like to hire one to stop at some islands to walk around, take some pics ect. I know there are the tour agencies but a lot of these are mostly for folks who want to snorkel and you don't get much time on the islands.