Tours — ELITE GO TRAVEL & TOUR

From Krabi

4 Islands Day — Poda, Chicken, Tup and Phra Nang, from Krabi

The one everybody does, and the sandbar that is only there for a few hours

Four islands in one boat day, twenty minutes out of Ao Nang. At low tide a sandbar surfaces and joins Tup, Mor and Chicken into a single walkable strip; a few hours later it is sea again. Phra Nang closes the day under its cliff.

In the package

Koh Poda
Phra Nang Cave Beach
Chicken Island (Koh Kai)
Tup and Mor — the tidal sandbar

Photo: kallerna / CC BY-SA 3.0

Typical market price, from ⁦900⁩ THB

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Hong Islands Day from Krabi

A lagoon you get into through a gap in the rock

Ko Hong is named for its room. A lagoon almost closed in by cliffs, reached through an opening a longtail can just fit through, and the water inside is flat, shallow and a different colour from the sea outside.

In the package

Ko Hong
The Hong lagoon
Ko Pakbia sandbar

Photo: Maksym Kozlenko / CC BY-SA 4.0

Typical market price, from ⁦900⁩ THB

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Emerald Pool, Hot Springs & Tiger Cave — Krabi Inland Day

The day Krabi keeps for itself, an hour from the sea

Inland Krabi is limestone and water. A spring-fed pool the colour of its name, a river that runs warm over rock and falls into pools you can sit in, and 1,237 steps up a karst tower to a temple with the whole province underneath it.

In the package

Emerald Pool, Khao Phra Bang Khram
Klong Thom hot springs
Tiger Cave Temple — 1,237 steps

Photo: Maksym Kozlenko / CC BY-SA 4.0

Typical market price, from ⁦1,200⁩ THB

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Phi Phi & James Bond Island — 2 Days from Krabi

Two bays everybody has seen, and the quiet water between them

Maya Bay closed for nearly four years so its reef could recover, and reopened under limits: boats moor behind the beach and the water is knee-deep only. Ko Tapu has stood in Phang Nga Bay since long before the film crew arrived in 1974. Between the two lies the part nobody photographs — flat green water, and a stilt village where lunch is eaten over the sea.

In the package

Maya Bay, Ko Phi Phi Leh
Ko Tapu — James Bond Island
Phang Nga Bay and the stilt village
Phuket Old Town
Phuket FantaSea, Kamala

Photo: Diego Delso / CC BY-SA 3.0

Typical market price, from ⁦8,600⁩ THB

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Similan Islands Day — Phang Nga, from Krabi or Phuket

The clearest water on this coast, and it is shut half the year

Nine granite islands off Phang Nga, inside a national park that closes through the monsoon — roughly mid-May to mid-October — so the reef is left alone. In open season it is a speedboat morning and water clear enough to see the bottom from the deck.

In the package

Mu Ko Similan National Park

Photo: Mathias Krumbholz / CC BY-SA 3.0

Typical market price, from ⁦2,200⁩ THB

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Khao Sok & Cheow Lan Lake — Overnight from Krabi or Phuket

One of the oldest rainforests there is, and a lake made in 1987

Khao Sok is one of the oldest evergreen rainforests in the world. Cheow Lan is not: a dam flooded the valley in 1987 and left limestone towers standing in green water, with raft houses tied beneath them. The nights are loud with gibbons.

In the package

Cheow Lan Lake, Khao Sok National Park

Photo: Lung Manu / CC BY-SA 4.0

Typical market price, from ⁦3,400⁩ THB

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Zipline, ATV & Elephants — Jungle Day from Krabi

One day inland, and nothing about it is a beach

The coast is what people book and the hills behind it are what they talk about afterwards. A zipline course strung between platforms in the canopy, an ATV trail through rubber plantation, elephants, and tigers at close range. One long, loud day that ends nothing like a beach day: inland, muddy, and a long way from the postcard.

In the package

Zipline through the forest canopy
Elephants — riding and feeding
Tigers at close range
ATV trail through the plantation

Photo: Nicolas Vollmer / CC BY 2.0

Typical market price, from ⁦3,650⁩ THB

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Phi Phi Islands Day from Krabi — Maya Bay and Pileh Lagoon

The bay the film used, and the lagoon next door that people like better

Two hours by speedboat from Ao Nang. Maya Bay reopened with rules — no boats inside, a fixed landing on the far side, a limited time ashore — and Pileh, the flooded cleft around the corner, is where most of the swimming happens. Bamboo Island on the way back if the sea allows it.

In the package

Maya Bay
Pileh Lagoon
Viking Cave, from the boat
Bamboo Island

Photo: Diego Delso / CC BY-SA 3.0

Typical market price, from ⁦1,700⁩ THB

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Ao Thalane Sea Kayaking, Krabi — Half Day

Paddling yourself, through mangrove channels between the cliffs

Twenty-five minutes north of Ao Nang, where the limestone stands straight out of flat water. You paddle, in a two-person kayak, through mangrove channels narrow enough to touch both sides. Quiet, no engine, and a half day rather than a whole one.

In the package

Ao Thalane
The mangrove channels
Hong Cave, at low water

Photo: Christophe95 / CC BY-SA 4.0

Typical market price, from ⁦800⁩ THB

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Railay Sunset and Bioluminescent Plankton, Krabi

Late afternoon on the peninsula, then the water lights up

An evening trip rather than a day one. Railay while the light goes, then out after dark to swim where the plankton glows when the water is disturbed. It needs a dark night to work, so it runs away from the full moon.

In the package

Railay Beach
Phra Nang at sunset
Swimming with the plankton

Photo: kallerna / CC BY-SA 3.0

Typical market price, from ⁦900⁩ THB

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From Koh Lanta

Ko Rok and Ko Haa Snorkelling from Lanta

The clearest water in the province, and far enough out to stay that way

Two and a half hours south of Lanta, at the edge of the province. Ko Rok is a pair of islands with a shallow channel between them; Ko Haa is five limestone stacks with caverns at the bottom. This is the trip divers do as snorkellers. The park closes it in the monsoon.

In the package

Ko Rok Nok and Ko Rok Nai
Ko Haa
The channel between the two Roks

Photo: dronepicr / CC BY 2.0

Typical market price, from ⁦1,600⁩ THB

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Phi Phi and Bamboo Island from Lanta

The short way to Phi Phi — Lanta is closer than Krabi or Phuket

Lanta sits nearer Phi Phi than either Ao Nang or Phuket, so the boat time is shorter and the islands are reached earlier, before the fleet from the mainland. Bamboo Island first while it is still empty, then Maya and Pileh.

In the package

Bamboo Island
Maya Bay
Pileh Lagoon

Photo: Deror Avi / CC BY-SA 3.0

Typical market price, from ⁦1,500⁩ THB

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From Phuket

Phi Phi Islands Day from Phuket

The same islands, from the other side, and a choice of boat

From Phuket the difference is the boat rather than the route. A big boat is slower, steadier and cheaper; a speedboat gets there first and moves between the stops quickly. Both end at the same three places, and the sea decides which is the better day.

In the package

Maya Bay
Pileh Lagoon
Bamboo Island

Photo: Diego Delso / CC BY-SA 3.0

Typical market price, from ⁦1,890⁩ THB

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Coral, Racha and Khai Islands from Phuket — Snorkelling

Three short hops south, for the reef rather than the beach

The near islands off Phuket, half an hour to an hour out. Coral Island is the closest and the shallowest; Racha has the clearest water of the three and is the one worth the extra run; Khai is small, uninhabited and busy by midday.

In the package

Coral Island (Ko Hey)
Racha Yai
Khai Island

Photo: Phuket@photographer.net from Phuket, Thailand / CC BY 2.0

Typical market price, from ⁦1,500⁩ THB

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Phang Nga Bay and James Bond Island — Day Trip

The rock from the film, and the bay that is better than it

Khao Phing Kan is a twenty-minute stop with a crowd and a famous silhouette. The bay around it is the reason to go: several hundred limestone islands, sea caves you can only enter by canoe at the right tide, and a village built on stilts over the water.

In the package

James Bond Island (Khao Phing Kan)
Phang Nga Bay
Koh Panyi, the stilt village

Photo: Diego Delso / CC BY-SA 3.0

Typical market price, from ⁦1,400⁩ THB

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From Khao Lak

Surin Islands Day Trip — Snorkelling

Shallow reef you can see from the surface, and no resort on the island

North of the Similans and less visited. The reef here is shallow enough that snorkelling shows what diving shows elsewhere, and the islands have a national park camp rather than hotels. The Moken have a village in the bay. Open the same season as the Similans, roughly October to May.

In the package

Mu Ko Surin
The Moken village, from the water
The shallow reef

Photo: Kent Wang from London, United Kingdom / CC BY-SA 2.0

Typical market price, from ⁦2,600⁩ THB

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From Trang

Trang Four Islands — Emerald Cave, Kradan, Chueak and Ngai

Swimming through a dark tunnel to a beach inside an island

The Emerald Cave is the reason people come: eighty metres of unlit tunnel you swim through, on a rope, to a hidden beach with sky above and cliffs all round. The three islands afterwards are for the snorkelling — Kradan has the reef, Chueak the soft coral, Ngai the sand.

In the package

Ko Kradan
The Emerald Cave (Tham Morakot)
Ko Ngai
Ko Chueak

Photo: Marcin Konsek / CC BY-SA 4.0

Typical market price, from ⁦1,000⁩ THB

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From Satun and Koh Lipe

Koh Lipe Snorkelling — Adang, Rawi and Hin Ngam

The far south, where the sea is still clear in the low season

Lipe sits inside Tarutao national park, close to the Malaysian line and far enough south that its season runs when the rest of the Andaman coast has stopped. The trip goes round the Adang-Rawi group: coral at Jabang, a lagoon at Rawi, and the black stones of Hin Ngam.

In the package

Koh Lipe
Koh Adang
Ko Hin Ngam, the black stones
Ko Rawi

Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg / CC BY 4.0

Typical market price, from ⁦700⁩ THB

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From Ranong

Ko Phayam and the Laem Son Islands, Ranong

An island with no cars on it, at the top of the Andaman coast

Ko Phayam has motorbike tracks instead of roads and two long beaches. Out from it are the small islands of Laem Son national park, which almost nobody visits. This is the quiet end of the coast rather than the spectacular one, and it is a full day from Krabi.

In the package

Ko Phayam
Bang Ben beach, Laem Son
The Kam islands

Photo: Visions of Domino / CC BY 2.0

Typical market price, from ⁦1,500⁩ THB

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