KO LANTA - THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE IN THAILAND
Once I left Krabi I was honestly scared.. Scared to not have moments like the ones I just did, scared that transportation would be hard to find, scared I would get sick of island life. But everything I was once scared of just turned into everything I loved about Ko Lanta.
Ko Lanta is such a quiet island and so small you can get from one side to the other within probably 2 hours - that’s if you’re not making any stops.
When we get off our long 2 or 3 hour ferry ride I was so nervous we would have no idea how to get to our first hotel especially with no service on our phones or no WiFi around. But to be honest, I was more overwhelmed than anything. People swarm you offering tuk tuk rides, scooter rides or a taxi. Within no joke, one minute I was in the side car of a woman’s scooter on my way to our bungalow.
It’s honestly crazy how you can tell any driver where you’re headed and they know exactly where it is - that just proves my point about how small (but in a good way) Ko Lanta is.
Probably 30 minutes passed and we were at home for the night. We decided to stay at a cheap bungalow (Green Chile’s) that night, when we booked our stays a couple months before hand. Which I would definitely recommend doing, that way you can start planning for what’s near by and then get a cheaper price! The bungalow was very basic: just a bed, fan (no A/C) and an outdoor bathroom with a shower and toilet. Nothing fancy at all but the location of it was absolutely beautiful..
The whole front yard was rows of palm trees and then only a one minute walk away was the most beautiful beach I’ve walked on. Since Cierra was still sick due to food poisoning in Krabi we decided to take it easy and just walk on the beach, literally steps away from our door step.
Klong Khong Beach:
One of the most picturesque beaches with tons of different options for food and bars!
We went to Patty’s Secret Garden by the Sea.. and YUM!! It was so good I got just a avocado and turkey sandwich with a coke. Laid back in the little huts they have as I ate and watched the waves come crashing in. It all seemed too good to be true but that’s how all of Thailand feels honestly.
I would recommend Klong Khong Beach to anybody because you can do an abundance of things there. Go bar hopping, grab a bite to eat at any of the different restaurants, catch sunset there or swim in the warm beautiful ocean water. Even better if you snag a hotel or hostel right along it so its your backyard!
After grabbing lunch we decided to head back to the bungalow and freshen up a bit before we made up our mind on what to do next.
When we opened the door the biggest heat wave hit us because the fan was doing little to nothing especially because we were there in dry season. Plus I spotted at least 7 geckos alone on the wall.. So if you end up spending the cheap $14 USD for bungalows like we had originally planned - make sure to keep this in mind!
Since Cierra was sick though we couldn’t do with the heat and I couldn’t deal with the geckos as I’m terrified of reptiles. Luckily the owners are the sweetest people and offered to take us to a hotel right down the street that could give us A/C and a better bathroom.
I’ll say it once and a million times Thai people are the kindest and will do anything they can to help.
After moving hotels and getting to cool down a bit and take a good shower it was already sunset so that’s when we walked down to a different beach..
Lanta New Beach:
It was just as beautiful as the first one but the difference was that there wasn’t nearly as many people and we felt like we had the whole place to ourself. There’s one restaurant that was right on the beach but we walked far enough away to only hear the sound of the ocean. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve honestly ever seen.. There was a million palm trees on the opposite side of the ocean that I couldn’t help but run around in and lay on. I’ve never visited somewhere tropical before so I was definitely in heaven. This is when I knew I was falling in love with island life.
On our way back to our new hotel we stopped by the nearest 711 and grabbed toasties. If you haven’t ever heard of them before YOU NEED TO KNOW NOW TO GRAB ONE!
This was our favorite little snack and is so cheap! I always grabbed ham and cheese or the cheese garlic bread.. If I could I would have shipped back a month supply with me to the states. So yummy and always good at anytime.
We woke up the next morning and grabbed scooters since we were up early and didn’t need to move hotels until about noon. And honestly this is what you need to do to experience the island in the best way possible.. We spent a total of $3 USD to rent the scooter for a full 24 hours and then each time we needed to fill up it was about $1.20 every time. So for a full day of exploring we spent probably $10 total and split between the amongst of us it was only $5.
The best way to make the most out of your trip.
Our first stop that we found unexpectedly but turned out to be the best one was
Nui Bay:
Probably my FAVORITE beach we went to the whole trip. We saw maybe 4 other groups there and all of them were very quiet so it made for a perfect morning. Also the ocean water was something I had never seen before, it was as clear as glass and perfect for floating in. There’s a little restaurant on site that we sadly didn’t get to eat at since we realized we had to go check out of the hotel already. But it smelt delicious! There’s a volleyball net, plenty of chairs to relax in and enough beach to find your own little area.
I would recommend spending at least 2 hours here honestly.
After scootering back only a quick 30 minutes we grabbed our backpacks and moved to the next hotel.
Lanta Pearl Beach Resort:
And man, let me tell you this place exceeded my limits. They’re all bungalow style so I was kind of nervous after our attempt at Green Chile’s. But once we stepped foot into our home for the night I felt the A/C on and was relieved. The room actually had 2 beds so Cierra and I were able to sprawl out for the night in our own beds. There was a nice little fridge with cold waters in them. And the room let so much light in and had beautiful views of the palm trees and flowers that surrounded the resort. It was just so welcoming. Might I add that the staff was incredibly helpful: telling us different places to visit on the island, carrying our bags to the room and just making us feel at home. Once we got settled in we explored the rest of the resort, debating on if we should go for a swim in the pool they had or go to the ocean that they had literally a minute away. Also took a look around in the bar area and the coffee shop, just overwhelmed at how much we felt like queens here. We ended up going down to the ocean and taking a quick dip and discussing more on what to see for the day since we had the scooter. Once we were done swimming in the gorgeous blue water. We decided to grab a quick lunch before taking off at San Sunset Bar which was absolutely delicious! I grabbed garlic chicken with pineapple and veggies and Cierra got a hot pan with prawns. Some of the best food we had our whole trip. Would definitely recommend. After that we walked back to the bungalow and showered then threw on another swimsuit knowing we’d be in the ocean later but just on a different side of the island.
Our first stop was headed to
Old Town Ko Lanta:
This is more on the east side so from Lanta Pearl it was probably 20 minutes on the scooter. But when you’re cruising through the jungle it feels like just a couple minutes.
Also let me add in that if its your first time renting scooters I definitely would recommend doing it on a small island like so - just so you don’t get stressed out.
Old town Lanta is absolutely beautiful! It’s mostly just a strip of shops which there’s something for everyone and anyone. I did most of my shopping here; grabbing a sarong and a cute jumper for myself, essential oils and soaps for my mom, t-shirts and necklaces for my brother and so on. Just be prepared to spend more money than you want probably. There’s also a pier near the strip so we walked out there and enjoyed the view for awhile figuring out what to do next.
That’s when we started to head to some different beaches, so here’s a couple options:
Khlong Nin Beach
Ao Klong Jark Beach aka Waterfall Bay Beach back near Nui Bay (Not as great but still worth checking out)
Bamboo Bay Beach - not very developed for tourism so you can mostly find yourself alone here!
All are absolutely beautiful in there own way but I’ll stand by my word that if you want to really visit one go to Nui Bay!
After beach hopping and just scooting around on the bike seeing where the road took us we ended up heading back to Lanta Pearl Beach Resort to catch sunset right on our beach. That way we could shower and change out of our wet bathing suits.
If you don’t end up staying at Lanta Pearl Beach Resort which I do highly recommend definitely check out the beach it’s along which is
Long Beach:
There’s again a million different bar options, restaurants with any type of food you could think of, a couple night clubs and shops galore. We ended up catching sunset here that night and it did not fail us at all. I will admit this is more of a popular beach than the other ones mentioned but it goes on for miles and miles you’ll be able to find a spot for yourself. After sunset we ended up throwing on some dresses and decided to go out since our room was near so much.. We started off with going to a pizzeria named Mr. Wees Pizza and it was so good, I still think about that pizza to this day. Cierra and I split a Hawaiian pizza and it was gone within minutes of touching the table. There’s also a club/bar right next door called Ozone Beach Bar so we had ordered strawberry daiquiris and just sat listening to music and dancing in our little hut. (I wouldn’t really call it a club since not a lot of people are dancing but there is a DJ so that makes for a fun night)
We went back to our hotel room that was a 5 minute walk along the beach and were amazed at how bright the stars were out there. We could see what looked like the whole Milky Way - so it was definitely worth being out late.
Check out isn’t until usually noon so we woke up early for one last ocean swim on Long Beach and it was so calm and quiet. Definitely a great way to start the day.
Since we had a long journey to our next destination that involved the 2 or 3 hour ferry ride and then a 3 hour shuttle. We decided to do something which you definitely should do at least once or twice while you’re in Thailand
Get a massage:
There’s multiple options on where to get one and prices range from 250 - 400 Thai Baht which is still only $7 - $12 USD per hour. Depending on what kind of massage you do as well, but it was well needed before our long day of travel!
We only spent a total of 2 days in Ko Lanta which I personally think was not enough. Knowing what I know now I would recommend 4-5 days, even though it’s a small island there’s so much to do. And even then just relaxing on the many different beaches is a great way to spend a full day.
It was again a hard goodbye to the island life that I easily fell in love with; but we had an easy hello to our next destination..
Khao Sok National Park - Jurassic Park in real life I swear.
Make sure to keep an eye out for my next blog post talking about my time there and reasons you need to visit!
Thank you for being Lost in a Dream with me
With lots of love,
Niki