Krabi Ao Nang Beach & Boat Walk
Walk Ao Nang — the main beach resort of Krabi province on the mainland coast is the hub for boat services to Railay, the four islands, and the day-trip circuit of the surrounding sea caves and karst archipelago.
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Ao Nang Beach Promenade
Ao Nang Beach on the Krabi mainland coast is the most accessible beach in the province — the 2km beach with its tourist resort strip (hotels, restaurants, dive shops, and the longtail boat service kiosks operating every 15 minutes to Railay Beach) serves as the commercial base for the Krabi beach resort economy. The beach itself, while not comparable to Railay or the four islands in sand quality and water clarity, has the dramatic backdrop of the offshore karst islands visible from the beach and the constant activity of the longtail boat fleet providing the most animated beach transport scene in southern Thailand.
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Ao Nang Pier Boat Hub
The Ao Nang pier area is the operational centre of the Krabi marine tourism economy — the booking desks for longtail boat services to Railay (operating every 15 minutes), the speedboat tour operators offering day trips to the four islands, the cave kayak tours, and the Phi Phi Island day trips create a competitive market of marine tourism services that caters to the tens of thousands of visitors who use Ao Nang as their base for exploring the surrounding seascape. The longtail boat departure scene (the boats lining the beach, the negotiation with the operators for the fixed-price ferry service, and the wading out to the floating boarding platform in the surf) is the defining logistical experience of beach tourism in the Krabi area.
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Ao Nang Night Market
The Ao Nang evening market along the main beach road is the most tourist-focused market in the Krabi area — the stalls selling Thai food for international palates, the souvenirs, the beach clothing and equipment, and the cooking demonstration restaurants create a commercial evening atmosphere that serves the international resort guest community of the Ao Nang hotel strip. The market also includes the more authentic Thai food operators catering to the resort workers and the Thai domestic visitor community, and the mixing of tourist-oriented and local food vendors creates a market that is slightly more authentic than pure tourist markets but less authentic than the town-centre operations.
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Shell Cemetery Beach
The Shell Cemetery (Susan Hoi) south of Ao Nang on the coastal road is accessible by songthaew or motorbike from the resort area — the fossilised shellmound extending into the sea creates a beach surface that is unlike any other natural material: the compressed, mineralised ancient shellmound has the texture of rough concrete but the origin of millions of years of shell accumulation. The geological site is less visited than the resort beaches and karst viewpoints and provides the most unusual natural environment encounter in the Krabi province coastal zone.
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Nopparat Thara Beach
Nopparat Thara Beach (Hat Noppharat Thara) north of Ao Nang is the national park beach of Krabi — the long, relatively undeveloped beach with casuarina tree shade, the park visitor centre, and the estuary crossing to the offshore islands provides a significantly more natural beach environment than the resort-saturated Ao Nang strip. The beach is popular with Thai domestic visitors (who prefer the shaded casuarina beach to the open sun exposure of the international resort beaches) and provides the most relaxed and least commercially intense beach experience accessible from the Ao Nang base.
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Krabi Four Islands Tour
The Four Islands day trip from Ao Nang (visiting Koh Muk, Koh Kradan, Koh Ngai, and Koh Cheuk by speedboat or longtail) is the most popular single activity in the Krabi marine tourism economy — the islands of the Trang archipelago south of the Phi Phi group have substantially better coral coverage than the heavily visited Phi Phi reef, with the emerald cave (Tham Morakot) on Koh Muk accessible by swimming through a 80-metre sea cave at low tide to emerge in an enclosed cavern lit by the light through the cave ceiling, providing the most dramatic cave swimming experience in southern Thailand.