A Complete Guide To 8 Ao Nang Beaches in Krabi Thailand

Ao Nang in Krabi, Thailand is an area that covers central Ao Nang, Railay and even out to the Phi Phi Islands. In this post I share what you can expect from 8 Ao Nang Beaches and tips for visiting!

Beaches in Ao Nang

AO NANG: Hat Noppharat Thara | Ao Nang Beach | Pai Plong Beach

RAILAY: Railay West Beach (& Tonsai Beach) | Phra Nang Beach

PHI PHI ISLANDS: Maya Bay | Tonsai Beach | Bamboo Beach

*Star ratings are based on my overall opinion of the beach

Hat Noppharat Thara

★★

• Facilities: 🛍️🍜🧉🚾(nearby)
• ✅Near Night Market
• 👎🏼A stinky river dumps out onto the beach at one end

Starting furthest east, is Hap Noppharat Thara beach. This beach is opposite the Ao Nang Night Market, around a 30–minute walk from the centre of Ao Nang. It is nice to grab some food from the market and then sit on the benches and watch the sunset. The beach has some good views across to the Phi Phi Islands.

It is quieter than some of the other beaches, but in my opinion it’s not as nice. At one end the river dumps out into the sea/beach. When crossing over the river on the bright red bridge, the water smelt absolutely disgusting. I personally would walk as far away from this end as you can, especially if you plan on swimming.

Noppharat Thara Pier is located at the far end. This is where you get speed boats to surrounding islands. While here I did see lots of signs warning about leaving belongings unattended on the beach due to ‘pickpockets’.

At low tide, the water does go out quite far. People often wander out to look at tide pools.

Ao Nang Beach

★★★

• Facilities: 🛍️🍜🧉🚾(nearby)
• ✅Centrally located
• 👎🏼As a solo traveller I wouldn’t feel safe leaving my things to swim

Ao Nang Beach is the main beach in Ao Nang. It’s a very large stretch of sand that runs the length of the town. On nice days it can get very busy. This is also where you can get long tail boats to Railay.

But honestly the sand feels a bit like mud, especially near the waters edge, and I saw a rat on it one day. Because of how busy it is, as a solo traveller I didn’t feel safe leaving my things unattended. For this reason I chose not to swim at Ao Nang Beach. I did however walk up and down it on multiple occasions.

For facilities, it’s right near a large selection of bars and restaurants. Along the pedestrian area, there are also takeaway options (Beach Fruit Bar) that sell coconuts, juice, cocktails, and food.

You’ll also find public toilets in this area. There is a small fee to use them, but I came to expect that public toilets in Thailand were not often maintained. They can be quite dirty and have no toilet roll, so it’s best to always carry some!

C2 Beach Club next to Monkey Trail has plenty of seating for those who purchase food and drinks. They also have all-day sun lounger rentals for ฿200. The beach club is set up on the sea wall, but this is the best option if you don’t want to just sit on a towel on the sand. It also has shade under the trees.

At night time, lots of fire shows take place along Ao Nang Beach. My favourite was in front of Reeve Beach Club. During my visit, they started at 7.30pm and 9.30pm. The most popular is in front of the main steps, not far from the Ao Nang Long Tail Boat Service Club. In November, this one started at 6.30pm. Another was in front of the Golden Beach Resort.

Pai Plong Beach

★★★★

• Facilities: No facilities for general public use, only hotel guests
• ✅Nice for swimming
• 👎🏼No facilities

I promise the beaches get nicer! As a beach lover, I was not impressed with the two in Ao Nang. BUT I did like Pai Plong Beach!

This is the beach that is at the end of Monkey Trail. It’s not the most accessible but it makes for a really fun experience. Of course, as the name suggests, there are monkeys along the route, and the 350m trail winds through the forest with a series of wooden steps and boardwalks. It takes around 10 minutes to complete.

Once you reach Pai Plong Beach, it’s sandwiched between limestone cliffs, has soft sand, and is much nicer for swimming. As it’s smaller and not along a busy road/path, I felt much more comfortable leaving my stuff ‘unattended’. It’s much easier to keep your eye on things.

The only downfall is that there are no facilities, including toilets or places to get a drink, that are open to the general public. Pai Plong Beach is mostly for guests staying at the Centara Grand Beach Resort & Villas. The end closest to the Monkey Trail is public beach.

Railay West Beach

★★★★

• Facilities: 🛍️🍜🧉🚾(nearby)
• ✅Beautiful
• 👎🏼Can be busy, lots of boats (but they do kind of add to the beauty!)

I loved Railay Beach. Honestly, when I share my photos, it’s often the pictures I took on West Railay Beach. (Or from Koh Ngai on the 4 Islands boat tour from Koh Lanta!)

To get from Ao Nang to Railay, you’ll need to get a long tail boat from Ao Nang Beach. There are a couple of different operators but I used the Ao Nang Long Tail Boat Service Club. It costs ฿200 for a return ticket and takes around 10 minutes. The boats depart once they have around 8 passengers.

You can stay overnight on the Railay peninsula or it makes for a very easy, quick day trip.

The boats dock in the middle of the beach and there is a swimming area on either side. When looking AT the beach FROM the boat, the area on the left is nicer. The swimming area on the right (where the above photo was taken) is a bit rocky and stoney.

Just like Pai Plong Beach, I was fairly comfortable leaving my belongings while I went in the water. It can be quite shallow, so you may have to walk quite far out. The water around Railay is a lot clearer and looked bluer than the beaches in Ao Nang.

There’s something about long tail boats that adds to the beauty of the beaches. I love the way they look docked up on the beach with the limestone cliffs behind them!

Restaurants, cafes and toilets can be found along the walking street. The public toilets cost ฿10 but there was no toilet paper when I used them. (Not attended, you’ll need to right coins).

Tonsai Beach

For a quieter beach, check out Tonsai Beach. This one is between Pai Plong Beach and Railay West. You’ll need to get a separate long tail boat from either Ao Nang or Railay. I personally didn’t visit this one, but it’s popular for rock climbing and there are a handful of cafes and restaurants.

Phra Nang Beach

★★★★★

• Facilities: 🥤🛶🚾(nearby)
• ✅Beautiful, good for swimming (at the far end)
• 👎🏼One end VERY crowded

Personally, I would skip Railay East Beach and head to Phra Nang Beach. They are connected via a paved walkway, where you’ll find the trailhead for the East Railay Viewpoint hike. (One of my Thailand highlights!).

Just like Tonsai Beach, Phra Nang Beach is also popular for rock climbing. The section of beach next to Phra Nang Cave is VERY crowded. However, if you were looking for a shaded area to sit and swim, this area does have some protection from the sun.

I would suggest walking further along the beach towards Ko Rang Nok island, which sits a stone’s throw from the beach. I did have to wade through knee-deep water to get to the far end of the beach, I think it puts some people off, but it’s so worth it!

This area of beach is larger compared to the section near the caves. The sand is soft and white and the sea is perfect for swimming. Again, I was comfortable leaving my belongings unattended (though I make an effort to hide things under my clothes and I ALWAYS keep my eye on everything).

There was a small kiosk selling cans of drink. They also had a few rental kayaks, which people used for exploring around Ko Rang Nok.

The nearest toilets are back on the path near the Viewpoint climb. They were attended by a lady who could change up money for the correct coins for the barrier. These toilets were clean and had plenty of paper.

Maya Bay

★★★★

• Facilities: 🌽🧉🚾(nearby)
• ✅BEAUTIFUL
• 👎🏼VERY crowded, no swimming allowed

I feel bad for only giving Maya Bay a 3.5 rating, because it’s one of the most beautiful beaches ever. It has white sand, turquoise sea and is surrounded by limestone cliffs.

BUT and a big BUT. You can NOT swim. Visitors are only allowed into the water up to their ankles. You might be able to push it up to your knees, but if you get too deep, a ranger blows a whistle.

It is done to protect the ecosystems of the beach. Due to over-tourism, they were pretty much destroyed. It closed for almost 4 years to let the marine life recover. In 2023 it shut again for 2 months between August and September. I did see a baby black tip reef shark in the shallows, so they must be doing something right!

If you wanted a quiet area of the beach, walk to the far end, away from the ‘Welcome to Maya Bay’ sign. It’s well worth it, just for a few minutes of peace!

Day tour boats dock up on the opposite side of the island and then visitors walk through the forest to reach Maya Bay Beach. It operated using a one-way system that feels a little like a conveyor belt.

It’s quite ironic that Maya Bay was made famous for being the location of the Leonardo DiCaprio movie ‘The Beach’. In the story the characters try to find a ‘secret paradise beach’, to escape the other locations in Thailand that have been swallowed by tourism.

In the central area, there is a large toilet block (again with paper, hooray!) and there are a couple of vendors selling things like grilled corn on the cob. Being part of a day tour, we were only given around 30 minutes, before we had to move on to the next stop.

Tonsai Beach

★★

• Facilities: 🛍️🍜🧉🚾(nearby)
• ✅Centrally located
• 👎🏼Boat car park.

I can only describe Tonsai Beach on Phi Phi Don as a boat car park. It felt like every inch of sea as far as you can see, had a boat docked. One side of the beach has long tail boats. In the centre is Ton Sai Pier, which is the main ferry pier connecting Phi Phi to other locations (such as Koh Lanta and Ao Nang). The other side is full of speed boats for day tours.

Because of this, there’s not a huge amount of space to swim, just a couple of small designated areas. It would be better if you’re there before or after the day trippers, but in the height of the day it’s extremely busy.

On the plus, the beach is sandy, but with the amount of people, I’d never want to leave my stuff while in the water.

Along the edge of the beach are plenty of shops (selling both souvenirs and snacks and drinks),as well as bars, restaurants, and cafes.

Out of all of the beaches, Tonsai Beach was one of the only ones in this guide, that had some sort of deck chair rental where you could rent a chair and sit in the shade. Rather than them being full-day rentals, they were offering short-term rentals aimed at the day trip visitors on a whistle-stop tour.

Bamboo Beach

★★★

• Facilities: 🌽🧉🚾(nearby)
• ✅Blue sea!
• 👎🏼Small swimming area

Unfortunately, during my stop at Bamboo Beach on Bamboo Island, it completely poured with rain. But the sea was turquoise blue and the sand is white, with plenty of space to lay down a towel.

Because of the boats docking on the island, there was only a small roped off swimming area. As it was raining the day I visited, the sea was VERY rough.

The island is surrounded by a reef, so other than the beach area, the perimeter of the island is rocky. Hidden in the centre of Bamboo Island is a snack and drink kiosk and an undercover seating area with tables and benches.

It was very unexpected as it’s literally hidden in the trees. When our guide was like ‘let’s go get a beer!’, we thought they were joking! The kiosk does indeed sell bottles of beer.

There’s also a large toilet block which is free to use, although they were not clean and had no toilet paper.

Final Words

As you can see, if you specifically wanted to travel to Thailand for amazing beaches, the central Ao Nang beaches weren’t my favourite. I also found that many of the beaches didn’t offer sun loungers or umbrellas. So there weren’t many options if you didn’t want to sit directly in the sun.

Saying all that, here are my favourites and what I thought were the 3 best beaches in Ao Nang district. (Taking into account the ease to reach from central Ao Nang, swimming as a solo traveller, facilities and general look etc):

🥉Pai Plong Beach

🥈Railay West Beach

🥇Best beach in Ao Nang = Phra Nang Beach

Other Krabi Thailand Posts You May Enjoy

• 📅Krabi Itinerary | 11 Days In Southern Thailand (Koh Lanta, Ao Nang & Phi Phi Islands)
• ☸️Visiting the Mountain Buddha Temple Ao Nang | Thailand
• 🏝️A Guide To Klong Dao Beach & Saladan Koh Lanta | Thailand

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Last Updated on May 23, 2025