A Guide To Phra Nang Beach In Railay Thailand!

Phra Nang Beach in Railay was one of my favourite beaches in Ao Nang Thailand! From the turquoise waters, to soft white sand and surrounded by limestone cliffs. In this post, I’ll share everything you need to know about visiting.

Phra Nang Beach

How To Find Phra Nang Beach

If coming from Ao Nang to Railay, you’ll arrive by long tail boat onto Railay West Beach. This beach is beautiful too but Phra Nang Beach is a bit more hidden away, and not in such a high-traffic area with boats constantly coming and going.

Head along the walking street until you come to Railay East. Boats from Krabi or the ferry from Koh Lanta will arrive on this side of the peninsula. Follow the path with the sea on your left-hand side and eventually you’ll come to a section that passes some almost cave-like formations!

Along this part of the route is where the East Railay Viewpoint climb begins and it’s well worth checking out. It can be a little challenging but it does have some great views from the top. You can also take a side trip to the Railay lagoon, however doing the climb after a lot of rain, the conditions were less than ideal, so I decided to skip that section!

You’ll also pass some public toilets. These are the ones that are closest to Phra Nang Beach. Entrance is 10 baht, paid with two 5 baht coins. There is an attendant who sits outside during peak times that can give you the correct change. I found these toilets were quite nice compared to some others I used in Railay. At least they were clean and stocked up with toilet paper.

Phra Nang Cave

The track that leads to the beach comes out near Phra Nang Cave or Diamond Cave. This is definitely a unique cave to check out. It’s a fertility shrine where people will leave wooden objects as an offering to the gods.

There’s a sign on the cave which shows the significance of the shrine, it reads:

“In ancient times there was an old man named ‘Yom’ who faced the problem of not having children. In his desperation, he made a vow to seek the Naga’s intervention to grant him a child. The Naga, in his kindness, agreed to fulfil Yom’s wish but imposed a condition: if the child were to be born a daughter, she must marry the Naga’s son.

Years passed, Yom’s prayer was answered when he had a daughter named ‘Nang’. When she reached adulthood, she fell in love with ‘Boon’ a villager’s son, and chose to marry him instead of the Naga’s son, as previously agreed.

On the day of her wedding to Boon, the Naga placed a curse of everything at the ceremony, turning them into stone. This curse gave rise to various landmarks in Krabi: the bridal house became Phra Nang Cave, stir fried sticky rice transformed into Fossil Shell Cemetery, the equipment became Moh Island, and the Naga himself became a mountain known as Hang Nak, or Naga Tail Mountain.”

(Hang Nak, is the peninsula opposite Nopparat Thara Pier in Ao Nang. A Naga is a mythological creature, a protector in the Buddhist culture, and often takes the form of half human and half snake/serpent. Mountain Buddha Temple is another Buddhist shrine in Ao Nang that’s well worth checking out.)

Next to the caves is a popular spot for rock climbing. These routes do require guides and ropes, so it’s best to book with one of the many operators that you’ll find in Railay. This part of the beach also gets the most crowded. If you want a bit of shade, this area however is your best bet.

The Beach

Personally, I think the best part of the beach is a little further away from Phra Nang Cave, opposite Ko Rang Nok, the limestone rock formation that sits a little off the shore.

When the tide is in, it does cover part of the beach. I had to walk through knee-deep water and I think this put a lot of people off of going to the furthest end.

As I solo traveller, I found this was one of the best beaches in Ao Nang for swimming. There was plenty of space and I felt comfortable leaving my belongings on the beach while I swam. This is because there wasn’t a huge amount of foot traffic constantly walking by. 

The water does get deep quite quickly, perfect for actual swimming, rather than just paddling. In comparison to Railay West, that one stays shallower for a much larger area. For this reason, Railay West Beach was more popular with families that had smaller children.

It also made a change that the full stretch of Phra Nang Beach was swimmable. Many of the other beaches I visited in Krabi had designated swimming areas due to the constant stream of boats.

Facilities on Phra Nang Beach

Make sure to bring a towel and plenty of sun cream because there isn’t much shade and no sun lounger rentals etc.

The only facilities on Phra Nang Beach is a small beach kiosk that sold cans of drink and bottles of water. They also had a few kayak rentals that people used to paddle out around Ko Rang Nok. 

As mentioned above, the nearest toilets are back along the track, near the viewpoint trailhead. The nearest convenience store is on the corner of Railay East Beach. They sell a bigger range of drinks and snacks. Alternatively, the walking street has a lot of different places to eat and drink. 

Phra Nang Beach and Railay in general are well worth adding to your Krabi itinerary. There are places to stay on the peninsula or it makes for an easy day trip from Ao Nang.

It’s worth noting that it is only possible to reach Railay by boat. There are no cars or roads but this is part of the charm and one of the reasons I liked it!

I did it as a day trip, but many people recommend staying the night if you wanted to avoid the crowds further. The ‘regular’ boat service operates between 8am until 6pm. Boats outside of these times will need to be privately arranged and have an additional surcharge.

I got one of the first boats of the day, so I had a couple of hours where it was quiet. But it got more crowded throughout the day.

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Last Updated on May 23, 2025