Ko Lanta is a fairly long, narrow island with a backbone of forested mountains and a dozen or so pretty nice beaches along its western coast. The pace here is relaxed, much more so than Samui, Phi Phi or Railay/Ao Nang.
I’ve never stayed souh of Relax Bay previously, but having seen the central and southern beaches from the Trang island daytrip boat, I decided to check out these sections of the island this March.

ISLAND MAP

KHLONG NIN BEACH about two thirds down the island reads up pretty well in the books and websites, so I piled out of the Krabi-Lanta minibus there and got me a room at LANTA PARADISE RESORT, a mid-range place that also has some cheapies in the hill section across the road from the beach for tight-wads like me.
I was a little disappointed with Khlong Nin in that it was not as laid back as I expected. It is pretty well developed over the northern three-quarters, very similar to say Long Beach in the north of the island, and as a matter of fact, most of the beaches on Lanta (with the exception of the southern-most 3). Otherwise, Khlong Nin is a pretty nice beach, maybe 2 km long, good sand, water deep enough at low tide for swimming close to shore, a few rocky sections but no problems, some nice candle-lit dining tables and bars set up on the sand at night, and a fair bit of accommodation mostly midrange and flash-packer.
A discontinuous ribbon of the usual restaurants/bars, travel agents, internet places, laundry services etc lines the inland side of the beach road down to the north end of Khlong Nin Bay (in fact it continues all the way to Sala Dan at the north of the island) about 1km north of PARADISE. Here it intensifies into a small shopping area - there are a couple of ATMs too. The turn-off for the road to the east coast is just past this retail cluster, heading north.

Apart from the cheapest rooms like mine, which are dumps, LANTA PARADISE is a pretty nice place in a good section of the beach. It has an attractive pool directly behind the beach and the more expensive bungalows are clustered here. I had a look at one of the most expensive aircon jobs and it sure did look god. One criticism, all these bungalows are clustered fairly tightly. The beachside restaurant has those candle-lit tables on the sand at night, some very nice food and prices which could match the best value budget-bungalows I stayed at this trip. Service was good. There are a number of beach bars and restaurants in close proximity. Sprawled on a mat on the sand with a 60b happy-hour big Chang watching a pretty awesome sunset is my idea of qualiteee time.
Paradise has internet, a small store, a travel desk and washing service. There are similar providers close-by on the beach road.
I do a detailed review of my 400baht dump of a room at the end of this report.

EXPLORING THE REST OF THE ISLAND
I spent my second and third day on Lanta fanging around the island on the usual hire-a-wreck Cannondale. Actually, the bicycle I had second day was pretty good - 120baht from a little bar opposite Nice Resort about 400m north of Lanta Paradise run by a friendly farang and his Thai wife. A much better bike than the 80baht first day crate with the way too-short seat post from the same place.

Heading south it gets progressively more hilly, which is a great way to work up a sweat, meaning a stop at most beaches for a swim + Singha-rehydration in a beach bar/restaurant. These are great places for visually researching my PHD thesis on Recreational Aesthetics - specifically trying to figure whether backpacker-babes beat Aussie surfer-groupies. The answer is noooo, but the Europspunks sure got a better line of conversation than the wax-head worshippers: “Does your mate BlowDart like me? You reckon I can come when you guys go surfing in Queensland?” Spare me.

The first couple of beaches south are pretty similar to Khlong Nin, a bit less busy. But the last 3 bays are very nice indeed, sparsely built on, good stretches of sand, nice water and surrounded by steep forested hills.
MAI PAI (Bamboo Bay) is the southern most and is just like some of the best island beaches 20 years ago. From memory there were only 3 accom places here. I had a drink at the southern most one, LAST BEACH RESORT, which had the trad woven-palm walled and thatch roofed bungalows , maybe a bit expensive at 500 for attached bathroom jobs, before bargaining.
KLONG JAK BAY is the next beach north and was just as nice. A few more places here, both budget and more upmarket. Plus a very cool bar built low on the rocks at the southern end with good food (bit exy) & views , and which seemed to attract sunbathers from the resorts further up the beach. WATERFALL BUNGALOWS is here and has attracted good reviews from posters over the years. It looked okay to me.
One north is KANTIANG BAY which is also very attractive. Mainly midrange/upmarket places here - one which caught my eye was LANTA MARINE PARK VIEW (not to be confused with Lanta Marina on Long Beach) with great views from restaurant and bungalows built up the headland at the northern end - and according to the guidebooks, some bungalows with reasonable prices. If I return flash-packer or midrange, I’m heading here.
Hey, and for you seriously rich bastards, they don’t look much nicer than PIMALAI RESORT AND SPA, which looked as expensive as it is.
There is a small township at Kantiang North with a supermarket, ATM etc.

Note the paved road stops at southen Kantiang. It turns into a dirt track with talcum powder dust and some very rough, super steep sections. Novice motorcyclists should be very careful here - it is so easy to have an off and damage the bike, yourself or your girlfriend. Apparantly it turns to mud in wet season and often requires a 4wd vehicle to make it through.
The road gets even steeper and rougher past Mai Pay beach, where it climbs quite high with superb views and then drops down steeply (4wd only fer the last 500m) to the southern tip of the island, which has a couple of small beaches, a picnic area, views south to the Trang Islands, and unfortunately a National Park gate with a 400baht entry fee. Hey, this will allow you to camp for 5 days here or on any of the Trang islands, but is the same 400 for even a 20 minute look at this southern tip of Lanta!
Tell them they’re dreaming.

Next day I first checked the northern beaches right up to Long Beach. I didn’t worry about the northern most one KHLONG DAO, having stayed there previously - it was fully built out and a bit overdone several years back. It gets real shallow at low tide too. Nevertheless it is fairly pretty and has the advantage of being close to the bustling village of Ban Saladan and the ferry pier.

I still reckon LONG BEACH (Phra-Ae), next down, is one of the better choices. Not far from the ferry and busy Saladan, a great range of accomm of all standards+bars+restaurants, good sand and deep water at all tide levels, and yet with big sections of unbuilt beachfront, particularly in the middle.
I first stayed here in 97 when it was like a loooong version of Mai Pai in the south. My digs then were LANTA PALM BEACH which is now way more upmarket with some very nice aircon bungalows, but they still have a few old cheapie traditionals for mean bastards like me. If these are taken, there are several more budget bungalow joints as you walk north towards the nearby headland.

RELAX BAY is next south - a nice little bay which does get a bit shallow at low tide. I also stayed at RELAX BAY TROPICANA in 97, a really fabulous flash-packer then. This too is now more midrange and still looks pretty good to me. Back in 97 it had the bay to itself, but there are now 2 other more modest looking places.

The rest of the beaches south to my Khlong Nin are similar to Long Beach and Khlong Nin itself
KHLONG KONG (KHOANG) is the longest with the most accommodation. It looked pretty nice but seemed like it would be quite rocky in a lot of places at lower tide, and there is not too much beach left at highest tide in some areas. I checked WHERE ELSE which gets a lot of raves from posters, mainly on account of the funky wooden decorations in the bungalows and restaurant, plus the super friendly staff. Okay, the artwork was okay but didn’t exactly whelm me over, the staff were super friendly, the bungalows were a bit exxy at 600 before bargaining (in March) for a fairly basic trad bungalow with bathroom, although some of the flasher bungalows looked interesting with loft windows and stuff. Prices in the restaurant were higher than a lot of budget bungalow places. The restaurant had a really nice atmosphere but did not take advantage of good beach/sea views in a pretty good section of the beach.


THE EAST COAST
After a bit of R&R back at my base at Khlong Nin, I then took the across-island road to the EAST COAST. The climb over the pass is not too bad on the western side. But I gotta admit the haul back up the other side was a real good workout for a thankfully short distance (and I ride every day at home in a very hilly town).
The east coast is very relaxed, no nice beaches here, just attractive countryside as you head south a few km to OLD LANTA TOWN. This is a pretty neat seaside town with some nice old buildings, a few restaurants and even a bar or two, none of the usual village roadside junk and rubbish and a very long pier where guys will offer long tail bay-trips to small nearby gems like KO BU BU. South of the town, the road narrows markedly. I believe it goes for another few km to a sea gypsy village, but having the climb back over the pass to look forward too, it turned the bike around.

Towards the top of the pass are two scenic restaurants. I called into the higher one, the original VIEWPOINT. The outlook here is pretty special over the east coastal plain, the bay with its various islands and the mainland in the distance. I was amazed at the inexpensive drinks - 30 for a small beer was cheaper than just about every other restaurant or bar this trip. Meals are available and their prices seemed pretty good too.

Back down the hill to the west side and less than 2km from the beach is the turn-off to the MAI KAEO CAVE. It is less than 2km up the sidetrack to the cave. This gets good reviews, but lack of time forced me save this one to next trip. You could walk up here from most places on the closest beach, my Khlong Nin, in an hour or less.


GETTING TO THE LANTA
FROM KRABI - there are two ferries per day from the pier 3km south of Krabi Town central, and one from AoNang, picking up at Railay - the trip takes around 2 hours. These ferries usually shut down some time in May and don’t run again until Oct/Nov.
www.andaman-island-hopping.com/traffic/ferrycentral.htm

There are touts on the ferries showing pictures of their places and if you haven’t got somewhere to stay, this can be an excellent way. There are even more touts on the pier at Ban Sala Dan, along with drivers from the resorts because a hell of a lot of places send transport to meet the ferries.

When the ferries stop running you resort to the MINIBUS SERVICE which starts opposite a footpath table set up in Soi 6, runs around town to various guest-houses and to the bus station, and then heads south, crossing to Lanta via two short vehicle punts. Once on the island the minis run down to Old Lanta Town and will drop you at your resort just about anywhere on the paved west coast road. This service also runs in high season, when it is hourly. It is cheaper than the ferries (200v300-350) and is also supposed to take 2 hours, but my trip saw almost 3 pass before we were on the island. It depends a lot on the number of vehicles waiting at the punts. We also cruised around Sala Dan for almost 30 minutes dropping packages and people off before heading south.

FROM PHI PHI AND PHUKET
Two ferries per day do this trip (in around 90 minutes from Phi Phi). This also shuts down May thru to Oct/Nov.
If you are coming from Phuket, the Phi Phi-Lanta ferries seem to coordinate times with the Phuket to Phi Phi ferries.

FROM TRANG.
Minibuses leave from the travel agents opposite Trang railway station and go onto Lanta via the vehicle punts. This takes about 3 hours minimum. There are several services a day in high season.

FROM THE TRANG ISLANDS AND FURTHER SOUTH
In high season, the fast TRANG ISLAND DAYTRIP BOATS out of Sala Dan will pick up at Ko Muk, Ko Kradan and Ko Ngai on the return trip. Cost in March was 400.
You can also come up on the SPEEDBOAT which leaves Lipe every second day (even days of the month - 2nd, 4th, 6th…..) and picks up at Bulon Lae, Muk and Ngai.
Accommodation places on the islands will contact these boats for you.

Lanta Longtails operate all sorts of trips around the small islands between Lanta and the mainland, and can shuttle you to the Trang islands.

GETTING AROUND ON LANTA.
The occasional songthaew runs along the east coast and also across to Lanta Town.
The main form of taxi seems to be motorcyle-sidecar, although they are not ubiquitous like motorcycle taxis in many places.
A lot of people hire motorcycles which are inexpensive. I didn’t see too many fellow bicyclists.
On my ride to Lanta Town I noticed a farang family had a local driver in a private car showing them the east coast. Maybe some of the nicer resorts have private drivers hanging around offering trips like at Phuket.


LANTA PARADISE’S CHEAP BUNGALOWS.
These are located across the road from the main complex, arranged in a U shape around a rough garden like area with lots of trees etc. Paradise wanted 500bath - I took a look and offered 400 which was instantly accepted. Silly me, they were not worth that.
On the plus side, the setting was nice enough and the bungalows were not jammed too-closely. The timber and concrete fan bungalow was big, with plenty of room for 2+people and their gear. The big veranda was a nice place to spend time, the double bed was comfy and there were good mirrors in the room and bathroom (which was a big tiled job).
On the negative, no maintenance had been done for years. One of the two room lights was busted and the other too dim for easy reading. The door required a tremendous slam to lock, and at one stage a window pane fell out on closure! There was no mosquito net, no insect screens on the windows and these had non-adjustable louvers which always left a gap for ventilation, meaning you have to cover yourself with that awful repellant each night.
The double bed had a three-quarter sheet and a single sized blanket! Water pressure disappeared one morning. The garden area needed a good clean of building refuse and other junk and the area around the veranda badly failed the no ciggy-butts no plastic ring-pull test. There were no trash bins inside or out, no broom and no hammock.


A GOOD LANTA WEBSITE
ANOTHER
AND ANOTHER
LANTA LONGTAILS - trips to nearby islands, camping

updates

SUNNYSAYAN - "Yoga at relax bay - over looking the sea - a nice place to practice.
Lanta Old Town- you can not only visit Bubu from here but MANY other islands and fishing spots off the eastern coast. Ko Talebeng is stunning. To save time - trips to Ko Ngai are offered here too. Trips to Ko Po are only 10 mins away- and there you can have the whole beach to yourself.
If you prefer a big boat and it’s the high season- you can use the 4 island tours boats as transfers- both ways Lanta-Ngai. 400 or 500 each way.
In low season, IF the wind is calm for a few days - day trips can be made to Ngai. check with lantalongtails for more info.
Other places of interest in Old Town are, an original Art Gallery and the hammock house. Behind the town (one street) is a nice Buddhist monestary and next to that is the Lions Tsunami village. Some of the best Thai food on the island is at "Beautiful" restaurant along the seaside street.
The UNDP is funding an Islander Museum to be opened soon, in a beautifully restored 100 y/o government building; it sits in the park at the foot of the pier. The UN is still in Lanta Old town to preserve the 4 delicate cultures of Ko Lanta. It plans on restoring more buildings.
Yes, the new houses built on the road by the sea gypsy’s village (Sang Ga U) are tsunami houses. Stop in at Sea Gypsie House 5 mins. south to check out some nice local crafts."

MOSEGRISEN - "Between the two "VIEWPOINT" places you mention and the village, there's in fact a third one... SAME SAME.. we stopped there for some ice cream...very inexpensive and fabulous views.
Koh Lanta - Koh Ngai Daily Ferry Boat
** On High Season only ** The Excursion Ferry Boat leave Ban Saladan Pier, North of Koh Lanta daily around 8 am. arrive Koh Ngai Jetty at 10.00 am. Vice versa, the trip back to Koh Lanta by the same ferry boats leaves Koh Ngai Jetty around 2 p.m. takes 2 hours to arrive Ban Saladan Pier, in Koh Lanta Yai - THAI TOUR
The Casuarina is a great resort. situated on Phra ae Beach (Long Beach), one of the best sandy beaches on Koh Lanta Yai. It stretches for a two kilometres facing the Andaman Sea and Phi Phi Island. Nice garden and pool.
They have 6 beach bungalows. Actually only 2 of them have "front on beach view" the other 4 are kind of "a side view"....
Anther 6 set a little further back. They are all very good size. Then they have a number of hotel rooms.. some with sea view.. set a little further back again...
Thai style hotel rooms and bungalows nicely decorated and fully air-conditioned with complete modern amenities.
The food is ok... and the general feel of the place is that of a well run operation
Royal Lanta on Klong Dao beach, offers Traditional Thai style bungalows , individually built mostly with wood interior design. The grounds are super well kept; the pool is great. The restaurant and food also. Bit more expensive than other restaurants along the beach but the presentation of the food is also nicer.
Rooms are great... very large especially the executive rooms with a vary large bathroom and spa bath. Standard of hotel and service is about as good as it gets without paying a kings ransom.
D. R. Lanta resort on Klong Dao beach, very cheap, clean and well equipped bungalows, good food and excellent friendly service, they have a pool too."

BALYANG - "We stayed at lanta marine` park view, kantiang bay in Nov 2005 - we were happy to have the more expensive sea view bungalows which did have great views.
The restaurant/bar was very good. We also had a few meals at same same but different restaurant at the other end of the beach that was very nice.
Good swimming although we had very cyclonic weather for most of our stay which was disappointing.
Some back packers got very upset with management as they had booked ahead for the cheaper bungalows but were told when they arrived they weren't available - it seemed to us the cheaper ones were often not available. That was really the only negative thing we came across.
We hired bikes form the little village nearby and accessed most of the island - really liked old Lanta town - very quaint. We were a bit disappointed with bamboo bay bungalows as that was were we originally wanted to stay but it was very isolated and a bit hard to access in wet weather - resort bit delapidated for price
but sensationally positioned restaurant overlooking the bay, just gorgeous views although food only ok."

BANGSUE - "We stayed on lanta last weekend (late April 07) on klong dao. yes it's really built up all the way along but the beach is clean and this time of year it is quiet, we only stayed one night, but we pushed the boat out and paid 2K for a beach front suite (they quote 4.5 - 5K during high season). It was a great room with a large bathroom and bedroom/living area. It had a veranda with table and chairs on the beach front where we could sit and watch the night fall looking across to both of the Phi Phi islands.
The 8am ferry Lanta to Krabi had finished for the low season and we had to get a minibus across to krabi town. That was 200b each, from Saladan from there you can get a songthaew across to Ao Nang for 40baht. A share long boat to Railey was 60B each way from there."
(Bangsue came up to Lanta from Ko Ngai) - "From ngai a (longtail) boat across to lanta was 1200 to the Lanta Town pier - 'koh ngai villa' reception sorted out the longtail for us. 'koh ngai villa' reception sorted out the longtail for us. There was no-one else going across that morning, so we had to pay it all, took about an hour or so. They said they would take us up to saladan for 2k, but we just stuck with 1200 and making our own way up. we were walking up the road from the pier at lanta and a guy in a pick-up said he would take us up the north end for 400, so we said ok. he then took us round to his house to meet the wife and kids and change his shirt, he took us up to phra ae and then on to klong dao, which was 'suay' enough for the other half."

BANYANTREE232 - "The southern bays are more relaxing but the best restaurants are just north of Relax Bay. Plus there's a Muay Thai gym inland a few hundred metres.
But it doesnt really matter where you stay as long as your room is good. The island is easy to explore on a bike. Little traffic compared to Phuket.
Apart from the cave and beaches the island has few attractions.
Good place to relax or practice some muay thai at the gym."