From Krabi town jump on a white songthaew to Ao Nang (40baht), get off where it first hits the beach in Ao Nang town proper (lots of shops etc, so you won’t confuse it with Hat Noppharet Thara beach a few km earlier), go to the long tail ticket counter on the beachside and get a ticket to Ton Sai for 60 baht daylight. Once there are enough passengers for both TS and Railay, usually a short wait, the long tail takes off and you are on Ton Sai 10 minutes later. Nice scenic ride.*

From Krabi airport, the set taxi fare is to Ao Nang is 600, a rip-off by Thai standards. (It is a likewise 350 ripoff into Krabi town. There is supposed to be a shuttle bus into Krabi town, but it ran irregularly last high season).
Update June07 - I just found this on Your Krabi website written by the administrator:
"A taxi from the airport to Ao Nang costs 600 baht, or a shared minivan service costs 200 baht per person, waiting for 6 people before leaving. There is no public transport allowed in the airport. If you would like to take public transport, you must walk out to the main highway and flag down a (sonthaew) truck to Krabi Town (this could be dangerous, as you have to cross the highway) for about 30 baht, then take another bus, or taxi to Ao Nang from there."
Hmm, I wonder if that minivan is as unreliable as the shuttle into Krabi town - if it doesn't get a full load it doesn't run?
Update Oct 07 - poster Joseph just PMed me that "the shuttle bus is now running 3 times a day and scheduling is basically connected to the arrival of the budget airliners. They dropped us at the main road near the Krabi bus station (80 baht, 90 to Krabi centre, 150 to Ao Nang) ..... I talked to the bus-organiser who was on the bus and mentioned complaints about the inconsistency of their service in the past. He admitted ... to problems with the vested interests (taxi-you know what) who didn't want to give them a parking space at the airport parking lot. There has been an agreement and they hope and really want to continue the service and even hope to add more trips in the future, depending on demand....so it's up to us to make this service a success: make it known!!!!!
I have a shuttle bus schedule but it is only in use until Oct.27 and will be adjusted when the budget airliners adjust their schedules....fair enough I think.
If you should need to contact them after oct.27 you can call 085-8892664".

From Phi Phi, the Ao Nang Princess or sister ferry does an afternoon trip to Ao Nang, stopping off in Railay Bay to unload Railay and Ton Sai passengers. This service is high season only. See the sublink ferry timetable near the end of this report. (UPDATE Sept 07 - apparantly this ferry IS running low season 07)I assume at least one of the meeting long tails will go to Ton Sai - there was one to take us across to the ferry (no extra charge on the ticket which is 350 to 390 baht depending on yer bargaining skills) on the outward journey.
In low season you will have to catch the Phi Phi to Krabi town ferry.

From Lanta, there is also a high season Lanta to Railay/Ton Sai/Ao Nang ferry. In low season this ferry does not run. Nor does the Lanta to Krabi town ferry. You will have to catch the miniubus service off the island to Krabi town then.

*Note you can catch a lontail directly from Krabi town to East Railay for about 100 baht. It is only a 5 minute walk across the spit to West Railay. But it is a helluva walk to Ton-Sai, very difficult with big bags. These long tails will go around the peninsula to Ton Sai, but charge a bomb to do it.

From Phuket airport and the Phuket beaches, see the section towards the end of this report.



The following was written after my March 2006 visit. Most of the info is still relevant and I have updated it where necesssary from my observations a fortnight back.

WEST RAILAY was its usual gorgeous self when I waded ashore on arrival. I’d been traveling 20 hours continuously overnight from Australia apart from the usual airport delays, so rather than waste time finding a room I walked to the northern end of the beach, put my bag in the shade of the rocks and went for a glorious swim followed by some sun. Not a bad way to start the holiday.

West Railay has 3 nice midrange+ places, RAILAY BAY, RAILAY VILLAGE and SAND SEA. (Railay Village was undergoing complete reconstruction in March 07 and looked several months from completion) Their bungalows are too expensive these days for cheapskates like me and they rarely have a room walk-in away from low season, which early March is not. However they have good beachfront restaurants with a great outlook daytime or evening from the front tables and the prices are surprisingly reasonable, mostly either equal to or only slightly more than their counterparts over on East Railay. One is Muslim owned, (Sand Sea I think) and does not sell booze, but I did see customers bringing bottles in from elsewhere. My notes say the service there was incredibly slow - but the other joints were okay. Railay Bay has put in a pool since my last visit, beachside and quite attractive. No doubt the competitors have or will develop their own pools.

The beach seemed much less crowded than a previous March visit, so probably I could have found a room easily on the beach at EAST RAILAY, but previous visits left me underwhelmed by the lower-budget offerings there*. So I headed for my old favourite, PARK VIEW, up in the high valley beyond the Diamond Cave. A concrete footpath for these places starts just past YA YA on East Railay, but I took a short cut directly from my swimming spot at the Ton Sai end of West Railay, which goes along the base of the cliffs behind the RAILAY BEACH CLUB (some new bungalows going in here, which could interest you if you are a really rich bastard) and joins the concrete path nearer the cave. BTW there was a big new project 80% finished in March near the junction of these two tracks, an international resort block-style hotel , huge pool etc. This is less than 5 minutes walk to both beaches and is on the site of a former rubbish dump if my memory is correct. Jeez, the anti-development-nazis can’t complain about this one. Like hell, they complain about everything.(this place was finished last visit in March 07 - RAILAY PALACE - and looking very swish with lovely pool and artificial lake)
Big surprise! My old favourite ParkView doesn’t exist anymore - it is now renamed RAILAY CABANA, has a bigger range of bungalows, but is still a reasonable cheapie - although the nice girl wanted 350 for their most basic bungalows, and no way were they worth that. I reckon they were 250s but I couldn’t get them under 300. (starting at 400 March 07) So who is gonna cry over (choke) the cost of a beer (sob)?
Unfortunately the nearby fabulously ornate Highland Restaurant with the great views has closed down. Looks like people weren’t prepared to make the 10 minute walk up here from the beaches for a meal or beer. However, new to me were HIGHLAND’s bungalows, pretty nice looking places starting at 400.(March 07 - asking 500)
Also long shut down were the rather nice looking NEW BUNGALOWS a little higher up the valley.
I have done a pretty detailed account of Railay Cabana and this area on travelfish here .

You can walk up past New Bungalows, enter the rainforest on a pretty well marked track, go over the divide and reach the highest TON SAI bungalows in around 15 minutes. Sadly quite a few of these highest bungalows are now derelict too. Maybe the tsunami and the unrest further south has had a bigger impact on tourism than thought. Nevertheless there was quite a lot of work going on with new bungalows all the way down the track, including a big midrange concrete block thingy quite close to the beach (as I noted in my Ton Sai section, this construction has disappeared!). Looks like da climbers are demanding da comfort.
Ton Sai beach is always a good place to spend some time, with some scenic restaurants and the usual toned rock climbers doing their thing. Rock climbers tend to swagger way less than divers, which is interesting, because they are entitled to bung it on much more. Ton Sai is pretty nice for swimming and sunning, but not as attractive as West Railay.
The short but steep track from the southern end of Ton Sai over the headland back to West Railay takes a newer route on the Ton Sai side now and seems easier. Look for the rope if coming from the Railay side. Nevertheless, a lot of people still wade around the headland at lower tides, which is much more difficult.

The “beach” area at EAST RAILAY is mainly mudflats and mangroves at low tide, although it can look fairly attractive from some of the higher beachside bungalows at high tide. This place has changed a fair bit since my last visit, with a lot of new development towards the far end from where the path from West Railay (5 minutes walk - this path starts alongside Railay Bay's new pool mentioned before) hits the beach. A lot of this looks more midrange**, but there is still a bit of budget accomm here. I bag YA YA’s rooms further down, but I must admit its big restaurant serves tasty budget priced food, its dive operation always seems busy and its 5 island and 3 island snorkel ling trips have always been good value. These are also offered by quite a few operators around Railay, Ao Nang and Krabi town - a definite must not miss which includes beach time on some of the fabulous limestone karst islands off shore. It’s paradise out there.
There are a few other budget bungalow restaurants on East Railay, plus one on the mangrove side of the beach track which was always packed at night and despite the mangroves, seemed to have no mozzie problem. There are also some small “supermarkets” and a couple of bars along here.

UPDATE AFTER MARCH 07 VISIT: Maybe I’m becoming too exposed to the stunning landscape/seascape of the Railay/Phra Nang area, but my visit last fortnight didn’t blow me away as much as usual. Thing is, I reckon the water is less clear and the sand less clean than it used to be - the place is indeed suffering from overexposure. The fact that a cruise liner was parked in the bay first day with endless shuttles to shore, probably didn’t help.

Particularly gross was the path along East Railay. At high tide (a big Spring or “king”tide coinciding with no moon) there was NO path, with people being forced to walk in the water most of the distance. No problem, you think. Well not if you didn’t have to dodge all the boat and fishing junk, plastic bottles, beer cans, plastic bags and other domestic rubbish floating in the water. And when the tide drops, all this stuff gets deposited on the track and adjacent mudflats/mangroves, and looks completely dreck.

What is needed is a proper paved footway the full distance along here, elevated enough to be dry at all tide levels, plus the employment of a couple of people for a few hours each morning to clear the rubbish. But being Thailand, we can’t rely on the Krabi civic authorities to do this - which means the east Railay bungalow people are gonna have to come to the party. Let’s face it, all places along here except Ya Ya are now midrange or higher, earning a motza high season for their rooms. It’s time they gave something back.

Rayvadee has set a precedent by paving the path which goes through to Phra Nang beside their resort and also building the shelter shed opposite the spot where you can start the climb up to the Princess Cave and the viewpoints. They have also built toilets and a shower for the general public (with a small charge) close to the beach.

Do you think the other bungalows will follow this precedent and do something about the East Railay bayside path? Hur hur hur. Don’t hold yer breath.


** Two midrange accommodation places on East Railay which have attracted good recent posts are SUNRISE TROPICAL RESORT and DIAMOND PRIVATE RESORT (not to be confused with DIAMOND CAVE RESORT which is a big, more budget oriented place). I haven't stayed at either, they are above my usual budget, but as said, I have seen glowing reports. (UPDATE - I had a closer look at both in the latest trip - some posters on the travel forums had complained about the multi-steps up to Diamond Private, and yep, it must be the equivalent of 4 stories of an office block. But the views from the restaurant and pool areas are pretty awesome. You then have to climb further to many of the bungalows.
SUNRISE TROPICAL is over on the flat behind Railay Bay Resort, and is no effort.
DIAMOND CAVE has moved upmarket and has a pool and some fine looking bungalows. I think this big place still has budget bungalows high up the back)

PHRA NANG beach, book-ended by limestone cliffs, has white sand, a cave, two offshore karst islets and good swimming all tides. It usually gets crowded inside two hundred meters of the access path, but if you head further up the beach there are few people, (actually, more this latest trip) much more sand and no boat traffic. Note that the beach does a reverse curve and at very high tides looks like it ends about 150m from the access track where water laps the Rayvadee beachwall. Wade past here and around the curve, where it opens up again.
Phra Nang is accessed within 5 minutes from the southern end of East Railay by a path between the headland cliffs and the luxury RAYAVADEE resort.
You can climb up on top of the headland part way along the path (look for the ropes opposite the shelter shed) to a couple of fairly good viewpoints and to a spot where you can climb down into the Princess Cave which is actually open topped with a small lake in bottom. I found this climb down is a bit tricky and should be done in shoes more suitable than joggers.
The previously mentioned Diamond Cave on the concrete path up to Railay Cabana is floodlit at designated times and is worth a look although it aint mindblowing.

Lots of travelers stay in KRABI TOWN and catch long tails to Railay-Phra Nang or songthaews to Ao Nang daily (each about 30 minutes). Krabi is an okay place to stay with a good range of accommodation in all price ranges, plenty of restaurants, lots of shops and a multitude of travel agents.. A nice place I’ve used on two occasions now, with clean rooms, a good restaurant, internet and a trip booking desk is CHAN CHA LEY GUESTHOUSE (click) This is close to downtown and to both night markets. I stay in the cheapest rooms which are great value. The newer aircon rooms at the back are said to be very good.

Things to do in Krabi town: ONAMATAHO mentioned the following -
Starting at 8 PM, check out the karaoke singers at the Thai Hotel...you might have a little fun. ;) Tell Wow and Bam Bam Matt said, "hello."
There's a good little Thai restaurant down on the river just about 50 metres past the Krabir river Hotel. Eat a lot for 100 baht!
Check out the Night Market for fresh fruit.
Hire my friend Sep down on the pier to take you on a private longtail boat tour...he needs the work. He'll take you to a fish farm, a Muslim village on an island, up river....wherever you want ot go.
Get a traditional Thai massage from Usa at Noteko Spa...she is the best in Thailand!
Chill out...it's actually a fun place if you take off your dark farang glasses and look around a bit!

The new ferry pier for PP and Lanta-Jum is now about 3km south west of downtown instead of 200 meters, which allows the more unscrupulous of the local transport people to play their sneaky games. The bus station is about 2 km the other side of town, with a frequent and cheap songthaew service into the city. The airport is much further out - maybe 15km from Krabi town and 30 from Ao Nang. The taxi mafia seem to have a monopoly on transport here and it aint cheap, 350 baht into town and 600 to Ao Nang. You buy your ticket at a stand inside the arrivals hall. I found it dead easy to find people willing to split the fare to Ao Nang.

Speaking of AO NANG, I reckon it's hot and a bit tatty during daylight. The beach aint much until you move south of the shopping /restaurant/bar area towards Ton Sai/Railay. However Ao Nang is one of these places which get much more attractive when lit up at night. There is a great range of shopping, restaurants and bars and heaps of good value places to stay, some of them very snazzy indeed. Frequent longtails run to and from Railay and neighbors - daylight price was 60 baht in March. You usually have to wait for a reasonable load of passengers, although my arrival guy took off straight away with just me - well, a few locals tagged along at the last second, no doubt gratis.

About 3km north of Ao Nang is the northern extension of HAT NOPPHARET THARA beach (also called HAT TON SON). This is the section across the far side of the canal from the National Park HQ. You access it from Krabi town by climbing off the Ao Nang songthaew where it first hits the beach - it does a turn-around in a small shopping area. Walk thru the National Park gates to the north, go to the pier about 100m away where long tails will take you across the small inlet to the beach.
There are about a half dozen mainly budget bungalow places spaced along this 3 km section of beach. ANDAMIN INN, one of the first places you come to is a good one with a range of bungalows including some adequate cheapies up the back, and a good big restaurant. The beach is very uncrowded, has nice sand but does stay shallow a long way out at low tide. I didn’t get a chance to check this area this trip, but I mention it as a good cheap walk-in alternative at the height of peak season. Back in 2002 I paid 150 baht for one of those bungalows, 10baht to cross the river, 10 baht into Ao Nang and then whatever it was then to Railay. I read a post recently said this area is still much the same, and also mentioned there is a dirt road in back of the bungalows which crosses the river further inland and meets up with the Ao Nang road.


*A few years back I got me a fan room at YA YA. A bit shabby and not particularly cheap, but it was late Nov and Railay was pretty busy. Thing is, Ya Ya is double and triple storey and largely wood construction, meaning it is noisy.
Okay, starting about 2 am a party of ravers comes home, not together, but is shifts spread over 20 minutes or more. Must have been about 30 people staying up there. They go CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP up the wooden stairs at the side and when they are all in the room, decide to rearrange the furniture. This goes on interminably. Until I grab my ever-present really big bush stick and tap the ceiling rather forcefully a few times. Problem solved.
Then about 4am, a returning couple decide to have a domestic on the stairway. Until I stick my big ugly head out the door and politely suggest they take themselves and their dispute and fuck in the direction of off.
Quiet again until 5am when Ya Ya’s battalion of rodents decides to have a line-dancing contest in the wall cavity. Until I whack the wall with my good ol’ bush stick for a few minutes. No more noise from them, but the cheeky bastards upstairs are tapping on the floor rather forcefully. And someone downstairs is yabbering quite loudly is Swahili or something. Jeez, how ungrateful - I probably saved them from the bubonic plague.
Anyway, if any of you guys were down in Trang on Nov22 2003 and heard the scamper of paws outside around 6am, that wasn’t the local dog-pack chasing Garfield - that was Ya Ya’s rats on the stampede. Of course one of you smart marthas is gunna suggest it was more likely Domestic-Dispute Couple. Yeah sure. My head may be rough but it aint that scary.
So I’m less than whelmed with Ya Ya, check out next morning, wander along the beach path and see a sign NEW BUNGALOWS - PARK VIEW pointing up the hill path . Should be quiet up there, I think.
Well it is, except for the Gibbons.

GETTING TO RAILAY - see my earlier comments on getting to Ton Sai, where there is info on travel from KRABI TOWN, PHI PHI AND KO LANTA.
The longtail from Ao Nang to Railay is the same 60baht as to Ton Sai. You can also get a longtail directly to/from East Railay and Krabi town for 100 baht.

Note some wet bad weater problems:
In wet season on really blowy days when the seas are up, longtails from Ao Nang can be suspended. In that case you have to access from Krabi town into East Railay which is sheltered from the westerly monsoon winds. On REAL bad days, it gets rough on the trip out of Krabi town too, and so you will go via Ao Nam Mao which is about halfway along the Krabi town - East Railay route, at the start of the most sheltered section.
Fortunately this does not happen very frequently and the taxi/minivan drivers will know where to go.

GETTING FROM PHUKET AIRPORT TO KRABI
Because Phuket is the destination for quite a few international flights plus a no-cost or low-cost add-on for carriers such as Thai, Malaysian and Singapore, people often ask how to get to Krabi from there.
The taxi fare in 2006 was 2200 baht, time about 2.5 hours.

This ia a copy of info from billp and tagemi -
BILLP - You don't need a taxi, unless you find some other people at the airport to share it with and split the cost. Otherwise you can pick up a public bus to Krabi every hour heading up the main road past the airport toward the bridge. Cost is something like 80 Baht and it takes about 4* hours. Just ask information at the airport for directions and transport to the main road. The buses have "Krabi " in Roman letters written on them. It's easy! From the bus station in Krabi, you take a songthaew to Ao Nang and then a longtail boat to Rai Leh.
...you could also take the early ferry to Phi Phi and then from there to Krabi and also to Railay/Ao Nang.

TAGEMI - I took a motorcycle taxi the 2 km's from the airport to the main road (10-20B, can't remember), then bus from the bus stop just south of the intersection to Krabi (4 hours, ca 100B (maybe a little more now)). There is a food stall** at the bus stop where you can ask people to help you wave down the right bus. I didn't have to wait long so I think the buses are frequent or maybe I was just lucky.
......

* 4 hours seems too much even with stops - I would say about 3.
** I reckon it would be politic to first buy something from the food stall people.

Note that a longer way of doing the bus thing is to catch the airport shuttle down to Phuket town bus station and then pick up a waiting Krabi bus. Problem is the airport is near the northern end of the island near the bridge to the mainland, whereas Phuket town is a long way to the southwest so that you retrace your steps to get to Krabi, adding something like 90 minutes minimum to the trip.

There is also a link to a Krabi based limo outfit below - I have read posts of people arranging to be picked up by operators from Krabi.

GETTING FROM PHUKET BEACHES TO KRABI.
The fastest (apart from the seaplane mentioned below) would be a taxi, but you would be looking at something like 2500 to 3000.
Cheapest would be songthaew into Phuket town, and bus from Phuket town bus station. This goes to Krabi bus station which is about 2-3km out of Krabi central. Regular songthaews run down to town.
Most scenic would be ferry from Phuket town to Phi Phi and then change for ferry to Krabi town (or to Railay/Ton Sai/Ao Nang in high season).

Wild card - travellers' miniubuses go twice per day between Krabi and Phuket beaches. They must do a return trip, but I don't know where they start from. However I reckon any of the small travel agents at the Phuket beaches or in Phuket town could sell you a ticket. These minibuses might even go right thru to Ao Nang, and may pick up at Phuket accommodation places. If so, they would be next fastest to taxi and not much dearer than the bus option.

There is also a seaplane service from Phuket to Krabi - not cheap but the views would be awesome.




SOME LINKS

A fairly good Krabi area website here

And another one there

Latest high season 06/07 schedule for ferries out of Krabi town/Ao Nang/West Railay for other islands - plus other nearby routes (click)

Krabi based limo and minibus transportation service to nearby and further destinations (clack)

AREA MAP - Krabi town, Railay, Ao Nang, Ton Sai, Noparet Thara
CLOSE UP - West Railay, East Railay, Phra Nang, Ton Sai