Trip report: Koh Lanta

[buksida]

Just returned from ten days on Koh Lanta so thought I'd do a bit of a trip report incase anybody else was thinking of going down there.

It took around 9 hours to drive it from Hua Hin to, ironically, a place called Hua Hin where you catch the car ferry. Roads were nice, two lane most of the way, turning into one lane for the final hour or so south of Krabi, its all signposted.

The car ferry actually takes you to Koh Lanta Noi where there is a formula one dash around the small island to the next car ferry to Lanta Yai. The second ferry takes less vehicles ... hence the race to get there. The ride is only about 10 to 15 minutes and costs 110 baht for both ferries.

The island itself is very long and spread out so you dont get the mass bunching of development thats seen on Samui and Phuket. It has one small town to the north called Saladan where there are some nice seafood restaurants, souvenir and dive shops. The beach road runs down the west coast of the island and most resorts are along this stretch. Again, you get the feeling that the place is quiet since there are few pedestrians outside the main town.

Accommodation varies, our place was called Lanta il Mare, rooms were about 1,700 per night and quite spacious. The resort itself was quite pricey for what it was but again its the peak week inflation, expect to pay half in low season. The "sea view" advertised was actually a tidal inlet that was behind a tsunami wall that was being built. You could actually see a strip of blue Andaman though and their pool was nice so no complaints there.

Beaches are great, long, spacious and quiet. There are a number of islands to explore also such as Koh Muk, Koh Kradan and Koh Hah. A one day snorkelling trip covered that. The diving was simply awesome, Hin Daeng and Hin Muang are rated the top dive sites in the country and they didnt dissapoint with good visibility and manta rays!

Food options are good with several well priced Thai seafood places, and a number of farang restaurants including one Swedish place that did a top notch steak. We ate out most of the time as the resort food wasnt up to much.

There is very little in the way of nightlife with most people staying on resort. There are a couple of small reggae type bars with the usual contingent of Thai layabouts and backpacker stoners.

If you're looking for the "get away from it all" holiday Koh Lanta is the place. Even during the busiest week of the year the place was relatively serene, something I couldnt imagine from Chaweng, Patong or Pattaya.

[philip]

Great report. I have heard of a resort-hotel there called the Sarojin, recommended by a fishing buddy of mine. May try it and give a report thereafter.

Next trip is to Krabi at New Year 2006/7. I pulled out after the tsunami hit and am only now ready to visit this allegedly beautiful area.

P

[buksida]

It was a while ago I posted that, have been to Khao Lak since which was equally as nice ... guess it must be that holiday feeling ... and the Andaman!

Yes the Sarojin is the 5 star place there and well out of my budget unfortunately, it looked pretty damn nice though.

[Roppongi]

Nice report, how about a few pics?

[buksida]

Nice report, how about a few pics?

I've added a section to the HHAD photo gallery here:
Koh Lanta gallery

Will add some Khao Lak images too.

[H2ODunc]

HI Buksida was just wondering if the diving was expensive over there. I spent a while working on Tao but some of the sites there are getting boring. I much prefered Chumpon, less divers and much more sealife to see. Cheers Dunc

[buksida]

It was quite expensive due to the cost of fuel and the distances to the dive sites (Hin Deang and Hin Muang).

Chumphon is nice if you can avoid staying at that horrible Cabana place, trip report here:

http://www.huahinafterdark.com/forum/vi ... php?t=3421