Beaches
The best beach in Thailand depends on the month
Every list answering this question ranks the same ten beaches and never says when. That is the only part that matters: Thailand's two coasts are mirror images, and a beach that is the best in the country in February is the wrong answer in July. Below is four years of measured wave height for twenty-one of them, set against thirty years of rainfall.
Measured, not ranked
Wave height by month
The mean of each day's biggest wave, in metres, averaged per calendar month. Green is under 0.4m and flat; the darkest is above 0.75m and has surf in it. The current month is outlined.
| Coast and beaches | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman coast, west | ||||||||||||
| Ao Nang · Railay West · Phra Nang faces Southwest and West and South | 0.23 | 0.24 | 0.20 | 0.21 | 0.30 | 0.37 | 0.43 | 0.39 | 0.43 | 0.26 | 0.19 | 0.18 |
| Nang Thong, Khao Lak | 0.30 | 0.30 | 0.29 | 0.35 | 0.65 | 0.80 | 0.93 | 0.82 | 0.90 | 0.57 | 0.38 | 0.34 |
| Long Beach, Phi Phi | 0.45 | 0.46 | 0.40 | 0.37 | 0.67 | 0.78 | 0.89 | 0.80 | 0.89 | 0.59 | 0.46 | 0.45 |
| Kantiang Bay | 0.48 | 0.45 | 0.39 | 0.38 | 0.67 | 0.78 | 0.87 | 0.79 | 0.89 | 0.62 | 0.49 | 0.51 |
| Mai Khao | 0.37 | 0.37 | 0.37 | 0.42 | 0.83 | 0.99 | 1.13 | 0.99 | 1.09 | 0.74 | 0.47 | 0.43 |
| Sunrise Beach, Koh Lipe | 0.61 | 0.57 | 0.48 | 0.39 | 0.77 | 0.86 | 0.99 | 0.89 | 1.02 | 0.73 | 0.59 | 0.59 |
| Bang Tao | 0.39 | 0.40 | 0.39 | 0.44 | 0.89 | 1.07 | 1.21 | 1.06 | 1.18 | 0.79 | 0.50 | 0.44 |
| Kamala | 0.44 | 0.45 | 0.43 | 0.45 | 0.93 | 1.11 | 1.26 | 1.10 | 1.23 | 0.82 | 0.53 | 0.48 |
| Patong · Karon | 0.51 | 0.53 | 0.48 | 0.47 | 0.96 | 1.14 | 1.30 | 1.14 | 1.28 | 0.85 | 0.57 | 0.54 |
| Kata · Nai Harn · Rawai faces West and Southwest and South | 0.60 | 0.61 | 0.54 | 0.50 | 1.00 | 1.18 | 1.34 | 1.17 | 1.33 | 0.88 | 0.62 | 0.61 |
| Gulf coast, east | ||||||||||||
| Chaweng · Bophut faces East and North | 0.58 | 0.58 | 0.43 | 0.30 | 0.29 | 0.29 | 0.36 | 0.31 | 0.35 | 0.24 | 0.53 | 0.64 |
| Lamai | 0.61 | 0.63 | 0.46 | 0.32 | 0.32 | 0.32 | 0.39 | 0.34 | 0.37 | 0.25 | 0.54 | 0.66 |
| Haad Rin | 0.58 | 0.54 | 0.40 | 0.29 | 0.33 | 0.36 | 0.42 | 0.38 | 0.42 | 0.28 | 0.55 | 0.66 |
| Thong Nai Pan | 0.60 | 0.55 | 0.41 | 0.30 | 0.35 | 0.38 | 0.44 | 0.40 | 0.44 | 0.30 | 0.58 | 0.68 |
| Sairee | 0.73 | 0.60 | 0.44 | 0.38 | 0.42 | 0.50 | 0.56 | 0.52 | 0.55 | 0.39 | 0.76 | 0.89 |
The two coasts are mirror images, and the sea says so too
This site already measures the rainfall on both coasts and finds them about three months out of step. The wave data is a completely separate measurement from a completely separate model, and it lands on the same answer: the Andaman peaks at 1.34m in July and the Gulf peaks at 0.89m in December.
Two independent datasets agreeing is worth more than either on its own. It also gives the rule that decides a beach holiday here: pick the coast from your dates, then pick the beach. The rainfall, month by month
The Krabi bays are three times calmer than Phuket's west coast
Ao Nang, Railay and Phra Nang never exceed 0.43m in any month of the year. Kata, Nai Harn and the Phuket west coast reach 1.34m. They are sixty kilometres apart in the same sea.
The reason is geography rather than luck: Krabi's beaches sit inside Phang Nga bay with Phuket island itself between them and the open Andaman Sea. If you want water you can actually swim in during the shoulder months, this is the single most useful fact on the page. Krabi guide
The Gulf in July is calmer than the Andaman in any month
Chaweng and its neighbours sit around 0.3m through the northern summer. Phuket's west coast does not go below 0.47m in its calmest month, and is above 1.1m in July. If your dates are fixed to a European or British school holiday, the Gulf is not a compromise. It is the better beach.
The twenty-one
Which way each one faces is the thing that explains its numbers, and it is read off the map rather than measured.
-
Patong
Phuket's loudest and busiest beach, three kilometres of sand behind a wall of bars and hotels.
Calm and dry Mar
Phuket guide -
Kata
The one most people mean by a Phuket beach: broad, swimmable, busy without being Patong.
Calm and dry no month meets both
Phuket guide -
Karon
Longer and quieter than Kata next door, with the squeaking white sand Phuket is known for.
Calm and dry Mar
Phuket guide -
Nai Harn
A near-perfect bay at the southern tip, backed by a lagoon rather than a strip.
Calm and dry no month meets both
Phuket guide -
Kamala
A village beach north of Patong, calmer in every sense and still walkable end to end.
Calm and dry Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Phuket guide -
Bang Tao
Six kilometres of it, most of it in front of resorts, and the widest sand on the island.
Calm and dry Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Phuket guide -
Mai Khao
Phuket's longest and emptiest beach, under the airport approach and inside a national park.
Calm and dry Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Phuket guide -
Rawai
Not a swimming beach but the island's sheltered side, and the pier for the offshore islands.
Calm and dry no month meets both
Phuket guide -
Nang Thong, Khao Lak
The main beach at Khao Lak, long and low-key, and the jumping-off point for the Similans.
Calm and dry Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Phuket guide -
Ao Nang
Krabi's main beach and its transport hub, with longtails to everywhere better.
Calm and dry Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Krabi guide -
Railay West
Reached only by boat, walled in by limestone, and the postcard most people have seen.
Calm and dry Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Krabi guide -
Phra Nang
A small beach under a cliff with a cave shrine at one end, and the best water on the peninsula.
Calm and dry Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Krabi guide -
Long Beach, Phi Phi
Phi Phi Don's swimming beach, twenty minutes from the pier and a different island from Tonsai.
Calm and dry Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Thailand's islands guide -
Kantiang Bay
Koh Lanta's southern bay, a horseshoe of sand a long way from anything.
Calm and dry Jan, Feb, Mar
Thailand's islands guide -
Sunrise Beach, Koh Lipe
The quiet side of Lipe, facing the sunrise and sheltered when the west coast is not.
Calm and dry Mar
Thailand's islands guide -
Chaweng
Koh Samui's longest and busiest beach, seven kilometres of it facing the Gulf.
Calm and dry Mar, Apr
Koh Samui guide -
Lamai
Chaweng's smaller neighbour, with more sand per person and a shorter strip behind it.
Calm and dry Mar, Apr
Koh Samui guide -
Bophut
The north-coast beach behind Fisherman's Village, calm and shallow and better for families.
Calm and dry Mar, Apr
Koh Samui guide -
Haad Rin
Koh Phangan's southern point, and the beach the Full Moon Party happens on.
Calm and dry Mar
Thailand's islands guide -
Thong Nai Pan
Two bays on Phangan's northeast corner, a long way from Haad Rin in every sense.
Calm and dry Mar
Thailand's islands guide -
Sairee
Koh Tao's main beach and the centre of the busiest dive scene in the country.
Calm and dry Mar
Thailand's islands guide
What this measurement is, and what it is not
Four years, not thirty
The marine archive begins in 2022. The rainfall on this site is thirty years of ERA5; this is four. It is what exists, and it is enough to show a seasonal shape but not enough to call any single month unusual.
The grid is about five kilometres
Which is why the table above is by coastal cell rather than by beach. Kata, Nai Harn and Rawai resolve to one cell and carry one set of figures, and Rawai faces south while Kata faces west. Where a row covers beaches pointing different ways, it says so.
Modelled sea, not the shore break
A sandbar, a headland or a reef changes what actually breaks on the sand. These figures describe the sea arriving at the coast, which is the part that follows the season.
Waves are not the only hazard
Rip currents can run on a beach that looks calm, and they are what the red flags on Phuket's west coast are for during the monsoon. What actually goes wrong in Thailand
open-meteo marine reanalysis, 2022 to 2025, at each beach's own coordinates. Rainfall from era5 reanalysis, 1995 to 2024, at each destination's coordinates.
Start from your dates instead
Frequently asked questions
What is the best beach in Thailand?+
It depends entirely on the month, which is why every list that answers it without one is guessing. The Andaman coast is calmest from November to April and roughest in July; the Gulf is the reverse, calmest around October and roughest in December. Pick the coast from your dates, then pick the beach.
Which Thai beaches are calmest?+
The Krabi bays, by a wide margin. Ao Nang, Railay and Phra Nang sit inside Phang Nga bay behind Phuket island, and their roughest month averages 0.43m against 1.34m on Phuket's west coast. That is roughly three times calmer, in the same sea, sixty kilometres apart.
Can you swim in Thailand during the monsoon?+
On the other coast, yes. During the southwest monsoon the Gulf islands are in their dry season and their calmest water of the year, while the Andaman is not. On the Andaman itself in those months, red flags on the west-coast beaches mean rip currents, and they are not decoration.
Which side of Phuket has the best beaches?+
The west, which is where all the famous ones are and also where the swell arrives. The east and south of the island, around Rawai and Chalong, are sheltered but are not swimming beaches. In the monsoon that trade is worth knowing about; the rest of the year the west coast is simply better.
Is Maya Bay open?+
It reopened after its closure but with strict limits: no boats moor in the bay itself, visitor numbers are capped, and it closes annually for part of the year. Check before you build a day around it, because the rules have changed more than once.