Things to Do in Krabi

Krabi’s whole appeal is one geological accident. Limestone laid down as reef, uplifted, and then eroded into towers that rise vertically out of water shallow enough to wade in. Everything worth doing here is either on that limestone, under it, or looking at it from a boat.

On the water

The Hong islands

The best of the island days and the one to take if you take only one. Koh Hong has a shallow lagoon enclosed almost entirely by cliff, reachable through a gap the boats nose into, and a beach on the far side that is as good as anything in the province. Small-boat trips get there before the big ones.

The four islands

Chicken Island, Koh Tup, Koh Mor and Poda, and the reason it is worth doing is the sandbar: at low tide a spit of sand appears connecting Koh Tup and Koh Mor and you can walk between two islands in ankle-deep water. Check the tide before booking, because at high water it is simply four island stops.

Phi Phi

Closer from Krabi than from Phuket, at about an hour and a half by ferry, and correspondingly busier. Maya Bay reopened under strict limits on numbers and mooring and closes for part of each year. Worth a day; better still as a stop on a route south.

Ferry times and fares

Kayaking at Ao Thalane

The quiet alternative to a boat tour and the closest you get to the landscape. Mangrove channels between karsts on the coast north of Ao Nang, paddled at your own speed, with sea eagles overhead and almost no engine noise. Two or three hours.

On land

Tiger Cave Temple

Wat Tham Suea, ten minutes from Krabi town, and the climb is the attraction: 1,237 steps up the side of a karst to a gilded Buddha and a view over the whole plain, the river and the cliffs beyond. It is steep, uneven and completely exposed.

Start at first light. By nine the heat makes it a genuinely hard hour, and people do get into trouble on it. Water, and shoulders and knees covered at the top.

The Emerald Pool and the Blue Pool

Spring-fed pools in the Thung Teao forest an hour inland, the first warm and swimmable and the colour its name suggests, the second a startling cobalt you look at rather than swim in. A short forest walk connects them.

They are popular and they are best early. In the driest months the colour is at its strongest.

The hot springs

Natural thermal water in stone basins in the forest, usually paired with the Emerald Pool on the same trip because they are twenty minutes apart. Pleasant rather than remarkable, and the two together make a comfortable half day out of the heat.

Krabi town night market

Thursday to Sunday by the river, and it is a Thai night market rather than a tourist one. Worth the twenty-five minutes from Ao Nang for the food alone, and it is the cheapest good meal in the province.

Climbing, which Railay is famous for

Railay is one of the best-known sport-climbing destinations in the world, and the cliffs directly behind Railay East and Tonsai carry hundreds of bolted routes. Schools on the beach run half-day and full-day introductions for people who have never climbed, and the setting means even a beginner’s route ends with a view over the bay.

Fitting it together

A week in Krabi works as two boat days, one land day and four on a beach. Take the boat days early in the trip: they are weather-dependent and having a spare day to move one to is worth more than the schedule.

Almost everything above is booked the day before from any agent in Ao Nang, and the small-boat versions of the island trips cost more and are worth it.