Soaking Up The Sun On Railay Beach: Krabi/Aonang, Thailand

In my last post I wrote about escaping the town of Aonang and going on a 4 Island Tour (which, unfortunately, wasn’t that great).  If you’d much rather put your butt on one beach for an entire day instead of hopping around, a sure-fire bet is taking a short longtail boat ride to Railay Beach from Aonang. This beach is a popular destination for those travelling around the Krabi area, either just as a day trip or to spend a few nights on one of Railay’s beach-front hotels. Regardless of how long you spend on Railay, you’ll be whisked away by the beauty of the beach, surrounding cliffs, and relaxed vibe.. so long as you can pretend that all the other tourists scattered about aren’t actually there.

Prior to arriving in Aonang we had been told to spend at least a day on Railay Beach to enjoy a killer view while soaking up some sun.  ฿200 for a round trip and 10 minutes in a longtail boat will get you to the lovely beach of Railay. Boats are constantly going back and forth between Railay and Aonang, so you don’t have to worry about getting there or getting back (just make sure you don’t fall asleep on the beach so you can catch the last longtail boat of the day). While the convenience of transportation is great, I would suggest you head down to the opposite end of the beach to avoid hearing the roaring engines of the boats throughout the day. And, of course, so you can appreciate clear views of this…

After lazing around on the beach for a few hours and getting scorched by the sun (be sure to find a shady spot before they’re all gone!), we decided to have a look at some shops and restaurants down the “Walking Street”. There are only a few cafes and shops on Railay in comparison to Aonang, so I wouldn’t come here to do any shopping – you can get everything you want in Aonang and negotiate a much lower price.

If you continue walking past all of the shops, you will get to the other side of Railay (the East beach). Though we didn’t have a chance to visit the other beach, we heard from others that it looked similar to the main beach, but with fewer tourists. We also heard that along the way you can head up to the Railay Beach Viewpoint, but it sounded quite dangerous (free climbing up and down steep limestone rock) – be sure to bring proper runners if you plan on trying to get to the top.

After we had enough of the sun (which didn’t take long), we promptly climbed back into a longtail boat and bid farewell to Railay…