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ANDAMAN SEA ISLAND HOPPING ITINERARY

Did you know there are well over five hundred tropical islands scattered like verdant jewels along the Andaman Sea in Thailand?

This makes the Andaman Sea a world-class tropical island-hopping paradise!

Some of these islands are on a popular tourist trail and others are a little off the beaten path.

With transport along the Andaman coast on the southwest side of Thailand so easily arranged (within season) there are many ways to go island hopping – using ferries and speedboats and traditional longtail boats – with lots of beautiful islands to explore on route.

The Backpacking Husband and I spent a whole month backpacking and island hopping all the way from Krabi Thailand to Langkawi in Malaysia stopping off along our route to stay in palm thatched huts, to rest in hammocks under swaying palm trees on stunning white sand beaches, or to explore limestone caves and to go snorkelling or scuba diving on a coral reef.

This is our full itinerary for Island Hopping on the Andaman Sea Thailand!

ANDAMAN SEA ISLAND HOPPING MAP

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• ANDAMAN SEA ISLAND HOPPING ITINERARY
• ANDAMAN SEA ISLAND HOPPING MAP
• LIMESTONE MONUMENTS OF THE ANDAMAN SEA
• WHERE TO STAY – ISLAND HOPPING ANDAMAN SEA THAILAND
• OUR ISLAND HOPPING ITINERARY
• BEST TIME TO GO – ISLAND HOPPING ANDAMAN SEA THAILAND
• OUR STARTING POINT – KRABI AND RAILAY BEACH
• KOH LANTA
• KOH NGAI
• KOH KRADAN
• KOH MOOK
• KOH BULON LE
• KOH LIPE
• LANGKAWI

LIMESTONE MONUMENTS OF THE ANDAMAN SEA

While island hopping on the Andaman Sea in Thailand we saw lots of uninhabited and impressive limestone monuments and tall rock stacks jutting out of the water.

Hewn by weather and waves, some are strange shapes and some resemble animals or birds such as Koh Kai or ‘chicken island’.

Some of these limestone rocks and islets are famous as landmarks – like Koh Ta Pu – otherwise known as ‘James Bond Island’ because it appeared in the 1974 James Bond movie ‘Man With The Golden Gun’.

You’ll realise now that the word for island in Thai is ‘KOH’.

Travel with me down the Andaman Sea from Krabi Thailand to Langkawi Malaysia!

WHERE TO STAY – ISLAND HOPPING ANDAMAN SEA THAILAND

In planning our itinerary for our Andaman Sea Island Hopping Adventure and planning where to stay we used either Booking Dotcom or Klook Hotels to find accomodation and book our island stays in advance.

The exception was our stay at beautiful Bulon Resort on Koh Bulon (link to their website and not an affiliate link) which we booked directly with the resort.

OUR ISLAND HOPPING ITINERARY

As we were travelling to Koh Lanta during the first week of November, not all transport services were running yet.

So, we took a minibus further down the coast (the out of season route) and then a local ferry to reach our first island destination which was Koh Lanta.

Our plan was to stay on Koh Lanta for two weeks, so that going forward, we could access all the other islands on our island hopping itinerary – where we planned to stay for two, three, or four nights at a time – by traditional longtail boats.

On the Andaman Sea, you’ll find so many tropical islands that are so visually stunning that you’ll hardly believe they are real.

Many of these islands have verdant jungle interiors and are fringed by some of the most beautiful – and most photographed – beaches in the whole world.

You will find popular islands like Koh Phi Phi Ley (of The Beach fame) and other ‘tourist magnets’.

But you’ll also discover many other islands dotted along this coastline that are so small that they often get bypassed by the island-hopping crowds looking for beach parties.

Stopping off on one of these islands can make you feel like you’ve been castaway on a desert island.

If you are planning an Andaman Sea Island Hopping Adventure yourself then you might find it helpful to read my post on The Best and Worst Times To Visit Thailand to understand Thailand’s complicated monsoon seasons and weather patterns.

OUR STARTING POINT – KRABI AND RAILAY BEACH

We’d arrived from the UK into Bangkok and then took a domestic flight to Krabi.

From Krabi we took a detour by longtail boat to Railay Beach.

Railay Beach is one of the most photographed and most beautiful beaches in the world.

Going to Railay Beach was actually a diversion from our island-hopping route because Railay is not an island, but an area on the mainland protected by impregnable mangroves and thick jungle and magnificent limestone cliffs, and so it is only accessible by boat.

I’ve only ever seen Railay’s curved beach and crystal-clear waters in photographs and it was on my travel wish list to experience it and to see it with my own eyes.

We arrived on Railay Beach by longtail boat on the last day of October – Halloween – and checked into our hotel.

Then we bought tickets to attend a fabulous spooky Halloween themed party and buffet dinner on the beach.

We had a fabulous time and danced the night away to live music and fire dancers performing on the beach.

What an amazing start to our island hopping adventures on the Andaman Sea!

KOH LANTA

So the real starting point on our three-week island-hopping adventure was Koh Lanta, the largest island in this chain along the Andaman Sea.

Koh Lanta’s reputation as a relaxing laid-back paradise with uncrowded white sand beaches, unpretentious beach bars, incredible sunsets, and a hedonistic atmosphere, really appealed to me.

For two wonderful weeks we stayed at Mook Lanta Eco Resort in a gorgeous wood bungalow on stilts.

While staying on Koh Lanta, the backpacking husband was looking forward to scuba diving with Andaman Dive Adventures.

Off Koh Lanta there are spectacular coral reef dive sites nearby considered to be the best diving in Thailand.

Hin Daeng (red rock) and Hin Muang (purple rock), Koh Bida Nok and Koh Bida Nai, and of course the famous Koh Phi Phi (The Beach) and the further away dive sites of Shark Point and Anemone Reef

Some days I joined him out on the dive boat and, as I don’t dive, I enjoyed the views from the boat and I went snorkelling instead.

I’ve never seen so many tropical fish.

Even from the surface I could look down and see sea snakes, barracuda, cuttlefish, cat fish, and moray eels, box and trumpet and crocodile fish.

It was incredible!

Other days, I read in a hammock or sunbathed on the beach or went for a Thai massage.

I also attended a shala to practice my yoga.

There are lots of yoga retreats on Koh Lanta.

The backpacking husband and I took romantic strolls on Long Beach and as it was so early in the season it was often deserted.

We stopped off for ‘Leo’ or a ‘Chang’ beer and a bite of lunch at our favourite Moonwalk Beach Bar on Klong Khong Beach where we could relax on bean bag cushions at low tables made of driftwood and watch the sun go down while making memories that we know will last us a lifetime.

Modern Thai beach cabins are available to rent at Moonwalk Lanta Resort.

Interestingly, in my pre-departure planning and research, I’d also discovered Koh Lanta is home to the Chao Ley – ‘sea gypsies’ – who are thought to be the indigenous people of these islands.

Ban Sangka-Ou, a fishing village in the southeast of Lanta Yai, is home to around 400 Chao Ley people.

But you should know that the village, although not out of bounds, is not a tourist attraction.

Our hotel on Koh Ngai was in fact far more luxurious and I was in great anticipation of our arrival.

We’d booked to stay for two nights at the fabulous Thanya Beach Resort.

According to my research for our trip, Koh Ngai is a tiny island that is part of the Koh Lanta National Park, and it promises us warm turquoise waters, a white sand beach, and a jungle clad hilly interior.

Unlike the much larger island of Koh Lanta, there are no cars or motorised vehicles on Koh Ngai or indeed any of the small islands on this route.

Electrical power on the island is provided by generators.

There are no ATM machines and so its best to find out in advance if your hotel will take card payments.

There are also no TV’s but there is Wifi. To me, it sounded like a paradise.

As Koh Ngai came into view, it literally took my breath away.

It looked so beautiful, so verdant, and so very inviting, like a tropical oasis shimmering on the blue green sea.

Our accommodation at Thanya Resort on Koh Ngai was stunning too and typically Thai in that it offers small, clean, and well-furnished ‘deluxe’ bungalows set back from the white sand beach and in a garden of tropical flowers.

There is also a small swimming pool and a poolside bar just back from the beach.

Koh Ngai is incredibly beautiful. It’s idyllic. It’s bliss. It’s the stuff of dreams!

Activities on offer, other that reading in a hammock and sipping cocktails on a lounger by the pool, are swimming, snorkelling, kayaking, scuba diving on the reef, beach wandering, and hiking through the jungle interior and over the hilltop to Ao Kuan Tong Beach.

The official ‘Paradise’ trail is located behind reception at Thanya Resort.

The hike to Ao Kuan Tong Beach only takes around 20 minutes and is well worth the effort.

And, other that the above things to do, there is nothing to do so the island is low key and laid back.

After two amazing days and nights on Koh Ngai, relaxing and sunbathing and swimming and eating wonderful local food, we travelled a short distance by speedboat to the even smaller ‘slip of an island’ in this chain called Koh Kradan.

The island is part of Hat Chao Mai National Park.

Koh Kradan

When you look up Koh Kradan – as you must – you will see that every reference to this long and narrow tropical island claims it as ‘the most beautiful island’ in the Trang Province.

Kradan has, in fact, often been voted as also having the world’s most beautiful beaches.

Again, it’s an absolute paradise, and again there are no cars, no roads, no stores, no ATMs.

The waters off the beaches are crystal clear, shallow, warm, and teeming with colourful fishes.

I was especially excited to read during my trip research about Koh Kradan’s famous sandbars – not the ones selling cocktails – but the white sand powder soft ones that are exposed when the tide goes out.

These sandbars are just off the beach, accessed at low tide, through knee high clear and bath-water-warm aquamarine sea.

I anticipated that walking on them would be like spending time on your own private island and that watching the sunset from that perspective would be absolutely magical.

Koh Kradan is an island with an interior of rolling hills and a pristine jungle as backdrop to the narrow palm fringed white sand beach off a submerged coral reef.

On arrival, our boat dropped us off just out from the beach which meant us climbing out of the boat and wading ashore with our luggage – another reason to favour a backpack over a suitcase!

We stayed three nights on Koh Kradan in a bungalow in a row of sea view rooms at The Reef Resort which we again booked in advance using (affiliated) Booking Dotcom.

We enjoyed cocktails at the onsite Polynesian style tiki-bar and we ate dinner in the hotel restaurant.

The Reef Resort is a gem and it’s the only hotel on Koh Kradan with a swimming pool.

KOH MOOK

Just opposite Koh Kradan is the picturesque Koh Mook (also known as Koh Muk – and muk means pearl in Thai – so it’s also called Pearl Island). The island is especially famous – and incredibly popular with tourists – for its Morakot Cave (Emerald Cave) with an 80m long tunnel opening out to a skylight lagoon and a hidden beach.

On Koh Mook there is also an authentic fishing village and a handful of hotels and resorts.

We didn’t stay on Koh Mook. We only visited by boat on a low tide (it is only accessible by sea) and as a day trip from Koh Kradan.

We left early in the morning straight after breakfast and took a longtail boat to try and arrive at the cave before other boat loads of tourists and day trippers like ourselves.

On arrival at the cave, we were given life vests and a hard hat and a torch, and we swam along the very dark tunnel to eventually find the Emerald cave and the stunningly beautiful and sunlit lagoon.

The high walls inside the lagoon are emerald-green in colour and the sunlight filtering through the jungle skylight above reflects this shimmering colour off the rock walls and into the pool of water below.

That’s why its known as The Emerald Cave. It really is magical!

I also used this amazing cave experience and lots of others from this trip as research for my book ‘The Backpacking Housewife’.

After two days and nights we travelled from Koh Kradan by speedboat once again to the next island in the chain.

And, the next island in our island-hopping adventure, is one that is often overlooked by many tourists, as it’s not often advertised or mentioned in any of the usual hotel booking sites.

We almost overlooked it ourselves and only discovered it by chance during our trip research.

In my book, that makes Koh Bulon Le a bit of a well-kept secret and a must-see destination!

We booked with the resort directly and if I thought I’d found paradise before on Koh Lanta or Koh Ngai or Koh Kradan or Koh Mook, then I believe I was mistaken.

Prepare yourself for Koh Bulon Le!

KOH BULON LE

Koh Bulon Le is located on the Andaman Sea between the Trang Islands and Ko Tarutao Marine Park.

I can remember that the journey was fast and exhilarating and took a couple of hours.

The first thing you’ll see on approaching Koh Bulon Le is the a beautiful white-sand beach fanned by tall swaying palm trees.

Either side of the beach are limestone rocky inlets and back from the beach is dense jungle.

The backpacking husband and I were the only ones who got out of the boat at Koh Bulon Le and upon our approach to the island, where we transferred from speedboat to longtail boat to reach the beach, everyone on board stood up and gasped in awe at what they saw.

I heard someone say, ‘Oh my… this place is incredible. Where are we. Where is this?’

And we replied, ‘It’s paradise!’

Beyond all this stunning tropical island scenery, at the other side of the island, is a fishing village, some orchards, and a little school. Tourists and visitors can stay in basic guesthouses run by local families. There isn’t actually many places to stay however and so booking ahead is essential.

We stayed on White Sand Beach at Bulon Resort in a sea-view bungalow.

In anticipation of our stay on Koh Bulon Le we had booked for four nights instead of the two we’d spent on Koh Ngai and the three we’d spent on Koh Kradan. We guessed we’d want to linger here, and we’d guessed right.

Our stay on the island was amazing and wonderful.

Our bungalow on the beach was idyllic and our time on Koh Bulon Le was perfect.

The experience, and the island, is imprinted in my mind as an ultimate paradise tropical island.

It’s quiet and it’s laid back. It feels, somehow, other-worldly and timeless.

And, one morning, a strange thing happened.

The backpacking husband and I were sitting on the beach at the waters edge with the warm clear sea lapping against our feet while we were gazing out at the sunrise, when a man appeared from the jungle behind us. A naked man.

The man was tall and very lean and quite old looking.

He had wrinkly suntanned skin and long limbs and matted and straggly hair.

He wasn’t Asian. He looked Western.

He looked like a castaway who might have lived in that jungle an awfully long time and this was his morning route.

He ignored us completely as he strode right past us and waded into the sea, where he bathed and, I can only assume, he did the other things that people usually do in the morning.

We ignored him too. We looked away, not only to give him his privacy, but because we didn’t quite know if we were shocked and appalled or rather envious of his simple island lifestyle.

After a while, he came out of the sea and walked back across the beach and disappeared into the jungle again.

I watched him then and saw the path he took was marked by a driftwood and seashell dreamcatcher.

I imagined that he must have a basic hut in the jungle where he lived.

I pondered on him then and his life story and sometimes I wonder if he is still there?

(I see from a comment that he has been seen before and has obviously lived on the island a long time!)

And, the thought of being able to stay on Koh Bulon Le forever – living with beach access and living on fish and coconuts – for some reason, seemed like the perfect life to me!

KOH LIPE

Sadly, we had to leave Koh Bulon after three nights and four amazing days, and we consoled ourselves with the thought of the next beautiful island in our island-hopping adventure on the Andaman Sea Koh Lipe.

Koh Lipe is the most southern island in Thailand and so it’s the last island in the Andaman chain.

Koh Lipe also serves as the Thailand border with Malaysia.

Immigration is a hut on the beach and where we must hand over our passports if we are to travel on to Langkawi, Malaysia.

We had planned to stay for two nights on Koh Lipe and I was excited to experience the island.

I was looking forward to it and I’d read about its hippy vibe and hedonistic reputation and its popularity with travellers.

But, to be honest, at first glance I was rather disappointed with what I saw because it was really really busy.

I blame our gradual slide from feeling relaxed on Koh Lanta, to totally chilled on Koh Ngai, then laid back on Koh Kradan, and mostly horizontal on Koh Bulon Le.

I feel this is why Koh Lipe, for us, was a big culture shock.

On arrival, our boat struggled to get into the bay because there were so many other boats jostling for position there.

We eventually got off the boat and walked up the beach and every stride we took was over the mooring ropes of the decorative and flower adorned longtail boats all bobbing along side by side and so close to each other they knocked together.

Swimming off the beach wasn’t an option.

And, lining the top of the beach, where we’d become accustomed to seeing green jungle and tropical foliage and colourful fragrant flowers, was stall after stall selling tourist trinkets and t-shirts.

It was all too much. Too busy. Too crowded. Too touristy. Too noisy.

Now, I can’t speak for the whole island as there are three beaches on Koh Lipe, Pattaya, Sunrise, and Sunset beaches and I’ve only experienced one of them – Pattaya – where we’d booked to stay simply because it’s where the immigration office is to be found for onward travel to Langkawi Malaysia.

I’ve since been advised that our visit that Pattaya Beach was not the best place to stay for peace and quiet because of the boats and the noise and the crowds on walking street and the late-night bars.

So, if I do ever find myself on Koh Lipe again, I would definitely look to stay at Sunrise Beach, which is apparently the largest and the quietest of the beaches on Koh Lipe, with far less boats and (affiliated) lots of good hotels and restaurants in the area.

Maybe it was the initial disappointment of finding Pattaya Beach on Koh Lipe so busy, or it was our anticipation about reaching Langkawi, where we’d planned to spend a whole week exploring before moving onto the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, but we decided to cut short our stay on Koh Lipe.

LANGKAWI

We checked out early the next morning to get through immigration and to take the ferry to Langkawi Island – our gateway into Malaysia – and to many more fabulous new adventures!

I’ve used my own experiences of travelling through these islands to meld with Lori’s (fictional) story.

Readers of my Backpacking Housewife books have contacted me to say that they have also now travelled this route – or plan to do so – from reading the book and being inspired by these travels. I think that’s wonderful!

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