Best Beach spot in Thailand

nicoc

Hi there,

Hope someone can help give me a little bit of advice.

we're planning a holiday to Thailand in November this year, current plan is:
Fly into Bangkok and stay for 2 nights
Flight to Chiang Rai stay for 3 nights
Then we want to go south and stay in a beautiful beach location for a further 5 nights before flying home (which I assume we'll have to fly back to Bangkok to do so)

What I'm really after is recommendations of where to go for the beautiful beach part.

I'm put off Pattaya, Samui, Kho Phangan, Krabi just because I feel like they would be over developed (having never been though I might be wildly out!).

It's just OH and I, we want some some really pretty, with good food (outside the hotel, not after AI) and a few bars, nothing crazy. We both really like diving so that would be a bonus.

Don't mind getting a ferry/boat it's just I don't want it to be a massively difficult process getting there as we'll have to fly from Chiang Rai so assuming we'll have a connection to make in Bangkok before on to Phuket or Krabi? I guess ideally maybe a couple of hours max from either of those two places as we'll have to do the reverse going back up to Bangkok to go home.

Any help, advice or recommendations would be hugely appreciated

Thanks
Nicola

Doshwaster

Interesting question. There are a whole range of beaches in Thailand and many places have both busy and quiet areas - from the very crazy and expensive to the remote and uninhabited but it sounds like you are looking for somewhere in between. I did see a post on TripAdvisor recently asking for a "very private beach with lots of bars and restaurants nearby" :rotfl:

There are still some reasonably quiet beaches on Samui which have a decent selection of bars and hotels without being too dead. Take a look at Bophut Beach or Big Budda Beach. Chaweng and Lamai are the two most developed beaches. Chaweng was quite nice 10 years ago but now it's as almost as built up as Patong beach on Phuket.

Elsewhere I like Ao Nang near Krabi which is nice and relaxing without being too over developed. It's also a good place to pick up boats to Phi Phi and the other islands.

jtr2803

Khao Lak?

We did 11 nights there in Feb, was lovely, just the right mix of plenty of restaurants with things to do but still relaxing with no hassle from shop keepers/touts etc. It's just under an hour north of Phuket and from there we did a few nights in Khao Sok. We stayed in Bang Niang which has kms of beaches for walking, would very happily go back there again.

We stayed in La Flora which is next to the Ramada. I also want to try Koh Lanta but I think the transfers could be time consuming depending on time of year and where you fly into......