Thailand’s best beaches

I went travelling around Thailand on my own when I was in my late twenties. After touching down in Bangkok I headed north to Chiang Mai before returning to the capital and heading south. After a bumpy, lumpy overnight backpacker bus ride to Krabi, via Surat Thani, I got my first glimpse of the fabled white sand beaches that everyone back home had been raving about. I emailed a friend to say I’d found The Beach. They replied that it looked like I’d found the real Thailand. Hmm, this made me pause for thought. The experiences I’d had in the jungles and with local Thais previous to arriving in the ‘promised lands’ down south just didn’t compare. It’s worth bearing this in mind if your sole purpose is to search for Thailand’s best beaches. They’re certainly not all that Thailand has to offer.

Hey, many are absolutely beautiful and still promise the deserted idylls that you’ll have seen on screen savers. Unfortunately, for others, this has determined their demise. High-rise hotels, all-inclusive private resorts, mass tourism and hedonistic parties have ripped the heart out of many of Thailand’s best beaches and turned them into quite the opposite. However, don’t despair, there are still plenty to discover that haven’t been, urm, ‘discovered’ by the SangSom bucket brigade.

Koh Yao Noi is another Andaman island that’s been relatively untouched by tourism. Set in the centre of Phang Nga Bay, between the profiteers of Phuket and Phi Phi, Koh Yao Noi takes you back to when Thailand’s west coast’s sole focus was fishing villages and rubber plantations. Snorkelling from the beach, boat rides to tiny deserted islands for lunch and sublime views out to Ao Nang, flanked by verdant limestone cliffs, make Koh Yao Noi an absolute world away from Patong.

Head north of Krabi into Phang Nga province and yet more incredible island beaches can be found. The Surin Islands and the Similan Islands can both be reached on a small ship cruise from Phuket and provide a spectacular underwater experience as well as opportunities to kick back on white sand beaches fringed by tropical rainforests. Hiking, snorkelling, kayaking and SUP boarding can all be undertaken on a small ship cruise to Surin and Similan and you can also find out more about the sea-faring Moken people in the company of a local guide.

Another Andaman anchorage often used by small ships cruising in Phang Nga is a stretch of west coast shoreline known as Khao Lak. This is basically one long sandy beach interspersed with fishing villages. Although several of the villages have succumbed, somewhat, to tourism there’s nothing to indicate that things are going to get quite as out of hand as the beach resorts 60kms south. Local restrictions insist that new constructions can’t be taller than a palm tree. Hopefully this means Khao Lak can keep its sleepy, uncrowded, laid-back beach ambience for many more full moons to follow.

Although there are plenty of peaceful beaches to discover on Koh Samui, seek out the sugar-like sandy stretches around the islands of Koh Chang National Marine Park and you’ll barely be able to breathe for listening to lapping waves and rustling palm fronds. From tiny Koh Mak and rugged Koh Chang to pure powder beaches on Rayang and underwater ecstasy off Koh Rang – this east coast archipelago offers a generous glimpse at that Thai tropical paradise that old school travellers still rave about. Unheard of fishing villages, canoe tours through mangroves and swimming in waterfalls turn a trip to the islands of east coast Thailand into a world of natural wonders.