The Best Sunset Spot in Ao Nang, Krabi
Ao Nang and Noppharat beach are perfectly situated to enjoy the amazing sunsets over the Andaman Sea. We have found what we think is the BEST sunset bar in Ao Nang. We tested many bars for sunset drinks in Ao Nang, and have found the perfect place to have a drink whilst watching the sun set in Krabi!
Thailand is legendary for its sunsets and the popular resort town of Ao Nang is perfectly situated to enjoy the very best sunset shows the Andaman Sea can deliver.
With two beaches Ao Nang and Hat Noppharat Thara that face directly into the setting sun and with countless bars and restaurants lining the sea front, you’re spoilt for choice for sundowner drinks.
However we feel there is one clear winner in the sunset sweepstakes!
The Frog Beach Bar - Location
Ignore the lacklustre Google listing for this place, this no nonsense beach bar serves up beer and cocktails with a prime view over Noppharat beach and its extraordinary sunsets. There are posher options surrounding the bar, but nothing really beats sitting on a plastic chair, sipping a mojito that is 90% alcohol whilst watching the sun burn down to the horizon.
It's not luxurious, the tables are made from driftwood and the seats plastic, but it is set right on the beach wall, and has an unpretentious laid back feel. Exactly what we want as backpackers. Some of the more well-heeled bars also have great views, but tend to be more expensive.
The prices at the bar are not super cheap, but not bad considering the location and perfect fiery sunset show:
A small beer costs 90 baht.
Cocktails start from 180 baht.
Soft drinks cost 50 baht
There's something magical about watching the sun set, and there's something even more magical about watching it set in Thailand.
The Frog Beach Bar provides the perfect sunset experience. Plastic stools, cold beer and front row seats to watch the sky catch fire. The view from the bar changes with the fading light. As the last of the day's sunlight traces down the limestone cliffs surrounding the beach, before the fading glow sinks below the horizon, leaving behind the bobbing silhouettes of longtail boats in the bay. As we said… magical!
Little tip - just when you think that the sunset is over, wait just a little more. After the sun has gone down fully below the horizon and fallen under the curve of the Earth, you’ll have one final display as the sun illuminates the underside of the clouds.
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
Chok Dee Thailand!
Accommodation in Ao Nang - Where to Stay?
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If your looking for somewhere to stay in Ao Nang we can highly recommend Ao Nang Colors Hotel. We treated ourselves over Christmas and it was great! Ao Nang has countless other hotels, hostels and resorts to chose from check out the map below for where to stay:
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The Sleepy Paradise of Koh Mook
The island of Koh Mook is not as famous as its nearby Thai islands of Koh Lanta, Koh Phi Phi or Phuket. However, it is a must stop on any island hopping itinerary. Find out where to stay, what to eat and what to do on this gorgeous, sleepy, paradise island.
Set in the crystal clear waters off the coast of Trang in Southern Thailand, Koh Mook is a hidden gem of an island. Beautiful beaches, great accommodation and plenty of tasty food to eat, Koh Mook is the island you wished you had heard of earlier. Thailand is full of “Paradise Islands” but the little island of Koh Mook (sometimes called Ko Muk) is a world away from the busy beaches of Koh Lanta, Samui or Phuket. We have been to this gorgeous island twice and this is our complete guide to Thailand’s sleepy island paradise - Koh Mook.
Often in Thailand you have to share your paradise, share it with many, many other people. There is a fantasy when backpacking that you’re going to find “The Beach”, an unspoilt and deserted strip of white sand and paradisiacal blue water. Then you remember that Thailand is a well known, well connected and a fantastically popular tourist destination. Thailand welcomed 28 million tourists alone in 2023. That beach you’re looking for is not going to be deserted! This isn’t meant to be a downer, the beaches, even the busiest ones are phenomenal, but if you want to find a quiet cove, you will have to look a little harder.
Koh Mook felt like we had arrived before the mass tourism wave. We’re not old enough to say for sure, but we feel that Koh Mook must have been what it felt like to backpack Thailand in the Seventies and Eighties, before mass tourism and resorts came. It's not often in Thailand that you can find a place full of staggering beauty without the crowds, but whilst we were on Koh Mook it seemed like we had.
Koh Mook has not yet succumbed to the mass tourism or exclusionary, exclusive resorts of its neighbours. The island exudes a genuine laid-back sleepy charm.
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. We will earn a small commission from any purchases made through these links.
Okay backup, there is one resort on Koh Mook, the Sivalai Beach Resort, so it hasn’t completely escaped the notice of developers. However, we have visited twice, both times in the high season and the island was very quiet, laid back and didn’t feel anywhere near as busy as our previous destinations of Koh Lipe and Koh Lanta.
In this Koh Mook travel guide:
Where is Koh Mook?
Koh Mook or Ko Muk as it is often spelt, is a small island just off the coast of Trang province in southern Thailand. North of Koh Libong, and next to the smaller islands of Koh Kradan and Koh Ngai, Koh Mook sits in perfect clear-blue waters and is surrounded by natural beauty, corals and amazing wildlife. Koh Mook island is easily walkable from one end to the other in 30 to 45 minutes and although you can rent a scooter, you really don't need to. Just slow down, relax and take in the beautiful laid back surroundings.
Getting to Koh Mook - How to get to the island?
The obligatory Thai ferry stickers.
Ferry / speedboats from the other Thai islands.
Whilst on Koh Lipe (another fantastic Thai island, check out our article here), we had been nosing around the travel agents trying to suss out our next move. Koh Mook grabbed our interest as it seemed to be a small stop on the way north to more popular islands. Koh Mook seemed to be a far less popular option than Koh Lanta and Koh Phi Phi where most other travellers seemed to be heading. We booked ourselves on the speedboat from Koh Lipe. One ticket from Koh Lipe to Koh Mook on the speedboat cost us 1250 baht. We booked our tickets in person on the island of Koh Lipe, but if you wanted to book in advance and online, you could use 12Go. If you are travelling in the high season, we would highly recommend booking in advance as the ferry tickets sell out quickly!
After a quick stop at Koh Libong (yet another beautiful island, check out our article here), our speedboat headed across the water and docked at the end of Koh Mook’s very long pier. There are taxis available to take you from the speedboat to your accommodation (100 baht - same price for anywhere across the island), but as we were backpacking it was time for us to walk.
If you’re not coming from Koh Lipe, Koh Mook is accessible from most of the other big islands, sometimes it's a stop along elsewhere and sometimes as a direct speedboat.
Getting to Koh Mook from the Thai mainland
There are connections to the mainland via the city of Trang. Trang bus station is well connected and has links to the main towns of the south as well as Bangkok and further afield.
If you’re looking to make your own way there, the pier from the mainland is called Khaun Tung Ku Pier (ท่าเรือ ควนตุ้งกู) - Location and public ferries run daily from here to Koh Mook.
Booking travel tickets to Koh Mook
As we have mentioned you can get to Koh Mook from any of the western Thai islands as well as from the mainland.
Have a look below for some booking options below:
Accommodation on Koh Mook
The island of Koh Mook has a decent array of accommodation choices, ranging from basic bamboo huts and hostels to a resort and a small selection of luxury boutique hotels.
We opted to stay at the Smile Resort. A private room with en-suite bathroom and air conditioning cost £17.50 a night. This is at the upper end of our backpacker accommodation budget. However, for a private room on a Thai island it was really a pretty good price, especially as breakfast was also included!
Smile Resort was great. The room was comfortable, clean and surprisingly large. The staff were super friendly and helpful. The included breakfast (fresh fruit, eggs, toast and mini sausages) was tasty and always good. In high season, when the hotel is busy, the breakfast is a buffet set up. If it is quiet in the hotel, breakfast will be cooked to order. There was also free water, tea and coffee.
The location was 5 minutes outside of the main strip of the island, and a half hour walk to our favourite beach.
If you’re looking for other options on the island either budget or bougie, check out the map below:
What to do on the island of Koh Mook
Pearl Beach (หาดไข่มุก)
This white sand beach stretches around the triangular peninsula from the main jetty, and is the closest beach for those staying at the big resort hotel of Silalai Beach.
Lined with palm trees, and beachside restaurants and cafes, this beach was extremely popular with families. There are also kayak rentals on offer.
As you walk further away from the resort, the beach turns into an almost sandy harbour, with local fishing boats anchored up.
We were told, but never managed to see, that during low tides, armies of tiny crabs swarm back and forth across the beach.
Charlie Beach
Charlie Beach is confusingly known by any of three names. Charlie Beach, Garnet Beach or simply Sunset Beach. We’ll be calling it Charlie Beach as this was how it was introduced to us.
If you’re staying in town, Charlie Beach is about as far away from you as you can get. Luckily this is Koh Mook so as far away as you can get isn’t very far! A 30 odd minute walk from the main town, the route to Charlie Beach is a great example of why we love Koh Mook. The town's tourist heart quickly gives way to green foliage and local village life. Wooden stilted houses line the road with intriguing side roads leading down to the local village. Impromptu barber shops, watermelon sellers and all manner of vendors are dotted along until even these peter out and give way to the jungle.
A small hill and a little forest walk later and you emerge from the jungle to tall coconut palms framing a picture-perfect bay. The beach spreads out in an ivory arc between limestone cliffs backed by the green jungle.
The first time we arrived we couldn’t believe our eyes. We thought that beaches like this only existed in postcards. Its golden sands and blue waters stretched out in front of us, Charlie Beach was jaw dropping.
The beach never got too busy on any of the times we visited. There is a line of market stall vendors selling drinks as well as hot food. These stalls would loan you their deckchairs or recliners, either in exchange for your custom or for a 200 baht fee for the day. We bought some Thai style chicken wings and a Som Tam salad from the market stall ladies and both were excellent.
Another bonus to Charlie Beach will come as no surprise to those who have read our Koh Lipe article - the beach dogs!
Charlie Beach was home to two of our favourite beach dogs we have met on our adventure so far. A brother and sister pair of cheeky troublemakers, we dubbed Snowflake and Santa (it was nearly Christmas). They were super friendly and very cute.
Each time we ordered food on the beach, we would be treated to the pantomime of the food vendor attempting, unsuccessfully, to distract the dogs from our meal. This resulted one time in two bartenders lifting Snowflake up (one took her front paws, the other took her back) and manually removing her a good few hundred metres. Snowflake who was clearly used to this treatment and was loving every minute of the attention, promptly ran back to us and hid under our seats. She never stole any food but she did give us very soulful eyes whenever we took a bite.
Look at the cute little rascal!
When you feel like a change of beach location, you can head to the left of the beach where the two beach bars sprawl out across the sand.
The first bar (the one closest to the ocean) is called the Fanta bar and in addition to serving cold beer and good food, is the perfect place to lounge around watching the sunset.
The Fanta Bar
The Mong Bar
The bar behind, Mong bar, is your usual reggae style beach bar and makes for a very fun laid back evening once the sun has gone down. When you walk up to the bars, you will likely encounter the lively young man from the Mong bar who will attempt to get you straight into one of his bar's seats. Our advice is if you’re just looking for drinks, just sit in the nicest looking chair in the best location - we recommend the front row seats for sunset!
It’s also worth pointing out that the Fanta bar doesn’t have an inside space so for after dark drinks on the beach you’ll need the Mong bar. Both bars have toilets on site, the Mong bars inside and to the left of the bar and the Fanta bar’s up a very steep stone staircase to the right of the bar (left at the top of the steps).
Both bars are around the same price point:
Jellie beer price index: 1 x large bottle of Chang beer - 100 baht - thoroughly reasonable for a large beachside beer.
On the cliffs overlooking the beach there is also a great restaurant, Ko Yao (วิวพอย์ โกยาววิวพอย์). This is another great place to watch the sun set and we will talk about it more in the best places to eat and drink on Koh Mook later in the article.
Ellie giving off some cyberpunk vibes!
After dark, tuk tuk taxis queue behind the market stands to ferry you back to town, again this will cost you 100 baht per journey, like all taxis on the island.
This was pretty much the only situation we used the tuk tuks for whilst on Koh Mook. It was easily walkable back to the main strip of the island, just make sure to bring a good torch with you.
The Emerald Cave
As soon as you step off the pier on Koh Mook, you will see billboards and vendors offering trips to the “Emerald Cave”. This intrigued us but, wherever possible, we like to do things by ourselves rather than with a tour. Luckily for us, there is an easy way to do a DIY tour to the Emerald Cave.
From Charlie Beach, it's a short fifteen to twenty minute kayak (around 2km) out to sea and around the coast to the Emerald Cave. Kayak rentals seem to be pretty uniform across the island at 100 baht per hour.
To find the Emerald Cave from Charlie Beach, set off to the right. The kayak journey takes you around some dramatic coastline, under rocky overhangs and past some staggeringly tall cliff faces. The entrance to the Emerald Cave is quite small and easy to miss, however there are usually a small throng of tour boats clustered around making it a bit easier to spot.
A small opening in the rock, with a rope dangling in front of it marks the underwhelming entrance to the Emerald Cave. At this point there was an advantage to going with a tour group. Everyone coming out of the cave had head torches, we only had our phones…
We had been briefly briefed to paddle into the cave and the only direction we needed to remember was to go right when there was a fork. Armed with this comprehensive knowledge we set off into the mouth of the cave.
As soon as we were past the caves' ragged entrance, you could see why it was called the Emerald Cave. The light shining through the water bathed the whole cave in a turquoise green light. This light however faded fast as we paddled our way further into the cave. Ellie was performing a sterling service as our headlights, but our phone torches meant we could only see about a foot in front of the nose of our kayak. We bumped into walls, narrowly escaped stalactites (we didn’t even see the fork in the cave) but eventually we rounded a corner, and saw light in the distance. We exited the cave and found ourselves in a lost world.
The cove of the Emerald Cave is magic, a circle of beach and jungle, seemingly cut out from the towering rock all around. Our kayak pulled up to the tiny beach and we spent a good fifteen minutes wandering around, taking photos and staring up at the vertical rock walls. The water on the beach of the cove seemed even more vibrant than that of the cave. The beach was fairly busy with a couple of other tour groups there but this didn’t distract from the beauty of the place.
On our way out, the cave was filled with a bellowing moaning sound. The group in front of us thought it sounded like a dragon, we thought it sounded more like John’s stomach when he is hungry. Apparently the sound is caused by water rushing in and out of distant caves and openings in the cliffs, not a overly hungry dragon.
For those who want to do an organised tour of the cove, any of the islands many tour operators will be happy to help, but just remember to check around and negotiate. We saw a staggering variety of prices offered for this small trip. It may be worth seeing if there is another longer trip (e.g. a day out snorkelling) that would also include the Emerald Cave.
Tips for visiting the Emerald Cave:
Bring a torch - don’t be us and attempt a budget remake of The Descent!
The best time to visit the cave will be medium to low tide as this allows the most light in before the tide gets too low. Do not attempt to enter at high tide as the cave will pretty much disappear under water.
To get in and out of the cave - going in stick to the right hand wall and you can’t go wrong and on the way out stick to the left.
When paddling through the cave be wary of swimmers as some of the tours swim through the caves rather than kayak.
If you want to swim through the cave, you can tie up your kayak onto some nearby rocks but this is at your own risk.
Outside of the cave there are ‘helpers’ who will guide you/drag your kayak through the cave for a fee. We didn’t find this necessary, however if you are claustrophobic or worried about going through the cave, this would be a good option.
The Koh Mook Viewpoint
The spine of Koh Mook is a series of hills and towering limestone mountains. The majority of the island is clad in thick jungle or (mostly overgrown) rubber plantations. In the past, Koh Mook had a walking trail that looped from the north of the island, up to a viewpoint, round to two secret beaches and back to town. At the time of visiting only the trail to the viewpoint was accessible, COVID having worked its magic and the jungle having reclaimed the rest. We love a good wander so we decided to hike up to the viewpoint.
The trail starts at the Nurses House hostel (we loved the look of this place and may look into it if we find ourselves back on the island), and quickly leaves the town behind. The sleepy streets and guesthouses are replaced with rubber plantations. The path starts flat but quickly curves up a steep slope and begins ascending the mountain. The rubber plantations become increasingly overgrown with the quick growing foliage taking back the spaces between the trees. The path is steep and, thanks to the Thai sunshine, very hot - make sure to bring plenty of water! The steepest portions of the trail have ropes attached to trees to help haul yourself up. The trail is well marked with red arrows showing you the way and the path is decently maintained.
As you near the top, the plantations give up and the jungle fully takes over. As the peak comes into sight, the jungle opens up and you will see the remnants of the camping station and cafe. We hope these come back as they are in an incredible location. The abandoned/disused cafe was interesting to have a nose around, with photos of previous expeditions pinned to the wall and old empty bottles lining the creaking wooden walls.
Just above and behind the camping station is the viewpoint. A window cut through out of the jungle. Framed by limestone cliffs and green trees, the view spills across the island and out to the blue of the Andaman sea. Sitting nearly perfectly in the centre, Koh Waen completes this impossibly picturesque view.
From the viewpoint there are still signs of the continuing trail, Koh Mook seems to be doing a lot of renovation whilst we were there and we hope that these paths reopen soon as it would be great fun to continue on the jungle trail.
The walk up to the viewpoint took around half an hour and although sweaty and steep in places was not a difficult hike.
Tips for visiting the Koh Mook Viewpoint:
Set off earlier in the morning or late afternoon if you want to avoid the worst of the sun's heat.
It gets very hot and humid, remember to bring lots of water.
As you’re walking through the jungle make sure you remember your bug spray.
We have now heard that the walking trail has been reopened, please let us know in the comments how you find it!
The Dugongs of Koh Mook
Here Dugong, Dugong, Dugong… No such luck!
We tried, every night we tried. Walking up the lamp lit pier and staring into the dark waters to try and spot a Dugong.
For those who don’t know what a Dugong is, imagine something between a sea lion and a cow but much cuter (seriously Google them). Dugongs feed exclusively on sea grass and have been known in the quiet of the night to graze their way right up to Koh Mook pier. We would love to show off some National Geographic grade photos of the sweet ocean grazers, but unfortunately we never saw one.
For those more determined than we were, you can arrange a Dugong watching tour through many of the island's operators. These will take you further out to different sea grass patches and massively increase your chance of spotting these lovely creatures.
Snorkelling and island hopping
Much like most of the other western Thai islands there are ample snorkelling opportunities. Throughout town tour operators offer a variety of different excursions. We had just done an excellent snorkelling trip from Koh Lipe so didn’t opt for this on our visit, but if we’re back, we definitely will next time.
Koh Mook is surrounded by the islands of Koh Kradang, Koh Libong , Koh Ngai and the tiny Koh Waen, again there are multiple tours offering to island hop you between these places.
If you’d like to book a private excursion that includes snorkelling, the Emerald Cave and some island hopping. Have a look here on Get Your Guide.
Best places to eat and drink on Koh Mook
Koh Yao Viewpoint Restaurant (วิวพอย์ โกยาววิวพอย์)
Situated in a perfect location overlooking Charlie Beach with a view across the bay and over the ocean, Ko Yao restaurant serves up all the Thai classics. We have eaten here many times on our visits to the island and it has always been fantastic. If you’re on the beach for sunset, this restaurant has the perfect vantage point from which to watch the sun go down. To get to the restaurant just walk to the far left on Charlie Beach and up the stone steps - you really can’t miss it.
Whenever we visited we would order the whole fried fish with a side of vegetables in oyster sauce. The fish is crunchy and covered in garlic chips on the outside, but flaky and perfect on the inside. The vegetables provide a perfect crunchy sweet accompaniment. If you do order this, make sure you ask for the chillies in fish sauce as they really made the dish pop!
The meal cost us 470 baht including rice - this was by far the cheapest whole fried fish we had found in southern Thailand so far.
Team Restaurant
Just off the crossroads of the main strip in town, the Team restaurant provided us with some excellent dinners. Team serves cheap, no nonsense Thai goodness.
We dined on green curries, pad krapow and the backpacker favourites of fried rice and noodles. Each time they were flawless, and all for a very reasonable price too.
Dinner for two (not including drinks) was around 200 baht.
Boon Chu Cuisine (ครัวบุญชู)
Right at the start of the main strip (as you approach from the pier) was the always busy and always welcoming Boon Chu Cuisine. We had an excellent penang curry and a seriously spicy chilli chicken and can heartily recommend both. The prices were similar to Team restaurant with mains being around 100 baht per dish.
Another advantage of Boon Chu Cuisine is the roti lady whose stall sits at the front of the restaurant. Open late, her sugar filled banana rotis made for the perfect constellation prize as we walked back from another Dugong free pier expedition.
A banana roti cost 40 baht.
Koh Mook Seaview Restaurant
Set amongst the fisherman’s houses and stilt supported wharfs, this little restaurant served up fantastic meals from a variety of set menus. These 3-course menus were a great way to enjoy a delicious lunch or dinner. The set menus came in two categories. The “Cheap Cheap sets” or the slightly more expensive premium menu. The premium menu included more fish options and ran at 250 baht per person, whereas the cheaper options were 150 baht.
The restaurant sits right on the water's edge with views across the fisherman’s bay. It’s a great place to dine and watch the locals go about their day.
We ordered from one of the cheap menus and chose the chicken satay, papaya and prawn salad and mango sticky rice. The satay was excellent, the papaya salad fresh and delicious and the mango sticky rice, well it was mango sticky rice so therefore fantastic!
An à la carte menu and barbecue options are also available.
Noodle Lady
Location - no Google Maps listing
On the walk from town to Charlie Beach, in the local village just past the boutique hotel, you’ll pass a small wooden shop selling steaming bowls of noodley goodness. We’ve eaten at this unassuming little gem twice and weren’t disappointed either time. Rich, yet light bowls of chicken noodle soup served unpretentiously amongst cackling Thai grandma’s and their raucous grandchildren. It was lovely to find and eat in a place not solely catered towards tourists.
It was also very budget friendly with a bowl of chicken noodle soup costing 50 baht.
Exhale Bar and Cafe
For those chasing their caffeine fix, Exhale Bar and Cafe is a great option. Set on the harbour's edge, this artfully decorated cafe serves up fantastic coffee. We stopped here twice and on the second time, the owner treated us to a bonus shot of his local whisky to go along with our coffee. It was an unexpectedly good combination at 10 in the morning!
One iced craft coffee cost 90 baht.
Miss Island Bakery Koh Mook -ร้านมาดาม
Another slightly cheaper coffee option is the Miss Island Bakery. This has the advantage of also selling muffins and sweet treats alongside perfectly good coffee.
One iced coffee cost 65 baht.
The bakery is open at night and serves pizza and other mains in the evening.
Oy Oy Reggae Bar
If beachside drinking isn’t your thing, the Oy Oy Reggae Bar will sort you out with comfy seats and cold beers. There was always a good crowd of both travellers and locals making for a fun and lively night here.
For those after a more chemically induced night, the bar also had an ample cannabis selection.
Jellie beer price index: 1 x small bottle of Chang beer - 90 baht. A little pricey, but you're on a Thai island so what do you expect?
Leaving Koh Mook - Where to go next?
You can’t stay here forever (no matter how much you might want to), when the time comes to go there are speed boats available to all the major Thai islands as well as transfers to the city of Trang and further afield.
We got the public ferry to the mainland pier of Khaun Tung Ku. Followed by a minivan to Trang bus station where we could make our onward connection to Krabi town.
Tickets can be booked through the island agents, on the boat or online via 12Go.
Other Thai Islands
If you are looking for more inspiration of what islands to visit in Southern Thailand, check out our other articles here:
Final thoughts
Koh Mook was just what we were looking for in a Thai island after Koh Lipe. Peaceful, relaxed and achingly beautiful, the island was a perfect oasis. With quiet beaches, good food and lovely locals, Koh Mook was fantastic. The Island is not as well known as some of the other islands of Thailand, and we don’t want it to be overrun, but it should definitely go on your itinerary for Thai island hopping!
Koh Mook, along with Koh Jum and Koh Libong, make up our three “lesser known” Thai island paradises. If you are looking for some island fun in Thailand, away from the crowds of holiday makers, do not miss Koh Mook!
Koh Mook - Essential Tips
The island of Koh Mook is car free, with only tuk tuks and scooters buzzing around. There are scooter rentals in town, but the island is so easily walkable that this seemed a little unnecessary.
Tuk tuks have a fixed price no matter the length of the journey. All rides cost 100 baht.
There is one ATM on the island, it's located on the main street on the left hand side.
Koh Mook is a rarity in Thailand and has no 7/11’s, however there are plenty of shops selling everything you could need from swimwear to suncream, mosquito repellant to shampoo.
The plumbing on the island was in our experience predominantly manual flush (a bucket you pour in) for the toilets. This really isn’t an issue but is worth knowing so it doesn’t come as a shock.
Half of Koh Mook is part of the Hat Chao Mai National Park. This national park extends onto the mainland and next time we visit we’re sure to explore more of this beautiful national park. The view of it from the ferry back was stunning, and it looks like a great place to visit.
Koh Mook can also be spelt as Ko Muk, this can get confusing!
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
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Budget Backpacking on Koh Lipe - How to Live Cheaply in Paradise
Budget backpacking on the Thai island of Koh Lipe. Our guide to cheap eats, accommodation and activities on this beautiful tropical island.
The islands of Thailand are not as cheap as once they were, yet they are still a firm favourite of the budget conscious backpacker. With their ‘island economies’ these beautiful destinations can easily empty the wallet of the unwary backpacker. We spent 10 days on the island paradise of Koh Lipe and these are our hints and tips of maximising your budget whilst staying on this tropical Thai island.
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. We will earn a small commission from any purchases made through these links.
Accommodation on Koh Lipe
Koh Lipe has quite a few hostels and guesthouses dotted throughout the island, with a mixture of private and dorm rooms available. If you’re solo travelling, check which dorm is best for your budget/needs as there are a variety of levels of luxury to choose from across the island.
For couples or those who don’t mind sharing a bed, then look into private rooms as these are frequently cheaper than buying two beds in a dorm room. When we stayed, two dorm beds in the Bloom Cafe and Hostel were more expensive than a double private room with en-suite bathroom next door in the Sang Chan Hostel.
A general tip here, which you probably already know, is that the prices will nearly always be better in person than booking online. There is lots of accommodation to choose from so you shouldn’t be left bedless for the night.
During our stay, we stayed at the Sang Chan Hostel, extending multiple times, which allowed us to get a slightly better rate, but at the expense of one night having to switch rooms to a couple of dorm beds as all the private rooms had sold out.
The Sang Chan Hostel private rooms were small but extremely comfortable, with a fan to keep cool. The dorm rooms had AC, fans, plug sockets above the beds and good sized storage lockers.
The private double room cost us 700 baht per night (£17.28 or $21.29). One dorm bed cost 300 baht per night (£7.40 or $9.12). You could have gone more budget friendly than we did, but Sang Chan was centrally located and just what we were looking for. You can book your stay at Sang Chan hostel here.
If you want to book your accommodation in advance (a very good idea during peak season), check out the handy map below:
Eating and drinking cheaply on Koh Lipe
Again, the island economy of Koh Lipe means that eating out costs more than on mainland Thailand. However, Koh Lipe has plenty of great budget options for those looking to reign in the spending.
Breakfast on Koh Lipe
Banana Roti
It’s not called the ‘banana pancake’ trail for nothing! This backpacker staple is available across the island from street carts to sit down restaurants. More expensive than on the mainland, expect to pay between 60 to 80 baht (£1.49/$1.79 or £1.98/$2.39).
Fried Chicken from Sippeenong (สิบพี่น้อง) - Map Link
In the Western eyes, this maybe a slightly unconventional breakfast, but Hat Yai had turned us onto fried chicken in the mornings.
On Walking Street near to the Pattaya Beach entrance, the Sippeenong restaurant serves an excellent fried chicken with sticky rice, sweet chilli sauce and deep fried shallots. It is an extremely filling breakfast and costs only 60 baht per plate (£1.49 or $1.79).
The Bakery
The Bakery caters for the sweet doughy fix that befalls all those who leave Europe after a while.
Sweet cinnamon whirls were our (very healthy) breakfast choice on more than one occasion. If you get a fresh batch they are chewy, sweet and delicious! One cinnamon whirl costs 35 baht (£0.87 or $1.04).
The bakery doesn’t have a Google Maps listing, but can be found on Walking Street close to the Pattaya Beach entrance.
Lunch and dinner on Koh Lipe
There is no shortage of restaurants on Koh Lipe and those not on a budget can indulge themselves with fresh lobsters and barbecued fish. As budget backpackers however, you’re not instantly relegated to the realms of pot noodles as the island has plenty to offer for those with tighter purse strings.
Wonton soup stall - outside Patt market (แพท มาร์เก็ต)
Outside the Patt Market and opposite the A Plus Centrale shopping centre, is a humble little stall selling wonton noodles. Served as either wonton noodle soup with char siu pork, or dry with the soup on the side, the wontons were silky, meaty and super satisfying.
The noodles were great with the perfect amount of bite and the soup was clear and light whilst still delivering depth and complexity.
This was one of the best value options on the island and we had dinner here several times. One plate of wonton noodles with pork and soup cost 80 baht (£1.98 or $2.39).
Noodle soup from Wangcha-Aon & Thai food (วังชะโอน แอนด์ ไทยฟู้ด)
Surprising no-one, a good budget option is a simple bowl of Thai noodle soup.
As we mentioned in our article on Koh Lipe, we found the best noodle soup to be from Wangcha-Aon. A steaming bowl of noodles comes with sliced beef, beef balls as well as meltingly tender braised beef. Topped with crunchy bean sprouts, coriander and white pepper, you can’t go wrong with choosing this noodle soup. Just make sure to fine tune the bowl to your individual tastes by adding sugar/vinegar/chilli from the table.
A bowl of beef noodle soup will cost 100 baht (£2.46 or $3.05).
Pad Thai, Pad Krapow and Fried Rice
Almost all the restaurants on the island will have a “fast food” or “one plate” menu. This is no McDonalds fare, but the familiar backpacking menu of Pad Thai, Pad Krapow and Fried Rice.
These one plate meals are usually much cheaper than ordering a plate and rice separately.
The island's economy seems to have dictated that these dishes all cost around the same at 70 to 80 baht a plate.(£1.73/$2.09 or £1.98/$2.38).
Streets eats - grilled meat and other delicacies
Served from grills at the front of the Walking Street restaurants and from little stalls to either side of the 7/11 (the one furthest away from Pattaya Beach), come sizzling meats and crunchy spring rolls. This is some of the cheapest food on the island and you could easily graze yourself happy here munching your way along. You can get juicy skewers of pork, barbecued chicken, imitation crab legs as well as coconut pancakes and spring rolls, Ranging from 10 to 50 baht (£0.25/$0.30 or £1.24/$1.49) these are a great budget option.
These grilled meat skewers are excellent portable snacks!
7/11 supermarkets
As a backpacker you will not need to be told this, but we’ll say it anyway. 7/11 does halfway decent cheap coffee, as well as the backpacker staple of super cheap toasties. We are not normally one to support the massive chains but sometimes a cheese toastie is a must! There are two 7/11 supermarkets on the island both located along Walking Street.
What to do on Koh Lipe on a budget
The beaches of Koh Lipe
You really don’t need to be told this, you’ve come all the way to Koh Lipe for a reason. The beaches are free and beautiful. A day spent soaking up the suns rays whilst listening to the gentle waves lap against the shoreline is the perfect, budget friendly way to spend a day.
The three main beaches you need to seek out are Pattaya Beach in the south, Sunrise Beach to the east and Sunset Beach on the west coast of the island. All these beaches have areas to swim in and plenty of areas to lounge around in the sand. Just bring a towel, swimwear and relax!
If you get peckish during your beach day, there are plenty of cafes, beach bars and restaurants all along the beach fronts, however to keep it cheap, we’d recommend packing a picnic from 7/11 or from one of the other street food stalls along Walking Street.
Read more about the beaches of Koh Lipe here.
Our favourite beach to relax on for the day was Sunrise Beach. Big enough so that you always had space to yourself with perfect clear water and designated swimming zones. As the day goes on, the palm trees further down the beach provide shade. Another unexpected bonus of this beach are its amazing doggy denizens. The dogs of Sunrise Beach are super laid back and very friendly. They’re also extremely happy to wear sunglasses and pose for photos!
Say cheese!
Sunset on Koh Lipe
Sunsets in Thailand can be absolutely spectacular, and Koh Lipe is no exception. Head to Sunset Beach and sit with the other travellers on the floating pier. Watching the sun dip down, with your feet in the water is a beautiful way to start an evening. We recommend picking up some beers to add to the chilled atmosphere.
Kayaking on Koh Lipe
Koh Lipe is a small island that can be circumnavigated by kayak without too much trouble. Kayak rentals are available on both Sunrise and Pattaya Beaches and cost 200 baht per hour for a two person kayak (£4.94 or $5.96). There are several beaches only accessible this way, and we recommend just heading out and having a lazy paddle around. For more information read our main Koh Lipe article here.
Snorkelling trips from Koh Lipe
Snorkelling off of Koh Lipe is an absolute must. Koh Lipe is set in the Tarutao National Park which is home to spectacular corals and a great variety of colourful fish.
There are loads of tour operators all along Walking Street offering different snorkelling itineraries. Make sure to shop around to get the best deal.
We booked ourselves onto a full day snorkelling trip with lunch, water, fruit and beach breaks all for 500 baht per person (£12.36 or $14.89). We booked our trip from Koh Lipe Star Travel which was located opposite the Pooh Bar.
Walking around the island
Another free things to do is just to walk around the island. Koh Lipe is not a large island and you could easily spend a day exploring the island by foot. Just head out in any direction and see what you find. As soon as you leave the busy alleys of Walking Street behind you’ll feel as though you have the island all to yourself.
We took a walk around the island almost daily and enjoyed just heading to one of the beaches and taking a random road to see where it would take us. During our time wandering the island we found a hidden temple, several abandoned resorts and even a route through the trees that led us to one of Koh Lipe’s “secret beaches”.
If you do not want to do a large walk of the island, then we’d recommend heading to Walking Street and walking the length of it as this is a great place to go window shopping. With lots of souvenirs, clothes and jewellery shops there’s plenty to browse. Just remember not to take the first price and negotiate with the shop keepers!
Drinking on Koh Lipe - nightlife on the island
As you may have seen on our article on our favourite bars of Koh Lipe most of the beer prices are very similar to each other at around 100 baht per small bottle (£2.46 or $3.05).
The cheapest bars we found were Pattaya Song on Pattaya Beach and the excellent Forget Me Not Bar off of Walking Street.
If bars are too pricey, then the true backpacking way to have a bevvie on the island is to buy bottles or cans from the street vendors (these were always cheaper) and make your way to a beach to chill out on!
Travelling to and from Koh Lipe
Koh Lipe is extremely well connected to the rest of Thailand. You can book a few different ways, but being a Thai island the costs are higher and the options more limited than you would get on the mainland.
Almost every other shop on the Walking Street can arrange speedboat transfers to pretty much any of the islands on the western coast of Thailand. Transfers are also available through to mainland cities, and even to Langkawi, Malaysia. Our advise would be to shop around and try and negotiate prices (this is easier if you’re booking for more than one person).
If you’re planning your trip in advance, or just like having everything arranged simply you can just use 12Go to book your tickets online.
Another option is to take the public ferry across to the Pak Bara pier on the mainland and arrange/hail onward transport from there. Mini buses run from here to Hat Yai and there will be plenty of opportunities to arrange onward travel from there. We can’t tell if this will be any cheaper than doing it through an agent on the island, but if you’re an expert negotiator it may be worth a try.
Final thoughts
Koh Lipe is a beautiful island and not as well known as Koh Samui, Koh Lanta or Koh Phi Phi. You can easily live thriftily without missing out here. It’s a tiny island that is totally walkable with loads to do, and lots of budget friendly options. If we’ve missed any good deals let us know in the comments!
We hope you enjoy your budget friendly trip to Koh Lipe!
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
Our other Koh Lipe articles:
If you want a guide to the island of Koh Lipe as a whole click here!
If you’re interested in having a drink on Koh Lipe, click here to read all about the bars on the island.
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The Bars of Koh Lipe - Where to Drink in Tropical Paradise?
Thailand’s southernmost island of Koh Lipe is a tropical paradise full of white sand beaches, colourful coral and turquoise waters. But as night falls, where should you go for a drink on the island of Koh Lipe? Read our guide to find our which are the best bars on the island. From beach bars to sports bars Koh Lipe has it all. Read on to find out where to wet your whistle!
Tropical paradise islands tend to breed a certain kind of bar, if you're unlucky then it'll be the “resorty” kind of bar. Soulless, copy pastable and feeling as though you've not left the airport lounge. However, if you're lucky, you'll get the ramshackle, the lean to, the thrown together… the quintessential beach bar!
Luckily for Koh Lipe we found several of the latter. Here's our guide to our favourite bars whilst drinking on this beautiful Thai island.
Let's just put it straight out there, that not all of these bars are on the beach, however this is Koh Lipe and the beaches are never that far away. Also this list is entirely subjective to the taste of Jellie (maybe you really like airport bars?)!
It is also worth pointing out that you won’t see a massive difference in prices for beer here. We predominantly drink beer and the price seemed to be pretty much standard across the island. There are a couple of exceptions, but you’ll have to read on to find out more!
We spent over a week on this beautiful island. To find out what we got up to (that wasn’t bar based) read our guide here.
Disclosure: This article may contain affiliate links. We will earn a small commission from any purchases made through these links.
The Beach Bars
Zodiac Bar - Map Link
Set at the end of a white sand peninsula, the Zodiac bar appears to be the premier beach bar of Koh Lipe.
Sitting at the end of Sunrise Beach and facing Koh Lipe's mountainous neighbour Koh Adang, Zodiac sprawls across the sands. A central bar feeds out to bean bags, driftwood furniture, fire pits and other cosy lounging spots. There's a laid back vibe during the day and a party scene at night (the island's Full Moon parties are usually held here). You could easily spend a full day here using this bar as a base for swimming, sun lounging and even (despite its location on Sunrise beach) watching the sunset!
Jellie beer price index 1 x small bottle of Chang cost 100 baht (£2.17 or $2.70)
Pro tip - for a slightly more cost efficient beverage, head into the restaurant on the left (still part of Zodiac) where you can buy large bottles of Chang for 160 baht (£3.48 or $4.32)
This bar is expensive, but given the location and beach vibes you can see why!
If you’re looking for a luxurious stay, Zodiac also has a lovely looking high-end resort the Zodiac Seesun. Located just behind the bar, you could easily roll back to your room after a night on the sand!
Sea La Vie Bar - Map Link
Also located on Sunrise Beach, is the much smaller Sea La Vie bar.
The bar is set on a raised wooden platform and at high tide, the sea practically brushes against it. With driftwood furniture, pallet tables and comfy cushions scattered around, this place is a relaxed bar just begging for you to come in for a sundowner drink.
There is a happy hour in the early evening where you can buy 5 beers (standard Thai selection - Chang, Leo or Singha) and get 1 free bottle.
It's worth pointing out that if you go here and stay for high tide, the view is lovely with the bar ending and the sea beginning almost immediately. However it does mean that when it is time to leave you will get your feet wet.
Jellie beer price index - 100 baht for a small bottle of Chang (£2.17 or $2.70) or 500 baht for six bottles during happy hour (£10.86 or $13.51).
Again standard price for a beer on the island, but the happy hour is a good saving!
Pattaya Song - Map Link
Located at the very end of Pattaya Beach, this resort has a sprawling bar next to the cliffs and beach. Not only does this bar have the cheapest beer we found on the island but also boasts very nice iced coffees.
Jellie beer price index - one small bottle of Chang cost 60 baht (£1.30 or $1.62) and a large bottle of Chang cost 120 baht (£2.61 or $3.24).
A good deal, but a little walk up the beach. Also worth bearing in mind that as the bar is at the base of a cliff, the bar itself can be quite well shaded.
Lipe Bar - Map Link
If you’re looking for after dark beach drinks, the Lipe Bar serves you well. For the complete nighttime Thailand beach experience, this bar has beanbags, fire shows and music. Serving all manner of drinks, cocktails and non alcoholic bevvies, this bar is located on Pattaya Beach conveniently near to the entrance of Walking Street.
Jellie beer price index - one small bottle of Chang cost 100 baht (£2.17 or $2.70).
Again standard island price, but you do get a show with your drink (although you should probably tip the fire guy).
Happy Mojito - Map Link
The only bar serving Sunset Beach, Happy Mojito sits against the cliffside on wooden stilts with a view across the beach and out to sea.
The bar is attached to the nearby Bayview Sunset Resort and is one of the more luxurious on this list. During low tides it has sun loungers and deck chairs on the beach and during the high tide you can retreat to the high platform.
Its namesake, the Happy Mojito is on special offer in the late afternoon/early evening for 100 baht (£2.17 or $2.70). This may have been our only non beer alcoholic beverage on Koh Lipe and so we can’t compare and contrast to other cocktails in other bars, but it was very tasty!
The bar is beautiful during the day, but for the best of sunset you will have to leave it and go a little way up the beach.
The bar also serves food and other soft drinks. One of the days we had a very tasty banana smoothie, we would highly recommend it!
Jellie beer price index - 70 baht for a small can of Chang (£1.52 or $1.89).
Not the cheapest, but totally worth it for the beachside ambiance.
The Bars of Walking Street and Beyond
Time to Chill Bar - Map Link
Located in the very heart of Walking Street, the Time to Chill bar is a little garden oasis set off the busy street.
With seating sprawled in a square around an open central garden, Time to Chill lives up to its name. With comfy lounging cushions, and laidback live music most nights, this softly lit bar drew us in time after time.
Decorated in the usual beach/reggae vibes, this bar became a firm favourite for when we wanted a chilled out quiet drink. Every night we visited in the evening there was an acoustic singer covering songs from all eras and genres.
Jellie beer price index - 100 baht for a small bottle of Chang (£2.17 or $2.70).
Corner Bar - Map Link
The ever popular Corner Bar sits at guess what, a corner of Walking Street.
A small bar with low seating, this friendly place provides a good stopping point for weary Walking Street wanderers. This is certainly helped by its prices being slightly less than its nearest neighbours.
Jellie beer price index - one small bottle of Chang cost 80 baht (£1.74 or $2.16).
Hallidej Bar - no Google map listing
Another good option for slightly cheaper Walking Street beers, is the Hallidej bar. Set in between restaurants, it is one of the first bars you’ll encounter if you walk up Walking Street from Pattaya Beach.
We visited during happy hour (which runs till 9pm) where beers and cocktails were reduced.
Jellie beer price index - during happy hour one small bottle of Chang cost 80 baht (£1.74 or $2.16).
Passion Gastro Bar - Map Link
A stylish bar set in the middle of Walking Street, Passion Gastro bar serves small plates and cold beers.
Again like a lot of the bars on the island, there is a happy hour running until 8pm with reduced beer costs and buy one get one free on selected cocktails. Being thrifty backpackers we only visited during the happy hour, but loved the ambiance. Our favourite seats were the bar stools looking directly out onto Walking Street where you could watch the ever changing tide of backpackers, tourists and locals flow by.
Jellie beer price index - during happy hour one small bottle of Chang cost 70 baht (£1.52 or $1.89).
OMG Sports Bar - Map Link
Set a little way away from the busiest areas of Walking Street, this large bar was clearly a backpacker favourite.
Run by a friendly couple, the large bar has a pool table, a good drinks selection and tasty bar snacks. The bar is also home to two extremely pampered pooches. The dogs couldn’t be more different with one being a tiny scuttling Chihuahua and the other being a massive friendly English Bull Terrier.
We made a beeline to this bar during the World Cup to watch England lose at football again. Despite the extremely late kick off, the bar was packed and there was a great atmosphere with the football shown on multiple screens.
Jellie beer price index - one small bottle of Chang cost 100 baht (£2.17 or $2.70).
Forget Me Not Bar - Map Link
How on earth do we go about describing this bar, or the chaotic brilliant nights within. You enter through what looks like the ruins of a bar, to be greeted by ramshackled decor of driftwood, couches, pillows and even a massive bed/chair made out of mattresses.
This bar was everything we had hoped to find on a Thai island. Super friendly and instantly welcoming, as soon as you enter the bar you’ll always be dragged into the conversations or otherwise involved with what's going on in the bar. If we didn’t have to pay at the end of the night, you’d think you had just stumbled into your friend's house party.
We spent more than a few nights here and loved the great music, hilarious bar owners and altogether fun vibe.
Jellie beer price index - one small bottle of Chang cost 80 baht (£1.74 or $2.16).
Koh Lipe has so many bars there's no way our livers would have allowed us to review them all. The ones listed above are just some of our favourites.
From the above list, these are the ones we recommend depending on the vibe you're searching for.
Best all rounder - Forget Me Not Bar
Best to relax - Time to Chill Bar
Best for watching sports or playing pool - OMG Sports Bar
Best beach bar - Sea La Vie
Best blow out/party bar - Zodiac Beach Bar
Chok dee all!
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
Our other Koh Lipe guides:
To read more about what we got up to on Koh Lipe when we weren’t drinking click here!
If you’re looking to make the most out of a backpacking budget, check out our guide to living cheaply on Koh Lipe here!
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If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, why not save the pin below?
Koh Lipe - The Tropical Island Paradise of Southern Thailand
In the deep south of Thailand, just north of the Malaysian border lies the paradise island of Koh Lipe. With crystal clear turquoise waters, white powder sand beaches and a plethora of activities to enjoy. Koh Lipe is Thailand’s less well known tropical paradise. Read our guide for the best things to do on Koh Lipe, where to eat and drink on Walking Street, how to find the secret beach and why Koh Lipe should definitely be on your Thai island hopping itinerary!
So southern that it’s almost in Malaysia, Koh Lipe sits off the western coast of Thailand. Located within the beautiful national park of Tarutao and walkable from one side to the other in well under half an hour, this pint sized little island boasts beautiful white sand beaches, turquoise waters as well as plenty of hostels, bars, restaurants and other island activities!
Koh Lipe is not as famous as its more northern brethren of Koh Samui, Koh Lanta or Koh Phi Phi. Its southerly position and small size lend it a more sleepy, laid back atmosphere, and whilst it doesn’t attract quite the crowds of the more famous Thai islands, Koh Lipe has a charm all of its own.
We originally booked for three nights but when we spoke to fellow travellers on our first day they warned us that Koh Lipe is a vortex. A whirlpool that traps you in and makes it very hard to leave. Still we thought, what harm could it do, so we extended our stay for just one more night… Anyway, 11 days later we managed to tear ourselves away from this gorgeous little island.
What kept us there, why did we like it so much? As it’s such a small island what is there to do? Read on to find out why Koh Lipe should be high on your list of Thai islands to visit!
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. We will earn a small commission from any purchases made through these links.
Contents:
The best beaches on Koh Lipe
What to do on Koh Lipe?
Eating and drinking on Koh Lipe
Koh Lipe - the essential information
Should we leave? …. Nah!
How to get to Koh Lipe?
As we’ve previously mentioned, Koh Lipe is in the south of Thailand, like really south, like so south that one of its closest neighbours is the Malaysian tax free haven of Langkawi.
We were travelling in from south Thailand’s largest city, Hat Yai . We had arranged a transfer through our accommodation. A minibus would pick us up from our hostel, take us to Pak Bara pier in the province of Satun, and there we would transfer to a speedboat that would take us across the Andaman Sea to Koh Lipe. If you didn’t book through your accommodation or wanted to make your own way there, you could buy the ferry ticket directly from Pak Bara pier. Our package including the mini bus to the pier and the speedboat transfer cost us 800 baht each (£17.45 or $21.59).
If you want to book directly you could use 12GO, we have done this for other crossings and it is a handy way to combine buses and ferries. Click here to book your tickets!
Upon arrival at Pak Bara pier there is the usual South East Asian rigmarole of changing paper tickets for stickers, exchanging more stickers for plastic boarding cards and finding out that we needed to buy the entrance fee for the national park and also a separate pier fee - more on this later in the tips section!
Inside the ferry terminal, rows of nearly identical check in desks stretch along the back wall next to an extremely overpriced cafe. After check in, it was a smooth transfer onto the speedboat. Our luggage was taken by the crew and stowed on board before we were called one ticket at a time onto the boat.
Once underway the boat sped off across the ridiculously blue water. It stopped for twenty minutes on Koh Tarutao, an island within the national park, where we could either get off the boat or stay on for the short stop. After another brief stop while we waited for the pier to become free we arrived on the white sanded shores of Koh Lipe. Jumping off the boat onto a blue floating pier, our bags were unloaded and we headed off into the island. All in all, our trip from our hostel in Hat Yai to Pattaya beach in Koh Lipe had taken about 4 hours.
So blue!
You can get to Koh Lipe from any of the West Thai islands such as Phuket, Koh Lanta, Koh Mook by speed boat transfer. You can book tickets on the islands through a tour operator or in advance via 12Go.
If you’re travelling to Koh Lipe from Bangkok, the quickest way to get to Koh Lipe would be to book an internal flight to either Trang or Hat Yai airports. From there you will need to book a transfer to the ferry port. Again if you want to book in advance you can use 12Go.
Being so close to Malaysia you can actually get the ferry directly across from Langkawi island and it only takes an hour and a half. Book tickets here. If you’re coming from Malaysia from land, check out our articles on crossing the Thai / Malaysian border and staying in the southern city of Hat Yai.
When to visit Koh Lipe?
Koh Lipe’s high season runs from mid to late October through to the end of April. During this time you should be able to enjoy warm sunny days (without being too scorching) with minimal rainfall.
During the low season accommodation will be much cheaper and although it will rain, it should be confined to a few hours a day. Just be aware that Walking Street may not be as busy and some businesses may close for the season. Also the powerboats between the western islands will sometimes shut down in the low season, and the sea will be rougher with less visibility for snorkelling and diving.
Where did we stay on Koh Lipe?
We had booked ourselves into Sang Chan hostel, a small hostel just off of Koh Lipe’s main road - Walking Street.
We bought a basic private fan room (posh packers, we know) with en-suite but no air conditioning. Our private room was what an estate agent would call cosy, maybe even bijou. It was comfy, and the size was perfect for our needs.
Sang Chan hostel had free tea, coffee and water as well as a little communal space and two extremely cute cats!
We also managed to test out one of the downstairs dormitories, as for one of the nights where we tried to extend our stay, our private room had already been booked. The dorm rooms at Sang Chan hostel were very comfy, with good lockers, personal lights and power sockets and a privacy curtain. The room we stayed in had 8 beds (4 bunk beds).
We paid 700 baht per night for the private room (£15.27 or $18.89) and 300 baht each (£6.54 or $8.10) for a bed in the dorm.
There are lots of hostels and low cost guesthouses on offer all over the island as well as beachfront bamboo huts or more luxurious resorts.
Our advice would be to look for accommodation within the Walking Street or Sunrise beach areas of the island as these are right in the midst of all of the restaurants and bars. Check out the map below for all your accommodation choices:
The best beaches on Koh Lipe
This is probably why you’re here, it was certainly why we were. The beaches of Koh Lipe are simply stunning, literal island paradises. When you think of Thai islands there’s a specific image that comes to mind. Crystal clear, near impossibly turquoise waters, lapping up against a white sanded beach under palm trees beneath the blazing sun. Maybe there’s a long tail boat? Koh Lipe fulfilled all these stereotypes, honestly in any direction you looked it could have been a postcard.
Koh Lipe is not a large island but has three main beaches as well as a smattering of “secret” beaches. Here’s our guide to which beaches to go to and when to go to them.
Pattaya Beach
This is the main beach of Koh Lipe and by far the most popular.
Odds on chance, that if you’re on Koh Lipe already, you would have arrived via this beach. Lined with resorts, beach bars, scuba diving shops and restaurants, Pattaya beach is busy whatever time of the day. During the day the beach is popular with sunbathers, snorkellers and those enjoying a beachside beer. Come evening time, the beach bars light up with fire-shows and bonfires and the resort restaurants spill out onto the sand.
Sunset Beach
The furthest beach from Walking Street and the heart of the island, Sunset beach is so called because guess what… it gets the best view of sunset! When we say it’s the furthest away, it’s still only a fifteen to twenty minute walk away. The walk is quite interesting as it winds up and around the greener central part of the island and passes by several abandoned and decaying resorts (as we’ve mentioned before in our Sri Lanka articles, we both like a ruin).
All that’s left are the concrete foundations
Walking through woodland, dodging many millipedes and winding past the Hantalay Buddhist temple - สำนักสงฆ์หาญทะเล you’ll eventually reach the Marine Fishery Management buildings. Head through the gates and walk down past the buildings and you’ll find yourself on the beach.
The instant advantage of this beach being slightly further away is that it remains quieter for most of the day, so it’s always easy to find a spot to throw down your towel. Come sunset the beach population swells with everyone sitting down on the small floating jetty to watch the sun go down. The beach lives up to its name and sharing a sunset here, floating in the ocean, surrounded by your fellow travellers is a memory we will cherish. Be sure to pack a beer for sunset!
There is also a restaurant and bar at the end of the beach.
If you want to know the best bars for a drink on Koh Lipe, check out our article here.
Sunrise Beach
Unsurprisingly Sunrise Beach faces the rising sun in the morning. We braved an early morning alarm call to watch the sun rise and it really didn’t disappoint.
Sunrise Beach itself is much longer than Sunset Beach and curves up and around a peninsula that overlooks the much larger island of Koh Adang. Like the other beaches of Koh Lipe, Sunrise Beach is blessed with powder white sand and clear waters teeming with small fish. Sunrise Beach is popular at all times of day and quickly became our go to beach. Its size meant it was never too crowded and there were designated swimming areas where the long tail boats didn’t intrude. As the day wore on, there were places where you could find shade under the palm trees without having to buy a drink from one of the local beach bars. Also if you head around the peninsula you can still catch a great sunset even if it’s a little more obscured than that from Sunset Beach.
Sunrise Beach is also home to lots of restaurants and beach bars including Zodiac, perhaps Koh Lipe’s largest and most popular beach bar.
What To Do on Koh Lipe?
In case you hadn’t guessed from the above paragraph, the number one thing to do in Koh Lipe is to stretch out in the sand and enjoy its glorious beaches. Once you’ve absorbed all the vitamin D you could want, there are also many other things you can do on this beautiful island.
Kayaking on Koh Lipe
Kayaks are available to rent from every beach on the island. We recommend hiring kayaks from Pattaya Beach. We hired kayaks from a wooden shack next to a dive school near the far end of the beach (walking away from the main jetty/Walking Street). 200 baht (£4.36 or $5.40) got us a two person kayak (John thinks this is called a Kiwi) and life jackets for an hour. The man running the rental assured us that he wouldn’t be too bothered if we returned the kayak a little late so we could relax and enjoy our sea exploration. The kayak rental price seemed to be fixed, as many things were, across the island.
It’s possible to circumnavigate the island in a kayak in a couple of hours, but we however had our sights set a little lower. We set off from Pattaya Beach and kayaked to the right. Around the first peninsula is a lovely beach that appears to be owned by a resort. It didn’t seem to be accessible other than via the sea or through the resort. We paddled past and continued around the headland. All along the rocky outcrops are excellent snorkelling spots and we passed by many a flipper clad frogman. We were very tempted to join them but could not see how we would re-enter the canoe without an embarrassing capsizing incident.
As we continued further round the island, the first of the “secret” beaches came into view. The beach was so “secret” that there were already kayaks on shore and a good size group taking selfies. We came onto shore and joined in with the selfie shooting, before pushing back off to sea.
We continued round and the next cove held what we had been looking for. A tiny deserted beach, surrounded by high cliffs and rocks. Accessible only by sea, this was what we had hoped to find. We dragged our canoe onto the tiny beach and ran back into the crystal clear sea. Small fish swarmed around our feet seemingly unbothered by our presence. This was the kind of island experience we had pictured when backpacking the Thai islands. We can’t recommend kayaking here enough.
Snorkelling on Koh Lipe
Koh Lipe is, as mentioned, located within the boundaries of Tarutao national marine park. This means that the waters off of the island are teaming with marine life and coral. Snorkelling in Koh Lipe is an absolute must!
All the way along Walking Street are tour operators offering a menu of different snorkelling trips. The snorkelling trips differ from each other in length, snorkelling spots and islands visited. There are also options of doing sunset trips, or longer distance trips via a speedboat.
We, being the cheapskate backpackers that we are, went up and down the strip to find the best deal. We booked a trip with Koh Lipe Star Travel, located on the Walking Street opposite the Pooh bar. We chose option ‘A’ from the snorkelling menu as it seemed to have less travel time and more time snorkelling. The trip cost us 500 baht per person (£10.91 or $13.50) and would visit 4 snorkelling spots and 2 beaches. This price would also include our lunch as well as fruit and water on board the longtail boat.
Our snorkelling trip was everything we could have wanted it to be.
We found Nemo (many Nemo’s actually) as well as seeing corals, an octopus, brightly coloured parrot fish, a well camouflaged stone fish and a kaleidoscope of other tropical fish. We made a stop on the rocky black stone beach of Ko Hin Ngam and had our lunch on the white sands of Ko Ra Wi. The lunch was a very tasty Pad Krapow with an extra hard-boiled egg.
This trip was far more than we were expecting, and no trip to the island of Koh Lipe should be without a snorkelling expedition.
It's worth pointing out that despite the variety of tour operators, the actual trips all seem to follow the same itineraries. We recommend scouting out the best price as there’s not going to be a great deal of difference between trip ‘A’ from two different shops. There were people doing the same trip as us who had paid more than double what we did.
Also worth mentioning that before you depart on your snorkelling trip, please ensure you have a valid ticket to enter Tarutao National Park - again see our tips section later.
If you’re planning a holiday and want to book a snorkelling trip in advance, check out these trips on Get Your Guide:
Ko Ra Wi wasn’t a bad place for a picnic lunch!
Koh Lipe - What We Didn’t Do
Diving on Koh Lipe
Koh Lipe is famous for its incredible dive sites. We are not divers ourselves, so take all of our information here with a pinch of salt but we met some absolute lovely dive instructors who were so passionate about it and were extremely convincing as to the delights of diving off the island of Koh Lipe.
There are dive shops all along Walking Street and Pattaya Beach, serving all skill levels from absolute beginners to fully qualified PADI divers.
Koh Adang
Visible from most of the northern side of the island, Koh Adang rises like a green volcano from the Adaman sea. Koh Adang dwarfs little Koh Lipe in size, but is much more sparsely populated with only one resort and a couple of campsites on the island. There is a hike to a viewpoint as well as the promise of white sandy beaches all to yourself. We didn’t take the boat taxi across as we were on a budget and on the days we were tempted by it, the weather was quite hazy.
A longtail boat to Koh Adang runs at 200 baht per person per journey (£4.36 or $5.40). This is worth thinking about as it would mean for two people to go there and back would cost 800 baht (£17.45 or $21.59) which is nearly as much as a whole day's snorkelling! We’re sure the views would have been incredible but as we were on a budget we opted out this time.
This list might not seem that long for 11 days, but the simple loop of getting up, swimming, reading on a beach, finding a bar, getting stuck in said bar and stumbling to bed kept us happily occupied for quite some time on this picture perfect island. There’s definitely more to the island than we found, if you’ve got any recommendations please leave a comment as we’re sure to return to Koh Lipe in the future!
To have a look or prebook some other island activities check out Get Your Guide here.
Eating and Drinking on Koh Lipe
Walking Street
At the heart of the island of Koh Lipe lies Walking Street. This is the main tourist hub for the whole island. You can’t avoid it and you shouldn’t! Home to most of the bars, restaurants, cafes and shops of the island, Walking Street will cater for any of your needs.
There are a wealth of shops to satiate your inner Carrie. Ellie bought a lovely dress that has (so far) not fallen apart. There are also tattoo parlours, diving shops and the increasingly common cannabis emporiums. Also there are plenty of pharmacies and two 7-11’s, although why an island this small needs 2 is beyond us.
In terms of food you are well catered for on Walking Street; pasta to tapas, Indian naan to Pad Thai there is a restaurant on this street for everyone's taste. Dining on Thai islands is always more expensive than its mainland counterparts, and can often pander too heavily to the perceived tastes of the Western palate. With this in mind, we can recommend the following places to eat:
Papaya Mom - ปาปาย่ามัม เกาะหลีเป๊ะ
This large, primely located restaurant is popular with both Western and Thai tourists (always a good sign). Serving all manner of Thai noodles, fried rice and curries alongside an impressive selection of fresh fish and shellfish ready for the grill. Being backpackers we can’t comment on the quality of the lobster, but the seafood Pad Kee Mao and Yellow Curry fried rice were delicious. The seafood Pad Kee Mao was generously portioned and overflowing with the ocean's bounty. Crab meat jostled for space with prawns, cuttlefish and octopus amongst fragrant and delicately flavoured noodles. The Yellow curry rice was rich and satisfying with tender chicken and a deep curried flavour providing counterpoint to the delicate seafood dish. The two together cost us 220 baht (£4.80 or $5.94).
Wonton Soup Stall - outside Patt market (แพท มาร์เก็ต)
Outside the Patt supermarket and opposite the A Central shopping plaza lies our top budget recommendation. This stall served wonton noodles with red pork and was cheap, filling and absolutely delicious. This is one of our top cheap eats on the island. For more budget tips, click here.
Dinner for two cost us 160 baht (£3.49 or $4.32).
Wangcha-Aon & Thai food (วังชะโอน แอนด์ ไทยฟู้ด)
A lunchtime staple, this unassuming restaurant served what we came to believe to be the best beef noodle soup on the island (we tried quite a few). The bowl of noodles was topped with tender beef, delightfully textured beef balls as well as crunchy bean sprouts, spring onions, aromatic herbs and deep fried shallots. The broth itself was deep, complex and comforting, all the things a bowl of beef noodles should be. The table came complete with the usual Thai cruet to allow you to adjust the salty, sweet or sour flavours to your preference. A bowl of this excellent beef noodle soup will set you back 100 baht (£2.18 or $2.70).
We also ate quite a few dinners at this restaurant. We can heartily recommend their Pad Krapow. Often in Thailand when asked if you would like it spicy, your answer is effectively ignored and the dish will be prepared in a Farang friendly manner. This was not the case here. The Pad Krapow was spicy, heavily seasoned and utterly delicious. With crunchy snake beans and near caramelised minced chicken, just make sure to ask for the gloriously runny fried egg on top. One plate of Pad Krapow (including a 10 baht egg) cost 90 baht (£1.96 or $2.43).
Bombay Indian (ร้านอาหารอินเดียบอมเบย์)
It seems strange to recommend an Indian restaurant when in Thailand, but what can we say, we’re British, and the curry cravings can often get too much. Happily for us, Koh Lipe has the excellent Bombay Indian to quench our curry cravings.
We ate lunch and dinner here and were blown away both times. For the lunch we had naan breads and a Makhani Dal and for dinner we had the same but accompanied by a Butter Chicken. The Makhani Dal was the stand out both times. A massive copper coloured goblet appeared on our table with a swirl of yoghurt crowning the deep, dark colour of the lentil stew. Spicy, yet supremely comforting, this dal was the perfect saucy dipper for the crispy delicious tandoor baked naan bread. The butter chicken was also superb, with none of the artificial sweetness or greasy overload often found in this dish elsewhere.
The two curries together were the perfect synergy of hot and rich, creamy and fragrant and with the naan bread (one garlic, one plain) made for the perfect meal. Despite the incongruity of ordering an Indian curry in Thailand, this was one of our favourite meals on Koh Lipe.
Two curries, two naan breads, two large beers and a large water cost us 590 baht (£12.87 or $15.92).
Bloom Cafe
For those after a sophisticated caffeine fix in pretty surroundings, you can’t go wrong with a coffee from Bloom Cafe. Located in the heart of Walking Street and sitting under the hostel of the same name, Bloom cafe serves up every variety of hot and cold coffee you can ask for, along with a selection of toasties and other Western comfort foods. The coffee here was fantastic (although a little pricey, but you are paying for the location).
One iced latte cost 110 baht (£2.40 or $2.97).
As you can maybe tell if you’ve read our other articles, Koh Lipe is quite pricey for food and drink. This is a common theme across the Thai islands where ingredients have to arrive by boat. We have some budget recommendations on where to eat to maximise your money to read all about our cheaper choices, click here.
Leaving Koh Lipe - where to go next?
Leaving Koh Lipe is hard. Breaking the comforting cycle of beaches, blissful sunsets and sublime snorkelling is very difficult. But, as with any island story, there comes a time to leave.
Booking onward travel from Koh Lipe is super simple. There are countless travel agents up and down Walking Street offering transfers to pretty much anywhere in Thailand or if you want to book in advance, you could just use 12Go . There are speed boats that will get you north to Koh Lanta, Phi Phi, Phuket or any of the western islands as well as transfers across the mainland to Hat Yai, Krabi, Surat Thani and beyond.
We elected for a speedboat to Koh Mook but that is another story.
Koh Lipe - the essential information
National Park fee
Tarutao Marine National Park Fee costs 200 baht per person and lasts for 5 days. You will need to pay this entrance fee to get to Koh Lipe (in addition to any ferry and pier costs). This is worth remembering as you will also need the permit to go snorkelling and as we have said, the island is a vortex and you will probably wind up staying longer than you initially expected.
Pak Bara Pier fee
Pak Bara Pier Fee costs 20 baht per person and is payable upon arrival at the pier. This cost is also in addition to your ferry ticket and marine national park fee. We’re only pointing this out as it was very confusing at the pier where we started getting asked for more money.
Taxis and island prices
Taxis and the island economy - the taxi price across Koh Lipe is fixed at 100 baht per journey. It doesn’t matter how short or how long (on an island so small there is a limit as to how long they can be) the cost is the same. The taxis on Koh Lipe are of the motorbike with sidecar variety and can be hailed just off Walking Street and behind the main arrival pier.
You will find across the island that certain prices are pretty much fixed, small beers at a 100 baht are a good example of this. There are certain places that are a little cheaper, read more about places to drink on Koh Lipe here.
Arriving on Koh Lipe
Arrival tip - you will be dropped off at the arrival pier of Pattaya beach. You will immediately be inundated with taxi offers all for 100 baht. If you’re staying on or near Walking Street, you really don’t need this. There’s a little trick/illusion as the road behind the arrival pier is frequently flooded which encourages you to use a taxi. You do not need to go this way, just turn back on to the beach and walk a short way up to come to the entrance of Walking Street.
Other tips for Koh Lipe
Maps.me - as is becoming a theme in Thailand, Maps.me is frequently much more detailed and useful than Google maps. We recommend downloading the area for offline use as we found many more paths and trails on Maps.me than are shown on Google maps.
ATMS - there are ATMS on the island but they do frequently run out of cash and will charge you the standard fees for withdrawals like the rest of Thailand.
There are pharmacies and a clinic on the island, we hope you don’t need either!
Koh Lipe - final thoughts
Koh Lipe is beautiful. A tiny, walkable tropical retreat with every amenity and comfort a traveller could need. Its position so far south means it's not quite as popular or well known as Thailand’s other more northerly islands and this is to its advantage. The island at the moment has not been entirely sold off to resorts, but this may be changing in the future. There is a large construction site on Sunrise beach and there were signs saying large parcels of land had been given over to developers. At the moment Koh Lipe is still a charming island full of independent shops and businesses, with most beaches open to all. Go now before its private and a mimicry of other resort filled islands!
Thank you for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
If you want to know how to live cheaply on Koh Lipe, check out our budget backpacking guide to the island here!
For our guide to the bars of Koh Lipe click here!
More Thai Island Inspiration:
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The £5 market munching challenge - Florida Night Market in Hat Yai, Thailand
The southern Thai city of Hat Yai is full of night markets. Following inspiration from YouTube we set ourselves the food challenge - The £5 market munching feast! What Thai foods can we get for £5? Can two people really get dinner for £5 in Thailand? How much chilli can one Som Tam contain? Is Hat Yai Fried Chicken really worth the hype? Read on to find out!
When you're travelling long term (we can say that now, it's been a whole 6 months :P) you sometimes need a bit of structure to a day, a challenge or just a goal to achieve. We came up with the £5 market challenge (okay us and a few thousand YouTubers before us).
Armed with 210 baht (just under £5 sterling) we headed off to the Florida Night Market in Hat Yai - Map Link.
We wanted dinner and so far we'd unfussily eaten extremely well and for very little in Thailand's southern city of Hat Yai.
Would we be able to eat and drink a full dinner for two for under £5?
Challenge set we headed into the colourful market.
We'd come to the Florida Night Market as it was a stone's throw away from our hostel Silla House in Hat Yai. From the balcony of the hostel we could see the lit up tents and throngs of customers coming and going, and decided this would be the perfect place to attempt our first market munch challenge!
Thai Style Barbecue Skewers
First things first, our bouches needed amusing. We were led by our nostrils to a charcoal barbecue. It was time for some skewers. Marinated and grilled to perfection, we quickly devoured two chicken skewers.
20 baht down (£0.47 / $0.58) - 200 baht remaining.
Deep Fried Quail Eggs
Walking around a Thai market as an outsider you'll always find something you haven't tried before. Today we found eggs. Okay we have had eggs before… but these weren't just any eggs (no they weren't M&S eggs - a very British reference) they were deep fried quail eggs on a skewer. Dipped in soy sauce and coated in a generous sprinkling of white pepper they were delicious! We don't know what sort of deep fried dark arts were employed in their construction but the yolks were still gloriously gooey!
One skewer of quail eggs set us back 15 baht (£0.35 / $0.43) - 185 baht remaining!
Hat Yai Fried Chicken
Hat Yai is famous throughout Thailand. Its fame is not only due to its spectacular mosque, cable car or floating market; the largest city in southern Thailand is famous for its fried chicken. Throughout Thailand all the way to the very north, you can find stalls selling "Hat Yai Fried Chicken''. As KFC aficionados there was no way we were going to miss trying this legendary chicken! Wandering up to a stall, we brought two thigh pieces. The chicken came with the traditional accompaniments of rice, sweet chilli sauce and best of all, crispy fried shallots. It's really hard to quantify quite why Hat Yai fried chicken is so good, but we can happily report that it deserves its fame. The thinnest layer of crispy batter, covers almost impossibly juicy chicken. Seriously, when we pulled the chicken apart we quickly had a lake of chicken juice form at the bottom of the container! The perfect chicken, laced with the deceptively spicy sweet chilli sauce, set atop of yellow biryani rice (also can be served with sticky rice) and spiked through with crispy, crunchy onion bits. The legend was true, it was fantastic. Hat Yai fried chicken really puts the Colonel to shame!
Two thighs with accompaniments cost 45 baht (£1.06 / $1.30) - 140 baht remaining!
Som Tam (Spicy Papaya Salad)
To accompany fried chicken we needed some fresh veggies.
This came in the form of a devilishly spicy Som Tam or papaya salad. Tomatoes, papaya, baby shrimp and a lot of chilli's smashed and bruised together with lime juice, peanuts and other wonderful things make the perfect salad. The portion was big enough for this to have been a main course all on its own, but what can I say, we are greedy and have big appetites! Mouths burning from chilli but with big smiles we finished the lot.
This salad set us back 40 baht (£0.94 / $1.15).
The then totally necessary bottle of water cost us another 10 baht (£0.24 / $0.29) - 90 baht remaining!
Banana Roti
We were now entering the sweet phase of our dining extravaganza. We had just come from Malaysia and we were already missing roti.
Luckily the very first stall in the Florida Night Market was a roti stand, and a popular one at that. We took our place in the queue behind an army of Grab drivers and ordered a sweet banana roti. We knew it was going to be good as the Grab driver in front of us was picking up at least 10 rotis for whoever he was delivering for. When it was finally our turn we were not disappointed. Tissue thin, crispy roti covered a pancake layer of egg and sliced sweet banana. There's something about the texture of a well cooked roti. It has a perfect balance of crispy exterior and chewy centre. This with the cooked banana and caramelised sugar topping made for a supremely satisfying desert.
This sweet treat set us back 25 baht (£0.59 / $0.72) - 65 baht remaining.
Thai Style Ice Coffee
To aid our digestion of this delicious Thai feast we thought we'd cap it all off with a coffee. The temperature was hovering around the 30 degree mark even at night so we opted for two iced lattes. Like others we've had in Thailand, they were extremely sweet but certainly hit the spot.
Two iced coffees cost 38 baht (£0.90 / $1.10).
Caffeinated, full and under budget our £5 challenge was a success!
Total Cost of Hat Yai Night Market Dinner
193 baht (£4.55)
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
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Hat Yai - Thailand’s Southern City
Hat Yai is Thailand’s largest southern city and is chock full of excellent markets, famous fried chicken and gorgeous street art. Read on to see our guide to Hat Yai and why this city should be on your southern Thailand travel itinerary.
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. We will earn a small commission from any purchases made through these links.
Hat Yai, the largest city in southern Thailand, is often the first or last stop of land travel between Thailand and Malaysia. A large sprawling city, Hat Yai has a mixture of cultures. As it sits close to the Malaysian border there is a strong Malay influence in its cooking and culture as well as a significant Chinese presence. Full of markets, food and temples, Hat Yai capitalises on its cultures and has an interesting feel all of its own. We had passed through Hat Yai on our way to Songkhla but this time we were going to stay for a couple of days.
The colourful exterior of the Chao Por Suea Shrine
Hat Yai Guide Contents Page:
Where to stay in Hat Yai?
What to do in Hat Yai?
Where to eat and drink in Hat Yai?
Getting to and from Hat Yai
Where to stay? Accommodation in Hat Yai
Silla House : ศิลลา เฮ้าส์ โฮเทล - Map Link
We stayed in the Silla House hostel in the centre of Hat Yai. Within walking distance of both Hat Yai's bus and train stations, Silla House, was convenient, quiet and comfortable and for a private room (shared bathroom) pretty cheap! We can't compare it to other hostels in Hat Yai but the beds were comfy, the WiFi good and the location perfect for us. We stayed 3 nights and paid around £11 ($14) per night for the two of us. Book your stay here!
Silla House hostel had the advantage of being a stone's throw away from the Florida Night Market - read more about this excellent night market below.
Other hotels and hostels within Hat Yai
For other places to stay check out the map below:
What to do in Hat Yai?
Lee Garden Plaza Market - Map Link
Hat Yai seems to have an abundance of great markets. On our second evening we explored the Lee Garden night market. Set on the streets around the Lee Garden Plaza hotel, this night market boasted a great selection of treats. From huge rolls of crispy pork belly to sweet coconut pancakes, there was a tasty treat for anyone's appetite. Alongside the market stalls were large seafood restaurants sitting next to jewellery sellers and printed t-shirt vendors.
Dotted in amongst the stalls are a wide variety of stir fry chefs.
We opted for two plates of Pad Krapow which we hungrily devoured on plastic stools on the roadside. Spicy, hearty and yummy, the pork Pad Krapow was everything we wanted it to be. In Thailand, Pad Krapow is one of our favourite staples. Don’t know what to have? Just go for a Pad Krapow. Stir fried meat of choice (we recommend pork), with holy basil, onion and green vegetables depending on region. All stir fried up and served with rice. We recommend being indulgent and asking for the fried egg on top, it will always be an option!
Street Art Hat Yai ถนน ศุภสารรังสรรค์ - Map Link
A few streets away from the Lee Garden night market are a couple of streets that are filled with colourful murals and artworks. Street art seems to be a theme in southern Thailand and northern Malaysia from the alleyways of Ipoh and George town all the way to north to Songkhla and now Hat Yai, each town and city has its own unique street art.
The artists of Hat Yai seem to have focussed on the local wildlife and culture of southern Thailand, with depictions of Malay tea sellers, Chinese dragon dancers sitting alongside paintings of Thai noodle vendors.
If you’re in the area definitely check it out and even if you’re not it serves as a good excuse for a wander!
Wat Chue Chang วัดฉื่อฉาง หาดใหญ่ - Map Link
Close to Hat Yai’s street art towers the Buddhist temple of Wat Chue Chang.
This multi storey Chinese style temple dominates the surrounding area. Set over several storeys, its white and orange tiled exterior is intricately decorated with a colourful dragon and phoenix mural crowning the top.
We randomly encountered this temple when we were wandering around looking for street art. We were too late to visit the inside, but the exterior is extremely impressive and is definitely a place we need to explore more fully on our next visit!
Khlong Hae Floating Market - Map Link
Hat Yai also boasts a weekend floating market. The floating market of Khlong Hae runs from Friday to Sunday and opens in the late afternoon around 4pm. The floating market is around 6km away from central Hat Yai. We attempted to walk to the market, but after walking 40 minutes from our hostel we decided to take a Grab. The market itself was a curious mix of semi-permanent covered structures on the river bank and a row of longtail boats moored in a line to the riverside. Each boat sells something different, from spring rolls to coconut ice cream or even drinks served in sticks of bamboo. They deliver their wares and take their payment via long poles with baskets attached; these baskets are swung out from their boats across to the riverbank. It was a charming place, full of families enjoying an evening out, live music and karaoke performances. We arrived when it opened and had some chicken wings, a basket of quail eggs and some coconut pancakes all for under 100 baht! (£2.40 or $2.89)
The food was good and cheap but not quite up to the excellent fare we had eaten elsewhere in Hat Yai.
The Khlong Hae floating market was definitely touristy. Most of the people there aside from us appeared to be Malaysian families and all of the signs were in Thai, Malaysian and English. We're not criticising it by saying it's touristy as we are tourists ourselves, but if you came expecting a "authentic"* off the beaten track experience you might be a little bit disappointed.
Greenway Night Market - Map Link
On every night of the week (except Mondays) the Greenway night market opens it’s doors. Selling vintage clothes, crafts and other more traditional Thai market wares (endless mobile phone accessories for example) the Greenway Night Market has a little something for all comers. What it also has is a large food court, covered against the elements and selling every kind of food imaginable, ok maybe not caviar but you get our meaning!
ASEAN Night Bazaar - Map Link
Open from 4.30pm everyday (except Monday), this sprawling, covered night market is set over two floors. The ground floor is chock full of market stalls selling clothes, souvenirs and electronics, whilst upstairs there is a small food court offering everything from fruit smoothies to fried noodles. It’s a great place to head too if you’re looking to pick up some trinkets, suspect perfumes or elephant printed pants!
Florida Night Market (Jiranakorn Night Market) - Map Link
Just over the road from our hostel, Silla House is the daily Florida (Jiranakorn) Night Market. Open everyday from 4pm, we ended up eating our dinner here on two out of our three nights in Hat Yai. Three long rows of market stalls are joined by more informal street carts all of which open in the evening and seem to stay open late into the night. Serving all manner of goodies, from fried insects to grilled cheese, the night market was perfect for tapas style grazing. Read all about here - in brief, we loved it!
Songkhla Old Town - Map Link
Located 45 minutes north east of Hat Yai lies the historic coastal town of Songkhla. Full of street art, Buddhist temples, museums, a viewpoint to climb and beaches, theres plenty to keep you occupied. The Old Town of Songkhla is still to this day one of our favourite Thai towns.
Getting to Songkhla is extremely easy from Hat Yai with local buses departing every hour.
You could easily visit Songkhla as a day trip from Hat Yai, however if you do have time, we do feel that Songkhla deserves at least an overnight stay as there’s plenty to see and do.
Read more about visiting here.
Other things to do in Hat Yai
There is plenty of things we didn’t manage to visit in Hat Yai. Unfortunately when we were in Hat Yai the weather wasn’t playing ball with us and rained torrentially leaving us with only brief sunny spells to cram in as many attractions as possible.
Next time we’d love to visit Wat Hat Yai Nai (Mahattamangkalaram Temple), a beautiful Buddhist temple famous for its large reclining Buddha.
If the weather is better we’d like to pack a picnic and take a walk around the Hat Yai Municipal City Park or climb up to the Kho Hong Mountain viewpoint which overlooks the city. Further a field we’d love to escape the city and head to the forest trails and waterfalls of Ton Nga Chang Wildlife Sanctuary.
If you’re unlucky like us and you’re faced with heavy rain, then the Central Shopping Mall is a great place to refresh your travel wardrobe or to get your Western food fix.
What to eat and drink in Hat Yai?
Hat Yai Fried Chicken
Kai-Tod Decha (Chee Uthit Branch) ไก่ทอดเดชา (สาขาชีอุทิศ) - Map Link
No visit to Hat Yai would be complete without sampling its famous fried chicken. We go into more detail about this amazing food here on our £5 market challenge. But for a more formal sit down meal, we followed Gary Butler’s recommendation from his YouTube video and headed to Kai-Tod Decha.
We ordered two meal sets consisting of fried chicken drumsticks, sticky rice and sweet chilli sauce all washed down with their signature iced Thai tea. The chicken was crunchy yet juicy and made for a fantastic breakfast brunch! Two plates plus two teas cost us 200 baht (£4.91 or $5.91).
Pork Tom Yum noodle soup with intestines
ก๋วยเตี๋ยวเรืออนุสาวรีย์พี่ฝน - Map Link
Over the course of our recent travels we have found our way of getting over choice paralysis when it comes to food. There are always too many tasty looking places with menus we can’t translate. It’s so easy just to keep walking and say we’ll just have a look at the next one. This indecision can last for hours so our new tactic is that the third time we see somewhere and think to move on, we pivot and enter the restaurant. This leads us to trying some unexpectedly great things!
This time we sat down in a lovely shop house restaurant. As the menu was entirely in Thai we ordered by pointing at a bowl another patron was devouring. A delicious Tom Yum style noodle soup quickly appeared with the unexpected additions of heart, tongue and intestines. We’ve never had tongue or intestines before and can report that although the textures are odd (not in a bad way just different) the flavours were amazing!
The soup was spicy and rich, having taken on the flavours of the offal from the stock. The tongue and heart were hearty (excuse the pun) and not at all tough or gamey. The intestines were the most unique texture, snappy like a hot dog skin on the outside and almost creamy on the inside. The whole bowl sat together excellently with the ground pork and lime rounding out the flavours. Two bowls and a large bottle of water set us back 150 baht (£3.68 or $4.43).
Wanton Mee noodles with pork and crab - บะหมี่หงส์ทอง(ดั้งเดิม) - Map Link
This was one of those little food gems you find yourself eating at completely by accident. After checking in to our hostel, we picked up our dirty washing and headed to the nearest Otteri.
If you’re in Thailand, Otteri launderettes can be found all over the country.
Look out for their cute otter logo!
Just look for the cute Otter logo and head on in. Sometimes there will be ladies to help you, other times you’re left to your own devices. Although not the cheapest, they’re great places to chill out in and wait for your washing as they all usually have wifi, fans, tables and chairs.
Hungry and waiting for our washing to finish its spin dry, we headed to the nearest restaurant and weren’t disappointed. Presented to us were two large steaming bowls of Wonton Mee topped with char siu pork, sweet crab meat and greens. It was delicious. Sweet and salty, the crab paired perfectly with the soft char siu pork. The dumplings were expertly cooked with perfectly thin wrappers and delicious fillings.
A trip here is worth it even if you’re not heading to the nearby launderette!
Coffee
Lorem Ipsum Space - Map Link
There comes a point in any day’s exploring where you begin to run out of power. If you’ve already eaten two out of the three meals of the day and it’s only 2pm, you can’t really justify another snack stop. This is where coffee comes in.
Lorem Ipsum is an achingly cool modern coffee shop located inside a historic shop house. Its modern minimalist interior of brushed concrete, green plants and eclectic furniture signalled its true hipster credentials. We ordered two hot lattes and they were the best coffees we’ve had in months. The two coffees set us back 130 baht (£3.19 or $3.84).
Thai favourites - street eats in Hat Yai
Wherever you are in Hat Yai and at whatever time of day, you’ll never be far from the sound of a wok firing up. Serving all the popular Thai dishes of Pad Krapao, Pad Thai and fried rice, there are plenty of street side stalls to choose from. If you’re hungry, we’d recommend heading up to explore the streets east of Hat Yai’s railway station right next to the Lee Plaza market.
We had an excellent spicy pork Pad Krapao at a stall located on a crossroad junction of Thanon Niphathuthit 3. Piping hot, slightly charred and topped with a perfectly cooked still runny fried egg, it was the perfect dish to devour as we sheltered underneath canvas from the rain.
Getting to and from Hat Yai
Being the largest city in southern Thailand, Hat Yai is extremely well connected.
By train - Hat Yai Railway Station:
Hat Yai’s railway station sits on Thailand’s southern railway line and connects the city all the way to Bangkok in the north as well as south to the border of Malaysia at Padang Besar.
If you’re heading to one of the Thai islands on either the west or eastern coast of Thailand, the train station can connect you to the station at Surat Thani.
To book tickets, either head to the railway station or book them online in advance via 12Go.
Getting to Koh Lipe from Hat Yai:
Hat Yai is the most logical stop on the mainland to get to the tiny paradise island of Koh Lipe. If you haven’t heard of this lush little island check out our article (actually check out our article anyway!). Transport to the island is easy to arrange and most guesthouses will have options available. We arranged transport through our hostel and the journey took us around 4 hours and cost us 800 baht per person.
Going to Malaysia from Hat Yai:
Hat Yai is the last major town before the Thai/Malaysian border and makes an ideal jumping off point into Thailands southern neighbour. We have actually done this crossing both ways, from Malaysia into Thailand and visa versa. The most logical stop on the Malaysian side is the amazing city of Georgetown Penang, which we cannot recommend enough, but you can get transport all the way down to Kuala Lumpur or even right through to Singapore!
Both times we crossed the border we had arranged our transport in advance via 12Go. The border crossing at Sadao Checkpoint itself was painless and efficient, with our minivan/bus waiting for us at either side whilst we checked out of and into both countries. As with all land crossings you will need to take your own baggage (physical and emotional) across the border with you. There are many pick up points in town for the border crossing busses, so check when you book!
You can check out our full article on the border crossing here!
If you’re crossing in or out of Malaysia from Thailand, make sure to check your departure times.
Thailand (GMT +7) is an hour behind Malaysia (GMT +8).
Hat Yai to be continued….
Hat Yai is a city we just have to return to. The poor weather meant that there were a lot of things we didn’t get to see and do. The city had such a different feel to other Thai towns and cities we’ve visited and we absolutely love its laid back atmosphere and incredible food.
The city, (at least when we visited), seemed to be more popular with tourists from Malaysia rather than the West and luckily for us, the Malaysians are just as food obsessed as their Thai counterparts. Unlike the Thai islands, and areas of Thailand that are more popular with tourists from the West, the food we ate in Hat Yai wasn’t watered down for the ‘Farang palette’.
Hat Yai is one of those cities we will visit again. Not only because it's a convenient border stop between Thailand and Malaysia or because we’re still dreaming of breakfast fried chicken, but because it was a genuine, laid back, little gem of a city.
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie
#adventuresofjellie x
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The Bars of Songkhla - Drinking in the Old Town
Songkhla’s historic Old Town has a great choice of bars, cafes and drinking holes. Read our guide on where to drink, how much it will cost you and where to have a sunset beer in the historic harbour town of Songkhla.
It's a terrible thing to admit, but one of the things we were very much looking forward to when crossing the Malaysian border into Thailand, was the bars! Georgetown had been fun, with Love Lane (more to come on this in another article later) being great, but we were looking forward to a bottle of Chang in a chilled out Thai bar. Luckily for us, Songkhla would provide the perfect re-introduction to the Thai bar scene.
We’d missed this!
Songkhla is not a major place on the Western tourist trail but is a popular destination on the Thai travel scene. With its street art, historic significance and old shop houses drawing in domestic tourists from all over the country. To cater to the tourists as well as the local crowd, a crop of quirky little bars have sprung up serving craft beers, liquor and food. Here are some of our favourite bars we visited during our brief stay in Songkhla.
Cafe Der See Nakornnok - Location
This cafe/restaurant serves Western and Thai plates with a beautiful veranda stretching out onto Songkhla lake.
We ducked in here for some iced coffees soon after we arrived in Songkhla, but were very tempted by their ice cold beer selection! This would make a great place to watch a sunset, however we saw the sun go down from…
Jellie beer price index: 1 x bottle of small Chang beer cost 75 Baht (£1.76 or $2.16).
Songkhla Lagoon Bar - Location
This small neon laced shop front doubles as an activity centre for canoeing and boat trips on the lake.
We however, were not here for a kayak, but instead for sunset beers. They have a large selection of craft beers as well as the standard Chang/Singha/Leo Thailand favourites. We enjoyed our first Chang of Thailand, lounging on their comfy bean bags watching the sun set behind fishing boats across Songkhla lagoon.
For those interested in a sunset boat trip around the lake, the bar was offering trips for 650 baht. We planned to do a boat trip the next evening, but the weather had other ideas. We’d definitely recommend looking at a sunset cruise as the sun goes down directly over the lagoon.
Jellie beer price index: 1x small bottle of Chang beer cost 60 Baht (£1.41 or $1.73). Not the cheapest, but thoroughly reasonable given the view.
Word of caution, if you are planning on sunset beers apply lots of insect repellent as you’re sitting directly on the lagoon itself and there were quite a few mosquitoes!
Grandpa Never Drunk Alone - Location
Top prize for the name! Grandpa Never Drunk Alone would fit right in amongst the trendiest of bars in London or New York. A tiny one room bar with all of its liquors spread out on the bar top, Grandpa Never Drunk Alone (now GNDA as its name is too long for us to keep typing) served cocktails, craft beer and an impressive gin selection. There is pretty much no room to stand, with all the seats wrapping around the central bottle strewn bar, whilst a projector silently plays old cartoons onto the wall. Neon lights, arty posters and an eclectic mix of decor had us feeling as though we had stepped into an Izakaya in Tokyo.
Jellie beer price index: 1 x bottle of the Muay Thai Chok Dee Pilsner cost 180 Baht (£4.21 or $5.19) per bottle.
This was an expensive bar for craft beer, but if we had been smart it was basically the same price for a handmade cocktail as it was for a bottle of craft beer. We can recommend the Muay Thai Chok Dee Pilsner as it was delicious!
Cafe’ De Roo - Location
Hidden down a low alleyway and never looking (at least from one side) open, we missed out on this hidden gem until our last day.
Depending on which side you enter, you’ll either duck through a low alleyway, or pick your way past a nondescript hotel entrance until you come to a courtyard garden that is half junkyard, half art installation. Seats made out of anything and everything dot around the garden and old Thai signs, disused televisions and painted murals decorate the courtyard walls. The cafe sign itself is mounted on a large disused radar dish in the centre of the garden. The cafe/bar sits on a metal mezzanine level overlooking the garden and its ponds. The cafe serves hot and cold drinks as well as the standard Thai beer selection. They also serve food, but we did not have any so can’t comment on that.
Jellie beer price index: 1 x small bottle of Chang beer cost 60 Baht (£1.41 or $1.73 USD).
Again seems to be standard Songkhla price. Definitely worth it for the ambience plus we got some free snacks to eat alongside our beer!
Harbour at Hub Hoe Hin - Location
Sometimes (okay not very often) it pays to be lured down a dark alleyway.
Following a green and white exit neon sign saying ‘Harbour - Food, Drink & Friends’ we made our way down a narrow, gutter lined alleyway which quickly opened out to what would become our favourite bar in Songkhla. Set in an old, corrugated metal harbour warehouse, on the side of the historic Songkhla Hub Hoe Hin Red Rice Mill, the bar backs directly onto the waters edge. When we visited there was live music every night and even in the rain, this water front bar was a warm and welcoming hub full of friendly people, cheap Chang and delicious food.
Decorated in an eclectic mix of old fishing trinkets, fairy lights and modern art, the Harbour bar was super friendly, relaxed and a great place to spend the evening.
We visited every night we were in Songkhla and had a great time every time. The owners were extremely welcoming, if a little curious as to how we found out about the town of Songkhla.
The locals and other visitors were all great company and extremely accommodating of our terrible Thai! We ate a delicious Pad Krapow and some Thai chicken wings. We were also given a taster of some tuna sashimi and a plate of spicy peanuts for free!
Jellie beer price index: 1 x large bottle of Chang beer cost 80 Baht (£1.87 or $2.31).
The best beer price we found in Songkhla, also our favourite bar. Definitely worth a visit or three!
The view from the Harbour bar - it certainly lives up to its name!
You may notice that all of these recommendations are located within the old town of Songkhla. Our hostel was located slap bang in the middle of the Old Town, and as the weather was raining heavily we didn’t feel like venturing too far in the evenings.
Songkhla is actually quite a large town, and has a couple of other “bar hubs”. Running alongside Songkhla park and stadium and opposite Songkhla’s east coast (next to the Chalatat beach) are a string of party bars/restaurants. We passed these in the day when they were just setting up but we were told they become a very lively party scene after dark. Also between the stadium and the main town along and off the Sai Ngam road are a lot of smaller bars serving the local hotels. Again we didn’t go to these, but passing them in the day they looked fun and all sold the standard Thai beer selection.
Of course there’s more to Songkhla than just its bars, read here to see what else we got up to!
Cheers Songkhla!
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
Would you like to read more about Songkhla?
If you want to know what else we got up to other than drinking in Songkhla click the image below for our complete guide to the town!
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Songkhla - What to do, what to eat and what to see in this historic art filled town in southern Thailand!
The historic town of Songkhla lies in Southern Thailand. With its beaches, wealth of history, street art and fantastic food. It is long been a draw for Thai tourists. Read our guide on why the town of Songkhla should be added to your Thailand travel itinerary!
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. We will earn a small commission from any purchases made through these links.
Located northeast of Southern Thailand’s largest city of Hat Yai, the historic town of Songkhla sits between the Gulf of Thailand and the large Songkhla lagoon. With its historic significance, pretty old town and funky street art, Songkhla has become a popular destination for Thai tourists. We had found out about Songkhla from one of our favourite YouTubers, Paddy Doyle and as we had just crossed the border from Malaysia it seemed the perfect first stop on our Southern Thai adventure.
Contents:
How to get to Songkhla?
Where to stay in Songkhla?
What to do in Songkhla?
What to eat in Songkhla?
How to get to Songkhla?
By bus
As you may have read in our previous article we got a local bus from Hat Yai central bus station to Songkhla which cost us 34 baht each (£0.80 or $0.98). Hat Yai’s bus station was full of super helpful people but even if it hadn’t been, it was very easy to navigate with each bay being labelled in English as to where the minivans went. From what we could see there were links to the majority of the south of Thailand and further afield to Bangkok and other larger cities.
By Songthaew
It is also possible to take a local Songthaew to Songkhla. Just flag down one of the ubiquitous flatbed taxis and check it is going in the right direction. Just ask the driver to drop you off in the centre of Songkhla.
If you’re heading back to Hat Yai from Songkhla there are plenty of Songthaew’s waiting nearby the Lee Subsin market area.
By Grab (taxi or ride-hailing app)
Another more pricey option is to book a taxi or use Grab which will set you back around 250 to 300 baht depending on the pick up/drop off points. When we left Songkhla it was bucketing with rain, and as we didn’t fancy a soggy shuffle we treated ourselves to a Grab to take us back to Hat Yai. If you do decide to use Grab there may be a bit of a wait for a driver. Once in Hat Yai (as it is the biggest city in southern Thailand) there are transport links (bus and trains) to Bangkok and further afield to Malaysia and Singapore.
By air
The nearest airport to Songkhla is Hat Yai international airport which has internal flights within Thailand as well as international flights. From the airport you will need to get a bus or taxi to get you to Songkhla itself.
Booking tickets in advance
To book your tickets to Songkhla (or anywhere in South East Asia really), you can use 12Go. We have booked tickets through them loads as they serve so many useful routes. Book your tickets here!
Where to stay in Songkhla?
After doing some research we decided to stay in the heart of the Old Town itself. There was a plethora of good cheap restaurants and a few nice looking bars in the area, as well as being within walking distance of all the main attractions on offer.
Yu Cafe Hostel - Map Link
We stayed at Yu Cafe Hostel and opted for a private room with a shared bathroom.
Our private room had an odd but useful setup. A single bed was set 6 feet under a large double bed. We used the single bed as a sofa and slept above. The room set us back 542.56 baht (£12.73 or $15.62) a night. You can book your stay here.
The hostel was great. Seemingly run by teenagers and set in a beautiful, historic shophouse, there was a nice social area (although very quiet when we visited), a large work space and a fantastic kitchen. The facilities were really good with plenty of showers, toilets and even a rooftop garden. There were also two very cute and very fluffy hostel cats, which is always a bonus! There was a cafe on site, but it was not open while we were there. We’re not sure but we think the cafe might have migrated down the road and become Lyn’s Shanghai cafe.
Other accommodation in Songkhla
There is plenty of accommodation in the Old Town and surrounding Songkhla. Including some much luxurious offerings for those not looking for a hostel! To book your stay or check out your options, have a look at the map below:
What to do in Songkhla?
Songkhla Old Town
North of the university but south of the museum sits the Old Town gate. This gate and a small section of wall near to the museum are all that remain of the old fortifications of the town. Nowadays the gate marks the entrance to the historic Old Town of Songkhla. Through the gate, the old town spreads out across three parallel roads, its eastern side bleeding into the modern town with its west bordering the lagoon.
The shop houses of the old town are in varying states of decay and restoration and are an interesting mix of Thai and Chinese architectural styles. Temples and shrines hide amongst the streets and alleyways and just wandering around the town guarantees you to find something unexpected and beautiful.
Speaking of the unexpected and beautiful. Songklah Old Town boasts some fantastic street art. Some of the art is hidden away down the small streets, and some is plastered large across the face of buildings along the main roads. The street art is of a similar style to that of George Town and Ipoh of Malaysia, where street scenes are painted on walls where they can almost fool the eye into mistaking them as real. In one mural, a man reclines in a chair whilst his soup cools on a table under a window. The window is real, but the man, soup and chair are all painted. These illusionary art pieces are joined by more abstract works including a beautiful black and white one with flowing lines and shapes that bears the message of “no plastic bags”. We are not arty enough to see the link between the work and its message, but it was definitely pretty!
There is so much to see and even though we had quite a few thorough wanders around the old town, we are sure there are still loads of things we missed; it wasn't until our final day when we looked up and spotted an enormous pair of sculpted eyes set into the top floor windows of a house, staring down on us!
To fuel our street art hunt, we required caffeine and luckily the old town of Songkhla has coffee shops in abundance. With a mixture of traditional old school coffee shops, and modern independent artisans cafes there’s a choice of coffee whatever your mood. We very much enjoyed two lattes from the Bike Camps Caff’e in the heart of the old town.
At the northern end of Nakkhon Nok Road, lies the 100 year old Hub Ho Hin Rice Mill. Painted bright red and with an old brick chimney, the red rice mill has come to emblemise Songkhla old town. Inside the mill is a heritage centre where you can read up on a little of Songkhla’s history as well as walking out onto the dock of an active fishing harbour. When we visited we were treated to a spirited karaoke and dance performance by a group of local old ladies. We’re pretty sure this wasn’t part of any exhibition, but rather we’d just wandered into their Friday afternoon dance club.
Songkhla National Museum - Map Link
A short walk north of the old town is the Songkhla National Museum. As we had just rocked into town without knowing the slightest thing about the history of Songkhla we thought we owed it a visit. Set in a beautiful white building, the museum is surrounded on two sides by a well tended garden and a lily pond. Crossing the arched bridge we entered into a large courtyard. Purchasing two tickets costing a total of 300 baht (£7.05 or $8.65 - foreigner price) we started exploring the museum. The museum was really informative without being overwhelming and gave a good history of the town and all the many ancient archaeological sites in the surrounding province. We learnt about the birth of the coffee industry here as well the influences of Malay and Chinese culture and also Songkhla’s role in the European Age of Exploration. The museum is just big enough to feel like an education without ever becoming dull. The exhibits are written in both Thai and English. We spent about an hour in the museum and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Immediately to the south of the museum on Chana Road lies the only remaining section of the old city wall. The majority of the wall has now been demolished to make way for necessary roads and other infrastructure but this remaining structure gives a glimpse as to how impressive the wall would have been in its prime.
The beaches of Songkhla - Samila and Chatalat Beach
Right at the top of the town and all along the east of Songkhla are the two beaches of Samila and Chatalat. Samila beach seems to be the more popular one, with its famous statues, horse riding and rows of beachfront restaurants. We walked here from the old town during the day and it took around half an hour. The walk was pleasant, but isn’t a must do in terms of sightseeing. The route takes you from the old town, past the bustling market, alongside the national museum and around the base of Tangkuan Hill, before reaching the beachfront. The northernmost tip of the beach seems to be less cared for than the rest, but as we made our way down past some very nice looking seafood restaurants, the white sands became cleaner and cleaner and the Instagram swings started to make more sense.
There are a few market stalls set up which sell the traditional beachfront ice-creams, toys and obligatory elephant pants. When we visited it was an overcast day with a sky threatening a storm so there were very few swimmers, but lots of people out enjoying the beach.
Also on the beachfront (Samila beach) are two famous statues.
The more famous statue is of a golden mermaid sitting on top of rocks along the shore. Legend has it that the mermaid came up from the sea one day to brush her hair when she was spotted by a fisherman. The fisherman was instantly smitten by her beauty but when he approached her, he startled her and she fled into the sea. The fisherman returned everyday to look for her but she was never seen again.
Moral of the story is don't be a sneaky creepy guy!
The other and less famous statue is much larger. A towering cat sits staring at a mouse balanced on his tail, the mouse holding an orb in its mouth. Again a helpful plaque gave us the story behind this statue. There’s a local fable about a dog, a cat and a mouse who wished to escape a ship and return back to dry land and to their home of Songkhla.
See the video below for our extremely bad re-telling of the full fable. Welcome to Songkhla story time!
If you follow Samila beach south (back towards town) it will become Chatalat beach. Chatalat beach is lined on the shoreside with lots of large late night bars and studded with the occasional coffee shop and restaurant. The weather was closing in so we didn’t spend much time on Chatalat beach, but the bars looked like they would be great fun after dark! These bars are located close to the Tinsulanonda Stadium so would make a great pre/post game hang out!
Tangkuan Hill viewpoint
Located north of Songkhla Old Town, and visible from all around the town is Tangkuan Hill. The hill is topped by a Royal Pavilion as well as a royally appointed Buddhist stupa. The top of Tangkuan Hill is a popular viewpoint as it gives panoramic views over Songkhla town, the lagoon, the beaches and out to the Gulf of Thailand.
There are two ways to climb this hill. The active and the lazy way. We opted for the worst of both worlds. By climbing up the hill and then taking the lift back down. The route to the top of the hill starts on its west hand side. The staircase to the top is guarded and bordered by two large Naga statues. As you climb higher, you pass ornamental ponds and go through the Khao Tang Kuan Royal Pavilion. Catching our breath we couldn’t help but remark that it reminded us of St Pancras station or maybe London’s Victoria and Albert museum. A helpful plague let us know that we weren’t going mad, and that the King had instructed the pavilion to be built in a European style. The views from the pavilion were fantastic and gave a small glimpse into what awaited us at the top.
One final Naga lined staircase and we had reached the top. The crown of the hill is marked by a Buddhist temple, with a large white stupa and several statues. Viewing platforms on each end of the hilltop temple look out over the town of Songkhla and its coastline. It’s not a long or hard climb to the top, but even on an overcast day the view over Songkhla is well worth it. If you do decide to take the lift both up and down, we would recommend taking the short walk down the staircase to see Khao Tang Kuan Royal Pavilion as it’s very pretty.
We decided to take the lift back down. There was a small wait at the top whilst the cart trundled back up the hill, but the journey down was smooth and air conditioned! Which we were very thankful for after our sweaty ascent in the humid pre-storm heat. The lift itself was sort of a cross between a funicular and a lift. Covered from the elements, the cart was pulled up a slope rather than a vertical shaft. Tickets for the lift cost 45 baht for a round trip (£1.06 or $1.30).
Tips for visiting:
As there is a Buddhist temple at the top of the mountain, please be respectful in what you choose to wear. Knees and shoulders need to be covered.
There are a lot of monkeys, and we mean a lot! There are feeding stations for the monkeys and a monkey play area complete with water slide and climbing frame (we’re not joking) at the base of the hill. When we visited, the monkeys didn’t seem bothered by us, but that's possibly as we had no food for them. Please be cautious especially if you have food on you.
There is a shop at the entrance to the lift and several stalls selling ice-creams, fruit and water outside. You’re also a very short walk to Samila beach and all of its restaurants.
There are toilets located at the entrance to the lift. We can’t comment on what they were like but they were certainly there.
Lee Subsin Market Precinct
Just to the north of Songkhla Old Town and before you reach the museum is the Lee Subsin market. As with any town in Thailand you’re never too far from a market. This market sold a wide variety of fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, fish and other raw ingredients as well as the usual electronics, colourfully printed clothes and possibly a newer development, face masks in all colours of the rainbow.
As it is a Thai market it also has lots of food carts and stalls. These change depending on what time of day it is. We stopped at one stall for an iced coffee (super cheap at 25 baht each which is 59p or $0.72) and planned to cross the road and pick up a bao from another stall. But unfortunately we were too slow with our coffees and had to watch as our breakfast cycled off in the opposite direction.
Songkhla Lake - เทศบาลนครสงขลา
Songkhla lagoon borders the town on its western edge. From the town there are many pictureque viewpoints where you can see the lake and watch the fishing boats come and go. The lagoon also provides the option to take a boat trip or a fishing expeditions on the lake itself. In the old town there are quite a few cafes, restaurants and bars with seating on the waters edge.
What to eat in Songkhla?
Rice and curry - located on Yaring Alley (no Google Map listing)
An honourable mention as our first meal in Thailand. Super spicy, super cheap and delicious! It was a great welcome back to the country. We had two curries, one a spicy and sour prawn and water spinach curry and another equally spicy, creamy pork and long bean curry. The two together were a powerhouse combo and we devoured it all (even the shells on the prawns) within minutes. The whole meal cost us 98 baht (£2.30 or $2.82).
Beef noodle soup - ก๋วยเตี๋ยวเนื้อนครใน - Map Link
This restaurant (please don’t ask us to pronounce the name as our abilities in Thai are non-existent) served some of the best beef noodle soups we’ve ever had.
We loved the beef noodles in Kuala Lumpur, but the bowls here were by far our favourite. Steaming hot and served with your choice of noodles (we always went with flat Chinese egg noodles) the bowls came with melt in your mouth braised beef, crunchy bean sprouts and thin slices of beef cooked then and there in the broth. Speaking of the broth is hard, there are no words. It was light as pho but so densely packed with flavour, it was unreal. Forget flavour bombs, this was a flavour nuke! The bowls cost 45 baht each (£1.06 or $1.29).
Roast pork noodle soup - ร้านเจ๊นิ สาขาโรงสีแดง - Map Link
Set in a traditional wooden shophouse, we were tempted in by the hanging slab of ridiculously crispy pork belly dangling in the shop front.
The shop serves lots of stir fries and noodles but we ordered two bowls of the noodle soup with the crispy pork we had seen in the shop front. The bowls came quickly, full of firm thin noodles, coriander, bean sprouts, spinach and of course the incredible crispy pork belly, sliced thin into bite size slithers. The broth was fantastic, almost totally clear, but extremely rich and satisfying. This was a brilliant start to our day as we had decided that crispy pork noodles would make the perfect breakfast. The bowls cost 85 baht each (£1.99 or $2.44). This seems more expensive but it was in a historic building and recommended by the local tourism guide. Also please don’t count £1.99 as expensive, as the same bowl in London would easily have been over five times the price!
Dim sum - Songkhla Dim Sum 2 ร้านสงขลาติ่มซำ สาขา2 (โกมีน) - Map Link
After our morning excursion up and down Tangkuan hill (and after our previous attempt at breakfast had cycled away from us), we were in sore need of nourishment. On our previous day's exploration we had passed this restaurant and seen its plethora of colourful dim sum.
Choices, choices, choices!
Ducking in, we were quickly ushered to a cooler full of tiny plates of dim sum ready to be steamed. Feeling like kids in a candy shop, we set about choosing our dim sum. We ate 9 plates (they were very small) and a side of dumplings all washed down with iced green tea and honey. We went our traditional route as we always do in dim sum restaurants and chose 1 plate of the har gau (crystal prawn dumplings) and 1 plate of siu mai (open topped pork dumplings, this time with prawn as well). The other 7 tiny plates we had chosen were all new to us and selected as we hadn’t seen them before. There were tiny enoki mushrooms wrapped in pork and bacon, steamed pork and quail egg, tofu skin and even two soy soaked garlic buns. The dim sum was great and it was exciting to try so many different flavours.
The whole meal set us back 260 baht (£6.10 or $7.47).
Thai favourites (Pad Thai, Pad Kra Pao etc) - market stalls at night
In the evening, on the main road next to the market, and on a green strip of land leading to the fishing wharf, lots of food carts and stalls spring up serving all manner of Thai goodies.
On our first night we sat down at a random stall on plastic chairs and ordered two of whatever he was making. This turned out to be a great decision. Two plates of Pad Thai and a side of crispy spring rolls quickly appeared. The man was doing a roaring trade with Grab drivers and was cooking up 6 or 7 portions at a time in an enormous wok. As we dug into our noodles, we could see why he was so popular. Peanutty, a little spicy and with a zing of fresh lime it was quite possibly our favourite Pad Thai we’ve eaten so far. The table came complete with all the normal Thai customisation condiments so we could add more chillies, peanuts or whatever we wanted to tweak the flavour. Two plates of Pad Thai and a side of spring rolls set us back 105 baht (£2.46 or $3.01). Although ours was lovely, I don’t think you could have picked wrong from these street vendors. All were busy and, as our next stop proved all delicious.
Our second night eating at these roadside stalls was much more dramatic. After ordering a pork fried rice, the heavens opened. First we and another family huddled together under a tarpaulin, but the rain started falling so heavily that either end of the table had to be abandoned with John and the father of the family standing up awkwardly eating under the umbrella that covered the wok. The food was delicious and warming in all the right ways and set us back only 120 baht (£2.82 or $3.45). After the hurried meal the wonderful family we were eating next to offered to drive us back to our hostel, which we gladly accepted as the rain was now coming down horizontally!
Whatever time of day, there are lots of carts/stalls up and down the main road in Songkhla selling drinks, savoury snacks, deserts and full meals. We recommend turning up hungry and just picking at random. The menus are usually written in Thai but the owners are super friendly and even if they don’t speak any English they will help you out.
What to do at night in Songkhla?
Unsurprisingly we managed to find ourselves in an assortment of bars during our time in Songkhla. Read our guide to our favourite old town drinking holes here.
Final thoughts
Songkhla was a great first stop on our Thailand adventure. The town was walkable and pretty. With extremely friendly people, great food and plenty to see and do. We spent two full days (3 nights) here but there was definitely enough to do that we could have extended by another day or so. If the weather had been better the beach, restaurants and bars could have held us there longer still. We also didn’t get around to any of the lagoon based activities. We had wanted to take a boat trip across the lake for sunset but due to the heavy rain decided better of it. If we had stayed longer we would have also gone to investigate the island of Ko Yo (set on the lagoon itself) as well as Songkhla Zoo and a few other nearby attractions.
As it is, we had a wonderful time in Songkhla and highly recommend a stop here to anybody. It's not very popular or well known by Western tourists and it's definitely not on the traditional Banana Pancake Backpacking Trail, and as such the food is spicely authentic and the people genuinely lovely.
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
Sweaty Jellie selfie!
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Crossing the Border Between Malaysia and Thailand - The Road to Songkhla
After 6 weeks backpacking in Malaysia it was finally time for us to move on. Follow us as we travel from George Town in Malaysia to the historic old town of Songkhla in Southern Thailand. Read our blog for information on how we got to southern Thailand and the easy border crossing at the Sadao Malaysia Thailand border.
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Our time in Malaysia was finally at an end. We had arrived in Kuala Lumpur in the middle of October and had spent 6 weeks exploring the country. Our final destination of George Town had been fantastic, a fiesta of food, street art and late night drinks. On the horizon now though was our return to one of our favourite countries on the face of Planet Earth - Thailand!
We had booked a bus through the Easybook app which would pick us up in George Town, cross the border and drop us off in the centre of Hat Yai, the biggest city in Southern Thailand. From there we would immediately attempt to make our own way north east to the historic coastal town of Songkhla.
The bus tickets cost us 100 RM for the two of us (£18.80 or $22.90). When we booked the tickets on Easybook, there were options to catch the bus from the Greenlane McDonald’s (in town) or from the main bus terminal slightly south of George Town. We opted for the slightly cheaper tickets, with the pick up point from the Greenlane McDonald’s, which was only a short 15 minute Grab taxi ride away from our hostel in central George Town. Tickets booked we received both email and WhatsApp confirmation, along with detailed instructions and photographs of where we needed to wait for our 8.15am pickup.
The day didn’t start fantastically. We had originally planned to get some breakfast Dim Sum before making our way over to the pickup point, but the only restaurant that looked open and serving was still setting up and couldn’t give us a takeaway. A McDonalds breakfast it would have to be (sacrilege but John was secretly looking forward to a hash brown).
A quick Grab and a cheap forgettable breakfast later, John’s phone rang. It was still twenty minutes before the pickup time and we were waiting in the car park as per our received instructions. The phone call from the bus driver asking where we were, therefore took us by complete surprise. The bus driver seemed to be saying we needed to immediately make our way to a different pickup point somewhere else in George Town entirely. With us speaking no more than extremely basic Malaysian (terima kasih, sedap and nasi lemak ayam were about our limit) and the bus driver equally not fluent in English, we eventually gave up on trying to understand where he wanted us to be and forwarded the WhatsApp conversation between us and the ticket office showing where we had been told to be and where we were now standing.
The bus driver to his credit immediately apologised for the mix up and told us to wait exactly where we were. 5 minutes later the mini bus arrived and we clambered in and set off for the border. The first hour or so, we appeared to be just circling around Penang picking up other travellers. Eventually, we crossed the water back onto mainland Malaysia and headed north to the Sadao border crossing.
We stopped about twenty minutes before the border in a (very nice) service station for the driver to arrange our TM6 immigration forms. A fee of 10 RM each (£1.87 or $2.29) was asked for by the bus driver and when asked, he said that this was for the Thai government insurance. We’re not sure whether this was to get the immigration forms completed by the service station, or if it is the new tourist tax, but either way we were at a service station in the middle of nowhere and did want to cross the border that day, so we paid. Our driver took the money and our passports and returned with completed TM6 immigrations forms, all we needed to do was to sign them (or so we thought).
A short drive later and we arrived at the Malaysian side of the Sadao border crossing. We decamped from the minibus and picked up our luggage as we needed to scan it through the Malaysian border. Bags scanned and our passports stamped to exit Malaysia, we got back onto the mini bus and crossed no man's land to the Thai immigration border. At time of writing, Thailand was being very generous to UK citizens and had temporarily (from October 2022 to March 2023) allowed a 45 day visa on arrival. All we needed to provide at immigration was the full address of our Songkhla hostel (the TM6 immigration form printed at the service station just said Hat Yai) and specify the number of days we wanted to be in Thailand. The Thai immigration was friendly and efficient, and very soon our passports were stamped with our 45 day visas. We headed out back into the blazing sun, and for the first time in five very long years we were back on Thai soil. We were ecstatic!
Back on the bus we were joined by a friendly energetic Thai lady who quickly asked everyone on the mini bus where they needed to be dropped off in the large city of Hat Yai. As we weren’t quite sure of how we were going to make our way to Songkhla we asked to be dropped at the main bus station.
At the main bus station we were passed from helpful person to helpful person like a baton in a relay race all the way down the line of buses to a half-full minivan to Songkhla. The tickets for the 29 km journey would cost us 34 Thai baht each (£0.80 or $0.98). We may be looking at this whole episode through rose tinted specs, but the instant jovial friendliness of the Thai’s was immediately apparent and very welcoming. Our little minivan quickly filled up and started the drive to Songkhla. Partway through the journey a plastic basket was passed through the bus for everyone to place their fare in and sort out their own change. Again this was a little reminder that we were very far away from South London as we can’t imagine what would happen if you tried this on the 159 bus to Marble Arch!
As we approached Songkhla the driver would stop wherever he was asked to, dropping passengers off on the side of the road. We stayed on until the end where we pulled up in a petrol station near the clock tower in central Songkhla. Hoisting our packs onto our back, we started the short walk to our hostel in the heart of the old town. As so frequently happens to us, we were waylaid by our stomachs and the call of curry. We stopped at a small joint serving rice and a selection of curries and tucked into our first Thai meal.
Sitting on plastic chairs and eating deliciously spicy curries, we knew we had arrived. We were finally back!
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
Booking bus and train tickets between Malaysia and Thailand
When we made this journey, as we mentioned above, we booked our tickets through Easybook. However since writing this article, we have made this journey again, and this time we booked our tickets through 12Go.
12Go is a great option if you want to book your tickets ahead of time, with plenty of departure times and locations. For those who would like a private transfer, you can even book your own taxi!
Book your tickets here.
You can also cross the Thailand / Malaysia border via train. To do this you will need to book a train ticket to Padang Besar. Once you’ve arrived at the station you will need to get stamped out / stamped into whichever country you’re heading to and then board a train to your next destination. There is currently one train a day running between Padang Besar to Bangkok and five trains a day running from Padang Besar to Kuala Lumpur. If you’re heading to Singapore you will need to change trains in Kuala Lumpur. Again you can book train tickets in advance via 12Go.
Useful information for crossing the border between Malaysia and Thailand
By road you will need to cross the border at the Sadao border point.
Time difference between Malaysia and Thailand
Thailand and Malaysia are in different time zones with Malaysia being GMT +8 and Thailand being GMT +7. Be aware of this time difference if you’re booking onward travel / when approaching the border checkpoint.
Malaysia - Sadao Border Opening Times
On the Malaysian side, the Sadao border checkpoint is open from 6am to 12am.
Thailand - Sadao Border Opening Times
If you’re leaving from Thailand and entering into Malaysia the border is open from 5am to 11pm.
How to cross the border
Crossing the border on either side is a very similar process. On either side of the border checkpoint, you will need to make sure you have received your exit and entry stamp from both countries in your passport.
You will also need to have your luggage scanned through so will need to decamp from your bus and cross the border on foot with your luggage. Your driver will be waiting the other side for you to cross.
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