Klong Nin is a small village situated in the middle of Koh Lanta. It’s around 15 km or a half hour drive from the main village of Saladan.

The fine white sandy beach stretches for several kilometers and maintains a tranquil, relaxed, laid back atmoshere. The sea is great for swimming in and all along the beach you will find Koh Lanta’s famous Umbrella Tree (bai toey). With the surrounding mountains and tropical rain forest it makes for some breath taking scenary.

Khlong Nin Beach

Accommodation on Khlong Nin Beach is widely varied. From simple very cheap backpacker style huts to the 5 Star Luxury Resort and Spas. A lot of the cheaper places are now investing in swimming pools. Please see our 3 hotel recommendations below.

All along the beach you will find numerous beach bars and a variety of restaurants one in particular - Otto’s Bar - is well worth checking out. Some of the beach bars are great for watching the amazing sunsets and in a few you don’t have pay for your drinks that day. It is that trustworthy friendliness I like. (or is it to make you visit the bar the next day?)

If you leave the beach you can walk around Khong Nin’s village. This has many more restaurants to choose from and a lot of ATMs, Pharmacies, Clothes shops, Internet Cafes and Travel Agents. Also you will find a few places selling hand made Jewelery. Don’t miss outside the Rawi Warin Resort they have Auntie Mae’s Bakery with an amazing selection of cakes, ice cream and coffees. Above this you have a sports bar which has a great roof top terrace and to the right of Auntie Mae’s a nice gift shop.

Here are our Top 3 Hotel Choices for Klong Nin beach on Koh Lanta:

• Luxury:
  Langham Place Eco Resort + Spa Rawi Warin
• Midprice:
  Sri Lanta
• Budget:
  Clean Beach Resort

This is a short video of Klong Nin beach on Koh Lanta - absolutely deserted!

Enjoying the shade Klong Nin Beach

Looking north on Khlong Nin Beach

Khlong Nin is also closest to Koh Lanta’s Old Town which is found on the East Side of the Island. Here time has stood still and you can find Lanta’s only hospital and the Sea Gypsy Village. There is also the Hammock House with designer hammocks bought from all over Asia which you can purchase. On the way to Old Town you will see how Thais really live as there is very little development on this side of the island. Also check out Viewpoint Restaurant. The view and scenery here are the best on Koh Lanta.

When travelling around the island don’t forget to visit Nui Beach. Because of its superb location no resorts are built on this beach.

Here’s a photo of Nui Beach - so pretty!

It is found just after Khlong Nin heading south away from Saladan, so look out for the Nui Beach sign post. The beach is accessible either by walking through the trees or by going through Nui Beach Bar and walking down the man made steps. Many times when visiting the beach you will only find a couple of people, normally though you can have it all to yourself. The beach is amazing, all soft sand and usually crystal clear water. You can only swim in certain parts of the sea due to it being quite rocky.

When going home you have to walk up a hill so on a hot day the bar is great place to stop. It has an amazing unique view serves simple food and is great place to unwind even more.

A quick video view over beautiful and remote Nui beach on Koh Lanta:

The closest resorts to this beach are:

• Dream Team resort. which you can walk to from Nui Beach. The beach at the Dream Team Resort is great to sit on but not so good for swimming as there are rocks in the water - there’s a nice pool though.
• Sri Lanta resort. This is at the end of Khlong Nin Beach and also close enough to walk to Nui Beach. This resort offers a lot more in luxury than the Dream Team.

Relax Bay is one of Koh Lanta’s most beautiful areas, secluded from the rest of the island. It has beautifull soft sand, calm crystal clear emerald green water and is normally deserted. When you walk along the soft sand you will feel like you are on a different Island.

Find out why they call it Relax Bay.

Not many people will be found on this beach due to only one resort being built here, giving you a feeling of isolation. Relax Bay Resort is nestled in the north and although it has a its own restaurant and beach bar the rest of the beach has no amenities.

• Midprice: Relax Bay Resort

If you want to leave your resort a 15 min taxi ride will take you to Saladan the main town centre of Koh Lanta. Relax Bay is still part of Pra-Ae so Long Beach is very close by where you can find a good selection of beach bars and restaurants. If you walk to the main road you will find a few Thai Restaurants and Noodle stands. The Red Snapper Restaurant, Retro Cafe, Catfish Book store are also very close to Relax Bay. Not to far away Dr. Salarin surgery and the only Dentist on the Island. Look out for party nights at Opium Bar and The Earth Bar, 2 cool places to hang out in. Also you will find ATM’s, Internet and travel service shops and a 7 Eleven. Don’t miss the Muay Thai Stadium in this area which has Thai Boxing competitions on a friday night.

If you don’t want to stay on the beach but would like to stay close to this area another great Resort to check out Chaw-Ka-Cher. This resort is set back of the road with the incredible Koh Lanta scenery sorrounding it.

Here is a short video of Relax Bay Beach:

See the map of Koh Lanta and get info on Koh Lanta hotels on Relax Bay.

A 10 minute drive from Ban Saladan will find you at Long Beach also known as Pra-Ae. This is the biggest and most popular of Koh Lanta’s beaches. Golden soft sand stretches for 5 kilometres and is fringed with tall pine trees. The beach gently slopes towards the sea where the water goes deep very quickly creating the perfect place to swim on a hot day.The best thing about Long Beach is even on a busy day it seems deserted.

Here’s a photo of a typical day on Long Beach:

In the north of the beach you will find most of the hotels, guest houses, bars and restaurants. In the south where it is a little bit rocky the facilities are spaced out. Accommodation on Long Beach is a mix of simple back pack style huts to 5 star luxury. Please see our recommendations below.

On Long Beach whilst the sun is setting you can participate in beach volley ball, beach football or try and jog the 5 kilometres. There’s also a great collection of different restaurants offering a wide choice of cuisine and Beach Bars. One restaurant especially good is in the north of the beach called Mr. Wee’s, the pizza here is legendary. Next to it is The Ozone Bar where the vibe is very chilled except Thursday night when its party night. Another great bar is Funky Fish.

If you head to the main road you may need a taxi or motorbike to get around as Pra-Ae is quite spread out. The main surgery with Dr.Salarin is in Phr-Ae and also the only dentist found on the Island. Look out for Catfish book store, Opium Bar, The Earth Bar, Irish Bar and Barcode. If you want great food try checking out the Red Snapper Restaurant. You will also find many shops, internet services, ATM’s and of course a 24hr 7 Eleven.

There is a lot of accommodation on Long Beach - here are our Top 3 Hotel choices for different budgets:

• Luxury:
  Lanta Sand Resort and Spa

Watch the video we made of Lanta Sand so you can see exactly what it’s like in the rooms and around the resort:


 

• Midprice:
  Lanta Casuarina Resort

Take our own video tour of Lanta Casuarina to see inside the rooms and around the resort:


• Budget:
  Lanta Nakara Resort

View our own video of Lanta Nakara to see inside the rooms and around the resort:

 
Browse more hotels on Long Beach and rest of Koh Lanta on our Koh Lanta hotels page.

You can also see our map of Koh Lanta.

Here’s a short video to give you an idea of what’s it’s like on Long Beach:

Here are some more pictures of Long Beach.

Khlong Dao Beach is the nearest beach to the village of Ban Saladan, where the Koh Lanta ferry and most dive shops are located. Due to its location it is the most developed beach on Koh Lanta. Now with the greatest variety of hotels and resorts (Please check below for our resort recommendations ), many with their own spas and nearly all with swimming pools. Khlong Dao is far from overdeveloped tho, and locals will not let resort owners build on the beach or above tree height keeping resorts unobtrusive and preserving the relaxed atmosphere.

Here is a short video of Khlong Dao Beach:

Khlong Dao Beach is made of white powdery sand and stretches 3 km. Due to the shape of the Bay it retains incredible calm waters making it a favourite choice for family’s. There’s a good mix of restaurants all along the beach and one in particular is above the Time for Lime cooking school located near the south of the beach. The restaurant is quite small and they have a select menu which is different every day. The food, view and setting here makes for a great experience. Also check out the beach bars for some friendly drinks whilst the sun is setting and in the evenings many bars play host to fire shows.

If you take a walk to the main road you will find a host of internet cafes, travel agents, ATM’s and a 7 Eleven. If you are quite adventurous why not try one of the many Thai restaurants with real spicy Thai food or a Noodle stand. You will see many locals frequent these places and you are always welcome!

Here’s our Top 3 hotel choices for Khlong Dao Beach -

• Luxury:
  Chada Beach Resort and Spa
• Midprice:
  Royal Lanta Resort and Spa
• Budget:
  Ocean View Resort

See the map of Koh Lanta and browse more Koh Lanta hotels on Klong Dao Beach.

More photos of Khlong Dao Beach:

Still not sure why not take another look at the Beach from a different angle:

Its been an incredible week on Koh Lanta This week. I really love April, it’s when the least amount of visitors arrive as getting near the end of the season. That also means very quiet dive sites too - not so good for dive shop owners, but good for divers!

April really is an amazing time to visit Thailand ( especially when i have heard in my home town back in England they have had 4 inches of snow this week). The weather is super hot with temperatures around 34 degrees. The sea conditions have been outstanding, usually flat seas on the way to the dive sites and underwater visibility exceeding 40 / 50 metres at Hin Daeng. I have never seen it so beautiful with the sunlight illuminating the soft corals. We have had manta rays all season and 2 days ago I didn’t spot a manta but was rewarded by a Devil Ray passing by, as well as spotting a zebra moray eel, juvenile emperor angelfish as big as my fingernail and a barracuda like I have never seen so big before — even with the magnification underwater it was BIG!

Dropping off on the smallest rock at Koh Ha ( it is not visited many times due to everyone wanting to dive the Caves) you soon get to realize the untouched feeling it has when you see the amount of fish and huge soft corals and also - no other divers. It is very rare! We now have common sightings of a sea horse there which sits around 15 metres making it great for every qualified diver to see, even beginners. Harlequin shrimps have been on show and also ghostpipe fish not forgetting nudibranchs and a huge variety of marine fishes.

These 2 Videos were shot on the same day. The turtle is filmed at Koh Ha 1 and was very relaxed whilst he was eating. Unbelievable how close you can get to them.

The Sea Snake was filmed at Koh Ha too. I tried to get as close to the floor as possible and is was great watching it come towards me. No, I didn’t turn the film off because I got scared.

Koh Bida Islands also has been amazing this week, the visability which can change quite a lot here, has been around the same for the last month between 10 and 30 metres. This is one of my favourite dive sites due to the incredible scenery below and above the water. Having the usual encounter with a leopard shark is one of the main reasons for diving here but this week has been great with a few sightings of black tip sharks in the shallows around 5 metres even the snorkelers on the boat have had an encounter with them. Also the amount of trevally action and jacks is enough to keep any diver happy and occupied for an hour along with cuttlefish, tomato clownfish and boxfish.

So don’t forget April is a great time to dive Thailand, great visibilty, calm seas, less divers and the dive staff have learned where all the funky stuff hangs out!