Railay Beach, Krabi Province, Thailand

450cab50 5:00 PM Aug 5, 2022

A day visit from Ao Nang beach
Paid 200 THB return per person for the long tail boat to Railay. This does not seem to be negotiable as the Ao Nang Long Tail Boat Service Club seem to have a monopoly on it, with booths along the promenade and at the pier entrance. If you buy from the booths further away from the pier, they will taxi you to the pier, but you need to get your own transport back to town - plenty of tuk tuks around for negotiable prices. The long tail boat won’t travel in bad weather and the booths will put a sign out. We had a fab day on Railay, despite overcast weather. We went early (about 9am) and arrived at Tailay West which is a beautiful arc with towering cliffs at each end. There are select hotels along the front, and then a shopping street with mainly restaurants and bars, juice stands and a couple of massage parlours. Walk along this street to the end, and turn right (following the wall on your right) to get to Railay West. The tide was in by late morning so not much beach, but follow the signs to Phra Nang Cave for a wow beach where you can see Chicken Island in the distance, watch people having a climbing lesson (book on the shopping street) and see the famous cave (a bit disappointing). Boats leave at 5, but we left at 4 to avoid any rush. Boats leave when full so we had a ten minute wait.

3Powell936 5:00 PM Dec 16, 2022

Is it worth the hype?
The photograph shown does not show a true reflection of Railay Beach. It’s missing the longboats. I counted 28 boats in a line leaving each end of the beach free. Number 1 problem; the rocks beneath the water. The boats have taken up the smooth sand. There is a pier on East Railay. The boats should stick to that side leaving this beautiful beach clear. The walking street has many different bars and shops all selling their wears at an over inflated price. A T-Shirt selling for 190 baht in Bangkok is on sale for 280baht in Railay. If you like the smell of green/weed, you’ll love this place. Magic Mushroom food and drink is freely available. It’s not in your face so it wasn’t a problem, the smell of cannabis is every where but it’s not a strong smell. It is worth a day trip but I would not go again. Check what plug sockets the hotels use; we were lucky and brought our own adapters from the UK