Trip reports forum

I hadn’t visited this area since March 07 so I made a point of getting back there last month. Some of the changes I noticed:
* Long tails (shared) from Ao Nang to West Railay now 80baht, from Krabi town to East Railay 150 (!!!!), from Ao Nam Mao to East Railay 60.
* Songthaews (daytime) Krabi town to Ao Nang 50, bus station - Ao Nang 60.
* A van went directly from the Krabi pier to Ao Nang for 200 - I talked it down to 120.
* Quite a few of the songthaews which run to villages south of Krabi town had "Airport" written on them, which suggests they now call in to the terminal. I also saw a very small cross between a tuk-tuk and a songthaew waiting just OUTSIDE the carpark gates at the new Krabi pier with AIRPORT written on it. Good news - looks like the airport taxi mafia's monopoly has been broken.
* A new place south of East Railay beach: On my longtail in from Ao Nam Mao I noticed a few bungalow-like roofs uphill to the south of LAST BAR on East Railay. So I walked thru the bar - a path just above high tide level runs around the rocks abt 100m to a set of steps leading up to RAILAY GARDEN VIEW RESORT. This is apparently a fairly new flashpacker and gets a good review on Trip Advisor or similar. It started pouring rain when I reached the stairs so I didn't continue on to check the joint. Something for you guys wanting somewhere different.
* On East Railay itself, a new upmarket place - ANYAVEE, just past the path to the Diamond Cave.
* A heap of construction just south of Ya Ya - it looked like PRINCESS RESORT is expanding from its "inland" location behind Ya Ya, Sand Sea and areas south (the place is huge) to the beachfront. ).
* Up from East Railay into the high valley past the Diamond Cave, HIGHLAND has really expanded - it has a new hotel-like extension and has reopened the refurbished and expanded restaurant with the great views. It is now calling itself PHURIT VALLEY RESORT although the old HIGHLAND moniker is also shown on a lot of signs. Prices have moved up - I was quoted 1800 aircon 1200 fan-hot water 800 fan. I think these include breakfast.
* Further up the track, RAILAY CABANA has pulled down all its oldest cheaper bungalows - not sure what the plan is. The newer bigger ones are still there - there are some with twin double beds for 800baht before bargaining. Cabana may not always be the quietest location these days - a new bar was tucked into the cliffs just 50m east of the above bungalows - and was advertising a party for that night and frequent Thai wrestling shows.
* A fair bit of refurbishing and new building on the loop track and side track at Ton Sai.
* Tonsai’s big new mid-beachfront project everyone has been talking about for 18 months: there was absolutely nothing happening here - no barbed wire, no new structures, all the old beachfront bars etc in the middle section gone. TONSAI BAY RESORT and its great beach bar against the cliffs still going strong.
* The biggest difference on West Railay is that RAILAY BEACH CLUB has considerably more houses and bungalows. Still not cheek by jowl, lots of trees but looking more "busy" than before.