Railay Beach

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Beautiful Railay Beach is one of the most stunning locations in southern Thailand. Formed by a deer's neck of sand that connects the mainland to a spectacular cluster of limestone outcrops, it's a place of breathtaking beauty despite the rapid development that's taken place.

A popular spot for rock-climbers, sun hedonists and water babies, the area has something for everyone from kids to grandmas: take your pick from diving and snorkeling to climbing and beach volleyball. In the evening, regular parties keep the barflies entertained, while others can relax in one of a reasonable selection of restaurants. There even an increasingly popular full moon party here, though not as huge as the huge event on Haad Rin, Ko Pha Ngan.

Krabi is the leaping off point for the Railay beaches. You can reach the eastern beach by longtail direct from Krabi, or, you can take a songtheaw from Krabi to Ao Nang from where you can catch a longtail for the short twenty minute longtail trip to the western beach.

East Railay Bay is home to much of the budget accommodation and is where the boats from Krabi arrive. The beach here is mangroves, or what's left of them, and is not suitable for swimming, but is lined with restaurants and receptions for guesthouses which are up the rise behind the beach. Despite the lack of a real beach, the atmosphere on this side of the island is unlike anything else in Thailand -- a bit like a Louisiana bayou suddenly showed up and planted itself on the Andaman Coast.

Phra Nang Bay is the most beautiful beach in the area and has been taken over by a luxury resort. The hotel originally blocked off public access to the beach, but actions by local activists lobbied for an access trail which the hotel grudgingly opened, perhaps after the activists unearthed details of some dodgy land deals. Politics aside, the beach is lovely, and although it gets crowded in season, it's still well worth the walk.

West Railay Bay is the most popular beach in the area, lined with mid-range resorts, a couple of restaurants and around 74 million longtails, whose mostly un-muffled engines destroy what should be a serene paradise. They tend to begin arriving by 08:00 and continue non-stop till dusk. If there was ever a bit of transport in Thailand that required a little more regulation this would be it, as the boats often arrive with only 2-3 people on board. A boat every half hour would greatly help to reduce the racket and increase yields for boatmen, but unfortunately no action appears to be in earshot, so if you want to stay on this beach, grin and bear it. The swimming here is good but a little shallow.

Tonsai Bay is at once off-the-beaten track and a popular destination for the right crowd. It's really one of the most unusual beach destinations available in the area. For one thing, it's attractive mostly for the world-class climbing opportunities, and the water is an after thought. For another, it still take a bit of effort to make your way here, and once you're here it takes an effort to get off. The crowd here is young, but unlike Ko Phi Phi with it's beach of the same name, the vibe here is mellow, introspective, and slow-paced. But there's more to it than that. Let's put it this way -- two popular bars here are called Chill Out and Stoners. Pictures of Bob Marley abound. What, do we gotta spell it out for you? The beach is not as nice as West Railay, but is still very pleasant. There tend to be more parties on this beach than on Railay west.

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Still a must-see

The twin Railay beaches line each side of a narrow isthmus about 4 or 5km south of Krabi town on the spectacular Phra Nang pensinsula. This is a karst landscape area with soaring limestone cliffs, so rugged there is no road access, only by boat leading some visitors to think they are on an island.
WEST RAILAY is maybe the second most spectacular mainland beach in Thailand. Book-ended by soaring cliffs, the 600m white sand beach has nice deep enough water. It is busy with longtails but these are confined to a specific area and don't interfere with swimming. The beach gets fairly crowded in high season but is sublime towards sunset when most daytrippers have gone back to Ao Nang and Krabi town - beach bars appear with mats and candles etc. At night the cliffs tend to be floodlit. Accommodation backs the beach - from the south, part of the high end RAYAVADEE, then 3 midrangers RAILAY BAY, SAND SEA and RAILAY VILLAGE, finally the RAILAY BEACH CLUB with holiday villas over an extensive area. People ask about beachfront accommodation - a few BEACH CLUB villas peek thru the trees but the others have restaurants and pools beachfront. Prices at the midrangers' restaurants lately have hiked from a little over budget level to maybe +50% but still a bargain compared to western and the outlook is outstanding.
The little lane of shops, restaurants and other businesses between RAILAY VILLAGE and BEACH CLUB has done a Ko Lipe and has named itself WALKING STREET - in March 2013 it had a good range of businesses although no match for Lipe's.
West Railay is the access point from Ao Nang - only about 10 scenic minutes and 100baht share in March 2013.
You can climb over the northern headland to the climbers'/backpackers' beach Ton Sai in 10 minutes (some people wade around at low tide but pack the reef booties). I outline TON SAI in my KRABI report.
EAST RAILY is only about 5 minutes stroll across the isthmus, easiest if you take the public path between RAILAY BAY'S reception and swimming pool. The bay is a bit longer, has similar limestone bookends, but the beach is a disaster - the thin strip of sand disappears at high tide, a huge expanse of mud exposed at low tide and two thirds of the shoreline are mangroves. But it is my favourite place to stay on account it has a big range of accommodation of all standards (although budget is getting scarce), plenty of restaurants and bars and is only 5 minutes walk from the two most spectacular beaches on the mainland (PHRA NANG is reached from a path at the southern end of East Railay).
I won't try to outline all accommodation (too many) but budget travellers will be aghast that long timer YA YA is no more - a new wing of upmarket RAILAY PRINCESS is going in. RAPALA ROCKWOOD is still there and if you walk around the rocks north of LAST BAR you soon reach the rather attractive flashpacker GARDENVIEW. Budget RAILAY CABANA is up in the high valley 500m from the beach - take the path alongside RAILAY VIEWPOINT (this path eventually goes very steeply over to upper TON SAI). Note that old-time ex budget places like RAILAY VIEWPOINT and DIAMOND PRIVATE tend to have good value cheapest rooms at all except peak peak - plus nice pools etc.
BIGGEST CHANGE in 2013 was (at last!) a concrete path the full length of the bay - the northern third on the mangrove side of businesses.
Longtails from Krabi town (150b) and Ao Nam Mao (?b) arrive at East Railay. The latter is the really bad weather departure point for the Railays but boats leave in dry season too - be prepared for a fair wait for a full load of passengers.
PHRA NANG - see my main Krabi report for an outline. A must see.
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By tezza (dabbler)
Written on 13th May, 2013 after a visit to Railay Beach in March, 2013

Also reviewed by tezza: Ao Phang Nga National Marine Park, Coral and Raya Islands, Haad Nopphara Thara, Haad Sai Khao, Kanchanaburi, Khao Lak, Ko Bulon Lae, Ko Kho Khao, Ko Kut, Ko Lipe,

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