Ko Lipe

Lazing on a Sunny Afternoon
By tezza (dabbler - 5 reviews)
Written on 22nd December, 2009 after a visit to Ko Lipe in December, 2009
Is there anything better than lounging on the beach mat under a palm on Lipe's Ao Pattaya half blitzed on duty-free rum while listening to a running commentary from the Southern Illawarra Dairy Princess (1992) beside you on the passing parade of gap-yearers, neo-hippies, pirate wannabes, Miss Swedens, grey nomads, Kelly Slater clones, rasta-baby beach boys, swaggering divers in rolled down wetsuits, circumferentially-enhanced youth-challenged farangs with sleek young friends from Isan, beer and footy bovver boys, Russian oligarks with their hot blond mistresses, giggling Thai daytrippers in the orange life-vests and Chavs/Chavettes straight from central casting?
Well yes, there are better things, but it sure is entertaining.

I got back to Lipe in early December 09. This is what stuck in my mind:

BEST BEACH - I changed my mind about Pattaya which I previously thought had got too crowed. It wasn't despite 2 of our days coinciding with a Thai public holiday. The water was pristine, the sand cleanest. Next best were Sanom Beach just west of Andaman, Bila Beach west of Sunset and Viewpoint's northern beach just south of Andaman/Sunrise. Sunrise was not all that clean and was suffering from exposure to strong easterlies. Sunset Beach was heavily eroded by monsoon storms (note beaches can re-establish themselves very quickly given fine weather) and looked like it had only been cleaned once since wet season. Popular Porn Bungalows had a lot of junk lying around behind bungalows.

NEW ACCOMMODATION - the luxury Sita Resort on Pattaya is open as is the similar Idyllic on Sunrise. 3 traditional travellers' places I didn't see on my trip last year - Varin Viillage/Varin 2 on Sunrise, and Sanom plus Bila Beach Bar and Bungalows on the beaches of the same names. All looked pretty sweet. Note Bila has a DORM, the first on Lipe as far as I know.

HIGH PRICES - Lipe is expensive - it is doing a Phi Phi. Prices to me seem 20 to 50% higher than you would pay on many popular islands. 800 and 900 for a fan bungalow with bathroom is outrageous compared to similar places on say Phangan or big Chang, and particularly to the good value islands like little Chang, Phayam, Jum. Lowest prices can be found just off the cross-island track. On the beaches some to try are Viewpoint, Fisheries Dept on Sunset if it is open, Handicraft on Pattaya and bungalows behind the restaurant at Pattaya Song/Pattaya 2. And of course Bila's dorm and Porn's overflow tents.

RUBBISH/CLEANLINESS - The promised rubbish removal service by the Satun provincial government has started. A large barge was beached in the centre of Pattaya for about 5 hours and a shuttle of trucks was transferring both domestic rubbish and building junk from the central island tip.
New rubbish bins with RECYCLE, NORMAL and ORGANIC were set up in several places.
People who have been away for more than 18 months will find the former dusty/muddy cross island track is paved and now called WALKING STREET because motor cycles etc are banned in the evening dinner/strolling period. Some of the side streets off Walking Steet have been concreted too.
Building has finished on Walking Steet and the new shopfronts look way neater than the mish-mash before.
But the beaches had gone downhill since my 08 visit - maybe because the resort owners had not got around to cleaning up wet season junk and glass fully. The area in front of the village was a disgrace. However Pattaya was pristine.

OVERBUILDING - People returning to Lipe after some time get a shock at the amount of new places. It seems most obvious beach places have been taken - but I reckon we will start to see more joints on sea-side rocks, headlands like Tao, Phangan etc.
The other process will probably be more of the knock down the cheap joint and build a flasher place - like at Sita. And of course expand and redevelop the joint as Varin has so successfully done on its Pattaya site.
Most new building was this visit was taking place on the side streets of the village - whole rows of shopfronts etc.

FASHION/TRENDS - some old Euro guys are trading their Speedo sluggos for Billabong boardies - a big plus. But legs down to shin level are just not Kelly Slater.
Tramp Stamps aka ArseAntlers, tatts just above low rider bikinis, are so yesterday.
Also reviewed by tezza: Ko Pha Ngan East Coast, Ko Samui, Kuala Perlis, Thong Ta Kien Bay,

Small,warm and relaxing
By swag (dabbler - 1 review)
Written on 13th May, 2009 after a visit to Ko Lipe in February, 2009
After doing a lot of research via Travelfish and various other sources my wife and I decided to spend a week on Ko Lipe in Feb 09.

After hearing of the problems with pollution/overdevelopment/rubbish/sewage and long tail noise it was with a bit of trepidation that we booked a couple of night's accommodation so we could decide for ourselves. And we couldn't have been happier to stay on this great little island.

Lipe has a very relaxed feel to it, more than places like Ko Lanta or Ko Chang (east coast). I think this is because it takes just a little more effort to get here so it seems to attract a certain sort of traveller. There is a great diversity of nationalities and most people we met really were enjoying it. I met one Italian guy who had stayed here 2 years ago and was commenting on how much development was happening inland so the comments above about seeing Lipe sooner rather than later hold true.

We stayed at Varin Resort on pattaya beach as we were prepared to pay for the flashpacker bungalow with air-con etc.February is blindingly hot there but met a lot of people who were staying in backpacker places for 400B a night so there is a good selection and range of accommodation to suit all budgets.

Being such a small island it was easy to access the other two beaches away from Pattaya Beach if you wanted total solitude but we found it quite easy to wander down Pattaya and find a spot to ourselves. On the issue of long tail noise to be honest we didn't notice this after a couple of days and this issue is certainly not confined to Lipe in regards to Thailand.

Food and drink was plentiful pretty varied and reasonably priced as per the islands. Plenty of seafood bbq's for the night; lunches could be on the main pathway between the beaches for the best deals or overlooking the water at a higher price. Catching longtails to another beach not only changes the scenery but provides income for the chao lay people. Mountain View has spectacular views and an expensive but great menu that has to be seen once. The beach bars are very relaxed with some low key music which most people seemed to enjoy and was still easy to get an early night if you wanted it.

Diving and snorkelling and swimming is the go here and while Lanta probably shades Lipe for quality dive sites Lipe has a lot to offer and yet again the operator I dived with was organised yet not regimented so everyone enjoyed themselves no matter what level of proficiency. Also the water is stunningly clear, although this was mid Feb and that obviously changes from month to month.

So overall we thought Lipe to be a great island to dive eat swim relax read a book or stroll down the beach. Sure there some issues with pollution and rubbish and overdevelopment but hey where isn't there issues like that in S.E.Asia. Highly recommended.