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Ko Lanta is in fact a district consisting of several islands. The two largest are Ko Lanta Noi and Ko Lanta Yai. Although Ko Lanta Noi is inhabited, Ko Lanta Yai is the primary tourist destination and this article discusses Ko Lanta Yai.
Ko Lanta is popular with tourists seeking a holiday away from the parties. It's popular with a significantly older crowd than nearby Ko Phi Phi: more walking on the beach and watching the sunset than drinking and dancing. However, there are plenty of bars and the longer term stayers are friendly and know how to party! It is also popular with families with young children, and of course, with divers. You could say that while Phi Phi is chicken barbecues and Mekong buckets, Lanta is chicken flesh and buckets and spades. But you'd be wrong. Ko Lanta can certainly provide a party if you know where to look.
Ko Lanta is a little less well-known than Ko Phi Phi, which has become more commercialised and corporate, but it is hardly undiscovered: the several beaches on the west coast of Ko Lanta Yai are each strung with a line of resorts and bungalows, although the farther down the island you venture, the less this is true. And even when the island is at it fullest, there will be a quiet place for you to relax - the beaches are never full. Ko Lanta is especially popular with Swedish tourists: although the "tourist language" is English as it is in most places in Thailand, and you will find menus and so on are translated into English, expect the poolside language to be Swedish much of the time. However, there are still many English and Irish bars and restaurants to visit.
Ko Lanta sustained limited tsunami damage in December 2004.
LifeStyle
Krabi and Ko Lanta are a melting pot of Buddhists, Thai-Chinese, Muslims and even sea gypsies. The majority of the population in the rural areas is Muslim. The area however, does not suffer from any religious tension and the folk live in peace and harmony. Most of the folk speak with a thick Southern dialect which is difficult for even other Thais to understand.
With this kind of mixture, Koh Lanta is always celebrating something be it part of Thai Buddhist, Thai-Chinese or Thai-Islamic tradition.
The unique lifestyle of the Chao-Le (sea-gypsy) in Ko Lanta particularly is well-worth a witness, a life-style that has been almost completely unaffected by the booming tourism on the island.
Climate
Weather in the region is tropical - there are only two seasons: the hot season from January to April, and the rainy season from May to December. Temperatures during the year average 25ºC to 32ºC (77ºF to 89.6ºF) and the yearly rainfall averages 2568.5mm. Unlike in say Europe, the rain in this region comes down heavily and quickly over short periods.
Geography
Ko Lanta, located approximately 70km from Krabi Town is a large island 6km wide and over 30km long. The island has 9 attractive white sandy beaches, splendid scenery; coastlines have more than 70 small islands and plenty with forest, coral reefs and under water life. The geography of the island is typically mangroves; coral rimmed beaches; and rugged tree covered hills.
Local Food
In general, Southern Thai food is renowned for its spiciness. Much of the cuisine has its origins in Malay, Indonesian and Indian food. Favourite dishes from the south include Indian-style Muslim curry (massaman), rice noodles in fish curry sauce (Khanom Jeen) and chicken birayani.
As for Ko Lanta, reasonable priced and tasty seafood is obviously what most tourists long for when visiting a coastal province like Krabi. In this connection, the wing shell (ËͪѡµÕ¹) is Krabi’s famous cuisine. It is eaten with a spicy dip. In addition, stirred fried Spotted Babylon (ËÍÂËÇÒ¹), which is found in mangrove forests, with chilies and basil is also famous. This cuisine is common in Ko Lanta’s restaurants. Another great Krabi taste is, of course, seafood. The Ko Lanta beach areas have several restaurants with the 'catch of the day' displayed on ice outside. One can find all kinds of fish; juicy crabs and langoustines; shellfish, including giant oysters; as well as squid and lobsters.
Ko Lanta has a wide variety of restaurants, the kind that most visitors travel to Thailand for: beach-front locations serving delicious and inexpensive Thai and seafood dishes. Eateries line the beaches in front of the bungalows and no visitor will starve from lack of variety or interesting places to dine.
Learn
Besides diving, Thai cooking courses on Ko Lanta are where wanna-be Thai cuisine chefs can learn to cook up all their favourite dishes such as tom yum kung, sweet green curry and chicken with cashew nuts.
Spa & Thai Massage
Traditional Thai massage, characterized by its holistic approach to health, is aimed at enhancing not only one’s physical and emotional state but also to allow one to grow spiritually. There are many spa places on this island. However, massage on the beach is also possible – you won’t know however, if she is well-trained (otherwise there could be risks involved)
Fishing
Wanna-be fishers can catch the likes of marlin, sailfish barracuda, red snapper and tuna. Three different kinds of fishing trip are offered by private long tail boat: both half-day, full day and night fishing.
Trekking
Ko Lanta’s pristine virgin forests with the finest flora and fauna are ideal for trekking. Elephant riding can be arranged to take visitors to the top of the hill in Ko Lanta National Park.
Kayaking
The east side of Ko Lanta with its rich mangrove is just about perfect for those who love kayaking in peace and quiet while admiring the lush natural surroundings. It is also the best way to explore caves. Kayaking can also be done on Ko Talabaeng, the limestone cliff near Ko Lanta.
Diving
There are no scuba diving sites on the island itself, all require a boat trip. However Lanta is the closest island to the famous Hin Daeng and Hin Muang sites, so it is very popular with divers. Here below are the most popular diving sites:
Hin Daeng and Hin Muang near Ko Lanta are perhaps the best dive sites in Thailand (ranking in the world’s top ten) with more than 200 hard corals and 108 reef fish catalogued in a study underway, but thousands more organisms abound. Hin Daeng has the steepest and deepest in the whole of the country with fantastic marine life. Hin Muang next door is completely underwater and it is covered with delicate violet coral. The sites also have one of the world's highest incidences of whale shark sightings.
Beaches
Kor Kwang This beach, with its attractively curved shaped has lovely sand and clear aquamarine water.
Klong Dao Over the years, Klong Dao has developed into the most popular beach on the island with a spectacular 3km long beach of fine white sand and shallow clear water. Yet, because of its length, it is never really that busy. It is located just 2km from Saladan Pier. The beach has an abundance of accommodation ranging in cost from just a couple of hundred to a few thousand. It is more than ideal for those who like a quiet beach but prefer to have all the usual tourist mods and cons such as international food, music and bars etc.
Pra Ae (Long Beach) This beach, situated in the north of the island, is a stunning crescent of sand about 4km long. There is a lot of accommodation there but since it is spread out a lot, visitors get the feeling that place is peacefully quiet.
Klong Khong For most of the length of Klong Khong beach there is a klong (small river) running opposite the beach and an old coconut plantation. Towards the southern end is an area where the local fishermen tie up their boats to the shore. A rocky reef runs along the length of the shore making it difficult for swimming but great for admiring the sunset.
Klong Nin This beach is separated by a klong that runs down to the beach at the northern third of the beach dividing it in two. The beach is covered with coconut and pine trees and the back end is tropical rain forest. Like almost all beaches on Koh Lanta, Klong Nin offers a tranquil and peaceful atmosphere and its sand is white and fine. The northern stretch is the best for swimming as it has far fewer rocky paths than the southern part of the beach.
Kan Tiang This small beach is only one kilometer long, so giving visitors more of a feeling of privacy. There are excellent corals for snorkeling as well. Lying 18 kilometers south of Baan Saladan, Kan Tiang beach is one of the most beautiful beaches on the island.
Beaches Far South There are a few beaches in the south of Koh Lanta. All are the beaches are small, just a few hundred meters long. The beaches are very quiet with little in the way of accommodation - ideal for those who want to ‘get away from it all’.
Ko Lanta Yai Ko Lanta Yai’s topography is long and narrow. Sala Dan Pier is where tour operators, shops and banks are situated. Several beautiful beaches are in the west such as Hat Kho Kwang, Hat Lo Bara, Ao Phra Ae, Hat Khlong Khong, and Hat Khlong Nin. A paved road runs along the beaches all the way from the northern part of the island to the headquarters of the Mu Ko Lanta National Park in the south. The landscape is dominated by a series of mountains covered with virgin rainforest. To the east features an old community.
Ko Lanta Noi Ko Lanta Noi was the former settlement of the Ko Lanta community, where a district office, school, as well as, traditional lifestyle, and houses are still currently available.
Lanta Old Town is a small village on Ko Lanta's East side. It's one of the region's most culturally diverse with Chinese merchants, original Thai fishing families and an ancient Sea Gypsy community. Many years ago, Ko Lanta's Old Town acted as the port and commercial center for the island and provided a safe harbor for Arabic and Chinese trading vessels sailing between the larger ports of Phuket, Penang and Singapore. Today, Old Town is the district capital; it has a post office, police station, Buddhist temple, Chinese temple and the island's hospital as well as a long pier. It's a charming place to visit and boasts many good restaurants and interesting shopping like handmade Hammocks and an original Batik and Art Gallery. It's also a great jumping off point to other Islands like Ko Bubu and Ko Talenbeng.
Ban Saladan Ban Saladan, approximately 3 km from Klong Dao Beach, is the tourist center of Ko Lanta. Facilities include inexpensive and easy to find transport, diving trips, banking and shopping.
Khao Mai Kaew Caves Getting away from the beach for the day, tourists can visit the stunning Khao Mai Kaew Caves which are located in the centre of the island, offering a wonder of rocks and caverns and housing spectacular stalactites and stalagmites, some of the caves are just huge and one of them contains a pool. For getting around inside the caves you will need a guide, but one is cheap, around 50baht per person. The caves are located just off the lower of two cross-island roads, down a narrow 1.5 kilometer dirt path through the rubber plantations.
Sea-Gypsy Village Known to the Thais as Chao-Le, sea gypsies have occupied the area for hundreds of years settling along the coast in stilt-built houses erected between the water level of high and low tide. They are unique in that they mix very little with the general population, speak their language and have their very own supernatural and traditional beliefs and rituals. And example of the latter is the Loy Ruea (floating boat) ceremony where the village men build a symbolic boat and place wooden statues of themselves in it along with nail pairings, hair and popped rice. By performing this ritual, they ask for forgiveness from the sea gods and for any wrongs that may have done to the sea. It is believed that all evil is carried away in the symbolic boat.
Getting here
By air
Destination Air Shuttle - direct seaplane transfers from/to Phuket International Airport and other popular Andaman coast destinations
The nearest airports are Krabi, Trang and Phuket. Krabi and Trang have direct road and boat connections to Ko Lanta, and are the best options if you're only visiting Ko Lanta. Flying into Phuket is a better option if you're intending to spend time in Phuket and nearby islands, or, since Phuket has many more international flights, if you don't want to have to organize a domestic flight to Krabi or Trang from Bangkok. As an alternative to Bangkok, there are daily flights to Krabi directly to and from Singapore.
Krabi International Airport (KBV) is about 10 km from the city limits, 15 km from the city centre, 40km from Ao Nang and 23km from Had Yao. Thai Airways operates daily direct flights to/from Bangkok, likewise Air Asia from Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. Bangkok Airway flies direct to/from Krabi and Ko Samui nearly every day of the week and to/from. Nok Air operates daily flights to Krabi from Bangkok (Don Muang). Destination Air Shuttle, Thailand's only Seaplane service also routinely flies in and out of Krabi (Ko Lanta) from Phuket and to the numerous outer islands. For more information, contact:
Thai Airways International Public Company Limited: Tel. 1566, 0 2280 0060, 0 2628 2000, 0 2356 1111, 0 7570 1591 – 93 or visit http://www.thaiairways.com.
Krabi International Airport, Tel. 0 7563 6541- 2
Air Asia Airlines: Tel. 0 2515 9999 or visit http://www.airasia.com.
Nok Air : Tel. 0 2627 2000 or 1318 or visit http://www.nokair.com,
Bangkok Airway 0 2655 5555, 0 2265 5678 http://www.bangkokair.com
By car
Ko Lanta does not have roads connecting it directly to the mainland, but is served by car ferries. Take road 4206 off highway 4 about 20km south-east of Krabi airport. Drive to the end of the road, where there is a car ferry from Baan Hua Hin to Ko Lanta Noi. From the pier here, turn right and follow the "ferry" signs to the second car ferry to Ko Lanta Yai. Ferries operate 07:00-22:00.
There are plenty of car taxi and minivan taxi services from Krabi and the nearby airport. A seat in a ten person minivan from the airport to Ko Lanta costs about 250 baht. These minivans usually don't have much room for luggage (although they can usually find room for one or two large suitcases together with backpacks for the rest of the passengers) so if you're not traveling light you might need to get a private taxi.
This is what the divemasters do. A private minivan taxi will usually be quoted as 2500 baht. It's possible to bargain a few hundred baht off this price but not much more or the tolls will consume too much of the price. Car taxis cost about the same.
When travelling to/from Ko Lanta in the afternoon by road, allow 2–3 hours for the journey as the queues for the vehicle ferries can be lengthy. The passenger ferry which leaves Ko Lanta pier (high season) at 08:00 and arrives at Krabi pier at 10:00 is quicker.
By boat
From Ko Lanta to other islands
Private companies on Ko Lanta operate boat services to many destinations.
Ko Lanta – Ko Phi Phi: 8.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m., 350 baht
Ko Lanta – Krabi: 8.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m., 300 baht
Ko Lanta – Ko Phi Phi – Phuket: 1.00 p.m. and 2.30 p.m., 700 baht
Ko Lanta – Ko Phi Phi – Krabi: 9.00 a.m. and 1.30 p.m., 700 baht
Ferry services run from Krabi, Ao Nang and from Phuket via Ko Phi Phi to Ko Lanta Yai's Saladan pier. Ferry services are subject to weather and to demand: many will not run at all during the monsoon season and at a reduced frequency during the low season. Many ferries have limited room for luggage. Often the ferries dock alongside each other, meaning that to get on and off passengers must clamber onto and across other boats with their luggage.
Services from Krabi are run by P.P. Family Co (+66 75 630 165) and depart Krabi pier at 10:30 and 13:30, taking 2 hours to reach Ko Lanta (200 baht including free pickup from Krabi hotels). There's a transit bus from Krabi town center for 10 baht.
Services from Ao Nang are run by Ao Nang Travel and Tour (+66 75 637 730) and depart at 10:30 (280 baht).
Ferries depart from Ko Phi-Phi at 11:30 and 14:00, and take 1 hour. If travelling from Phuket in a single day, you will need to leave Phuket on the 08:00 ferry to transfer to the 11:30 ferry. Tickets to Ko Lanta are 200 baht from Ko Phi-Phi and 450 baht from Phuket.
Passenger Vans
All the travel agents in Krabi Town can arrange passenger vans to Ko Lanta.
Train
The nearest train station to Ko Lanta is in Trang province just south of Krabi. From there, there are trains to and from Bangkok.
Distances from Bangkok
The distance from Bangkok to Krabi is approx 950 km or about 12 hrs by car.
- Route 1: Phetburi - Prachuabkirikhan - Chumporn - Phang Nga - Krabi = 946 km.
- Route 2: Phetburi - Prachuabkirikhan - Chumporn (Highway No 41) to Chaiya (Suratthani) - Krabi (Viangsra) - Highway No 4035 - Krabi (Ao Luk) and along Highway 4 again = 814 km
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