Krabi
This page may contain affiliate links; please note I only recommend places I feel are of value and all information shared is my own thoughts and opinions.
Logistics
Getting There
There’s a few options to note when traveling to Krabi. For those traveling from outside of Asia, you’ll need to connect somewhere like Bangkok or Singapore before flying to the Krabi International airport. From Bangkok and Singapore, it’s an easy 1 hour flight so just a quick hop over by plane.
For those traveling from islands or other coastal areas, depending on which islands you’re on, the easiest way to reach Krabi will be by ferry. Common areas to take a ferry to from Krabi include Koh Lanta, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Lipe, and Phuket. As Krabi is on the west coast of Thailand’s peninsula, it’s easiest and recommended to pair a stop here with islands in the Andaman Sea.
If traveling to islands in the Gulf of Thailand, this will require a drive on land to the east coast of the peninsula, and then a ferry. A few notable islands in this area including Koh Samui, Ko Pha Ngan, and Koh Tao.
Getting Around
Traveling around Krabi will be impacted a lot based on where you choose to stay. Krabi is a big area and it’s likely you’ll need to travel between places unless you plan to stay at your hotel the entire time.
Grab – the Thai version of Uber, this is nice as you can book your vehicle and be on your way. It will give you a price estimate, and you can either pay with credit card or cash on arrival. It’s very cheap and easy to use
Scooters– many will rent scooters to get around the area. For me, this is not the recommended option as it looks quite dangerous. With transport being very cheap and easy to come by, it did not feel worth using Scooters.
Longtail Boat – if traveling to some of the islands or places only reachable by boat (i.e. Railay Beach), then you’ll travel by longtail boat.
Transfers – if booking activities, many activity companies offer free transport if within a certain perimeter of the activity.
Tuk Tuk – be careful with these, but can be good for a short trip. Ask for the fare in advance to confirm what you’ll be paying
Accommodations
Based on my experience visiting Krabi, I cannot recommend staying or visiting it. The area is very touristy and not very nice. For those looking to visit Krabi, I would only visit if staying at a nice hotel that is in a quieter area so you can enjoy a nice place to stay with beautiful surroundings. From here, perhaps a day-trip or two to places can be nice, but would personally recommend just getting over to the islands instead.
Panan Krabi Resort – found in Ao Nang, about a 5 minute walk from the beach. While the hotel itself is nice, and quite cheap, this is not an area I would recommend staying. The hotel provides a nice pool, good services, and spacious and clean rooms so is a perfectly fine hotel. It seemed like a spot for a lot of families. The main downside of this hotel is the location, in Ao Nang. Book here
Ao Nang – While Ao Nang is a good homebase for activities and day-trips, it is not a nice area to stay. It is very touristy, with a very busy strip full of non-traditional restaurants, tourist shops, and overall just a busy area.
Railay Beach – known for being of the nicest beaches in Krabi, it is only accessible by boat. With this in mind, it can be quite a hard place to be based as it requires a 10-20 minute boat transfer every time you would like to come and go. While Railay beach is somewhere nice to visit, I would not stay here either
Things to do and see
Railay Beach
One of the prettiest beaches around Krabi, it is only accessible by boat. Nevertheless, there are frequent Longtail boats shuttling back and forth to the beach. Head to Ao Nang and find the small ticket office near the beach. Here you can purchase a roundtrip ticket to and from the beach. The boats depart once they have approx. 10 people to take to the beach and on a nice day in high season, this is very frequent. Purchase your tickets and then take the 15 minute boat ride to the beach.
At the beach, there’s some restaurants and places to grab a bite to eat or drink. There’s lots of beach space to put your towel out on the sand and hop in the water for a swim. There’s also areas to rent kayaks while over here and some will do a short hike in the area up to a viewpoint, but note although short, it can be very steep.
Following Giants: Day trip to elephant sanctuary
Offering 90 minute, 1/2 day or full day visiting options, this is a very ethical elephant sanctuary to visit. What makes it ethical you may wonder? The elephants have a fairly large space to wander freely. Each elephant has a guardian whom stays with the elephant at all times except the evenings. Visitors are separated into small groups and will walk around the property, observing the elephants from a safe distance, learning about each elephant they see and how the sanctuary came to be as it is. All elephants at Following Giants are ones which have been saved from other, unethical captivity locations. Unethical locations include ones where visitors are permitted to ride the elephants, wash the elephants, and touch the elephants. In some instance, elephants are trained to do certain things such as tricks. Another common unethical home for captive elephants is in the deforesting industry. This is when elephants are used to help move trees / logs.
Following Giants has two locations, one in Krabi and a slightly smaller location in Koh Lanta. It has not always been an ethical sanctuary, but is now transformed into a location dedicated to improving the live of captive elephants and helping to create homes for those which cannot ever return to the wild. Elephants cannot be returned to the wild as they’ve grown too accustomed to humans.
1/2 day option: get picked up from your accommodations and then watch a video to learn a bit about the sanctuary. Once finished, you’ll walk around the property in the boots provided by Following Giants to view the elephants from a distance. After some time, you’ll make your way to the observation deck to enjoy a refreshing smoothie and make seed balls to plant back on the property. Then enjoy a traditional Thai lunch before getting a transfer back to your pick-up point.
Find out more here
Cooking Class (Ya Cookery School)
Book a cooking class to learn how to make some of the traditional Thai dishes. We booked a class at Ya Cookery which included a LOT of food. They prepared a lot of the food for us and for the dinner option, each individual had to choose:
- 1 curry from 3 options
- 1 noodle dish from 3 options (Pad Thai, Chicken Holy basil, etc)
- Soup or salad
- Mango sticky rice for dessert
There was an abundance of food and it was a good length. Unfortunately, we did have one person in our group get food poisoning which we attributed to this class. It’s not clear what exactly caused it so it’s not to say for certain this is where it came from, but it’s an important consideration.
Another point to note is the class takes place outside. While it is an interesting location to take place outside, we had some issues with mosquitoes at the beginning of the class.
Find out more here
4 island hopping
The 4-island boat trip is a very common half day trip from Krabi. There are four islands in the immediate vicinity that can be easily reached by boat from Krabi. When looking for booking options, you’ll have an abundance of options to pick from. A few considerations to help narrow down your options include:
- Group type: private, small group, or large group
- Boat type: longtail boat or speed boat
- Length: 4 hours, 6 hours, full day
Pricing will differ with each as well, but we generally found the area to have very cheap tour options regardless of the selection. You can book in advance using a platform like Viator or GetYourGuide, work with your hotel to get recommendations, or wait until you arrive to pick.
Phi Phi islands day trip
The Phi Phi islands are located about a 60 minute speedboat ride or 90-120 minute ferry ride from Krabi. There are a variety of organized day-trips to consider with visits to key spots on the Phi Phi islands. Alternatively, you can also consider using speedboat or ferry transfers to then visit on your own.
Emerald Pools + Tiger cave Viewpoint
Plan a day trip to visit the Emerald Pools and climb up to the Tiger Cave viewpoint.
Spa
As the area is quite cheap, spoil yourself and get a massage or stop in for a nail or face treatment.
Food and Drinks
Verandah Café
Brunch
Ao nang
Easily our favorite spot in this area, this café is great for brunch. With a wide menu including smoothie bowls, smoothies, eggs, build your own breakfast, salads, and a variety of Thai options, there’s something for everyone here. We visited here multiple times trying different foods and enjoying their refreshing drinks.
The Coffee Club
Cafe
Ao nang
On the strip, which we did not like, but a good spot for takeaway coffee.
Much & Mellow
Brunch
Ao nang
With a few locations, their menu varies. It has some quick takeaway options like smoothies, or sit down options for a full brunch.
Reeve Beach Club
Dinner
Ao nang
Right on the beach and with a great view for sunset, this restaurant has quite a wide menu too. The food is alright, nothing too special, but the location is a good spot for a sunset drink or snack.
Other Notes
Duration
As a traveler who heavily depends on other people’s recommendations, I have to be honest about my thoughts on places I love and places I do not enjoy. For me, Krabi is not a location I would recommend to other travelers unless open to booking a luxury hotel and staying in a nice location. Even this though, I think it can be nicer to visit islands instead. There are a few nice activities to do from Krabi, specifically visiting Following Giants and seeing Railay Beach, but nothing else is worth specifically traveling to Krabi for in my view. Following Giants has another location in Koh Lanta which could be a nicer option in comparison to Krabi.
Vaccines
When traveling to a new place, it’s always a good idea to look into what the medical advice for travelers is in the destination at the time. The main precautions we were told to consider included Hep A, Typhoid, Tetatnus, and Rabis. Malaria was not recommended during the months we visited and thus was not needed. With this said, please consult medical resources for your own needs as this is only provided based on personal experience and I am not a medical professional.
Travel Visa
As of the beginning of 2025, a visa was not required for American travelers. However, we learned that there was expected to be a visa requirement put in place later in 2025. Thus, be sure to look up any visa requirements well in advance of travel.
Food and Drinks
Stomach bugs are one of the most common travel challenges when visiting Thailand. Thus, there’s precautions you can take to avoid falling victim to this on your trip.
Water: do not drink the tap water. There’s plenty of bottled water so purchase this and use this for drinking water. As the tap water is not safe for anyone to drink, most places make ice from filtered water, but just something to always be careful on.
Food:
- Stick to busier establishments
- Be very careful with street food
- Be cautious of unwashed fruits
- Be cautious of vegetables washed with water
- Pack some food poisoning relief medications to assist if you do get sick while traveling
- Wash your hands before eating, as a lot of food can be finger foods
Currency
Thai currency is THB. In 2025, approx. 500 tbh is $15
CASH: Whenever paying in small amounts, you’ll need cash and some places will only accept cash until a certain amount. With this in mind, plan to take out some cash shortly after arriving. We found we needed it for the Skytrain (as tickets were under the card limit), riverboat, taxis / grab, temples, and some other low cost tourist spots
AMEX credit cards are not accepted in most places
Safety
As a whole, Thailand is a very safe country. Like any foreign location, you need to take normal precautions and be careful when navigating unknown areas. That being said, as a whole, Thailand is known for being a safe destination for visitors.
Communication
English is found on many signs while in Thailand. However, we found that the English language is not widely spoken here at all. Many speak a bit to get by, but a lot of the people you will interact with will not speak English. Usually, the strongest English speakers worked at the hotels, but restaurants, tours, and drivers often did not speak much English. All Thai individuals we encountered were incredibly kind nevertheless.
Charging Appliances
Thailand uses a few different outlet types. Type A, type B, type C and type O are the commonly supported sockets in Thailand. These are similar to US and EU plugs, but best to be prepared with a multi-functional converter.