Small guide to the Thai islands 3/3 : Koh Lanta

Jun 22, 2015


One of the favourite part of my trip in Thailand was visiting the islands. I only went to Koh Tao, Koh PhiPhi and Koh Lanta but I had such good different experiences on each one of them that I decided to blog about it in as much details as I could to share with you the reasons I enjoyed it so much. This third and last part is about Koh Lanta a quiet island (at this time of the year at least) in the south west of Thailand, and my last stop before heading to Malaysia.

Of the three islands I have been to, Koh Lanta was the least scenery in my opinion, but it does not mean I haven't enjoyed it and that I don't think that it is a beautiful island anyway. After the crazy and crowded Koh PhiPhi, the quietness of Koh Lanta was more than welcome. From Koh PhiPhi, the boat ride takes about 1h30 and will cost you around 300Baht (8€ / $9). At this time of the year (May) it was quiet and prices were lower. I statyed in a nice resort where I had my own bungalow with my own bathroom for 350Baht (9€ / $10) a night.

In the morning of the next day I rented a scooter and went on to explore the island. I went to the Koh Lanta National Park at the south westh of the island. It will cost you 100 Baht and 20 more for your motorbike. The drive there is pretty straight forward, there is one road so you can hardly get lost. It is a bit hilly though but nothing too frightening. Right after the entrance, the road is steep for about 100 meters until you reach the parking lot on your left where you can park your scooter. I jumped off and started walking around.






There is a trail walk you can take that goes into the jungle, I personaly did not do it but if you have, please let me know how it was in the comments. There was a lot of monkeys, and be careful if you're carrying food with you. I was holding a plastic bag with no food at all in it but one of them started to walk towards me with the intention of finding out what was in that bag. - I don't remember what was in there actually, but I know it was not food - So you want to be careful. I then went to the beach for a quick swim, and as usual in Thailand, the water was so warm. I'm repeating myself if you've read the two previous part but it is probably impossible to take a refreshing bath at the beach in this country!




After this "not so" refreshing bath I headed back towards what I really wanted to check out: the light house. Not that I am a light house nerd - don't take it the wrong way, if you are that's totally fine by me :-) - but filmed from above with my drone, I knew I could get a nice shot. Whenever I go somewhere or see something, now I always think of what it could look like from above, and if I have the opportunity then I just do it and find out. So I went to the bottom of the light house and took out the beast. It was a bit windy but nothing too bad. A few runs over the beaches and around the light house and I was happy with the shots I got.






I jumped back on my scooter and decided to head to the east coast of Koh Lanta where the mangrove is. I made a quick Pad Thai stop at a small joint on the side of the road - I reckon small places are always where you can get the best food. Once at the mangrove you can do a 1h boat trip. When I first arrived someone came and told me that I could do it for 900 Baht which was ridiculously expensive. I went for a small walk around and met some other locals offering me boat trips, and by the time I left the price was down to 400 Baht. Even though I did not do it I took out my drone and flew over the mangrove. And from up there it looked very nice and massive.




After that I went back to the resort to drop off the scooter. That night was another quiet nice, getting ready to head to Malaysia the next day.



I had a great time on those 3 islands. They were all very different in terms of atmosphere. If I had to choose one it would be Koh Tao. It's absolutely beautiful and there is so many spots you can snorkel at. I know I will be back to Thialand one day and hopefully I would be able to go discover other islands.


Have you been to Thailand? and Which islands have you been to?

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