We are going to Thailand for 3 weeks in March. We want to stay a couple of days in Bankgok and than relax on a beautiful lonely beach and visist some national parks. Anyone has a recommendation for a nice island with beautiful beaches, nice small place to stay on the beach and how to get there?
My wife and I have been on vacation in Thailand twice. The first time we stayed in Bangkok for a few days and then we went to Phuket and Koh Samui (by plane). We enjoyed Koh Samui a lot. We had a bungalow on the beach and it was a beautiful beach. The second time we went to Thailand (September 2002) we went to Ao Nang (near Krabi) and Hua Hin. The Ao Nang beach is not a great beach but you can jump into a boat and get transported to other nice beaches.
I have posted a couple of long travelogues on my homepage together with lots of pictures. Maybe you can find some useful info there. The address to the page is www.gardkarlsen.com
I've been five times now and travelled most of the country independently. It's all beautiful - the people make it special - but for magical scenery, solitude, and national park wonders, the Andaman Coast between the Malaysian and Burma borders takes a lot of beating.
You CAN escape the toursist hordes, stay on your own beach and explore the most amazing land and sea-based national parks. And for bugger all money! Here's a few spots I've been that you may want to research - it's not that they are secrets, it's just that most people visiting this area do so on package deals and rarely venture to the more interesting sites:
1. Khao Sok National Park - the most amazing combination of awe-inspiring scenery and wildlife, you can even stay with the locals in a floating rafthouse.
2. Similan Islands National Marine Park - this IS paradise.
3. Khao Lak/Lam Ru National Park and adjacent beaches - just starting to get recognised, but still very much a laid-back, hut-on-the-beach style option.
4. Ko Turatao National Marine Park - can there be 2 paradises?
5. Any of the (almost deserted) islands off the coast from Trang - this is a fantastic town to wander for a few days and the adjacent islands are special. The geological formations down this entire coast provide spectacular scenery.
6. A paddle around the cliffs and caves of Phang Nga Bay is fun, but avoid the big tourist operators.
A word of advice: Phi Phi, Krabi and Koh Samui are all beautiful and merit a visit, but if you're looking for peace, solitude, fair prices and rural culture, don't make them your base.
Check out two of my reports here - the first is a summary of the Andaman Coast, the second is a blurb on Bangkok (there is so much to do in this exciting city you won't know where to start). I have more information if you're interested, but read this stuff first...
Oh, and do me a favour, if you read the reports, please rate them so I get some credit points.
