Krabi, Railay and the Most Beautiful Beach in the World, and Climbing 1200 Steps to a Temple

On to one of our final destinations in Thailand: Krabi. Though there isn’t a whole lot to do in the town itself, it’s surrounded by some of the most beautiful places in Thailand and I couldn’t wait to visit.

We were sad to leave Koh Lanta for several reasons: our hostel family were so incredibly friendly; we were going to miss our room mates, though most of them were also leaving; and we were definitely going to miss the sense of welcome and the chilled out vibe that made us fall in love with the place.

But I was excited to visit Krabi; not so much for the town itself, but for using it as a base to some of Thailand’s best locations, including some of the best beaches in the world.

We were turning up to Krabi a day early, so once again we didn’t have a night booked. And of course, like our luck with just turning up, our hostel of choice was all booked out. We popped into the hostel next door and were offered a private room for the same price as a dorm room had been at Pak Up! RE-SULT!

As the evening set in, we went for a wander and found the tourist food market which hadn’t initially interested me. On the contrary, it felt almost local (though you could tell from the hard selling that it wasn’t) so we chose the best-looking stall, and I wasn’t going to turn my nose up at 50 baht for a plate of noodles and 20 baht for a can of Sprite.

My first priority the next day was visiting Tiger Cave Temple and attempting the 1,237 step climb up the side of a mountain to get to it. Ash wasn’t remotely keen on this, so I set off on a songthaew with a girl I’d sat next to on the bus from Koh Lanta.

Read more: And Then We Fell In Love With Koh Lanta

Within minutes of arriving, we had seen ten monkeys. And as we made our ascent, we passed more. At one point we were surrounded, and as much as I wanted to keep my camera out to get some amazing pictures (and videos!), memories came flooding back of the time I had an attempted mugging by a monkey in Gibraltar.

We were 500 steps in at this point. I was feeling good, but not positive. By 600 steps, I was waning, the drop behind me completely horrifying but the view was already something else. At 800 steps, I was ready to give up.

And at 900 steps, I virtually did.

Why did I think this was a good idea in 40 degree heat?!

I sat on some steps with the heat crawling over my skin even though I was in the shade. My head pounded, my heart pounded harder, sweat poured down my face, and I cried. Actually cried. I couldn’t give up now, BUT IT WAS SO HOT! And those steps were SO STEEP.

And I didn’t! I MADE IT!

The view was SO worth it! And the Buddha was as beautiful as the view.

Then we got back down and there wasn’t a songthaew in sight. There wouldn’t be one for a while, we were told. We were asked to pay 100 baht each for a taxi ride, or 150 baht between us to sit on the back of a bike. Having paid 60 baht to get there, we had more sense than that, thank you very much.

So we sat and waited, bathing in our own stubbornness.

And waited.

…and waited.

A policeman invited us to sit with him in his little station at the entrance, as we kept being harassed by passing bikes. And then he offered to ride us into town on HIS bike, harnessed with a creepy smile that, um, didn’t tempt us. It could have made a great story if we’d taken him up on it, but I’m not counting on it.

And then he invited us to eat some leaves with him. Errrrr.

In the end, we haggled down one of the taxis and even though we still paid over the odds, we were just thankful to get back to Krabi safely.

I had booked us into Pak Up! for the next couple of nights purely because we’d been recommended it so much – and it was absolutely worth giving up our private room! Pak Up! used to be a school and the whole hostel is themed as one. We were in the “IT” room and our beds were called Ctrl and Alt. There was a Thai room with place names, and a bunch of other school subjects. The bathrooms were literally the old gym changing rooms and the bar was called The Playground. It was a lot of fun!

That evening, it was quiz night at the hostel, and we were considering getting a team together – Janee, my friend from the hike, was up for it. I happened to be wandering downstairs when I saw a familiar face checking in at the desk. IT WAS BORIS, our friend from Koh Lanta!

He was only staying one night, so we headed back to the riverside market for some cheap food before signing up for the quiz with a couple of other girls. And we almost won! We came second by one point!

The following day, we were headed to one of my most anticipated destinations in Thailand: Railay.

This is why.

We teamed up with a group from our hostel dorm to get a longtail boat from Krabi pier round to Railay, which is only accessible by boat. Our driver demanded 150 baht per person, and we all indignantly insisted that it was supposed to be cheaper; that’s why we had got together for the boat! But unlike most haggling attempts, the driver wasn’t budging at all. He, equally indignant, wouldn’t back down until we all sighed and just paid it.

The longtail boats conjure up such a peaceful image, but let me tell you – they are LOUD AS HELL. It was a fun journey across the water though, and we arrived on the other side of the peninsula to the main beaches (by which I mean a five minute walk!).

We headed straight for West Railay beach – and it was absolutely stunning, and virtually empty.

Want to find more great beaches in Thailand? Check out Koh Tao: Our Favourite Thai Island

We soaked it in for a while, amazed by how quiet it was and sure that this isn’t normal. It was so incredibly peaceful, and one of the most beautiful places we had seen.

But I’d heard so much about Phranang Beach, and after enjoying some smoothies along the really cute “beach walk” at Railay (avoiding the pricey resorts flanking the whole beach), we decided we should check it out.

Even the walk itself was cool. Overhanging cliffs shadow the caves below; trees lining it and crawling around it like something out of a movie. Within five minutes (I thought it would be further than that!) we had made it to the other side.

To the most beautiful beach in the entire fricking world.

It was a little busier than Railay had been, but that didn’t matter. The cave is absolutely stunning, even with its famous penis shrine. (Sorry, “fertility shrine” to be exact.) The longtail boats are like something from a postcard – in fact, they ARE, literally, something from a postcard. And the huge, iconic stack in the sea is exactly the image you get from a Thai beach.

I even walked there through the rocky sea, which was awesome.

We spent most of the afternoon doing absolutely nothing on Phranang beach; Ash found a rope swing, I befriended a caterpillar, and even as more boats arrived and the beach got busier, I knew we’d found it.

Paradise.

Check out another paradise part of Thailand: unbelievably, Koh Phangan!

On the walk back to the boat, we saw one of those monkeys that looks shocked all the time! That was it. Thailand officially became one of my favourite countries in the world, as if it had still needed to prove it.

That evening, we said goodbye to Krabi with a beer pong contest in which we drew (it was a timed game) and we had to go to a knock-out round of Twister – which we lost embarrassingly and hilariously.

Krabi itself hadn’t been anything to write home about. I enjoyed the food market, and we took a wander to a temple one day, which was lovely but not unlike anything we’d already seen in Thailand. A little girl followed me up the road and held my hand and melted my heart before I made sure she got back safely to her mum. Everybody was still friendly, and we absolutely loved the (second) hostel.

So sure, Krabi isn’t exactly our favourite town in Thailand, but we had a fantastic time, and its surrounding locations gave us an absolutely perfect send off from a wonderful country.

If you fancy reading about more spectacular places in Asia, check out some of these posts!

⭐ Loving Northern Vietnam – Hanoi, Halong Bay & Ninh Binh
⭐ Central Vietnam: Historic, Beautiful… And Very Touristy
⭐ Buses, Boats and Bikes in Saigon
⭐ An Incredible Week in Siem Reap: Angkor Wat and Meditating With a Monk
⭐ Songkran in Bangkok: One of the Craziest Festivals in the World
⭐ One Of The Best Weeks Of Our Lives Volunteering At Elephant Nature Park
⭐ A Surprising Paradise on Koh Phangan and How Not to Survive the Full Moon Party
⭐ Koh Tao: Our Favourite Thai Island
⭐ And Then We Fell In Love With Koh Lanta

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