We have driven to Krabi from Phuket 4 times over the last 2 years, so this info is all about our drives there and back, where we stayed and what to see etc.

Road Trip One

 We decided to go for a drive on the mainland  (without a map) and came back 2 days later.

What an adventure it was.

First stop was at one of my favorite places Mai Kao Beach, it is just before the Sarasiri Bridges. There are lots of nice little beach restaurants and most of them are open no matter what time we have been there.
There is lots more info on Mai Khao Beach in my Phuket section.

We had no plans on where to go so decided to head for Phang Nga town, the roads are fantastic (wish Australian highways were as good).

About half way we wondered why everyone on the other side was flashing their lights at us, and then we saw him, hiding behind his police car with his radar gun. Didn’t realize they used them in Thailand. It wasn’t a problem as we were only doing 80kph.

Then a couple of hundred meters down the road they had one lane blocked off, 5 police cars on the side of the road and loads of police waiting to pull over all the cars etc.
How exciting, after 5 weeks of driving everywhere and through numerous police checkpoints we are finally going to be pulled over.

The policeman waved us in, Gary put down the very dark tinted window; he looked at us, laughed and waved us on. Damn could have been some good photos there with the Highway Patrol of Thailand!!!
Oh well - on to Phang Nga town.

Phang Nga town is in a valley among huge rocky limestone mountains covered with greenery and the entrance to town is very pretty with parks and gardens.
Its not a huge town there’s fresh food markets, lots of little restaurants, Buddhist monasteries, a market selling clothes etc plus all the normal little shop houses you would see in any town.
There are also many caves and waterfalls around Phang Nga and the area is still primarily rubber plantations and forests.

From here we decided to go back a bit to the turnoff to Phang Nga Pier, soon we are driving past mangroves, then someone runs out onto the road and stops us, my god, he is trying to sell us a tour to James Bond Island (rock) a few meters down the road and another one runs out and stops us, same thing.
After traveling about 50 meters and being stopped (or we would have run them over) about 5 times the same tour has gone down to 400baht for the both of us!!

Gary has had enough, he has that look in his eyes that says Road Kill coming up, so we turn around and head back to the main road.  I’m sure if we had kept going to the end of the road to the pier we could have gone to James Bond Island (rock) nearly for free with a set of steak knives thrown in.

Off we go again, we are on the Krabi road, it’s a great scenic drive through lots of little villages, and there are lots of stalls set up on the road selling food.

One little village called Ban Klang had numerous stalls near the road cooking chickens on a rotisserie and each stall had a cord with a light bulb, some of the lights were on, we figured this was to let passing traffic know that the chickens were cooked and ready to buy.

Eventually we end up in Krabi town, it’s pretty big but we didn’t see anything worth stopping for so we kept going. We are now heading for Trang (remember we don’t have a map with us).
  After a little detour off the main road we end up down a little track where we came across a small Muslim village, lots of kids on motorbikes, a huge food market and that was it.

A dead end road.

Back we go and Gary decides to head back to the beaches of Krabi so we can check into a hotel as its now after 3pm and we have been on the road since 9am. We checked into the Krabi Resort and I have a separate report on this under Hotels.

The beach area is lovely here, nice and quiet, no jet skis or parasailing and after a drive to magnificent Noppharat Thara Bay we decided this place was definitely worth coming back to.
We left early the next morning to head back to Phuket but the 200k trip took us all day due to stopping off at a few places.

I wanted to go to one of the many caves that are all around the area, so after awhile Gary decides to turn right and head for the Phet Cave. This was such an adventure and I have covered it in detail under Things To Do.

After leaving the Phet Cave and driving for what seemed like ages (again) instead of stopping at one of the garages to buy a drink, we decide to get off the main road and head down a little road on the left.
Little did we realize - we are on the way to Bang Pat.

Eventually its time to turn around and head back to the main road, we are tired, hungry, need a shower and still have about an hours drive before Phuket.
 In 8 weeks we have done just over 3000 kilometers and there's more road trips to come yet!

 Best thing we have ever done is hire that 4x4!

Second Trip To Krabi

We enjoyed our first visit to Ao Nang and Noppharat Thara Bay so much that we decided to go back for 3 days, mainly just for a break and to do not much of anything at all. Plus it’s a good drive there and back and I wanted some photos of chicken town!!

So I have no info on nightlife (we were in bed by 8pm each night) and no shopping updates as I did not buy a single thing!!
The beaches here were so pretty and quiet, no crowds, no jet skis, parasails or sun lounges on the beaches, no tailors or tuk tuks annoying you - heaven.

Massages were cheap here, 200baht per hour, food and drinks were also good prices.
It’s a great place for families (in the low season).

We loved the bungalows at Golden Beach Resort; they are very private, huge and nicely decorated, we will definitely stay there again next year for a few days.
Our most energetic day was going to Noppharat Thara Bay. When the tide is out you can walk over to one of the tiny islands, the water is just over ankle deep, absolutely fantastic.
The beach is beautiful with a few restaurants and is only a couple of kilometers from Ao Nang beach.

Well worth going to.

Then we headed over to Ban Laem Pho to the Gastropod Fossil (shell cemetery) another fantastic attraction.

Click here for photos from our first drive to Krabi

Click here for photos from our second drive to Krabi