We’ve just left Ko Lanta after staying for 4 nights. The overall vibes were relaxed and beachy which is exactly what we were hoping for for our first stop. Here’s a recap of our stay and some helpful info if you’re heading there:

How to get to Ko Lanta:

We flew into Phuket Airport and took the ferry from Rassada Pier on Phuket to Ko Phi Phi and then transferred to a second ferry to get to Saladan Pier on Ko Lanta. Once we arrived we hopped in a shared van to get to our accommodation.

Where we stayed: We stayed at the Lanta Nice Beach Resort on Klong Nin beach. At $37 USD a night, it was the most expensive accomodation we booked in Thailand, but in general the prices on Ko Lanta seemed a bit higher. If you’re on a tight budget there are a few hostels on the island as well.

The location of the hotel was excellent, it was split into two sections, one on the beach and one on the other side of the road (we stayed on the other side of the road) and was walking distance to tons of restaurants and places to rent motorbikes. Our room was clean and comfortable, though the AC didn’t work quite as well as we would have liked. Overall, no big complaints and it seems like Klong Nin beach is definitely a good location on the island to stay.

What we did:

Mostly - lay on the beach! We came to Ko Lanta to soak up the sun and Klong Nin beach was perfect for that. You can get a massage on the beach for 300 baht (a little less than $10USD), have fruity drinks and relax away.

There are lots of “tourist information” stands scattered about that will sell you basically any water related tour you can think of. We ended up booking a long tail boat trip online (here) to island hop a bit and hang out on the water for 1000 baht each ($32 USD). Considering I didn’t even fully read the description of the tour (whoops), it was a great day.

We were picked up right from our hotel and taken to the Old Lanta Town pier where we hopped onto a Longtail boat with about 25 other people. This was our first time seeing a long tail boat and they’re definitely a unique and cool style of transportation. The boat took us about an hour away from shore to two different snorkeling spots. The water wasn’t super clear so the snorkeling was just ok, but it was nice to swim around in the Andaman sea for a while. We then stopped at Emerald Cave, which entailed swimming 80 meters through a dark cave to an emerald colored pool. Even though there were quite a few people at the cave, it was still beautiful and definitely worth seeing. We finished the trip with a picnic on Ko Ngai and headed back to Ko Lanta. All in all, it was well worth the money and we’d recommend doing something like this while on the island.

Best thing we ate:

There are two memorable meals/restaurants to mentions, the first being the picnic lunch that we had during our longtail boat day. It was simple- rice, red chicken curry and lots of veggies, but it was delicious and felt like the most authentic thai food we got to eat while there.

I feel a bit guilty calling out our other favorite meal(s), but they were at the French Bakery.

Most useful thing we packed:

We’re living out of carry on sized suitcases, so we tried to think through everything we brought with us since space is limited. The most useful thing we packed for Ko Lanta was definitely our dry bag.

How much we spent:

For 4 nights (in USD):

Total: $380.26

Money thoughts - we spent a bit more than I think we should have on food, but that’s mostly because we were just trying to get our bearings and figure out how much things should cost. We knew our expenses here would be a bit higher here since this was our priciest accommodation.