As beach lovers know, Thailand is a year-round island hopping destination due to the wonderful weather, palm-fringed beaches and warm ocean. What most visitors don’t know, and it’s one of Thailand’s best kept secrets, is that the islands off Trang coast are the ideal exotic refuge to match what most people envision when dreaming of a tropical holiday.
These stunning and very diverse islands can be divided in two categories: the first group, which includes Koh Libong, Koh Phetra, Koh Sukorn, Koh Bulon and Koh Lao Liang, is almost unknown to foreign tourists. Even if you’re a frequent traveler to Thailand, I bet you’ve never heard any of these names.
The second group consists of islands that are known to a bunch of Phangan beach lovers and visited by local tourists and expatriates at weekends, yet they are still overshadowed by the likes of Koh Lipe, Koh Lanta, Koh Samui, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao.
This category includes Koh Kradan, Koh Ngai and Koh Muk, offering a wide range of beach front resorts and guest houses and boasting the most pristine and romantic beaches in the area.
You can take a day trip from Krabi
If you don’t have time for a week or even a weekend island hopping among the second group of the Trang Islands, don’t write them off your list. The good news is that with a little planning, you can take a day trip to these stunning islands and be able to sleep in your hotel room back in Krabi at the end of an adventure filled day.
It’s what we at Fantasia Asia did a few weeks ago, driving our car from Ao Nang to Pak Meng harbour, which is located at the border of Krabi and Trang provinces.
Once you leave the lively Krabi weekend traffic behind, the journey to Pak Meng is a 90 minute pleasant drive through palm trees, coconut plantations and limestone mountains on a mostly straight and well kept road. You should use a GPS to reach Pak Meng easily, however the road signs are quite precise if you know what you are looking for.
We reached the Pak Meng harbour around 9 AM and boarded a private long tail boat for the day. I had visited Pak Meng a few years earlier, while the new pier was under construction, and this time I was very impressed by the improvement of the harbour. It’s now filled with small shops and a few nice looking cafés and restaurants without being overtly touristic. There are a few parking lots a few hundred meters from the National Park station, which is where tourists pay the park entrance fee (300 THB per person) and board their boats.
Several tour companies run transfers and daily tours with local boats (long tail boats) or larger boats (speed boats or yachts).
Itinerary
Koh Mook (Morakot Cave, The Mook Sivalai Beach Resort),
Koh Kradan (The Reef Resort, snorkelling)
Koh Chuak (snorkelling)
Koh Ngai (Thanya Beach Resort)
