Destination Report: Koh Lanta – Part One: What to do, see, eat and avoid

After staying for a month in paradise on a Caribbean island for only $2,7000 in the Spring of 2019, we were overdue for another month in paradise because why not? Since we just wrapped up a month visiting Chiang Mai, we decided to go explore one of the many islands of Thailand and after some extensive research decided to give a try to Koh Lanta. So without further ado, let’s go explore Koh Lanta and unveil in this two part article what we did, ate, saw and what we recommend people to avoid!

Overall, we gave Koh Lanta Mai a 4 out of 5 stars rating (see our rating legend below). Our accommodation – on an island – was above our expectations. The location was remote in a jungle setting while still being within walkable distance to three beaches, a local farmers market, some grocery stores and restaurants. Groceries and food, in‌ ‌general, were really good besides the fact that some restaurants will use refined oil and MSG as it’s quite common in Thailand. Public transportation is nonexistent which can be a limiting factor if you don’t want to get a bike/scooter like us or don’t have a daily budget to pick up a taxi. Lastly, there isn’t much of an “expat” community on the island, which was fine for us as the goal was to relax. The major drawback for us was the transportation and getting to the island since it can be quite a journey.

Our five stars rating system:

• 1 star: We hated this place and definitely do not plan to come back.
• 2 stars: We did not like this place and do not plan to come back.
• 3 stars: We liked this place but do not plan to come back.
• 4 stars: We really liked this place & we might consider coming back.
• 5 stars: We loved this place and are actually considering coming back. This is a place we could call home someday. 

With that being said, let’s look into what we liked the most and what we recommend to do in Chiang Mai! 

Where We Traveled Koh Lanta, Thailand (aka Ko Lanta)

Number of Days 1 entire month (from November 13, 2019 to December 7, 2019)

Type of Travel Married Couple, Slow Travel/Nomadic, Price Conscious

Note: Unless specified otherwise, prices are in USD and were converted from the local currency (THB or Thai Baht) to USD using a 1:30 ratio. (so 1 THB = 0.033 USD). 

Introduction

Koh Lanta (or Ko Lanta) is an island  6km wide and over 30 km long, composed of 9 beaches (from north to south along the east coast). The island offers stunning scenery, fantastic white sandy beaches, beautiful palm & coconut trees and some great underwater life. If you are looking for a very affordable paradise, this can definitely qualify as one solid option!

What did we do, see and eat?

Koh Lanta is a pretty quiet place, especially if you travel before the high-season (which starts in mid-December and lasts until at least February) which is what qualifies it as the perfect place to disconnect and relax by the beach. That being said, there are a few places worth checking out on the island and of course, as the island is getting more developed, you have plenty of food options available that we are going to share with you. A good place to learn what is happening on Koh Lanta is Love Lanta.

Now let’s dig into our favorite places to eat, shop and get entertained. To help you, we’ve included all the places that we call out below in the following Google Map. 

Our Favorite Sights/Activities

Being on a beach location, most of our sights were around enjoying this little piece of paradise. Koh Lanta has many beautiful beaches to swim, relax and read. It’s not a destination if you want to experience a lot of sights, culture and nightlife. We were looking for a place that was relaxing, livable and affordable and we found all of these things in Koh Lanta and enjoyed the simple life. Our daily routine basically consisted of going to a beach, going for a swim, reading a book, dining out for lunch, buying groceries, working on projects at home, cooking dinner and then going for a sunset walk on the beach. It was our ideal island routine for one month!

Here are the places we recommend to check out in Koh Lanta:

• Secret Beach – By far our favorite beach on the island. Not only was it just a 25 minutes walk from our apartment, it was by far the prettiest and most remote beach we’ve found during our stay (and we did check a bunch of them).
  Our pro-tip: The secret part of this beach, isn’t the main beach you arrive at. You need to walk to the left of the main beach, go over a few rocks (or swim around them) to access what is really the secret beach. Most people don’t know (or don’t want to get there) which makes this beach the perfect place to relax and truly enjoy the beauty of the island.
  Cost: FREE!

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• Long Beach – A much bigger beach, which is perfect for a long stroll in the morning or at sunset as the beach is more than a mile long. If you like to swim, keep in mind that you might get stung by Sea Lice that we found near that beach, which can be quite annoying. Lanta Castaway Beach Resort is on this beach which provides great massages.
  Cost: FREE!

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• Relax Beach – We like Relax beach because it was the closest to our apartment and also great for sunset or to read a book. 
  Cost: FREE!

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• Lanta Animal Welfare – This non-profit organization does an amazing job at rescuing cats and dogs on the island and is worth paying a visit to. You can get a tour of the facility (~1 hour) and you can also volunteer to walk the puppies, which we personally have done multiple times during our stay there. These pups are up for adoption so if you are looking to get one back home, get in touch with them and they will set you up! 

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• 4 islands snorkeling tour – If you want to explore things outside of Koh Lanta, we recommend the 4 islands snorkeling tour. We booked through Freedom Adventures and really recommend them because they keep their groups small versus other companies that charge less but cram their boats uncomfortably. You will get a longtail boat (or a speedboat if you prefer) that will take you island hopping. Admittedly, it’s not the best snorkeling in this area but the scenery is lovely. The best part was visiting the Emerald cave where you swim through a cave to end up at a gorgeous tiny beach.

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Cost: The tour (on a long tail boat) will cost you about 1,000 THB per person and will include pick-up / drop-off from/to your accommodation along with fruits, water and lunch. Tip: make sure to bring ear plugs as the tail boats are quite noisy. 

Our Favorite Restaurants

• Yawee Restaurant – Our go-to restaurant during our stay due to its proximity but also service and overall affordability. This place serves a wide selection of food (like Pad Thai for 50 THB) and juices (mango/passion fruits/orange/coconut for 50 THB).
  Cost: 220 THB (~7.2 USD) for a generous lunch/dinner (for 2 people)
• Mushroom Restaurant – We found this place offered the best pineapple rice (100 THB) on the island as well as a great steamed fish (for 220 THB).
  Cost: 250 THB (~8.2 USD) for a generous lunch/dinner (for 2 people)
• Happy Veggie – This place is a bit more expensive than the previous ones, but they use higher quality ingredients and have some interesting vegetarian options like the falafel burger (220 THB) or spring rolls (100 THB). Skip the pineapple rice though.
  Cost: 400-600 THB (~11.4-18.9 USD) for lunch/dinner (for 2 people).
• OA Restaurant – Great shakes (40 USD) and thai food
  Cost: 200-300 THB (~6.5-9.8 USD) for lunch/dinner with 2 drinks, 1 appetizer, 2 mains (for 2 people).

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Our Favorite Sweets Spots

• Sugar cane juice @ Thursday’s market – We love getting sugar cane juice at the Thursday market because it was the market we always go back to. That being said, we also went to the Sunday market and managed to find a different sugar cane juice vendor so this might be a staple of the weekly market in Koh Lanta
  Cost: 20 THB (~0.65 USD) for one large glass (~½ litter).
• Weekly market – This market rotates location daily in Koh Land offers a lot of sweet options (crepes, khui, sugar cane, sweet potato balls). All very interesting and pretty cheap. 

Our Favorite Grocery Stores/Markets

Here are our top recommendations:

• Weekly market – A local market takes place every day on a different part of the island. The one close to our accommodation was the Thursday market. These markets are super convenient and really affordable. You can find produce, fruits, sweets but also meat and fish. We did not pay much more for produce here than we paid in Chiang Mai.
  Our pro-tip: The market opens pretty late, so do not show up in the morning or you will be disappointed to see nobody there. We liked to get there at 1pm . The vendors start packing up around 6pm. 
• 7-Eleven – This was our to go stop for anything that we could not find at the market (like olive oil for instance). There are a few 7-Elevens throughout the island so you should have one walking distance from your accommodation. 

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Our pro-tip: When going to the local market, it is good practice to wash the produce you bring back home before preparing them (you can wash them for a few minutes in a solution of water + baking soda).

Our Favorite places to take care of ourselves

Who doesn’t want to get pampered while being on a beautiful island for a month?
Here are our top recommendations:

• Lanta Castaway Beach Resort Spa – Our favorite massage place in Koh Lanta. You get to sit by the beach, with a relaxing view and pay about the same price that you would pay if you would request a massage inland without any view.
  Cost: 300 THB (~ 9.8 USD) for a 1hr oil massage. (+ tip – usually 50 THB)

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What to avoid

While it’s great to call out what to check out, we think it is as important to also include what NOT to do. These are things/activities/places we stayed away from. Of course, taste is personal and so your preference might vary.

• Be careful if you plan on renting a scooter – Riding a scooter is a popular way to get around Koh Lanta because it’s quite a large island and there’s no public transportation. However in our humble opinion, they can still remain a dangerous activity. You will need to always keep attention to other scooters, driving on the left side and island animals that might be randomly crossing the road. We’ve seen a few tourists (including one of our neighbors) getting into an accident which basically ruined their month on the island. Also if you still want to rent a scooter, make sure you have the proper driver’s license and that your insurance will cover you in case of an accident (which isn’t usually the case if you use a US driving license). One of our friends decided to get his Thai motorcycle license in Chiang Mai. It is a 1-2 day process that is relatively straightforward and lets you legally drive a scooter in all asean countries (from an insurance & police check perspective). Please leave us a comment if you need more information on that.
• Staying in Saladan Pier – There are a lot of accommodation options here and it may be convenient to shopping, ferries and other conveniences since it’s the biggest town. However, the best part about being on a tropical island is to spend time on a beautiful beach! It’s much more enjoyable and relaxing to stay further south by the beaches and only go to Saladan Pier if you need to run errands.

Our Slow Travelers Tips

Slow travel is part of our philosophy. It gives us the opportunity to really connect with a place by not having to experience FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and getting unnecessarily stressed for being on a schedule. With slow travel, we can see all the iconic sights and have time to spare to find the more offbeat spots that most tourists miss. Most of the time, those are the absolute gems. And as this blog post explains, we spend much less by leveraging “local” pricing and being able to get long stay discounts.

Here are some tips to maximize a nice and enjoyable stay in Koh Lanta:

• Embrace island life. Living on an island with limited options is the best way to enjoy the simple things in life. We enjoyed not having decision fatigue and happily went to a lot of the same beaches, restaurants and markets. We were rarely on a schedule and just went with the flow.
• Enjoy the amazing food. With food so good and so affordable, Thailand was the first place where we ate out every single day for at least one meal. We had a simple kitchen in our apartment so we often cooked one meal at home and brought back many tropical fruits for snacks. So good 🙂
• Don’t be afraid of food stalls. You might go to a market and think twice about eating some of the food you will see. It turns out that street food is probably the safest food you can get in Thailand. Use common sense (of course) by going to stalls that are busy and you will enjoy things you’ve probably never had before!
• Don’t forget to tip when applicable. This includes services like Massages (at least 50 THB per person), haircut or tours. Tipping isn’t necessary when taking a taxi, or eating out. 
• Plan your visit during the low season (Oct-Nov or May-June). If you prefer to have the beach for yourself, cheaper cost and – let’s be honest – a much more enjoyable experience, then get on the island in November as you don’t get too much rain, most places are open and you get great discounts.

What about the cost? 

Because our destination reports were getting so long, we decided to split them into two parts. Part one (this part) is about what to do/see/eat (& avoid). Part two (that we will link at the end of this article) will be about the costs where we will be uncovering all the juicy details about our budget and how much the two of us spent during our stay. If the post isn’t linked yet at the bottom of this post, make sure you sign-up for our newsletter so you will get our cost of living post (and any upcoming ones) as soon as they go live. In the meantime, if you really want some numbers, feel free to check out our past destination reports.

Would you be interested in going to Koh Lanta? Does this beach destination appeal to you? Maybe you’ve already been? Feel free to share your experience and ask questions by leaving a comment below.