Ko Lanta (เกาะลันตา, also Koh Lanta) is an island district off the west coast of Thailand. Like many other destinations in Krabi Province province it is known for diving and long white beaches.

Ko Lanta beach

Understand

Ko Lanta is a district of Krabi Province, consisting of a number of islands. The two largest are Ko Lanta Noi and Ko Lanta Yai. Although Ko Lanta Noi is inhabited, it is Ko Lanta Yai on which tourists will stay.

Ko Lanta is a little less well-known than nearby Ko Phi Phi but it is hardly undiscovered: the several beaches on the west coast of Ko Lanta Yai are each strung with an unbroken line of resorts and bungalows. Ko Lanta is especially popular with Swedish tourists: although the 'tourist language' is English as it is in most places in Thailand, and you will find menus and so on are translated into English, expect the poolside language to be Swedish much of the time.

Ko Lanta is popular with tourists seeking a holiday away from the parties: more walking on the beach and watching the sunset than drinking and dancing. It is also popular with families with young children, and of course, with divers.

Ko Lanta sustained some tsunami damage in the December 2004, but damage was limited and nearly all businesses are operating normally again.

Get in

Ko Lanta has no airport; the nearest airports are Krabi and Phuket. Krabi has direct road and boat connections to Ko Lanta, and is the best option if you're only visiting Ko Lanta. Travellers arriving from Phuket would travel by boat via Ko Phi Phi; flying into Phuket would be a better option if you're intending to spend time in Phuket and nearby islands, or, since Phuket has many more international flights, if you don't want to have to organise a domestic flight to Krabi from Bangkok.

By car

Ko Lanta does not have roads connecting it directly to the mainland, but it is served by car ferries. Take road 4206 off highway 4 about 20 kilometers south east of Krabi airport. Drive to the end of the road, where there is a car ferry from Baan Hua Hin to Ko Lanta Noi. From the pier here, turn right and follow the "ferry" signs to the second car ferry to Ko Lanta Yai. Ferries operate from 7am to 10pm.

There are plenty of car taxi and minivan taxi services from Krabi and the nearby airport. A seat in a ten person minivan from the airport to Ko Lanta costs about 250 baht. These minivans usually don't have much room for luggage (although they can usually find room for one or two large suitcases together with backpacks for the rest of the passengers) so if you're not travelling light you might need to get a private taxi. This is what the divemasters do. A private minivan taxi will usually be quoted as 2500 baht. It's possible to bargain a few hundred baht off this price but not much more or the tolls will consume too much of the price. Car taxis cost about the same.

By boat

Ferry services run from Krabi, Ao Nang and from Phuket via Ko Phi Phi to Ko Lanta Yai's Saladan pier. Ferry services are subject to weather and to demand: many will not run at all during the monsoon season and at a reduced frequency during the low season. Note that many ferries have limited room for luggage and also that many will dock next to other ferries; meaning that to get on and off you will need to be able to clamber onto and across a second boat with your luggage.

Services from Krabi are run by P.P. Family Co (tel 075 630 165) and depart Krabi pier at 10:30am and 1:30pm, taking 2 hours to reach Ko Lanta. Tickets are 200 baht including free pickup from Krabi hotels. There's a trasit bus from Krai town center for 10 baht.

Services from Ao Nang are run by Ao Nang Travel and Tour (tel 075 637 730) and depart at 10:30am. Tickets are 280 baht.

Ferries run twice a day from Ko Phi Phi departing 11:30am and 2pm. Travel time is 2.5 hours. If travelling from Phuket in a single day you will need to leave Phuket on the 8am ferry to transfer to the 11:30am ferry. Tickets to Ko Lanta are 200 baht from Ko Phi Phi and 450 baht from Phuket.

Get around

The main road is paved with cement (loop around the island). Some roads are unpaved dirt. Most of the unpaved roads are in very bad condition with deep ruts; some would be very difficult to negiotiate in an ordinary sedan car. It's worth knowing the names of the resorts near yours: both the pickup trucks and motorcycle taxis will often want to pick you up or drop you at a nearby resort with a better road.

Resorts and some of the major tourist services (like the dive shops) own large pickup trucks and transport tourists around in the tray. Very occasionally, they own minibuses instead. If you come in by ferry your resort will almost certainly meet you at pier with their truck; if you're travelling with very small children who you don't want to cling to while you bump along sitting on the side of the truck you might want to warn them in advance that you'll want to ride in the cab: it's generally assumed to be the private domain of the driver.

You will find the locals almost exclusively ride motorcycles; you can hire these in several places for a few hundred baht a day. You can also hire motorcycle taxis with sidecars. These will happily take you on the unpaved roads but the ride can be as slow as walking. A typical fare for a ride from Saladan to Klong Dao Beach is 40 baht.

Jeeps can be hired for 1200 baht per day. Be sure to check insurance, contract terms and the condition of the vehicle. The "roads" of Ko Lanta combined with the driver operation characteristics of some renters are a serious challenge for any car. The frequently available Suzuki Sporty seems primitive and therefore sturdy, and a replacement should cost around 150000 baht.

See

Do

• Learn thai cooking - Time for Lime, 72/2 Mo 3. Klong Dao Beach. tel: +66 075 684590 (email: info@timeforlime.net) [1] Time for Lime offers day and evening professional Thai cooking classes right on the beach, and also workshop series.

• Go sea kayaking - Rapu Sea Kayaking, contact Chutima Junsirikamon, 10/5 Moo 2, Ko Lanta Yai Sub-District. tel: +66 092 871 749. Rapu Sea Kayaking offers guided sea kayak tours of the mangrove areas.

Scuba diving

There aren't dive sites on the Lanta islands, but there are plenty of dive centers offering dive tours and PADI dive courses from beginner upwards. Dive resorts on Ko Lanta run boat trips to many of the major dive sites in the Krabi province. Almost all dive resorts offer free pickups from your resort. Prices are fairly consistent at about 2500 baht for a day's boat diving (usually two dives), 10000 baht for a four day PADI Open Water course, and 8000 baht for a two day PADI Advanced Open Water course (five dives).

Dive resorts and tour companies on Lanta include:

• Atlantis Diving, 18 Moo 1, Saladan. tel: +66 075 684 081 (email: info@atlantis-diving.net) [2] Their dive sites are: Hin Bida; Ko Rok, Ko Haa; Hin Daeng and Hin Muang; and Ko Waen. They offer PADI courses.

• Blue Planet Divers, 3 Moo 1, Saladan. tel: +66 075 684 165 (email: scuba@blueplanetdivers.net) [3] Their dive sites are: Ko Bida; Ko Haa; Hin Daeng ad Hin Muang; and the King Cruiser wreck. They offer PADI courses.

• Go Dive, 116 Moo 1, Saladan. tel: +66 075 684 320 (email: info@godive-lanta.com) [4] Their dive sites are: Hin Daeng and Hin Muang; Ko Haa; and Ko Phi Phi. They offer boat pickup from Klong Dao beach. They offer PADI courses.

• Ko Lanta Diving Center, 1/3 Moo 1, Saladan. tel: +66 075 684 065, (email: info@kolantadivingcenter.com.) [5] Ko Lanta Diving Center is the first dive shop on Ko Lanta, founded in 1992. Their dive sites are Ko Haa; Ko Bida and Hin Bida; Phi Phi islands; Shark Point, Anemone Reef and King Cruiser wreck; and Hin Daeng and Hin Muang. They offer two-day trips to Ko Ngai and Hin Daeng; They offer PADI courses.

• Laguna Fun Divers, 147 Moo 1, Saladan. tel: +66 075 684 528 (email: lagfund@gmx.de) [6] They offer speedboat trips to Hin Daeng; Ko Rok; Ko Haa; Ko Ma; Hin Bida and Ko Bida; and Ko Phi Phi. They offer PADI courses.

• Lanta Discovery Diver. tel: +66 075 684 035. [7] Lanta Discovey Diver offers speedboat trips to various locations, with boat pickup from all the beaches.

• Lanta Diver, 197/3 Moo 1, Saladan. tel: +66 075 684 208 (email: scuba@lantadiver.com, fax: +66 075 684 057) [8] Lanta Diver is a dive company founded by a Swedish couple and staffed mainly, but not exclusively, but Scandinavians. Their dive sites are Ko Haa; Ko Bida and Hin Bida; and Hin Daeng and Hin Muang. They offer PADI courses.

Eat

Ko Lanta has a wide variety of restaurants, the kind that most visitors travel to Thailand for: beachfront locations serving delicious and inexpensive Thai and seaford dishes. Eateries line the beaches in front of the bungalows and no visitor to Lanta will starve from lack of variety or interesting places to dine.

• Sunset Restaurant. A very small restaurant on Klong Dao beach close to D.R.Lanta Resort beside Mooks bar. The Thai food is the best on Klong Dao beach and cheap too. Real thai style eating with the tables directly on the sand and no decorations at all but a nice view and cool breeze from the sea. And the food... mmm.
• Abdul's Pancakes. Abdul's Pancakes is a crêpe stall run from a motorcycle sidecar. You can most often find him in Moo 1, Saladan, opposite Lanta Diver at about 3pm when the boat divers come back. His chocolate and banana crêpe and his chicken crêpe are especially recommended.
• Cook Kai. Just across the street from Klong Nin Beach is the Cook Kai restaurant. Wholly built of wood and lovely decorated, it offers a spacious open dining area and bar. Run by the cook and his brothers and sisters, their Thai food, which has a bit of an extraordinary note, is probably the best you can get in the area and beyond. Go for the daily specials announced on the board at the entrance! Cook Kai also offers thai cooking classes.

Drink

There's not much in the way of nightlife on Ko Lanta, which, for many is part of the appeal. There are a few restaurant/bars at the harbor and most hotels.

• Oscar's Bar Driftwood terrace on the beach.

• Mooks bar. Klong Dao beach between D.R.Lanta Bay Resort and Sun Fun & Sea Bungalows. If you like relaxing with a drink on the beach and listening to Reggae and maybe watch sports on TV. Mook himself is a person worth meeting.

Sleep

Ko Lanta has three tourist seasons: low, high and peak. Visiting in the low season (May to October) is likely to be very quiet indeed: so quiet in fact that you'll have difficulty getting accommodation as many of the resorts shut down. The resorts open for the high season in November and close in May. The peak season is from mid-December to the end of January and at Songkran in April; per-night prices may increase by as much as 600 baht. Getting accommodation at a day or two's notice during the high season is not difficult, but it may be during the peak.

Usually, however, you'll find touts more than happy to help you find somehere to stay, from Krabi pier onwards. The places further away offer free transport and are immensely cheaper (100 B for a spotless beach hut with bathroom), but the beach may not be so attractive.

• Andalanta Resort, 79 Khlong Jak. tel 028 995 919. fax 024 157 436. email info@andalanta.com. The Andalanta Resort (formerly the Waterfall Bay Resort) is a luxury bungalow resort without room service with telephones that don't function, satellite TV and Internet access for guests. Open during the low season. Rooms from 2000 baht, bungalows from 3000 baht, overpriced. http://andalanta.com/
• Kantiang Bay View Resort, 9 Moo 5, Ao Kantiang. tel 01 787 5192. Restaurant + "Why not?"-bar directly on the beach. Wooden bungalows with fan (300B low season), concrete bungalows with A/C (beachfront 700B low season). Not to be mixed up with the nearby Marine Park View Resort, which is located on the hill!
• Marine Park View Resort, 7 Moo 5, Ao Kantiang. Restaurant + Shroom Bar with the best view of the beach. Wooden bungalows with fan (200B low season), concrete bungalows with A/C (beach view 600B low season). Now under European management.
• Lanta Summer House, 208 Klong Dao Beach. tel 075 684 099. email lantasummer@yahoo.com. Lanta Summer House is a typical beachside bungalow resort with three bed air-conditioned bungalows. The restaurant is in the lower price range but the offerings, while extensive, are very watered down: they don't do spicy. Poolside bungalows from 800 baht per night. Nice and friendly staff.
• Madame Lauren's Lanta Long Beach Resort, Long Beach. tel 075 684 217. email lantalongbeach@hotmail.com. Madame Mauren's Lanta Long Beach Resort is described by travellers as one of the more friendly places to stay on Ko Lanta. Unlikely many other resorts, it attracts backpackers rather than families and is a good place to meet (and drink with) new people. They recommend not asking the owner about why there's a similarly named resort next door though. Open during the low season. Beds from 150 baht.
• The Narima Bungalow Resort, 98 Moo 5, Klong Nin Beach. tel 075 618 081. email narima@inet.co.th. The Narima Bungalow Resort is set down on the small, private, Klong Nin Beach. The emphasis is on a touch of beachside luxury with open air beach views and wooden floors. http://www.narima-lanta.com/
• Relax Bay Resort, 111 Moo 2, Phra Ae. tel 075 684 194. fax 075 684 196. email relaxbay@hotmail.com. Relax Bay Resort has its own beach: 1km in length. Fan bungalows from 700 baht, air-con from 1000 baht. http://www.relaxbay.com/