Krabi, Thailand

Railay Beach, Krabi was my favorite beach we stayed at in Thailand.
Railay Beach is a quieter part of the Thai Islands. It was not crowded and is very calm and relaxing. This was the perfect first stop after two days of travel! We stayed here our first two nights in Thailand to relax and adjust before we headed to Phi Phi Islands. 

The most important thing you need to know if you are going to Krabi: PACK LIGHT. 
I say this all the time, but this time I REALLY mean it. Traveling to the island is not easy! You will have to take a taxi from the airport to the Railay Beach "ferry." By ferry they mean long tail boat. 
They charged us 450 baht for the ferry, which is $13.78 USD. You can negotiate for a lower price if you want to, I'm sure. So yes, you have to carry all of your luggage to the boat and climb in. 
This is what it looked like: 

The island "ferry." Long tail boat. We were lucky we were the only ones with luggage! 

If you are traveling from Krabi to Phi Phi, I recommend using Phuket Harbour Ferry. Its only $12 per person to take the ferry. Book online by clicking here

Railay beach is so incredibly beautiful. The water is gorgeous, you are surrounded by greenery covered cliffs and mountains, and even monkeys! 

Where We Stayed:
Sand Sea Resort 

The Sand Sea Resort was the PERFECT location on Railay Beach. It is not crowded at all and it is very peaceful. If you are an early bird, or if you haven't adjusted to the time change yet (we woke up at 4 AM everyday our first two days here), the beach is completely empty until around 8:30 AM.
The resort has a nice pool and is located right on the beach. 
You can book excursions through the resort and they are very helpful, however you can book the same ones on the street for much less! 
The streets of Railay are just a 30 second walk from the beach. 
This resort does not offer alcohol, but you can walk two seconds to the resort next door and they have many yummy cocktails!

Me with my special Thai cocktail and Pad Woon Sen :)

Our Room: Our room was nothing spectacular, but it did have a balcony with a beautiful view of the mountains and trees. We even saw a lot of monkeys!

Price: For a grand deluxe room here it was only $75 a night for two people. 
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Breakfast: If you did not book breakfast included with your room, It was $350 baht ($10.72) which is actually pretty pricey for Thailand. The breakfast buffet here was incredible and on the beach with a gorgeous view. My favorite breakfast items was the mini pastries and chicken sausage!

Excursions:
Hong Island Trip

Emerald Waters around Hong Island

    

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Entering Hong Lagoon. Full video on IG @alisonbowles

We booked the Hong Island excursion directly from the resort which made it a little more costly at 1500 baht (45.94 USD). It was only our second day in Thailand so what we didn't know is that we could have bought the same excursion on the street for around 600 baht ($18.38). You do have to bring an additional 400 baht in cash for the Hong Island National Park Fee ($12.25).
It was a 7 hour excursion around Hong Island & Hong Lagoon by speedboat. There was plenty of water and fruit included on the boat. There were about 12-15 other people with us on the boat. We stopped at the different beaches around Hong Island for exploring, swimming, and snorkeling. Each place we visited was so incredibly beautiful with emerald and bright turquoise waters. Beautiful neon fish will swim up all around you. 

Our speedboat. We sat on the seats in the front and it was so gorgeous!

If you have long hair I recommend wearing it in a braid, but obviously I failed here. Good news is the hotel conditioner is phenomenal!

There are hundreds and hundred of these beautiful fish in the water at LaoLanding Island. The water is so clear that its easier to see them without goggles than with them on. I figured out than if you put your hands in the water, palms facing up, they will all flock to you. The might nibble a little bit but it doesn't hurt at all! 

The excursion included a home cooked Thai meal that we also ate at LaoLanding Island. This particular day we ate rice with chicken curry, vegetables, chicken legs & fruit. It was SO tasty. I am really craving it now as I type this. 

Laughing because I'm getting tickled by little fishies!

This swimsuit is by Azure Swimwear

The Ko Hong Island & Lagoon excursions is a for sure must when in Krabi!

Streets of Railay

The streets of Railay Beach are just a 30 second walk from the Sand Sea Resort. There are a lot of other fun streets throughout Krabi, but this is the only one we went to since it was so close! Its a very Bob Marley/Island Vibe here. There are lots of fun little bars, coffee shops, restaurants, spas, shops, fruit markets, and even marijuana lounges. Everyone here is very laid back and nice. I'm not sure why, but people kept telling us "Good Morning" everywhere (it was night time). I don't know if this was a joke or if they just didn't know the right thing to say for the time. I'm really not sure, haha. 
The food everywhere in Krabi was incredible, but street food is the best way to go! Its much cheaper than buying it at the resort (as if the food isn't already inexpensive, lol). 

Boat Shaped Bar/Restaurant

Marijuana lounge

Typical fruits you see all over Thailand are bananas, pineapple, mango, lychee (longan), papaya, watermelon, dragonfruit, passionfruit, guava, and more. 

Thai Pancake (Roti) I prefer the sweeter pancakes but they sell all kinds of flavors... tuna, chicken and egg, egg and mango, etc. Very interesting!

Places mapped by Wanderlog, a vacation planner