Here are 4 things you must do in Ao Nang

Ao Nang Thailand

Before we went to Ao Nang, we heard mixed things about the place, which was 20 minutes from Krabi. After we stayed there for a few days, we still have mixed feelings about it.
The beach didn’t look as pretty as the ones in Koh Phi Phi or Railay Beach for example. The sand wasn’t nice and the waves made it impossible to swim.

What we loved about Ao Nang was the lively vibe and atmosphere around town. There were many nice bars and restaurants to grab a drink during the day and the hotel we stayed in had live music every night. Another good thing about Ao Nang are the tours you can book and start from there. Half or full day tours to the islands and temple around are very popular. We did 2 tours (7 island hopping and Tiger cave and Emerald Pool) and liked them both. It was a fun time and we met a lot of nice people during the trip.

 7 Islands Tour

Like I mentioned before, we really liked the tours from Ao Nang.
On the 7 Island Tour the weather turned on us and half of our stops had to be cancelled because of strong waves and wind. If it wouldn’t be for the weather, the guides would have shown us the surrounding islands and we would have the chance to climb of a high rock and jump from 5 to 30 meters into the deep blue sea. Nevertheless, Thomas and I had a great time with the people on the boat – we went snorkeling at Chicken Island, sailed around Railey Beach and saw glowing Plankton during our night swim after the sunset. I bet the tour would have been perfect if the storm hadn’t hit us that day.

The second tour was an all-day program which showed us the above mentioned places. First stop was the Tiger Cave, a temple on top of the world. We had to climb up more than 1200 huge steps to get to the temple.
After that the guide took us to the Emerald Pool. It was a magical place and I am so glad I experiences it, because it was so unique. We arrived at a national park 50km from Ao Nang and after we walked along a small river, we arrived at the Emerald Pool – a turquoise spot of happiness. It was a magical place in the middle of high trees and small waterfalls. A perfect spot to cool down after a walk through the rain forest.

After cooling off, the tour lead us to our first hot spring experience. It was a beautiful collection of natural Jacuzzis’ flowing like a waterfall from pool to pool down to the river.

 

Railay Beach

I already wrote about this island in my last post but there is one last thing worth mentioning.  Railay Beach and its lime stone cliffs has become the Mekka for rock climbers from all around the world. One of the activities we really wanted to do but couldn’t, was “Deep Water Soloing”. It’s basically just rock climbing over deep water and the climbers can push themselves and climb as high as possible. If you can’t go any higher or got to the designated jump spot, you can just jump “safely” into the water.  Sadly our plans got ruined by too high waves that week, but we will surely come back and try this out.

Poda Island is where the tours will take you to try deep water soling.

 

If you want to see more pics go to this guys flickr page

 

Sunsets in Ao Nang

You can actually get some pretty good sunsets at Ao Nang despite it being on the east coast. It doesn’t cost anything and you get to see one of the most magical things. There is a saying that no one is ever not stunned by a sunset, no matter how many times he or she has seen it.

Where we stayed
After we had a horrible night at a very shady hotel (Sunset Hotel), we had to find another place to stay. Only 5 minutes walk down the road we found “Ao Nang Beach Resort”- a way better place for the same price. It is quite central opposite of the oceanside, surrounded by bars, shops and restaurants. The resort had a small outdoor pool and the rooms were clean and bright. The service was helpful, but some of them couldn’t understand much English, but it was enough for the necessary things. There was great live music every night at the restaurant downstairs. We enjoyed both the entertainment and the food there. The breakfast however, was horrible and not fresh at all. Except this, I would recommend the resort to everyone, who wants to stay a bit more luxurious than a hostel (price per night 700 to 1100 Baht in low season ~ 20 to 30 Euro).

Tuni