Hey everyone! Having traveled to and around Railay Beach, I wanted to pass on to you a few helpful tips. Tip # 1. What's the Best Way to get to Railay Beach? Traveling to and from the Krabi airport to Railay beach might be a bit confusing to do on your own after landing from a long international flight. Now you might want to try to save a few bucks and do it on your own. Here’s what I recommend you do, doing this will take some of the guesswork and headache out of the equation.
Pay for the transfer service from your hotel. Now this might not be as cheap as arranging for your own taxi and longtail boat transfer to Railay beach but your price is fixed with this option and you won't share a cab or bus with a bunch of other people you don't know. You will get to your hotel a lot faster and safer. You won't get ripped off by the cab driver or longtail boat in the process. It cost us around $46 USD for two people total for each transfer each way. This option will bring you right to your hotel and most times they will carry and load your luggage for you right to your hotel. If you arrange your own taxi and longtail boat transfers from the airport you will save at most $15 USD.
Tip # 2. Bring your own sunscreen You may be thinking that you can buy sunscreen anywhere in Thailand since it's full of beaches. Sure, if you don't mind paying inflated prices! You might not get the brand that you want or the quality either. But listen up this is why you should bring your own sunscreen, about 90% of the sunscreen I found in Thailand contained skin whitening products.
Tip # 3. Avoid the monkeys!
There are monkeys everywhere on Railay East, West, and in the middle of the island, they're everywhere. There are signs saying not to feed the monkeys and that's for good reason, because you're just going to encourage them to come closer to you. If you don't have food or run out of food, they may get mad and they could scratch or bite you. They could have rabies and no one wants to get rabies shots on their vacation. Avoid the monkeys at all cost.
Tip # 4. Laundry
After many days of traveling you're probably tired of washing your clothes in the sink, right? Shop around for places providing laundry services. A place closer to the beach might charge you 100 Baht per kilo just for the convenience of where they are located, while one farther inland might charge you only 50 Baht per kilo. Also go with your gut, if a place looks super run down or shady you might want to pass on it and go to the next place.
Tip # 5. Hydration
Drinks, beers, bottled water, etc. Now you might think things are pretty cheap in Thailand and in general that's the case but this is Railay and things are more expensive overall here. Why, you ask? Because everything has to be brought in by boats to Railay Beach. You should go to multiple convenience stores and shop around, find the place that offers the best prices and pick yourself up some bottled beer and water to take back to your room.
I was lucky in that my second hotel provided me with four waters a day, if I ran out I could stop by the hotel reception area and they would just give me a few more bottles. Either way you're still going to have to buy more water here because it's super hot and you need to stay hydrated.
Tip # 6. Where to stay One of the key questions I had when booking my trip to Railay Beach was, should I stay on the east or west side and how far are the beaches from each side? Since Railay is a small place, you should probably choose the best hotel for your money. Railay West is steps away from the most popular beach but you will end up paying more for the convenience of being closer to the beach! Railay East is typically cheaper and you will get better amenities depending on where you stay. Note that Railay East could not be more different than the other beaches on Railay, it's a narrow Beach and it's home to Mangroves. I stayed in the Bhu Nga Thani in Railay East in a Deluxe Grand Room and it was superb.
I also stayed at the Railay Village Resort on Railay West. It was very loud here at night because of the close proximity of the bars but the beach access could not be beat.
From Railay East you can walk to Railay West Beach in about 8 minutes and to Phra Nang Beach in about 10 minutes. Railay East and Phra Nang Beach are connected by a path which follows the base of some Limestone Cliffs and it's bordered by caves and stalactites that you absolutely have to check out.
I spent most of my time between Phra Nang Beach and Railay West beach.
Tip # 7 Swimmingwimming While swimming in Railay beach and in Phra Nang Beach we noticed some people had on full length swim pants and full-length arm swim shirts. Now we really didn't put two and two together until occasionally while swimming we got stung by something in the water.
At first we thought maybe it's baby jellyfish or something. I never figured out what it was stinging us but it really was annoying. I'll tell you what, I bet those people with full length swimwear on probably knew what was up. It also probably cut down on their sunburns. I noticed that if we wore extra sunscreen in the water it helped to not get stung. We also noticed we got stung less in the morning and more in the afternoon.
Tip # 8. Read the Restaurant Reviews Before Sitting Down to Eat Don’t just choose any restaurant randomly! Check Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, or all of them before grabbing a seat and ordering a meal. In a small area like Railay, do you really think 10 back-to-back bad reviews or good reviews about a restaurant and can be spot-on? Yessss, they can be! They've been there, they're doing this for your benefit. Our favorite restaurant was the Railay Family Restaurant. We ate there every single day, multiple times a day.
Tip # 9. Don't be afraid to go to Railay Beach in the Rainy Season The rooms are usually cheaper, the beaches are less crowded and if it does happen to rain it will usually pass by very quickly.
Tip # 10. Watch a Sunset Walk to Phra Nang Beach Cove and get yourself a table at The Grotto restaurant looking out at the water. Order yourself a fresh coconut or a drink and enjoy one of the most memorable sunsets you will ever see. Keep in mind this is an upscale place on the beach, so dress decently. Things will cost you a little bit more here but go ahead indulge yourself. It is totally worth it.
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