Usually, tourists boat in here from Ao Nang beaches (Krabi) or even from other provinces like Phuket. This is what people mean when they talk about “Railay Beach” or “Railey Beach”, although the correct Thai pronunciation would be “Railay” or even “Ralay”. Actually, there are two beaches on the peninsula, and both of them are Railay!
Western (West Railay Beach) is swimmable, while the second one – Eastern (East Railay Beach) – is more of a utility beach, if I can put it that way. In my opinion, West Railay is one of the most beautiful beaches in Krabi province (after Pra Nang).
Beach Overview
It’s really convenient that it’s within easy reach for winter residents (I’m talking about Ao Nang village). The sand is ordinary, fine and yellowish, with a few stones in the surf line, but not many. Even on weekends there’s enough space for everyone as the beach is quite wide. In the mornings it’s never too crowded, except for tourists staying at local hotels who gather in the shade of the trees.
Swimming
The entrance to the sea gets deep relatively quickly, with proper depth starting about 33 feet (10 metres) from shore. During a mild low tide, swimming is still possible, though you’ll need to walk considerably further out and it might be a bit shallow. Generally speaking, the tide significantly changes both the appearance and swimmability of the beach.
But West Railay has a trickier problem – from 9am onwards, loads of tourist boats start arriving from Ao Nang, so during high season the shore can get absolutely packed. Waves only appear during stormy weather.
Sunbeds and Shade
By the way, shade – like on all Krabi beaches – is only good in the morning and at lunchtime, and afterwards you can only escape the sun in the cafes. The beach is very open, wide and stretches for quite some distance. At low tide, the sea retreats far from the shady areas and you’ll have to choose between shelter or being close to the water.
Beach Photos
Amenities
In terms of facilities, there are cafes on Walking Street, small shops, a resort, several guesthouses and a couple of serious hotels at the southern end of the beach, where security guards won’t let you onto the grounds.
To reach the hub of West Railay’s active life, you need to walk to the Walking Street sign (written in English in capital letters) and head inward along the path. Though “inward” is a bit of an exaggeration – you only need to go about 66 feet (twenty meters) or so.
After about 350 feet (a hundred metres), the path turns towards East Railay, where there are also cafes, shops and accommodation. It’s roughly a 10-minute walk, and along the way you’ll come across the only water dispenser on the entire peninsula with cheap drinking water.
If you turn right at East Railay, after another 10 minutes you’ll reach Pranang Beach. West Railay is about a 15-minute walk from Ton Sai.
Besides this, at Railay Beach you can rent a kayak or buy a boat ticket to the islands. You can even sail to Phuket if you fancy it. At the northern end of the beach there’s a crumbling cliff overgrown with greenery that looks impassable at first glance. In reality, there’s a hidden passage to the semi-wild hippie beach of Ton Sai.
Accommodation
The best-rated hotels on Railay according to user reviews are Railay Village Resort – SHA Extra Plus and Sand Sea Resort.
These are three-star beach resorts with swimming pools, restaurants and well-maintained grounds, located in the centre of the beach, right next to the sea. But these are far from the only accommodation options. You can view the full range of available lodging by clicking the button below.
Several resorts have been built here along with plenty of small hotels, both on the shore and deeper in the peninsula. Prices for accommodation, food and cafes are higher than at the main resort. The owners take advantage of the area’s remoteness and shamelessly jack up prices for everything.
How to Find the Beach
You can only reach West Railay by boat as the peninsula is separated from the mainland by cliffs. There might be some secret paths, but people usually boat there from Ao Nang, Ao Nam Mao, Krabi Town, or even from Phuket.
Extreme types in proper trekking shoes walk along the rocks by the sea during low tide, from Ao Nammao to East Railay, but they still have to return by boat or stay on the peninsula waiting for the next low tide. Typically, people come to stay in Ao Nang for a while and make occasional trips to Railay from there.
On the Ao Nang waterfront, you can buy a boat ticket for 100 baht and reach Railay in 10 minutes. The return ticket also costs 100 baht (you can buy a round trip straight away, there’s no discount). Bear in mind that with a return ticket you need to go back with the same carrier – I mean the same boat company.
For instance, in Ao Nang there are two such companies with ticket offices and piers at opposite ends of the beach. Nopparat has its own boatmen, as does Ao Nammao. So if you were brought to Railay by people in blue vests, don’t board a boat with red or striped vests for your return journey – they’ll make you pay for the ride again.
A boat from Krabi Town costs 150 baht per person, from Ao Nimmao it’s 80 baht, but they dock at East Railay. By the way, the tides are very pronounced there – if you arrive during a strong low tide, you’ll have to wade from the boat to shore through murky water and mud.
Longtails depart as they fill up – 10 people. That means once you’ve bought your ticket, sit on the bench and wait until the person in the vest calls everyone to the boat. There are always more people hanging about in Ao Nang, so boats fill up literally in 5-10 minutes, but Ao Nimmao is a bit out of the way and not many people know about it, so there’s a real chance you might be twiddling your thumbs for half an hour to an hour waiting for fellow passengers.
