Koh Lanta

Considering I headed to Koh Lanta for a lively atmosphere, I chose the completely wrong destination! Koh Lanta is quite a big island, with lots of beaches to choose from but it is mainly orientated towards families and couples, rather than young backpacking crowd I was looking for.

I stayed in the affordable area of Khlong Khong beach, and although it looked promising with bars stretched along the entire length of the beach, they remained pretty quiet in the evenings. I did meet a backpacking couple on my first night, and had a great evening chatting to them over Thai rum and coke, but they were leaving the next day.

I decided that I would still spend a couple of days in Koh Lanta to get a proper impression of the island. I spent my first day sunbathing on Hat Khlong Khong as the weather was gorgeous, but sadly the beach was not quite so pretty! Koh Lanta doesn't enjoy the dramatic limestone peaks that make the Andaman coast so beautiful, so the scenery and beaches were pretty sub par, particularly in comparison to Koh Lipe. My second day in Lanta was overcast, so I decided to spend the day walking around the island to check out the other beaches and coves. It was a nice chilled out day and I ended up walking for miles! I eventually reached Ban Sala Dan in the south of the island and spent the evening there shopping in the night markets and sampling the seafood! When I woke up on my third morning, the weather was still overcast, and so I knew it was time to head out. I checked out of my bungalow and booked a ferry ticket to Koh Phi Phi, crossing my fingers that it would be a bit livelier there!