Koh Lanta
Koh Lanta is the family island of the Andaman and where backpackers go after Phi Phi, with a 25-kilometre coast road to ride south beach by beach. Manta dives at Hin Daeng, without Phuket's boat traffic.
Koh Lanta in a nutshell
Koh Lanta: what to expect
The numbers here are drawn from 1,756,000+ planned stops across Thailand on Stippl.
Koh Lanta is the slow one on the Andaman coast, and it is long enough that a scooter is not optional. The island runs about thirty kilometres from the ferry pier at Saladan down to the national park and the lighthouse at Tanod Cape, and riding that road, stopping at whichever beach or roadside roti stall turns up, is the day people describe afterwards. Lanta Old Town is stilted teak shophouses over the water at the far end. Most travellers give the island 3 nights on Stippl.
Two-thirds of people arrive on Koh Lanta straight from Koh Phi Phi, and the contrast is the point. 68.1% of travellers who plan Koh Lanta on Stippl come directly from Phi Phi, and only 12.1% of stops here are a single night, the lowest share of any Andaman island. People are trading a loud island for a long quiet one and giving it the days to work.
Three to five nights, and half the value is the road rather than a boat. Take one day for the Koh Rok and Koh Haa snorkel run, which beats the standard four-island loop and which shuts with the other Andaman marine parks from the middle of May to the middle of October. Keep an evening for Lanta Old Town at golden hour and an afternoon for Khao Mai Kaew, a real two-hour scramble through tight passages and bat caverns rather than a walkway cave. Come between November and April, because much of the island closes outside it.
Plan Koh Lanta in Stippl
Day-by-day planning, stays and budget in one app, with every place from this guide already on the map.
Download the appWho Koh Lanta is for
Families
Klong Dao's shallow calm water, short transfers, kids' clubs at the resorts and a pace with no party pressure make it the family island of the Andaman.
Backpackers decompressing
The island travellers go to after Phi Phi: cheap hostels, scooter freedom, and sunset bars instead of bucket bars.
Digital nomads and long-stayers
KoHub at Long Beach is one of the best-regarded coworking spaces on the Thai islands, and people stay six months to a year.
Divers and snorkellers
Day trips to Koh Rok and Koh Haa, and the manta and whale-shark sites at Hin Daeng and Hin Muang, without Phuket's boat traffic.
Scooter explorers
A 25 km coastal road, viewpoints, caves, a waterfall and beach after beach; the single most repeated activity is simply riding south.
Animal lovers
Lanta Animal Welfare is the island's top-rated activity: tours, dog-walking, a café, and a serious rescue operation behind it.
Maybe not for you: party travellers, since fire shows and beach bars are the ceiling and Phi Phi or Phangan do it properly; anyone without wheels, because the areas are far apart and taxis add up; and visitors from May to October, when much of the island closes.
The best time to visit Koh Lanta
Dry season
November to April
Calm sea, clear water, every boat running and every business open. December to February is the peak, and Christmas to New Year needs booking ahead, though Lanta stays calmer than its neighbours.
Southwest monsoon
May to October
The island partly shuts: about half the restaurants, dive shops and tour desks close, the passenger ferries stop and you arrive by car ferry instead. Prices drop hard for what stays open.
Shoulder months
May and October
A gamble either way. Fine weeks happen, and so do wet ones, with half the island already or still closed.
- The marine park closes from 16 May to 14 October, every year. Koh Rok, Koh Haa and the Hin Daeng and Hin Muang dive sites shut with the rest of the Andaman parks and reopen on 15 October, so a snorkel or dive day in those months is not a booking you can make.
- Ramadan moves each year, and on a Muslim-majority island it changes where you eat. Some local kitchens close or shorten their hours for the month; the tourist strip runs as normal.
- January is the month most travellers plan Koh Lanta for on Stippl, about 75 days ahead. Only 16.2% of Lanta plans are made inside a fortnight, so the peak weeks are not a place to arrive without a room.
- The real decision is not rain but how much of the island is open. June to September means an emptier, cheaper island with rough seas, no island-hopping and a thinned-out food scene: fine if you came to read on a porch, wrong for a first visit.
Add your Koh Lanta dates and we'll flag the weather
Stippl shows the season, crowds and prices for every stop on your route.
Describe your trip, get a Koh Lanta itinerary in seconds
Everything in this guide is already in Stippl. Tell the planner how long you have and what you like: it builds the route, the days and the travel times, and you edit whatever you want.
Things to do in Koh Lanta
The coast road south
Ride a scooter from Saladan to the national park at the southern tip, pulling over at whichever beach, viewpoint or roadside roti stall appears. The island's defining day, about €6 for the bike and most of a day.
Mu Ko Lanta National Park
Walk the jungle nature trail, swim off the quiet park beach and climb to the Tanod Cape lighthouse for the view over both coasts, about €5. The macaques are bold; keep the bag closed.
Lanta Old Town at golden hour
Walk the stilted teak shophouses over the sea on the east coast in the last light, then eat seafood over the water. The viewpoint café on the hill outside town has the road back.
A Koh Rok and Koh Haa snorkel day
Take the connoisseur's day trip over the four-islands loop: marine-park water clarity, coral, turtles and monitor lizards at the lunch beach, about €50 by speedboat. Closed from mid May to mid October.
The four-islands tour
Take the classic longtail day to Emerald Cave on Koh Mook, swimming through a dark sea tunnel into a hidden lagoon beach, then Koh Ngai and Koh Kradan, about €30. Bring a torch for the tunnel.
Lanta Animal Welfare
Tour the shelter, walk a rescue dog on the beach and have a coffee at the café on site; free, and the island's top-rated activity as well as its only vet. Walks leave in the cooler hours.
The neighbourhoods of Koh Lanta
Saladan
Port town, no beach
The port at the northern tip where the boats land: market streets, travel agents, dive shops and restaurants over the water. For a first night and for divers; a logistics base, not a beach.
Every boat and dive shop at the door, and no sand to lie on.
Klong Dao
Firm sand, shallow, calm
The first beach south of Saladan: three kilometres of white sand, shallow calm water, family resorts and a night market. For families and first visits; the island's default.
Easy water for children and the market, and the busiest beach on Lanta.
Long Beach
The social centre, coworking
The longest beach and the island's centre of gravity: hostels to resorts, cafés, beach bars and the coworking space, social without being a party strip. For backpackers, remote workers and first visits.
Everything on one walkable strip, and the highest prices on the island.
Klong Khong
Reggae bars, fire shows, rocks
Mid-coast and boho: reggae and fire-show beach bars on a rockier beach, the closest thing Lanta has to a nightlife area. For backpackers who want the evenings and do not mind the swimming.
The best evenings on the island, and rocks in the water at low tide.
Klong Nin
Sunset bars, quieter, cheaper
The mid-south all-rounder: two kilometres of sand, sunset bars, good swimming in season, quieter and cheaper than Long Beach. For couples and anyone on a second visit.
Sunsets and calm, and a scooter ride to the north's restaurants.
Kantiang Bay & the south
Jungle crescent, wild beaches
A jungle-backed crescent with the island's top resort at one end, then the wild southern beaches of Nui Bay and Bamboo Bay and the national park road. For seclusion and for the park at dawn.
The wildest beaches on Lanta, and forty minutes from the port.
See every Koh Lanta neighbourhood on one map
Save the areas you like and Stippl plots your days so you're not crossing the city twice.
Where to stay in Koh Lanta
Stay on Long Beach for a first visit: it has the restaurants, the cafés and a walkable strip, and it is social without being a party beach. Most people give Koh Lanta 3 nights on Stippl. Book through the accommodation rather than around it; most places arrange scooters and boat tickets with pier pickup, and the best hostels sell out in the December to February peak.
Saladan
Guesthouses and small hotels over the water by the pier, €15 to €45, for the first or last night.
Klong Dao
Family resorts with pools on calm shallow water, €40 to €110, the closest beach to the pier.
Long Beach
Hostels with dorms €5 to €14, bamboo bungalows from €10, and pool resorts €17 to €43.
Klong Khong
Cheap bungalows and beach-bar guesthouses, €10 to €40; light sleepers should ask about late music.
Klong Nin
Mid-range resorts and bungalows with west-facing rooms for the sunset, €30 to €90.
Kantiang Bay & the south
Jungle resorts and the island's five-star tier from €150, with simple huts on Bamboo Bay from €15.
What to eat in Koh Lanta
the island's strength: caught locally, grilled to order
the 80–120 THB local-kitchen staples; Thai spicy means it here
the Muslim-south flatbread, sweet or savoury, from roadside stalls
skewers, som tam, smoothies, live music some nights
Discover food spots in Stippl
Find restaurants and markets on the map, save them to your itinerary, works offline too.
Koh Lanta customs and what not to do
Mosques outnumber temples
On Lanta Yai they do: dress and behave with the same respect near a mosque as at a temple, and expect some local businesses to pause during Ramadan.
The sea gypsies live here
The Urak Lawoi are a resident people with their own language and history, and Lanta Old Town exists because of these families and the Thai-Chinese traders; a home, not a display.
The restraint is the point
Development has stayed low-rise and locally owned by Thai island standards, and behaving as if this were a party island misreads the room.
Keep food out of sight
Feeding or teasing the macaques at the national park and Nui Bay invites bag raids and bites; a closed bag and nothing in your hand is the whole rule.
Do
- Rent the scooter from your accommodation rather than a roadside shop, and video its condition first
- Carry cash for the park gate, parking fees and small kitchens
- Check what is open before a May to October trip; restaurants, dive shops and even hostels close
- Go south at least once; the island's best half is past Klong Nin
Don't
- Plan a Koh Rok or Koh Haa trip between mid-May and mid-October; the islands are closed
- Swim past red flags in the monsoon
- Hand anything to the monkeys
- Expect to walk between areas; distances are island-scale, not village-scale
What a Koh Lanta trip costs
Budget
€25
Bamboo bungalow or dorm, local plates, scooter, beaches (free), one paid sight.
Mid-range
€51
Pool resort room, restaurant meals, a boat day trip, sunset cocktails.
High-end
from about €180
Kantiang-class resort, diving, private transfers.
Track what you actually spend
Set a daily budget per country and log expenses in any currency while you travel.
Fun facts about Koh Lanta
The French Survivor show Koh-Lanta is named after the island. It has been a national institution in France since 2001, and the first series was filmed here, a much quieter kind of fame than Maya Bay's.
Nothing on Koh Lanta is built higher than three floors. The low-rise rule is an island consensus rather than a marketing line, and most resorts stop at two storeys.
Mosques outnumber Buddhist temples on Koh Lanta Yai. It is a Muslim-majority island in a Buddhist-majority country, with a resident sea-gypsy community and kitchens that close for Ramadan.
Lanta Animal Welfare has helped over 15,000 animals since 2005. It doubles as the island's only vet, and the Time for Lime cooking school on Klong Dao donates its profits to the shelter.
Bioluminescent plankton glow on Long Beach on dark nights. No tour is needed: walk into the water on a moonless night and the plankton light up around your feet.
The Siri Lanta Bridge joined the two Lanta islands in 2016. The 650-metre bridge replaced a ferry, but the mainland link is still a car ferry, which is why minivans from Krabi roll onto a boat mid-journey.
Local tips for Koh Lanta
There is still no bridge
Every vehicle crosses on the car ferry from Hua Hin pier, and that queue is the peak-season delay everyone complains about. The new bridge is years away; the 2016 one links the two Lanta islands.
Boats stop, the road does not
The passenger boats from Krabi and Ao Nang run from November to April and stop in the monsoon. In the low season the minivan and car ferry from Krabi is the only reliable way in.
Book the boat days ahead
In high season the sailings sell out, and the online aggregators quote double what the pier charges. Buy at the pier the day before, or through your guesthouse.
How long to stay
Most people give Koh Lanta 3 nights on Stippl, and the west-coast bungalows sell in three-night blocks for that reason: the coast road, one boat day and a beach day.
The scooter is the danger
Accidents are frequent even on Lanta's easy roads, and the rental fleet goes to first-time riders with no licence. Helmet, real riding experience and insurance that covers the bike; the far south is steep.
Mushroom shakes are illegal
The beach bars around Klong Nin sell them as local colour and Thai law does not: psilocybin is a Category 5 narcotic and tourists have been arrested. Openly sold is not the same as legal.
Koh Lanta questions, answered
That is what most people do, and the order makes sense: Phi Phi is loud and small, Lanta is quiet and long. Lay the ferry days out in Stippl, because the crossing only runs in the high season and the wet-season alternative is a car ferry from Krabi. Then ask people who did it in both directions, in subreddits like r/ThailandTourism.
Effectively, yes. The island is roughly thirty kilometres long, walking between areas is not realistic, and the coast road south is the best thing on it. Songthaews exist but run to the main beaches rather than to the park, so anyone planning to reach the lighthouse ends up renting one anyway.
It is on about one route in six: 16.0% of Thailand trips planned on Stippl carry a Koh Lanta stop. That is a lot for an island with no airport and no bridge, and it is mostly the ferry network doing it, since Krabi, Ao Nang, Phi Phi, Phuket and Koh Lipe all connect here in season.
Much of it does. The marine parks at Koh Rok and Koh Haa shut from the middle of May to the middle of October, the passenger ferries stop and a good share of the businesses close with them. 73.8% of the trips carrying Koh Lanta on Stippl fall between November and March.
For a good number of people, yes: 18.5% of Koh Lanta stops planned on Stippl run five nights or more. That is high for a Thai island and it matches what the place is, which is a long coast road, a national park and very little that has to happen on a schedule.
Koh Rok and Koh Haa, over the standard four-island loop. The water is marine-park clear, there are turtles and coral, and the lunch beach has monitor lizards on it. The four islands are the alternative and take in Emerald Cave on Koh Mook, where you swim through a dark sea tunnel into a hidden lagoon.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Plan Koh Lanta in Stippl
Day-by-day planning, stays and budget in one app, with every place from this guide already on the map.
Download the app