Koh Yao Noi
Koh Yao Noi chose to stay a fishing island, and it sits inside Phang Nga Bay rather than on its edge. Koh Hong's lagoon ahead of the tour boats, and a ring road through rice paddies.
Koh Yao Noi in a nutshell
Koh Yao Noi: what to expect
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Koh Yao Noi is worth the boat if you want a Thai island that still lives from fishing rather than from tourism. It sits in the middle of Phang Nga Bay, between Phuket and Krabi, with karst islands on every horizon. You take a longtail to Koh Hong's hidden lagoon, kayak the west-coast mangroves, and cycle the ring road past rice paddies, rubber groves and water buffalo. Most travellers give Koh Yao Noi 3 nights on Stippl.
Koh Yao Noi is planned as one half of an Andaman pair, and the other half is Koh Lanta. 48.1% of Koh Yao Noi trips on Stippl also plan Koh Lanta, close to three times the rate on Thai trips overall. Phuket appears on more of them, but mostly because Bang Rong pier is where the boat leaves. Koh Samui and the Gulf islands turn up less often than on an ordinary Thailand route.
Base yourself on the east coast for three nights, and come in the dry season. Pasai suits families, Tha Khao a budget and Klong Jark a resort stay, and a scooter reaches every beach from any of them. The sea is only good for swimming on a rising tide, so a pool earns its price. Skip the island if a night out matters: there is one bar where other islands have a street. 49.5% of Koh Yao Noi trips on Stippl start between December and February, when the crossing is calm.
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Travellers after real quiet
Koh Yao Noi has no party strip and only a handful of restaurants near any bungalow, so the nights are crickets rather than bass.
Andaman island-hoppers
Direct speedboats run from Koh Yao Noi to Koh Lanta, Koh Phi Phi, Railay and Ao Nang, so the island fits an Andaman route without backtracking.
Couples and honeymooners
Hillside pool villas and a handful of small luxury resorts face the karsts across the bay, with nothing louder than the call to prayer after dark.
Families who want a pool
Pasai is the family beach on Koh Yao Noi, and a pool matters here because the sea is only good for swimming on a rising tide.
Kayakers and bay explorers
Koh Hong, its hidden lagoon and the smaller islets of Phang Nga Bay are closer from Koh Yao Noi than from Phuket or Ao Nang.
Yoga and wellness people
A beachfront yoga retreat running since 2005 and several teacher trainings make Koh Yao Noi one of Thailand's established yoga islands.
Slow travellers with time
51.3% of Koh Yao Noi stays planned on Stippl run three to five nights, time for the bay, the ring road and a lazy beach day.
Maybe not for you: hostel-hoppers looking for company, since the island is bungalows and resorts rather than dorms; anyone who wants to swim off the beach at any hour, because low tide leaves mud flats; and anyone crossing in the monsoon with a same-day flight to catch.
The best time to visit Koh Yao Noi
Dry season
December to March
The calmest sea, the most boats and the highest room rates of the year, with January the driest month. Book the crossing and the room together, because both fill in the same weeks.
Shoulder months
April and November
April is hot with the rain building, and November is the season reopening as the rain tails off. Both work well if your onward connection is not tight.
South-west monsoon
May to October
The island stays open and the crossing becomes the problem, with September the wettest month. Speedboat timetables thin, and storm warnings can keep small boats ashore for days.
- Ramadan falls in Koh Yao Noi's high season for the next few years. The fasting month moves about eleven days earlier each year, and on an island that is nine-tenths Muslim the village day shifts towards the evening meal. Expect quieter local restaurants in daylight.
- The monsoon stops Koh Yao Noi's boats before it spoils the beach. From May to October the Thai Meteorological Department regularly tells small boats in the upper Andaman Sea to stay ashore, so never plan a same-day flight after leaving the island in those months.
- Koh Yao Noi is a dry-season island, more than Thailand as a whole. Only 12.3% of Koh Yao Noi trips on Stippl start between May and September, about half the national share, so the low season is genuinely empty.
- Travellers fix Koh Yao Noi about 84 days before they arrive. With few rooms and boats that fill in the same December to February weeks, that is the realistic lead for a specific bungalow in peak season.
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Things to do in Koh Yao Noi
Photo by David Goldman via UnsplashKoh Hong's lagoon by longtail
Take a longtail to Koh Hong's beach, viewpoint and hidden lagoon, entered through a gap in the rock at high tide, then on to Koh Lao Lading and Koh Pakbia. Ask to go to Koh Hong first and you beat the tour boats.
James Bond Island by kayak
Spend a full day paddling the sea caves and lagoons around Khao Phing Kan, the island from the film. Any guesthouse or tour desk on Koh Yao Noi books it.
Paddling out to Koh Nok
Kayak about a mile offshore to Koh Nok, a tiny sandy islet, in roughly an hour against the tide. Tour boats stop there for lunch, so go in the afternoon.
The ring road by bicycle
Ride the loop past rice paddies with water buffalo, rubber plantations and fishing villages, with one serious hill on the way. Finish on the west coast, the only place on the island the sun sets over the sea.
The west-coast mangroves
Kayak the narrow channels under the mangrove branches, with monitor lizards, monkeys and birds for company. Some of the trips double as a mangrove clean-up.
A day on Koh Yao Yai
Take the 15-minute longtail from Manoh pier to the bigger, quieter island next door and ride north to the Laem Had sandbar. The boats run all day and need no booking.
The beaches and villages of Koh Yao Noi
Pasai
Sleepy, with the most to eat
The island's most developed beach, on the south-east coast, with restaurants, bungalows and shops along the road and up the hill behind. The natural base for families and a first visit.
The most places to eat on foot, but the busiest sand on the island.
Klong Jark
Long white sand, few resorts
Also known as Long Beach: one and a half kilometres of white sand north of Pasai, with a few resorts spaced along it. For couples and anyone booking a resort stay.
A long, barely built beach, and a ride for anything the resort does not have.
Tha Khao
Village, pier and bay views
An east-coast village with the pier for the Krabi boats, low-key bungalows and hillside huts with the widest views of the bay. For travellers on a budget and anyone heading on to Krabi.
Cheap beds and the Krabi boat, and a ride to Pasai for most dinners.
Sai Kaew and the north-east
Empty sand, jungle track
Largely undeveloped beaches north of Tha Khao, reached on a rough jungle track and ending at a beach one resort treats as its own. For people who want the sand to themselves.
Deserted beaches, and a dirt track every time you leave.
The west coast
Mangroves, stilt villages, sunsets
Mangroves, rice flats and stilted fishing villages, with a few places to stay and sunset bars down steep tracks. For slow travellers who want village life over a beach.
The only sunsets over the sea, but no swimming beach.
Manoh pier and the south
Where the boats come in
Almost every boat lands here, with the longtails to Koh Yao Yai and Laem Sai's village and seafood about six kilometres east. For a last night before an early boat or an island hop.
Every boat at the door, and a songthaew to any beach.
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Where to stay in Koh Yao Noi
Stay on the east coast, where the swimmable beaches are: Pasai for families, Tha Khao on a budget and Klong Jark for a resort. Choose the property before the beach, because the bays sit close together and a pool matters at low tide. Only 17.2% of Koh Yao Noi stays planned on Stippl are a single night, so book the room and the boat together.
Pasai
Family bungalows and mid-range resorts with pools up the hillside, roughly €30 to €120 a night.
Klong Jark
€40–650
A long-running bungalow resort from about €40, up to the island's best-known luxury resort at around €650.
Tha Khao
€15–65
Simple beachfront and hillside bungalows from about €15, with the better-view huts up to around €65.
Sai Kaew and the north-east
One secluded resort and very little else, at the upper end of the island's prices, from about €120.
The west coast
Community homestays and a few small bungalow places, roughly €20 to €60, run by village families.
Manoh pier and the south
A handful of guesthouses and resorts near the piers, roughly €25 to €100, handy for early boats.
What to eat in Koh Yao Noi
Whole fish, prawns and crab from the island's own boats, grilled or fried with garlic
Hot and sour prawn soup, sold in small, medium and large portions
Griddled flatbread, sweet with banana or condensed milk, a Muslim staple of the south
The mild, peanut-rich curry with Muslim roots
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Koh Yao Noi customs and what not to do
A Muslim island first
About nine in ten people on Koh Yao Noi are Muslim, the call to prayer carries across the island, and the villages are more conservative than the islands around them.
Cover up off the beach
Swimwear belongs on the sand; in the villages, at the market and on the road, covered shoulders and knees are the respectful norm.
Alcohol is there, quietly
Beer is sold in bars and resorts, but many local restaurants serve none, so drink where it is offered rather than bringing your own.
Accept the offered lift
Locals routinely stop to give visitors a ride, and scooters stand unlocked with the keys in; greet people first and the island greets you back.
Do
- Dress for the village when you leave the beach, and carry a layer on the scooter
- Greet people first and accept an offered lift
- Ask before photographing people at work in the fishing villages
- Check the tide table before a swim or a walk to an islet
Don't
- Wear swimwear into the villages, the market or a shop
- Bring your own alcohol into a restaurant that does not serve it
- Book a same-day flight after a wet-season crossing
- Ride the northern dirt tracks without the licence your insurance expects
What a Koh Yao Noi trip costs
Budget
€30–50
A simple bungalow, local seafood and rice, and a rented scooter.
Mid-range
€80–140
A hillside or beach bungalow resort with a pool, restaurant meals and a longtail day in the bay.
High-end
€250+
A tented camp or pool villa, up to the island's best-known resort at the very top.
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Fun facts about Koh Yao Noi
The fishermen of Koh Yao Noi beat the illegal trawlers in 1994. They turned the campaign into a community ecotourism programme, which won the World Legacy Award for destination stewardship in 2002.
Koh Yao Noi means "small long island" in Thai. Koh Yao Yai, the big long island, lies just south across a narrow channel, and together the two make up Ko Yao district.
The first 7-Eleven on Koh Yao Noi opened in 2018. On an island a short boat ride from Phuket, that is a fair measure of how slowly things arrive here.
Local legend says battling sea serpents split Ko Yao in two. The story accounts for the pair of islands that sit either side of one narrow channel in Phang Nga Bay.
A Koh Yao Noi homestay won an ASEAN Homestay Award for 2016 to 2018. Village families have been hosting visitors through the community ecotourism club since the 1990s.
At least four hornbill species live on Koh Yao Noi. They are seen often over the forested interior, between the rubber plantations and the rice paddies.
Local tips for Koh Yao Noi
Book the boat, then the room
From December to March the speedboats fill in the same weeks as the bungalows, and the crossing is the only way in. Fix the boat as soon as the dates are fixed.
Check the route, not the fare
Many speedboats run a milk run through several piers. Any boat from Phuket or Krabi that takes much more than an hour and a half is taking the long way round.
Two piers, then a songthaew
Almost every boat lands at Manoh or Laem Sai on the south coast, and nothing is within walking distance. Songthaews meet each arrival and run to the beaches for €3 to €4.
Cash for the scooter deposit
Rental shops want a cash deposit and a copy of your passport. Leave the passport itself in your room; the ATMs on the island cover the cash.
Skip an overloaded boat
If a speedboat looks overloaded or is heading out into bad weather, do not board it. Another one always follows, and squalls in the bay arrive fast.
Koh Yao Yai is its own stay
18.9% of Koh Yao Noi trips on Stippl add Koh Yao Yai as a stop, and those give each island two nights. As a day trip it is a 15-minute longtail from Manoh.
Koh Yao Noi questions, answered
For most people Koh Yao Noi is exactly quiet enough, and that is the point of it. There are restaurants and a bar or two but no party strip, the villages are Muslim and early to bed, and evenings go on grilled seafood and the view of the karsts. If you want nightlife between beach days, choose a busier island.
By speedboat from Bang Rong pier on Phuket's north-east coast, about half an hour by taxi from the airport. The crossing to Koh Yao Noi takes thirty minutes to an hour and lands at Manoh or Laem Sai pier, where songthaews wait for every boat. In the dry season you can land in Phuket and cross the same afternoon.
Most people pick one: Koh Yao Noi has more places to stay and eat, and Koh Yao Yai is bigger and quieter. Where a trip does both, the two islands sit back to back in 92.1% of the Koh Yao Noi itineraries people build on Stippl, usually with two nights on each. The longtail between them takes a quarter of an hour.
Rarely, and the plans show it: only 14.8% of Koh Yao Noi trips planned on Stippl put the island in the first quarter of the route. Most travellers arrive after a first leg in Bangkok or the north, when the jet lag has gone and an island with no nightlife feels like a reward rather than a slow start.
Start from the boats rather than the islands. Speedboats from Koh Yao Noi run direct to Koh Lanta, Koh Phi Phi, Railay and Ao Nang, and Koh Yao Noi trips on Stippl typically run 23 days, so lay the stops out in Stippl in boat order, two nights or more each. Then show the route to people who have been, in subreddits like r/ThailandTourism, and say how you travel.
Not well: at low tide many of Koh Yao Noi's east-coast beaches turn into mud flats, and the sea is only good for swimming on a rising or high tide. Check the tide table before planning a beach day, walk out to the islets on the falling tide, and if swimming at any hour matters, book a room with a pool.
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.
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