Top 4 Reasons To Visit Tonsai, Krabi

With the allure of the full moon party in Koh Phangan, scuba diving in Koh Tao, and pristine beaches of the Phi Phi Islands, Krabi’s coastal towns are often overlooked, especially the small underdeveloped town of Tonsai. Need a reason to go? I’ll give you four!

1. Can’t find a more chilled out vibe than Tonsai: Tonsai is chalk full of open air Rasta bars, with faint traces of Mary Jane touching the nostrils and a steady stream of reggae pumping through speakers. Basically, it’s a hippie’s paradise. Sunset Pirate Bar is one of these Rasta bars covered in Bob Marley flags, peace signs, and glow paint, serving up “Happy Shakes” and a slew of other popular island drinks.

   

   The cement wall along the main road is covered in beautiful graffiti and inspirational quotes that cause you to stop and admire. Tonsai certainly has that kick back and relax island vibe and is not over-run with tourists like many of the surrounding areas. It’s so much less populated, that most of the properties there turn off all electricity from 6am to 6pm to save energy. It most certainly is a unique place that’s worth a stop on your way to the islands.

   

   

   

   

   

2. Incredible food: Grab some seriously authentic Thai food at Chai’s Pyramid Cafe and meet a bunch of travelers while you’re at it! Here you’ll find Green, Red, Yellow, Masaman and Penang curries to drool over (I got the spicy tofu coconut curry). Mamas Chicken Kitchen, known for its, well, chicken, is a local spot that also serves traditional Thai curries. If you want to try their specialty, get there early! They ran out of chicken by the time I got there…

   

   For beautiful views of Tonsai Bay and relaxed beach front dining, head to Freedom Bar and order the Thai basil chicken and a few Changs. It’s a bit pricey (meaning $2 for a change instead of $1), but like most other places with beautiful locations, you’re paying for the view! For breakfast go to the restaurant attached to The Chill Out Bar & Bungalows for some mammoth banana pancakes!

   

   

   

3. Rock Climbing: Unbeknownst to me prior to arrival, Tonsai is a rock climber’s heaven. Every human I met during my one day two night stay was either a serious climber who had dreamed of scaling the many colossal limestone cliffs of Tonsai or had been hooked ever since their first visit and was back for the 9^th time. I sadly didn’t dabble in the climbing business, as I really only had one day to explore and wanted to check out some of the beaches (my first day was eaten up with more travel time than I expected).

   

   

4. Railay Beach: During low tide, there’s access to the neighboring Railay Beach by way of a treacherous muddy footpath. I of course didn’t wait until it was fully low tide, so when I got to the other side where it opens up to Railay Beach, I had to walk waist deep in the water where the tides are smashing up against the rocks. (Not particularly safe…) My poor backpack was saturated in water for the second time in two days, the poor thing.

   

   

   Railay Beach has nicer sand and cleaner more swimmer-friendly water than Tonsai Beach, but is much more populated. I found a cozy spot in the sand and started chatting with some other travelers nearby. On the way back, skip the treacherous muddy footpath and walk along the rocky coast if it’s low tide. You may be lucky and come across a rainbow crab or a dusky leaf monkey!

   

   

   

How To Get There: Make sure you build in extra time to travel. I bought an AirAsia flight for $45 from Bangkok which only took an hour and 15 minutes. However, from the airport in Krabi to Ao Nang Pier by $4 shuttle takes more than the 30 minute ride Google maps told me. It took about an hour more than that since the shuttle took each customer on board to their respective hotels in Krabi Town. By the time we reached Ao Nang Pier to catch our boats to Tonsai and Railay, it was already 5pm. The woman working the ticket counter selling longboat tickets told us that the boat needed to fill with 10 passengers in order to leave the beach or else it would cost extra. She said we needed to wait until 6pm (when the last boat leaves) to see if anyone else would show up, and if not we’d all have to make up the difference for any seats not filled. Since there were only 6 of us, we ended up paying an extra 60 baht each, so the ride still only cost about $5 each. I assume during high season, filling the boat is no issue as there are so many tourists, but in low season I’m sure they don’t fill the seats often. 6pm arrived, and we headed down toward the beach to catch our boat, which was anchored pretty far into the water. Like waist deep out in the water. Mind you, I had my 65L backpacking pack and my daypack with my laptop, cameras and other valuables that I didn’t want getting wet, and other people had full on wheeling luggage they needed to somehow get onto this boat. One guy on his honeymoon had to lift a 28-inch suitcase above his head while he fought the waves to keep him and his new wife’s stuff dry. We were also all wearing normal clothes, as we didn’t think we’d need to prepare for the 400-meter breaststroke. Luckily, we were all good sports and were able to laugh it off. Welcome to Thailand, my friends.

Where To Stay: I stayed at Chill Out Bar & Bungalows which was very laidback, with bamboo huts set in the natural, tropical setting of the island, with barebones amenities. For me, it was great, as I loved the rustic-vibe of the place, but I wouldn’t recommend it to my friends looking for any type of luxury accommodation. It’s basically glorified camping. I kind of felt like I was staying in the summer camp cabins from the Parent Trap, but in the midst of the Thai rainforest. Each bed is equip with a mosquito net (I stayed in a 4 bed dorm), there’s a working toilet and shower, and for $7 per night, what else do you need?!