How to Spend 5 Days in Koh Lanta, Thailand
- taramwatkins28
- Dec 15, 2024
- 5 min read
For our last leg of the trip, we wanted to go to the Islands of Thailand for an extremely relaxing portion of the trip. Whenever we are having a bad day, we think about our time in Koh Lanta. When choosing which islands to go to, we knew we wanted to stray away from the islands that are known for their party culture and we also wanted to go to an island that isn’t super popular. Koh Lanta was the perfect option for us - and it was home to the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen.
Day 1: Traveling day to the Koh Lanta Island
We woke up very early in Chiang Mai to take a Grab (the Uber of Thailand) to the airport. We then took a plane to Krabi, and from there we took a taxi from the Krabi Airport to the Twin Lotus Resort in Koh Lanta. After our big day of travel, we decided to spend the day at the resort sitting by the pool, getting a drink and eating at the restaurant. Although the food was okay, we recommend going into town to get dinner and lunch.
Day 2: Snorkeling and Exploring the Koh Rok and Ko Tuk Islands by Boat
We woke up bright and early to go on our first excursion in our island portion of the trip! - An 8 hour snorkeling trip to the Ko Rok and Ko Tuk islands that we booked through our hotel. We debated going to Phi Phi, but heard from many people that it was too overcrowded. We took off with a group of ~20 to get to the islands and snorkeled for a while near Koh Tuk. There were a few other boats nearby but it didn’t feel like we were too crowded.
We stopped for lunch and spent ~2 hours hanging out on the beach at another island. This was personally my favorite part of the excursion since swimming isn’t my favorite thing. After we left the island, we went to snorkel at one more island. By the end of the day, I was a bit tired of snorkeling.
Overall, we decided if we were going to do something different on this trip, we would have gone with a different company for the tour. There were too many people on the boat, there was too much snorkeling included and we wish that we would have found a boat tour of some kind instead of a snorkeling excursion. For dinner we went to Lanta Seafood Restaurant, which is right on the water.
Day 3: Cooking with Mon
Arguably one of the best days we spent in Thailand was taking a Thai Cooking Class at ‘Cooking with Mon’. We were with a group of 12 in a beautiful outdoor kitchen with the enthusiastic Mon leading us through cooking up 4 courses of authentic Thai Cuisine. I made Pad See Ew, Masaman Curry, Tom Yum Soup and Mango Sticky Rice and Patrick made Pad Thai, Green Curry, Papaya Salad and Mango Sticky Rice. Mon’s energy was contagious and even was able to teach me how to be a good chef! A skill that I haven’t quite honed in on yet.
We left with a cookbook of everything we made throughout the day and a memory that will follow us for years to come (along with the skills to make Thai Food). Since we were so full from our day of cooking and eating, we decided to spend the night drinking some beers on the beach and watching the sunset.
Day 4: Exploring the Island
When people tell you to go to your “happy place”, I will always think of Moped-ing down the coast of Long Beach in Koh Lanta. We rented mopeds from our hotel and we spent the entire day going down the coast, while stopping at any restaurant along the coast with a view. Below are our favorite places we stopped:
Living Room Cafe & Restaurant: Cozy vibes, good food and the best coffee I’ve ever had
Diamond Cliff Beach Restaurant & Bar: Beautiful views of the ocean, super relaxing there during the day
Tuesday Kitchen: GREAT food and homey energy. Right on the beach.
Why Not Bar: Another spot right on the beach - cool views of Pimalai resort which is the fanciest resort on the island
Rasta Baby: Island Vibes, great place to grab a beer and watch the sunset
Yawee Restaurant: We ate dinner here! Some of the best food we had on the entire trip was at this restaurant and it was the perfect place to end our day.
Day 5: Exploring Old Town
On our last full day of our vacation, we decided to rent a moped from our hotel again and take our journey across the island to explore the other side. The first place we stopped was the Backyard Cafe & Bistro to grab coffee and breakfast. The Cafe’s in Thailand are so unlike anything that I’ve ever seen before. In the US, many cafe’s look the same, are super busy and commercialized. In Thailand each cafe has its own distinct brand and is meant to be a place to relax and unwind.
We then made our way to Old Town and did a slight walking tour of the shops there. After that brief stop we made our way down the coast stopping at the following places:
Sun Shine Hill Restaurant: We got fries and a beer here while taking in the incredible views of the islands and water. Unreal views.
Panorama: Another totally unreal restaurant. The workers all had such great hospitality and the views were unmatched. Looking out at the islands and water was like looking at a painting.
Going to these restaurants was nothing like I’d ever seen before. They were located on a cliff overlooking the ocean and other Thai islands. After this, we made our way back to the Hotel for the night and ended the night watching the sunset on the beach and walked to Majestic Bar for our last taste of authentic Thai food for a while.
Travel Home
After enjoying a hotel breakfast, we packed our bags, took one last look at the ocean and made our way to the taxi to take us from the island beginning our 42 hour travel day.
Accommodations:
Twin Lotus Resort : We absolutely loved our stay at Twin Lotus - we had a room right on the water and were able to walk to a number of beach-side restaurants right from our hotel.
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