I was in Bangkok for three months since the end of January without seeing the sea and sand. Happily, the time for the beach came. On April 9-12 2023, I visited Koh Lipe for the first time, and, although, my expectations were high, the island could positively surprise me.

What Is Koh Lipe

Koh Lipe is a four-square-kilometer island, a tiny piece of land in the Andaman Sea in the very south of Thailand famous for its white beaches and turquoise waters. It's not that internationally well-known as Phuket and Pattaya since the latter serve millions of foreign tourists and, as large spaces, are more suitable for travel agencies and their advertisement campaigns. However, Koh Lipe surpasses them in almost every way.

At Sunrise Beach, Ko Lipe

Slightly More Expensive

Although I visited Thailand many times and spent around two years altogether there, I never traveled to the island until this year. The reason was that prices in Koh Lipe are higher while I had no special reason to go there.

The only connection is maritime transport, ferries and speedboats. The journey takes 1.5-2 hours and round trip tickets cost about 1300 baht (38 USD).

Koh Lipe on Google maps

Ko Lipe is also a part of Tarutao National Park that means foreigners pay that annoying national park fee there. Such pay-to-visit islands scare me. How many times will you have to pay the National park fee there, every morning after a cup of coffee?

(As I learnt recently, you pay the national park fee only once on Ko Lipe and it is only 200 baht, around 6 USD).

Swimming by rocks at Sunset Beach on Koh Lipe

Food and lodging on outlying islands can also be costly.

In reviews about Koh Lipe, people mention that food in convenience stores is twice as high as in the mainland. Prices for hotels and hostels aren't that shocking but higher than, let's say, in another great Thai travel destination, Ao Nang, Krabi.

In this post, I'll share my experience, tell about the prices on Koh Lipe, and show the images of the most beautiful resort island in Thailand.

A tiny Kla Island, 250 meters from Koh Lipe.

Prices for Transportation to Koh Lipe

There are many maritime ways to get to Koh Lipe. Some travelers come from Langkawi, Malaysia or other Thai islands - you can travel from one to another along the Thai Andaman Sea coastline if you can afford this.

As for us, we had a more classical trip from a mainland pier Pak Bara to Koh Lipe.

Taxi boats at Koh Lipe's Sunrise Beach

From Bangkok to La-Ngu, Satun Province

We started in the Thai capital. There are cheap flights from Bangkok to Hat Yai / Trang; Satun has an airport too. For example, https://airasia.com offers flights starting from 30 USD. But the mid of April means Songkran, a long holiday time that works as the only vacation for many Thai people. As the result, transportation gets expensive and scarce... So, we chose a bus Bangkok - Satun for 787 baht (23 USD) from Bangkok Southern bus station (Sai Tai Mai). You can book for that price on https://easybook.com.

From La-Ngu to Pak Bara Pier

At around 10 am, we got off the bus in La-Ngu (Satun province) where motortaxi drivers approached us immediately. We paid 100 baht (without trying to bargain) for a motortaxi trip from La-Ngu to Pak Bara Pier for one person.

From Pakbara Pier to Ko Lipe

Pakbara Pier in the mainland: our speedboat (on right) to Koh Lipe

In Pak Bara, the motortaxi drivers stopped at a travel agency where they offered the two of us round trip tickets from Pakbara to Koh Lipe for 1400 baht and reduced the price to 1300 baht (38 USD) for a person when I said that we should visit other agencies to compare prices. It was slightly cheaper than on https://12go.asia.

Book a speedboat ticket on https://12go.asia to support the blog! Thank you!

For sure, it's better to book tickets on the boat company's website or at the boat company's office but we found nor website, neither the office in Pak Bara. (I can't say that the preparation to the trip was very thorough).

No more decent images of speedboats so let me show a seascape on Kla Island adjacent to Ko Lipe

If you want to research on that topic, this is a facebook page of the boat company we traveled with, Sea At Holiday:

https://www.facebook.com/people/Sea-At-Holiday-On-Tour/100063626316509/

Koh Lipe, National Park Fee

They collected national park fee at the pier of Pak Bara (200 baht/6USD for a foreigner and much less for a Thai citizen) and gave us tickets. You also must pay a pier fee, 20 baht each.

Altogether

787 baht (23 USD) for a bus ticket from Bangkok to La-Ngu. 970 baht (28 USD) from La-Ngu to Ko Lipe. 1757 baht (52 USD) altogether for a person.

Prices for Accommodation on Ko Lipe

Cool bungalows on Koh Lipe. Don't remember what is the name, we were just passing

I would say, Ko Lipe accommodation is 1.5 more expensive than the average in Thailand.

We chose Sangchan Hostel on booking.com (check the location on google maps). A bed in a dorm without a fan was 350 baht (430 Baht in AC dorm), a non-AC room was 750 baht (22 USD). As a budget hostel, Sang Chan is just an amazing place. Friendly and very clean but I, anyway, checked the mattresses - they were new, and there were no traces of bedbugs. (I have paranoia about these insects). We tried a room and a dorm with AC. The experience was great.

Prices for Food

Jackfruits on the tree on a street in Koh Lipe

You always can check hotels on booking.com to know the price level but you can't know how much you'll pay for food on such a remote island. Sharing what I learnt.

Ko Lipe has two convenience stores 7-11. But the prices are usually twice as high as in Seven-eleven shops in the mainland. For a bottle of 1.5-leter water, they ask 26 baht, for instance. So it was very useful our Sangchan hostel had large bottles with taps to re-fill your empty bottles.

There were usual cooked food in containers in Sevel-Elevens too but prices were double - 80-100 baht for a box.

Prices for food in restaurants are rather usual for a tourist destination: there were options for 80-100 baht for a dish (although it's twice as high as on non-tourist streets and markets in Thailand).

We found tasty fried rice in Madame Yoohoo restaurant (on google maps) for 80 baht. Surprisingly, you can find stalls with Thai desserts (my favorute khanom bueang!) for prices usual for the mainland - 20 baht for a piece (or less if you are lucky).

Prices for Services

Snorkeling: A mask with a tube was 100 baht for the whole day until 6 pm.

You can buy a mask with a tube for around 500 baht in Decathlon in Bangkok so if you are going yo have a several-day tour,it's better to have your own equipment to, at least, avoid all the hassle of renting and returning the equipment on time.

I got sunburned quickly, so, here, I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, and my legs were covered with a light cover. And everything was soaked and salty 😎, of course, except my camera which I kept carefully in a thick plastic bag

Kayaking: A kayak for 1 hour was 200 baht, and 100 baht for each subsequent hour. We used the kayak to reach Kla island (on google maps), and were just happy to do so. A very beautiful place and snorkeling there was amazing.

Boat taxi: they advertise they can transport you to some places for 100 baht (one way). For example, to a neighboring large woody island called Koh Adang - it was tempting to hike there but we had not enough time.

There are many islands around and you can find tours to them in numerous travel agencies in Koh Lipe. Research, plan, enjoy.

Another beach scene on that marvelous island

Geography of Koh Lipe

My custom Google map of Koh Lipe 2023 on this link

I had expected to see a crowded tourist "farm" with exceptionally beautiful beaches. I was wrong in my expectations except for the incredible beaches.

Koh Lipe settlement is a town or, better to say, a tourist village with chaotic and eclectic "cardboard architecture" as many Thai resorts are but it is not without coziness. I would say, Koh Lipe is reminiscent of cardboard scenery for a movie about an idyllic resort in Asia. 😀

I don't want to show any pics from its streets since... they look not that stunning as this seascape does, for example:

Long-tail boats at Sunrise Beach

Koh Lipe isn't an authentic place although you can find two real villages in the middle of tourist bustle. But non-authenticity can be different.

Koh Lipe is laid-back and informal, without greedy resorts on every steps with boom barriers at the entrance. The chill-out atmosphere is noticeably stronger there than the vibrations of commerce, and it reminds me Ao Nang, Krabi or Anjuna, Goa, India. As for garbage here and there in bushes and along secluded beaches, Koh Lipe is reminiscent Goa, India again. I don't think the garbage situation is critical, the major beaches are almost free of it but, yeah, the ocean and its seas aren't virgin anymore, and some peevish visitors get complain.

There is a central street on Ko Lipe, Walking Street. A concrete alley always significantly covered with the sand from the beach, with low buildings on the sides offering food, accommodation, and services for travelers. A straight-ish street runs along the length of the island and another one goes to the forest on the hilly part of the island, while the rest are just lanes and pathways.

Sunrise Beach

Pattaya Beach and Sunrise Beach serve as streets as well. The first one is the center of nightlife and hosts the pier while the second one is the best for sunbathing and swimming.

Rather secluded Sunset Beach competes with Sunrise brother in beauty.

The northernmost corner of Sunset beach. When I came here, I immediately put down my camera and went for a swim. Impossible to hold on.

Just people drinking and watching the seascape at Sunset Beach

A corner of boulders at Sunsert Beach

Since I'm talking about beaches, it must mention the gorgeous Kla Island beach where you can reach on, for example, a kayak, just several minutes of lazy paddling. A boat taxi is another way.

Kla Island. Everything is so mind-blowingly blue... So many living creatures in the water but less than on Karimunjawa, Indonesia, but there is no reason to always compare, sometimes better just to enjoy.

During snorkerkling on Kla Island, I saw a sea snake, that one with stripes looking like this, she was hiding among the rocks and then swam right to the surface of the water as if she wanted to breathe (did she want??). I was slightly shocked that sea snakes can be so near to humans' beach activity. But the snake paid no attention to me and showed no aggression, and I loved her grace and calmness.

I was surprised to find a real jungle on Ko Lipe, not just dry bushes mixed with rocks. A walk to Pantai Galah Beach, Svedo Beach, and Secret Beach (on google maps) was an adventure with climbing up and down narrow rocky pathways zigzagging below splendid evergreen trees.

At remote Pantai Galah Beach, we saw a tent in bushes slightly above the sand - so, yes, you can have camping here in the wild.

Rocks of Koh Lipe's Secret Beach

Svedo Beach

Getting Out of Koh Lipe

First of all, try to leave the island on the earliest boat. There was a boat on 9:30.

If you leave the island on 11-am boat or later, you'll have a challenge to reach your next destination since Pak Bara pier has not many transport options in the afternoon. It generally has no transport options except those that include significant commission.

We needed to go to Ao Nang, Krabi. At the pier, a travel agent offered us a combine transfer to neighboring Krabi for 700 baht for each person which was almost the same money as we paid for a 17-hour trip from Bangkok to La-Ngu. We refused and walked with an intention to reach Lan-Ngu bus station on a motortaxi when we met another person who offered 550 baht for going from Pak Bara Pier to Krabi Town. We agreed. We probably couldn't do this way by ourselves since we didn't know where to find that bus from La-Ngu to Trang... But for sure, around half of the 550-baht payment for a person was a commission. Upon arrival to Trang bus station, we found out that a bus from Trang to Krabi cost around 120 baht only.

Around 5 pm we started on a bus from Trang to Krabi and arrived after 8 pm. Happily, they have songthaews ("mini buses") from Krabi bus station to Ao Nang until 10 pm, it was 60 baht for each person.

A local dog resting in the sand on Koh Lipe

More stories from Thailand are ahead! Check out the previous ones on my personal pinmapple map.

I took these images with a Nikkor 24mm f/2.8D and Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G on a full-frame DSLR Nikon D750 on April 9-12, 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand.