2 days in Railay | Climbing and beautiful beaches

2 days in Railay – Thailand

Where is Railay? Why visit it?

It’s about a little peninsula south of Thailand, between Krabi city and Ao Nang, on the coast of Andaman. This place is visited by many tourists. The majority is going there on tour and they only spend a few hours there, but some people stay there one or two nights to enjoy the place. There are other tourist destinations with excellent beaches like this, but they have no hiding places like a beautiful viewpoint, caves and much more. Besides, if climbing is your hobby you should go to Railay, you’ll be able to climb its amazing limestone cliffs.

Even though it’s a very tourist place (since early morning several tours arrive there), you can explore some hideouts which aren’t frequently visited. In any case, the worst months to visit Railay are December and November; it’s high season.

Railay website – Local information

When is the best time to go?

During the raining season, from May to October, some hotels at Andaman’ coast are closed and others drop the prices. The dry season is from December to May, but December and January are high seasons, so you need to book sufficiently in advance. According to that, the best months to visit Railay are February, March and April.

What to do in Railay in 2 days

This is a summary of the activities to could do in Railay during two days.

1. Climbing

It’s the main activity in this area. There are now more than 700 bolted routes between Railay and Tonsai, from beginner to very hard levels. If you’ve never climbed, this could be your first time!

2. Relax on the beach

You can lie down on the beach and relax. Watching to the monkeys is also funny, you can spend the time trying to find out what they’re hatching.

3. Kayak

Renting a kayak is a good idea to go along the coast and around the big rocks in front of the beach. On my map, I indicate a route option by kayak.

4. Hiking to the viewpoint and the Princess Lake/Sa Phra Nang

If you want to see the best views of Railay you have to go to this place, although the route isn’t suitable for persons who have a fear of heights. The route is short but complicated. And going down the descent to the lake requires someone who knows about climbing or is intrepid. On my map, I indicate the start of the trail and on my section My Experience I explain more details about the path.

5. Hiking to the viewpoint II

I checked several maps and most of them have another viewpoint in Railay Beach. The start of the trail is indicated on my map, but you need to ask someone from the area about how is the climb, because I’ve found this photo where you can see rudimentary stairs to reach the peak.

6. Princess Cave / Tham Phra Nang

This cave is located on the Phra Nang beach. It’s a sanctuary for local fishers. Yes, what you see in the photo are phallic symbols.

7. Diamond Cave / Tham Phra Nang Nai

It’s located on the East side of Railay. The cave is lit and you can visit it along a wooden walkway. The visit takes about 20 minutes. The entrance costs 200 THB per adult and 100 THB per child.

8. Tours

From Railay there are tours to Koh Poda, Tup and Chicken islands and to Phi Phi. You can also rent a private longtail boat for half a day or a full day and visit Poda, Tup and Chicken on your own, deciding how long to stay on each island. All these islands are inside Hat Noppharat Thara - Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park. Foreigners pay 400 THB per adult and 200 THB per child. Ask if this fee is included in the tour price.

An important thing when you go to Railay is to know what time the tide will be low because the beach doesn’t look beautiful. So, you should avoid the low tide. Check the tide on this website.

Accommodation

There are several options to stay: expensive resorts or cheap bungalows. We stayed in a nice and economical resort, in Sunrise Tropical Resort. Our bedroom and bathroom were large and the resort was surrounded by vegetation. A beautiful place to stay.

There are restaurants where you can eat pizzas, Thai or Indian food. I suggest you the grilled fishes!

How to get to Railay?

The only way to reach Railay is by boat because it’s surrounded by limestone cliffs. From Ao Nang, longtail boats cost 100 THB per person (200 return), leaving with about 8 people. They take 10 to 15 minutes to Railay West and run from 8:00 to 18:00, with 50 THB extra afterwards. From Ao Nammao, it’s 100 THB per person to Railay East. From Krabi town (Khong Kha pier, also called Chao Fah), it’s 150 THB per person and takes 40 to 45 minutes. There are few or no departures in low season. The piers are marked on my map.

To leave Railay, you have to go to Railay East pier. From there boats depart to Ao-Nammao or An-Nang. There are ticket sellers on the pier. They’ll be yelling the destination name and asking the people where they go. The sellers are easily recognisable and you can buy the ticket at the moment.

Other option could be to hire the transport through a travel agency in Railay. It’s a good idea if you go to some more complicated destination and you want to optimise the time, although it’ll be more expensive (ask for the price in several agencies).

Map – 2 days in Railay, Thailand

In the next map, you can see all the places I’ve mentioned throughout this article included the transport, the accommodation and the restaurant where we ate.

Show interactive map

My experience

March/April 2016
When I added this place to the itinerary, I was worried because it’s a very touristic place and maybe it was going to be the disappointment of the trip. Even so, we enjoy a lot during the days there. We lived exciting experiences that we’ll always remember like scaling the wall to go the lake.

Since mid-morning arrive the tourist’s tours and the beach starts to fill up. Most of the tourists only stay at the beach for a little while and, after that, they continue the tour. We stayed two days at Railay and the first and the last hours of the day are the calmer.

Besides enjoying the beaches, we did a kayak route, visited two caves and did the mandatory trekking to the main viewpoint and the Princess Lake. The path to the viewpoint isn’t complicated if you have agility and you don’t fear of heights. If this part of the trail is too much for you, you won’t be able to reach the lake because this trail is worse than the other. It’s essential to wear fitting shoes (not flip-flop) and be careful if the land is wet because it may be slippery. We were lucky, and the path was dry.

I’m going to tell in detail how is the descent to the lake because I didn’t find anyone on the Internet who explains it. There are four vertical stretches of climbing, about 3 o 4 metres each stretch. It has nothing to do with the trail’s beginning. There are ropes which you can use. I didn’t use them because to me it was more dangerous, I only grabbed the rocks. I guess that if the land is wet, the ropes will be useful. If you decide to descent you keep in mind that there is a hole in the last stretch to the right where the step is easier, it’s difficult to see.

We arrived in Railay from the Ao-Nammao pier. We hired the transport to the next destination in an agency because we were going to the Krabi airport and we didn’t want to lose the flight. We asked for transport information to several companies, and the prices had little differences. The transport included longtail boat and van to the airport.

One thing that surprised me was the souvenirs’ prices, they cost twice as much as in other places of Thailand and it’s tough to haggling over. So, you should buy the Chang T-shirt before arriving here!