We recently travelled around Thailand for our honeymoon, starting with three days in Bangkok! Next on our list was 5 days in Krabi. We had big expectations and we’re pleased to say it didn’t disappoint. With golden beaches, stunning scenery and a buzzing street food scene there’s so much to see and do in Krabi. Here’s our suggested 5 day Krabi itinerary, based on our own trip report. Our list covers everything from bars and restaurants, to island hopping and street food, plus spending some time at the elephant sanctuary.
Day One
For our 5 days in Krabi, we stayed at the fantastic Ao Nang Phu Pi Maan Resort & Spa. The hotel was a 30 minute transfer from the airport which we booked privately with the hotel. We were checked-in nice and quickly, and sat in the upstairs restaurant with some nice refreshing fruit juices. It’s worth noting, the hotel is a Muslim run hotel, so no alcohol on the premises.
We always find a travelling day a bit of a slog. So when planning our own Krabi itinerary we decided our first day should be spent chilling by the pool in the sunshine. Which was glorious! The views from the hotel and from our room were incredible. The setting is perfect, surrounded by some of Krabi’s dramatic limestone cliffs.
Having spent the day snoozing in the sun and lounging by the pool we felt very relaxed and refreshed! We got ready for dinner and headed down to Ao Nang beach for sunset. This was the perfect way to round-off our first day on our Krabi itinerary. We found a bar along the beachfront and ordered a couple of cocktails. We were lucky to get a beach-side table, so we could enjoy uninterrupted views.
One thing we were most excited about for our 5 days in Krabi was the food! For dinner, we came across the fab Ton Ma Yom Thai. We both ordered a curry and a couple of drinks, and enjoyed people watching while we waited excitedly for our food. The meals were delicious – so full of flavour and everyone who worked there was so lovely. The prices were also really reasonable and we thoroughly enjoyed our evening here.
Day two
After a relaxed start, our second day on our Krabi itinerary was a bit more active! We had a full day of island hopping ahead of us. We booked with Thalassa Tour, which was memorable from start to finish! We’ll share some details below, but we have also written a much more in-depth guide to island hopping from Krabi if this is helpful.
We started with a trip to the renowned Railay Beach. This iconic beach stretches alongside dramatic limestone cliffs, attracting rock climbers from all around the world. From here, we made our way to the stunning Poda Island. This was literally our very own slice of paradise! This is usually a popular tourist hotspot, with lots of tours visiting the island. But Thalassa timed our visit to be after all the rush of the other tours. We got to enjoy the island all to ourselves and take in the beautiful views without any interruptions.
We had ample time here, sitting on the beach taking in the views and playing in the beautiful blue ocean. While sitting on the island’s pure white beaches, our guides cooked us an incredible Thai buffet. We had vegetable spring rolls and a Thai curry – there was more than enough food for all of us! They also very kindly catered to dietary requests, whether veggie or meat eaters.
Beware of naughty monkeys!
We hopped back on the boat after lunch and made our way past a surprisingly iconic rock formation of “chicken island”. Next on the list was also a visit to Tup Island. Another paradise beach with gorgeous vistas out over the ocean as far as the horizon would stretch.
We had free time to explore the island and enjoy the beautiful beach. Be careful however about the resident monkeys! We saw a couple enjoying a swim, when a monkey took a liking to their bag and riffled through their things! Keep your belongings secure and your wits close, as monkeys can bite. Someone made a lunge at the monkey hoping to scare it away from the bag only for the monkey to lunge back at him! Not much you can really do at that point but hope he gets distracted by something else and doesn’t steal too much from the bag!
Our first snorkelling experience
Today’s Krabi itinerary was jam packed! Next, we stopped off at Koh Sii, a renowned diving and snorkelling spot. This area has excellent visibility and is teeming with vibrant colourful coral and fish. I am not the bravest swimmer, but even I was completely mesmerised by the rainbow of fish swimming beneath me.
We had free roam, gently snorkelling in the waters and following the fish around. We had never seen such an array of brightly coloured fish and found the whole experience so relaxing. That is until, some strands of my hair floated into my eyeline whilst snorkelling and for the longest time I thought they were jellyfish tentacles! Panic stricken I threw my head up above the water expecting others to be freaking out too, only to see everyone joyfully paddling away. I moved to a different spot and resumed snorkelling only for the same thing to happen again! This happened about 2 or 3 times before I realised it was my hair! But it made for a good laugh between me and Oli.
Sunset on Phra Nang Beach
As the day drew to a close, we headed to Phra Nang Beach. This is a stunning beach further up from Railay, with a jagged limestone cliff and cave. We sat on the beach and enjoyed the sunset, lapping up our time on the beach.
The sunset quickly became secondary when I saw lots of movement from the cliff. They were moving too swiftly to be birds and looked quite large. I headed towards the cliff for closer inspection. I quickly realised they were dozens of bats! My favourite animal! I legged it back down the beach to Oli repeating “they’re bats! They’re bats!” We sat in awe of them as the sun set, watching them fly high above us. They looked huge! Easily a wingspan as long as my forearm and the largest bats we’ve ever seen in the wild. They were incredible to watch. Despite all the beauty we had seen that day, watching the bats swoop above us was the highlight of the day.
Did you say, “bioluminescent plankton”??
Our final treat of the day was a short trip out to sea once it was dark to witness the incredible bioluminescent plankton. We donned our life jackets and snorkelling gear once more, and plonked ourselves in the pitch black water. The confidence I experienced earlier when snorkelling quickly diminished as I bobbed around in the emptiness of the black ocean. It felt like we’d all fallen overboard and were stranded at sea! But I was quickly distracted as a guide told me to snorkel and gently wave my hands underwater. The water in front of me instantly lit up an electric blue as the bioluminescent plankton reacted to the movement of the water. It was like watching electricity under water! A genuinely amazing experience.
I lost all sense of time playing with my new super powers. Such a bizarre phenomenon we’d never experienced before. Eventually though we had to board once more and headed back to Krabi. It was still relatively early in the evening, and not wanting the day to end, we headed to Krabi Town for drinks. The plan was to bar hop our way through the night. However we found a bar called Get Rads, which we loved so much we settled in for the night!
Long story short, it was a very messy night and resulted in two very sore heads the next morning. Two sore heads, but absolutely no regrets, thriving from the incredible day we’d had. Sadly, I’ve read that Get Rads has been closed since the Pandemic, but hopefully they reopen soon! Regardless, this island hopping trip should definitely make it onto any Krabi itinerary! Definitely a must do!
Day three
Our 5 days in Krabi were flying by! With sore heads in the morning we spent this day chilling at the pool. The fresh juices and non-alcoholic cocktails were much needed! Feeling we needed a pick-me-up to recover (and as it was our honeymoon) we treated ourselves to some massages at the hotel spa. A day of R&R was just what we needed, and by the evening we were ready to experience more of what Krabi had to offer. Setting some time aside in your Krabi itinerary to book a spa treatment is a must! Thai treatments are definitely something to be experienced, and prices are very reasonable.
I’ll take this as an opportunity to quickly rave about our hotel. Split over several levels, the hotel has beautiful views over the fauna-covered cliffs that Krabi is so well-known for. There is a long pool at the top level, and a smaller, quieter pool on one of the lower levels. The hotel snack bar is not far from the lower pool, and you can order mocktails and snacks to your lounger.
The location was also spot on. Just a 15/20 minute walk down to Ao Nang Beach and Krabi Town. As a result, we never ate dinner at the hotel with so many good choices on our doorstep! Once such place was Jungle Kitchen. We’d heard great things and booked a table earlier in the week. Unfortunately there was some miscommunication between us and the staff about how spicy we wanted our food. We wanted it spicier! We later learnt to ask for “Thai Spicy” and everyone knew what that meant. On this occasion our curries were a little bland (for our taste).
Day four
Today was the highlight of our 5 days in Krabi! We had an incredible day at the Krabi Elephant Sanctuary. When we visited in 2018, the vast majority of elephant sanctuaries were around Chiang-Mai. However more charities and sanctuaries were popping up in the south of Thailand, which included this place.
Elephants are synonymous with Thailand. We did A LOT of research before our trip and felt that Krabi Elephant Sanctuary was the right choice. We have written a whole post about things to look out for when choosing an elephant sanctuary. Make sure you check it out if you’re planning to visit one!
Elephant Sanctuary Experience
If you’re hoping to add an elephant sanctuary to your Krabi itinerary then we cannot recommend this place enough. Krabi Elephant Sanctuary support ethical practices, ecotourism and above all, prioritise the care and wellbeing of their elephants. The team taught us about each of the elephant’s background and history, and how the elephants came to be in their care. We were a small group (about 15 of us) and we helped to prepare their breakfast, filled with fruits, leafy plants and some additional nutrients and minerals. We could also feed the elephants bananas if they were interested – which they were! Best of all we were all able to just co-exist with these beautiful animals. Nothing felt forced or unnatural. We were able to just watch and observe which was incredible.
The team lead us through beautiful natural surroundings as the elephants wandered through the park grounds. We were able to continue watching them, and gently interacting with them if they seemed comfortable with it. It was amazing to watch them all together, splashing mud over their bodies and heads to cool down. They are such gentle giants and we truly felt honoured to have spent that time with them.
Whilst I hope that Krabi Elephant Sanctuary continue to uphold their standards and ethics, we visited in 2018 and do realise that things can change over time. It’s essential you conduct updated research and read recent reviews and reports before planning a visit to any animal sanctuary.
Back in Krabi Town
We were back at our hotel by mid-afternoon, buzzing from our time at the sanctuary. We spent a couple of hours by the hotel pool, making plans for our last night full in Krabi. We’d really fallen in love with Krabi. We loved it’s laid-back vibe and stunning beaches. There was still more to see, but us this had felt like the perfect Krabi itinerary.
Sad that our 5 days in Krabi was coming to an end, we kept things easy and headed to the street food market. We treated ourselves to satays, dumplings, rice balls and other things we could graze on from stall to stall. But best of all saving myself for my absolute favourite – mango sticky rice!
It wasn’t long though before we experienced our first summer storm. The heavens opened and absolutely threw it down! We bar-hopped our way along Krabi Town, trying to escape the downpours as we went. Despite the torrential weather we had a lot of fun and got chatting to locals as we made our way bar to bar. We also popped our heads into some of the local stores for some last minute gifts and souvenirs.
Day 5
Wow 5 days in Krabi had flown by just like that? It was our last day, and we wanted to soak it all up as much as we could. We loved our island hopping day, but realised we hadn’t done much on our doorstep. We grabbed a longtail boat from Ao Nang Beach and spent the whole day at Railay Beach.
Thailand is known for so many wonderful things. Culture, temples, delicious food and stunning scenery. But Thailand’s beaches are world renowned and Krabi is no exception! A day spent on one of Krabi’s many beaches are a must on any Krabi itinerary.
The longtail boats run frequently enough and they take about 20 minutes to get from Ao Nang to Railay. The beach was quiet all day which was perfect! .With the exception of a few couples holidaying here and there, we had the place to ourselves and could fully appreciate the a slice of paradise this place really is.
We chilled on the beach all day, before the intense heat from the sun became too much. We were also getting a little hungry! A short walk from the beach is the main strip for Railay, a busy and lively little pathway, filled with cafes, bars and restaurants. We were spoilt for choice of where to eat! We found Kohinoor, a small Indian restaurant and had an early dinner which was delicious!
Soon it was time to grab a longtail back to Ao Nang. We also had one final venture out into Krabi Town to toast our amazing 5 days in Krabi. After a short walk we ended the night in Amy’s Bar, a great little place with good music, lots of games (you can’t go wrong with Jenga) and delicious cocktails! Cheers!
Get in touch
We are already desperate to come back to Thailand as there is still so much more to see. We don’t normally return to the same area more than once, but we have definitely made an exception for Krabi. We’ve barely scratched the surface of what more we could see and experience. Krabi is also a great jumping off point for visiting other islands, of which there are many more still on our list! One such island was the stunning, rural Koh Yao Yai, which we spent 4 blissful days on.
We really hope you enjoyed our post about our 5 days in Krabi and found some inspiration for your own Krabi itinerary! If you have any questions, or any tips you’d like to share for future planners, please share them in the comments below, we’d love to hear from you!
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