Long Beach (from English «long» - long) has the original Thai name Phra Ae Beach and is considered the longest beach on Koh Lanta, as well as the best. Based on what I personally saw on Lanta while riding on the beaches, then yes - Klong Dao and Long Beach really the best on the island.
Although for a sophisticated person - just ordinary beaches, in our usual sense. Pra Ae Beach stretches for almost 3 km, and it will meet you second in a row if you go from the bridge between Lanta Yai and Lanta Noi. At the time of my visit to Koh Lanta, I lived on this beach at the Lanta Manda Hotel, so Long Beach was my main beach..
The content of the article
- one Beach description
- 2 Entering the water, depth and waves
- 3 Sun beds and shade
- 4 Beach photo
- five Infrastructure
- 6 Houses and hotels on the beach
- 7 How to find the beach
- eight Beach Map
Beach description
For you to understand, I will clarify: most of the beaches and areas on Lanta are a road along the coast and villages opposite large beaches. All the space between the road and the sea is occupied by buildings: hotels, shops, resorts, and so on. In short, to get to the beach, you need to go either along the lanes or through the territory of the hotel, which allows it.
I went to many places and, in principle, did not see so many prohibitions and signs «private» as, for example, on Koh Samui. Here you can walk almost everywhere. Specifically on Long Beach, I liked most of all the passage in the middle, there is a good asphalt road that ends with a large parking lot.
Around the parking lot, there is a whole park with casuarines, bacon and toilets - somewhat reminiscent of the territory of a national park, and everything looks very luxurious. I think this is the best access to the sea, the most convenient on Long Beach. I saw how Thais come here with their families, and they have picnics under the huge casuarins..
And it also seemed to me that the central part of the beach has the least number of people, although in general, all the beaches of Lanta are still, thank God, not so many people as on the beaches of Phuket. After I drove through all the beaches of Koh Lanta, I got the following opinion about Long Beach: the best beach on Koh Lanta.
Entering the water, depth and waves
If you stand facing the sea, then the leftmost piece of the beach - there are a lot of stones, and this place seems to be suitable for swimming, but personally it seems to me that it is more suitable for snorkeling. Here I met a lot of people doing it - swimming with masks.
The depth here, to put it mildly, is not very shallow, move 10-15 meters away from the coast and still will not be neck-deep. On the same Klong Dao, the coast is a flat surface with a slight slope, but on Long Beach everything is quite noticeable, and when the water at low tide goes 10 meters away, the beach still remains suitable for swimming. In short, in my opinion it is better than the neighboring Klong Dao.
Somewhere in the middle of Long Beach, and towards the right side of it it gets deeper. After about 10 meters, the depth comes up to the neck, and it builds up relatively smoothly. In general, on Long Beach, it turns out that the right side is slightly deeper than the left..
It is important to note that a large river flows into the Lanta on the left side of Long Beach. It looks, of course, clean, but knowing that there Thais like to pour into rivers, I definitely would not swim nearby, and would move much to the left of the river, or closer to the central part.
At low tide, the beach remains more or less swimable. From the shore it is clearly visible that it is deeper than the Klong Dao; the bottom on Long Beach goes down much steeper.
Sun beds and shade
All along Long Beach there are trees: casuarines and palms. Tall, old, strong, give a lot of shade and you will not have any problems with this at least until lunchtime, while the sun rises from the east side to the zenith.
Then the usual scorching heat begins for all the beaches located on the west coast - the sun shines in your face and you can hide from it either in the forest, or, as an option, in cafes that stand along the entire coast, either private or owned by resorts. There, for a couple of drinks from a local bar, you are given the right to use a private area and sun loungers.
Beach photo
Left side of the beach
The left side of Long Beach on Koh Lanta
Central part of the beach
The central part of Long Beach on Koh Lanta
Long Beach on Koh Lanta at low tide
Right side of the beach
The right side of Long Beach on Koh Lanta
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is mainly developed along the main road. It is full of cafes, massages, laundries, hotels, bars, and so on. On that part of Long Beach, which is closer to Klong Dao, everything is more dense there, and the further from Klong Dao, the freer the buildings are..
If you decide to live while on vacation on Long Beach, and for complete happiness you only need a beach and a beach holiday, then you can not be fooled by renting a bike - there is only enough in walking distance.
The hotels have everything you need, have a snack in cafes, ride tuk-tuk. By the way, local tuk-tuks are motorbikes with strollers. Well, if you decide to ride, then of course you need to rent a scooter. But I'll be honest - the roads here are so-so.
Houses and hotels on the beach
The area and geography of the area behind Long Beach has opened up space for developers, so Long Beach has all kinds of accommodation. From poor guesthouses to top-rated hotels. There are a lot of hotels on the first line, where you can stay both in an expensive bungalow with a sea view, and in a thatched hut, with the same view.
Hotels are built across the road, where they are slightly cheaper in price, but given that the distance between the road and the coast is ridiculous, wherever you settle on Long Beach, the sea will always be within walking distance. Below I propose to look at a selection of hotels that I booked out for myself, preparing for the trip:
Right edge of the beach
- Sayang Beach Resort Koh Lanta
- Lanta Sand Resort & Spa
- Rasa Sayang Resort
- Lanta Manda is my final choice, the report on which can be read in a separate post.
Central part of the beach
- Pana Long Beach Resort
- Eco Lanta Hideaway Beach Resort
Left edge of the beach
- Thai House Beach Resort
- Mook Lanta Eco Resort
Hotels on Lanta>
Be sure (and I insist) to check for discounts or special offers on the excellent Roomguru service. He will quickly and easily show you discounts in all existing booking systems. In Asia, for example, there are a lot of offers on Agoda.com, which are much more interesting than for exactly the same hotels on Booking.com.
For the lazy, here are the direct links to the hotels listed above:
- Sayang Beach Resort Koh Lanta
- Lanta Sand Resort & Spa
- Rasa Sayang Resort
- Lanta manda
- Pana Long Beach Resort
- Eco Lanta Hideaway Beach Resort
- Nautilus Right on the Beach
- Thai House Beach Resort
- Mook Lanta Eco Resort
How to find the beach
Long Beach is located just after Klong Dao, following the same road from the bridge. The landmark of the beginning of Long Beach can be considered the beautiful gate of the hotel Lanta Resort, which you will see about three kilometers after the T-junction.
Beach Map
Long Beach Map
Long Beach Map:
