Malibu Beach and Chaloklum Bay on Phangan - three in one

Chaloklum Beach (sometimes also called Chaloklum) is located in the very north of Phangan. The easiest way to get here is to cross the center of the island on a good road from Tong Sala town. Along this route, you can ride on a scooter from edge to edge of Phangan in twenty minutes, without really unscrewing the throttle handle. Chaloklum is a small village with a well-developed infrastructure, which immediately catches the eye against the general background of Phangan with its wild areas.

Chaloklum is slightly inferior in size to Tong Sala, but in comparison with other settlements in Phangan, I would put it in second or third place, but not lower. Among the Pangan settlements, Chaloklam is like a small town, even if there are only two streets for the whole town..

The content of the article

Beach description

The main road, which runs through the center of the island and leads you to Chaloklum, abuts against the pier, conventionally divides the entire bay into two parts. The pier and the beach on either side of it are commonly referred to as Chaloklum Beach. If you stand on the pier facing the sea, then on the left Chaloklum ends with Malibu Beach and a river.

There, beyond the river, there is another continuation of Chaloklam, but there is no point in going there: along the coast there are a lot of parked fishing boats, and on the shore there are tackles, marine debris and human waste. Roughly speaking, you should not go further than Malibu beach simply because there is a trash heap.

To the right of the pier, Chaloklum ends with Fanta See Beach and another river. The depth of the mouth and the flow of the river on the Phante is a serious obstacle for pedestrians, so that the last fifty meters of the bathing Fanta beach remain in eternal isolation for those who walk along the shore. You can only get here by detour, through the hills.

In general, about 100 meters to the right and left of the central pier on Chaloklama, there is shallow water, a dirty sea and parked boats. So from the center, I would immediately move to one of two pretty beaches along the edges of Chaloklum Bay: Malibu or Fanta.

I must say that these place names are not official, but colloquial, taken from the names of the adjacent resorts Malibu Beach Bungalows and Fanta Sea Resort, but are actively used by tourists and old-timers of the island..

Pier on Chaloklum beach, it is also the center of the entire beach

Chaloklum view towards Malibu beach

And towards Fanta Beach

Entering the water, depth and waves

Malibu beach is real (!!!) white sand, on which trees, trimmed with balls, grow, they are very similar to casuarins. People come here specifically for the outlandish exterior, and love to be photographed in it. And Fanta Beach is a more simplified version of a licked Malibu: no ball trees, and more seashells and pebbles in the sand, and not the most bathing sea.

Malibu beach is quite shallow, therefore, at low tide you will not be able to reach the depth in three steps, but at high tide it is quite a swimable beach, and more importantly, an incredibly beautiful beach. With sand flies that visitors complain about, alas. It is better to come here to sunbathe, enjoy the beauty, rinse in the sea, but without any special claims to the usefulness of swimming.

You will not be able to hang in the water to your full height with your feet down, which for me is the main criterion for determining the swimability of the beach. The width of the beach is 5-10 meters, and on the very left flank there is a sandy penny measuring 50 by 50 meters, a whole desert of white sand.

Fanta Beach is similar in depth to its neighbor Malibu, well, maybe a little deeper: at high tide here it is more or less normal, the depth five meters from the coast can reach up to the neck, and at low tide - in the same place, but already up to the waist. Along its entire length, the width of the sandy strip is about 15 meters, and only to its rightmost edge it expands to 25 meters.

Sun beds and shade

The shade on Malibu is provided by trimmed and untouched by gardeners vegetation - palms and trees balls, and the shade becomes more in the afternoon. The coastal strip on the left side of Malibu is wide enough and you can always find a place here.

Lezhakov did not notice, everyone is on towels. And on Fanta Beach there is no shade, except under the only tree in the center of the beach. There are no loungers either, alas. So you have a difficult choice between heat and solitude, or shadow and crowds of people with cameras..

Beach photo

Malibu beach

Turn onto the dirt road towards the bridge over the river.

The bridge over the stinking river

The first visit was on a cloudy day, but the next photo was taken under the sun, appreciate the difference

Malibu beach on Koh Phangan is a palm grove with white sand

And funny trimmed trees

Here is a person in the frame for you, for scale

View straight ahead - the horizon obscures the neighboring edge of the beach with mountains

The sea is shallow, beautiful, clean bottom.

And this is the house of sand flies. Nice, but you won't be able to lie for a long time - they will jam

Malibu to the right of the bridge, in the distance you can see the main beach of Chaloklum

Chaloklum beach in zoom

And this is the left end of Malibu beach.

Creeping plants on the sand and an open space without shade.

Trees grow quite far from the water.

Then I went further to Chaloklam and took a picture of Malibu in the direction of the open sea, and not in the direction of the bay.

There is a volleyball net and in general there is a lot of shadow and space in the depths of Malibu.

And cafes right there, with resort prices. They feed so-so.

For completeness, I will show the section of Chaloklama to the left of Malibu

I called it a trash heap for a reason

The sea, in principle, is there, and even the bottom is almost clear of stones

But nobody comes here to swim and sunbathe

And the beach is used for their needs by fishermen

FantaSe Beach

End of concrete. To go to Fanta See beach, turn right here

Immediately after the turn, along the coast, there is a parking lot for scooters and cars, but you can drive further

The beach is narrow and subject to erosion, therefore there are many rocks and artificial sections of the shore

Came out about in the middle of the beach, this is a view to the right, towards the river

The same view, only in close proximity

There are many stones in the sand, barefoot is not very comfortable

The sea is shallow, on the horizon there is a ridge of stones raised from the bottom

View towards the main Chaloklam

And he - in the zoom, took pictures not from the very middle, but moved a little further to capture the entire beach

Fantasy ends with this river bed. You can't go on foot.

And this is what the farthest end of Fanta Beach looks like, if you look at it while standing next to the river.

This is where the lighthouse sticks out - this is the river bed, the stones at the edges - this cleared the fairway for boats and boats

Infrastructure

Chaloklum has the infrastructure of an ordinary tourist village, that is, without much scope, but with everything you need to change money and spend it for pleasure. On Chaloklam there is a small pier from where you can sail to a nearby beach by boat or speedboat. Within a radius of 100 meters around Malibu and Fanta, you are limited to a couple of bars belonging to the resorts of the same name..

The rest of the amenities and services are closer to the main road that runs along the coast - everything is there. From ATMs to restaurants, guest houses and hotels, massage parlors, mini-markets, equipment rental, pharmacies, travel agencies, diving - in general, a full-fledged tourist infrastructure.

On personal feelings, I liked the Malibu more. Maybe due to its extraordinary vegetation or wide beach, maybe for a more well-groomed look, but subjectively it is better. Although Fanta Beach is pleasant enough, I would go to Malibu to swim and sunbathe. And it's great to come to Fanta and walk along the coast.

Here, at low tide, the seabed is exposed with dense sand, hard as asphalt, it is very convenient for walking, feet do not get stuck in the sand. From the point of view of a vacationer, I would probably live here - I really liked the area around Chaloklum beach in terms of infrastructure. There is everything that is required for an autonomous existence..

There is a mini-market 7-Eleven, which closes all the questions of the local population on purchases of small items, snacks, alcohol and simple food necessary for household use. Come across Thai shops with clothes, souvenirs and small fruit shops, this one with shops - everything.

There are no attractions, except for the beautiful white Chaloklum temple, all interesting places worthy of attention are located at a decent distance. Although for many tourists, it is Malibu beach that is considered one of the most trump sights of Koh Phangan..

Houses and hotels on the beach

With accommodation in Chaloklam, everything is excellent, for vacationers there are all categories of accommodation to choose from, from chip bungalows to high-rating hotels like Baan Moon Chan and Malibu Beach Bungalows .

Pay attention to that patch on the Fanta Sea beach across the river, about which I spoke above. On this patch is Buritara Resort, which is separated from the rest of the Fanta Sea beach by a rather deep river mouth, through which (attention!) There is no bridge. The mouth was deliberately deepened, for the taxi boats plying here, and a detour by land turns out to be several kilometers.

The inhabitants of Buritara can only look at their scanty but beautiful beach with a rocky bottom and envy their neighbors walking across the river. It's just that the hotel is not bad and many people book it, but they don't know about this nuance..

Hotels in Chaloklam>

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:

How to find the beach

Malibu Beach: take the main road from Thong Sala to the only one on the entire road 7-Eleven, turn left and go 200 meters to the Malibu Beach Bungalows sign .

Fanta Beach: we pass the same intersection with 7-Eleven in a straight line almost to the sea, then there will be a right turn, onto the dirt road along the sea and after 100 meters we get to Fanta Beach - there is a sign there, there is simply nowhere to miss. For your convenience, when planning the route, I put all the tips on the map below, do not thank.

Beach Map

Chaloklum Beach Map including Neighborhoods: Malibu Beach and Fanta Beach

Chaloklum Beach Map including Neighborhoods: Malibu Beach and Fanta Beach:

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