Ton Sai Beach - rock climbers' party
The beach until recently wild and hippie, Ton Sai is now considered an expensive haven for climbers, yogis, raw foodists and rastamans. There are still plots untouched by developers, but as of March 2015, a grandiose construction of a large hotel was launched behind the central part of the beach..
They felled trees with heavy equipment, piled mountains of garbage, plastic and building materials. The Ton Sai beach itself is very good for sunbathing, but you can swim only if rocks and algae do not cause inconvenience..
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
In general, Ton Sai is known for its climbing parties, not swimming. Railay is a real Mecca for Climbers. In different parts of the peninsula, there are rocks with surfaces of varying difficulty, routes that are suitable for both beginners and experienced craftsmen. They come here precisely to hang out and climb the rocks. Instructors and equipment are taken on the spot, you do not need to bring anything with you.
In every nook and cranny of Railay, Climbers can be seen dangling on their ropes, or carrying them to the rocks, or resting, eating and sleeping on the rocks. In general, Tonsai Beach is a ten-meter wide strip of sand, which stretches for three hundred meters between impassable rocks on the right, and a collapsed rock on the left (where the transition to West Riley).
Entering the water, depth and waves
Starting from the surf and ten meters under the water, the entire bottom is strewn with pebbles, shells and coral fragments. The slope of the bottom is insignificant, almost shallow, so that the sea goes 5-7 meters at low tide, leaving behind debris of various origins. In general, the whole beach corresponds to the atmosphere of this area - wild.
No one cares about the cleanliness, there are no resorts and hotels adjacent to the water, so Ton Sai looks like nature intended. Plus boatmen, their ropes and anchors) Waves are only in stormy weather or in strong winds.
Sun beds and shade
Natural sources of shade on Ton Sai grow in abundance along the coast; there is no need for personal umbrellas. Somewhere after one o'clock in the afternoon, problems arise with the shadow, because the sun is now out of the way until sunset. There are a couple of areas along the edges of the beach, near the rocks, where there is shadow at any time of the day..
Beach photo
Infrastructure
Apart from the rental of kayaks and taxi boats, no services are offered on the shore. No massages, no corn sellers. Tong Sae has one climbing training point, one dry water and beer shop. All other cafes, bungalows and yoga centers are located in the interior of the peninsula. In the evenings, all the brothers gather in beach cafes. The parties here are mostly young people, in addition to alcohol, they twist poi, walk on the ropes. Fun. Expensive.
Taking advantage of the gap from the main part of the resort, local businessmen raised the price for everything - housing, services and products. For a bottle of water, which costs 7 baht on Ao Nang, on Railay they ask for around 30 baht, so take water with you. The only water dispenser with an adequate price per liter of drinking water, located on the path between East and West Railay (available on the map at the end of the post).
Tonsai has a self-contained diesel power supply hidden in a brick building somewhere in the middle of the area. Better not to settle next to him - it works too loudly.
Houses and hotels on the beach
Despite the fact that most of the bungalows on Ton Sai are built like real island huts, the price tag for housing is far from humane. There is not much accommodation on Ton Sai; from hotels with a good rating and reviews of visitors, one can single out a good hotel Tonsai Bay Resort, it is perfectly located right on the beach.
A little inland from the beach there are very simple thatched houses Chill Out Bar & Bungalow, perhaps the most affordable of all the hotels in the area. Great option for backpackers.
Hotels in Krabi>
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
You can get to Ton Sai by boat from Aonang or Noparat Tara, but if suddenly you came to West railay, then from there it is easy to get to Ton Sai in two ways.
The first passes through the long-collapsed cliffs located between Ton Sai and West Railay. The steps are quite steep, ropes are stretched in difficult places, walk for 10 minutes, no more. You can still walk on the water, near these rocks, but it is deep in places there and you can wet your belongings, and it is not very pleasant to walk along the stones at the bottom.
The second path runs deep in the peninsula. This route is half an hour longer, easier and more interesting. You need to leave West Railay along the path that begins under the Walking Street sign, but do not turn onto East Railay, and move on. By the way, the same path is more convenient for those who landed on Pra Nange or East Railay - you do not need to turn onto West Railay (left), turn right.
Ahead will come across a good cave, the entrance to which costs 40 baht, but it is better to go there at high tide, get more fun and good pictures. After the cave there will be a resort, pass it on the right side. After him there will be a fork on the path (there is a marker on the map), you need to go on the left.
It leads through the jungle and a small pass to the very shore. If you turn to the right, you will run into an abandoned resort. On the way to the beach, you will also consider the infrastructure of Ton Sai and its inhabitants..
Beach Map
Ton Sai Beach Map
Ton Sai Beach Map: