Pai Plong Beach

Pai Plong is the cove around the headland at the southern end of Ao Nang beach, toward Railay, and it is startlingly quiet given that one of Krabi's busiest beaches is a ten-minute walk away. Jungle-covered limestone comes down to the sand at both ends, there is no road in, and the only building on it belongs to the resort that occupies the headland. The result is a short curve of soft sand with far fewer people on it than anything else within walking distance of Ao Nang.

There are two ways in. The pleasant one is the concrete walkway, the Monkey Trail, that climbs the cliff from the south end of Ao Nang beach, past a small shrine and through the trees, which takes about ten minutes and is genuinely pretty in itself. The other is a longtail from Ao Nang, which costs a little and takes five. The beach is public even though the resort sits on it, and that is worth knowing, because visitors are occasionally waved off by people who would rather they went elsewhere.