Khanom Travel Guide

Khanom's pink dolphins are Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, a coastal species that lives in shallow water near river mouths and fishing grounds. They aren't pink at birth. The calves are dark grey, and the adults turn pinkish because of blood vessels close to the skin that help them shed heat. They grow to 2–3.5 m, and the species is listed as Vulnerable. Here they feed close to the shore between Laem Prathap, north of Khanom's beaches, and the Donsak ferry pier, and they're the town's symbol, with dolphin statues all over the district. Keep an eye on the water if you're on a ferry from Donsak.

The boats go out from small piers north of town in the early morning, when the sea is calm and the dolphins are feeding, with the best chances between about 07:30 and 09:00. A longtail on your own costs about ฿1,500 a boat for 1.5 hours, and some boatmen will take you again the next day for free if you see nothing. Joined tours with hotel pickup cost about ฿1,200 a person and add stops like Pancake Rock, a cliff of layered stone, an island swim or Khao Wang Thong cave in the afternoon. Sightings are common but never guaranteed.

Choose a boatman or operator who keeps a distance and lets the dolphins come to the boat rather than chasing them, and skip any trip that promises to feed them.

Ao Khanom, the district's biggest bay, is one long run of sand with several names. From the north, Kho Khao Beach has a few beach bars, then Khanom Beach and Na Dan Beach run together into the main stretch, shaded by casuarinas, with small resorts and restaurants spaced out along it. South of a headland, Nai Phlao is the biggest and most popular beach, a curve of sand under the hills with most of the resorts and a view of Koh Samui. Beyond it, the beaches along the road to Sichon get smaller and emptier.

The sea is usually calm, the sand is fine and you'll often have a stretch to yourself on a weekday. The tide goes out a long way on Khanom Beach, so swim around high water. A little litter washes up, as it does all along this coast, though it's much better than it was. In the north of the district, Ao Talet has a wooden bridge out over the mangroves, and the coast around Kwaeng Pao Beach has limestone hills and views across to Samui and the Ang Thong islands.

On the hill above Nai Phlao, the Naern Thae Wada viewpoint is a landscaped park of decks and stairs over the coast, with a garden and a café, ฿30 and open from 07:00 to 18:00. The road up is steep, and the Blue Terrace café sits on the same hill.

South of Nai Phlao, the coastal road to Sichon climbs and dips along the cliffs through Hat Khanom–Mu Ko Thale Tai National Park, one of the most photographed drives in the south. The best stop is the park viewpoint with the elephant statue and a proper car park, and cafés along the road make the most of the same views. The road is steep and winding, with a barrier only along part of it, so take it slowly and pull right off to take photos.

Inland, Khao Wang Thong is a big limestone cave toured with a guide, helmet and flashlight, about an hour of climbing through narrow levels into chambers of stalactites, ฿200 with the guide and open from 09:00 to 16:00. Samet Chun waterfall, about 3 km inland from the beaches, ends in a natural pool after a 20-minute walk, best in September and October when the water's up. On Saturday afternoons from about 15:00, the Bang Nod walking street is Khanom's market for street food, fruit and local seafood.

From Koh Samui, take the car ferry to Donsak, Raja from Lipa Noi or Seatran from Nathon, about 1h30 and roughly hourly, for ฿170–220, or a 45-minute speedboat. Khanom is about 20 minutes south of Donsak by car, and 12Go sells ferry-and-van tickets through to Khanom. It's an easy add-on before or after Samui, Koh Phangan or Koh Tao.

From Bangkok, fly to Nakhon Si Thammarat or Surat Thani in about an hour, or take the train or a bus to either, and then it's about 1.5 to 2 hours by road. Public transport to Khanom itself is thin, so book a private van or taxi online or through your resort. Once you're here, rent a scooter or a car, because the beaches, the town, the dolphin piers and the viewpoints are spread over several kilometers. With wheels of your own, the cliff road makes it easy to stay in Sichon too.

Most places to stay are small and spread out along the beaches, from simple bungalows to a few resorts with pools, and they're good value next to Samui across the water. Stay on Khanom Beach or Na Dan to be near the town's restaurants and cafés, or on Nai Phlao for the bigger resorts and the quietest evenings. The area only really fills up on Thai holiday weekends.

Sichon, the next town south along the cliff road, is smaller and quieter still, with a calm, rock-studded beach, Hin Ngam Beach beside it, a handful of resorts and cafés and mostly Thai visitors. It's worth a drive for lunch, or a night or two if Khanom feels busy.

Koh Samui has the airport, the famous beaches, the big resorts, nightlife and everything else. Khanom has the same sea and the same view, emptier beaches, the dolphins, lower prices and very little to do after dark. Choose Samui for an easy holiday with everything on hand, and Khanom for a quiet stretch on the mainland. They're a ferry apart, so a few nights in Khanom fits neatly around a Samui trip.

Khanom is on the Gulf of Thailand, so its weather follows Koh Samui's rather than Phuket's. February to September is the season, with calm seas for the dolphin boats, and February is the driest month, with about 64 mm of rain at Samui's weather station across the water. June to September stays mostly fine while the Andaman coast is in its monsoon.

October to December is the rainy season here, wettest in November with about 445 mm at Samui, when the sea gets rough and the boats can't always go out. Several of the national park's waterfalls and islands also close from 20 November to 31 December. January is usually fine too.