Koh Lipe Island and neighboring islands of Satun Province. Guide to Kolipa

12.05.2014 ,

Paradise Island Koh Lipe

The Thai island of Koh Lipe is a very small island, which is located in the south of the kingdom and borders on, it is part of the Tarutao National Marine Park. Around it there are a lot of small islands, both inhabited and not so.

Koh Lipe is an island in the Andaman Sea

My friend, who at that time had been living in Malaysia for the third year, advised us to visit this island. This place is not very popular among tourists due to the fact that the road to it is long and the holiday is not exactly cheap.

Koh Lipe paradise island in the Andaman Sea

There is no point in going there for one day; you need at least one, or even two overnight stays. there they cost at least $80, and they don’t pamper you with much luxury. Holidays on this island of Thailand are mainly beach, where you can go diving, snorkeling or fishing. You can live there happily for three days, no more, which is what we actually did.

Life on Koh Lipe

How to get to Koh Lipe

We got to Koh Lipe as follows.
Flight from . All international flights arrive at the airport, we leave from it, and after that we fly away with help. Next, Koh Lipe can be reached from Malay by speed boat, which runs between the Malay and Thai islands twice a day. The boat departs several times a day from the western seaport of Langkawi, The Danna Telaga Terminal. I bought all the tickets online in advance on the kohlipethailand website.

Boat tickets to Koh Lipe

Since we crossed the border of Malaysia and Thailand, at the port of Langkawi we went through border control and filled out migration cards.

Passport control in Langkawi before departure

Two hours of strong wind in the face across the Andaman Sea and we are there! The road from Langkawi to Koh Lipe by speedboat is also a kind of attraction, the wind blows so powerfully that it seems like a free fall.

Speedboat captain to Koh Lipe

Fishing boat in the Andaman sea

The island of Koh Lipe appears

The speedboat stopped not far from the shore, where we were met by “tailed” boats, which took us directly to the shore.

A Thai boat meets us at Koh Lipe

Thai boat off the coast of Koh Lipe

The first thing we saw on this amazing island of Thailand was the snow-white beach of Pattaya, one-story houses and cafes surrounded by endless greenery, azure water off the shore and a large number of wooden boats. Previously, we only saw this in pictures in magazines about travel to the paradise islands!

Panorama of the sea near Koh Lipe

Beach on Koh Lipe

Friendly and courteous Thais helped with our belongings and led us to the border control, which resembled more of an ice cream kiosk on the beach than a border crossing point.

Ko Lipe passport control

Bundhaya Resort Koh Lipe

Koh Lipe evacuation during earthquake

Evacuation during an earthquake on Mt.

In professional tourism there is such a concept as “return”, that is, when tourists return year after year to the same place for relaxation and adventure. In this case, this word fully corresponds to the island of Koh Lipe; it left an indelible impression on our souls. If we are in those parts, we will definitely visit it and say hello from us, this is truly a paradise, a real Bounty Island!

Welcome to paradise Koh Lipe

Departure is January 8, at one o'clock in the afternoon, the entire journey period is 21 days. In less than 24 hours they had to overcome the borders of three states. Luggage: two small backpacks as carry-on luggage. I was worried about only one thing: the transfer to Air Asia in Singapore-Changi is only 1 hour. 30 min. We don’t know the airport; terminal number 4, from where Air Asia flies to Langkawi, was built in 2017. There is only a smattering of information on it on the Internet; it was not possible to really collect it. And it is not close to terminal number 3 where our Qatari plane lands. For the first time we flew by Qatar, Moscow-Doha A 320, five hours. Doha-Singapore A 350 eight, loved it! I won’t describe it, everything is at a high level. Economy worthy! I especially liked the A 350; the plane is not much inferior in comfort to the A 380 in economy and is significantly superior to long-range Boeings. Connection in Doha and fly on to Singapore. During the flight, we were given migration cards, we filled out who, from where and where, and landed eight hours later. Changi Airport is super, but there’s no time to take a closer look, let’s run or rather rush. The line at the immigration windows moves lazily, making us quite worried whether we will make it in time. I read that you first need to take an unmanned Skytrain to terminal number 2 and from there take a shuttle to terminal number 4. But it turned out a little differently. There is another obstacle ahead in the form of customs inspection of hand luggage, fingerprints, document scans. Since docking at the fourth terminal is actually an exit to the city. So we ran and reached terminal number 2 on the go, asking about our treasured terminal 4. There we transferred to a free shuttle, which took us five minutes to our destination. Finally we are in the fourth terminal, but the check-in time for the Singapore-Langkawi flight has already ended, the airport staff went to the meeting, quickly checked in, should we sprint on to catch the plane? Having gone through all the formalities with the scans once again, we were in time. Luckily for us, the flight to Malaysia was delayed. At Singapore's Changi Airport there is a multi-stage security system, fingerprints are taken. Next, you scan them in the same way you scan your ticket and passport when passing, for example, to another flight, as in our case. And in our case, even the sun protective cream was taken away. For example, finding chewing gum can result in a fine. And the fines in Singapore are serious. In the recent past, someone stuck chewing gum at the airport in this simple way and caused a crash at the airport. So be careful!

Air Asia took us to the island of Langkawi, Malaysia in an hour and a half. We landed at about one o'clock in the afternoon, stepped off the plane, and the island embraced us with comfort and beauty. We walked on foot to the airport terminal building. Where we went through the fingerprinting process again. But everything is simpler. The last task left is to catch the ferry to Koh Lipe, Thailand. There are two ferries per day from Langkawi from Telaga Harbor Marina to Koh Lipe in the morning at 9.30 and 14.30. We quickly exchange $100 for Malaysian ringits, take a taxi and go to the Telaga pier. There is another main pier in Langkawi (mostly Malaysian traffic) that also provides ferries to Lipe, called Kuah Jetty. The schedule is approximately the same but with a slight shift. Kuah is larger, with duty free shops and exchange offices. Our pier is small and modest. A small building with a window where they give you Thai migration cards and tickets, but it is international since ferries depart from it to Lipe Island, Thailand.

Finally, the ferry tickets were purchased and the passports were taken away.

Perhaps the only case in my experience is when your passports are confiscated in one country and issued in another. We fill out the cards again. We didn’t have to wait long, a ferry arrived, more like an old longboat, we boarded it, went through some kind of customs and sailed to our desired island. First, we were all put into the cabin of the ferry, and after a short sail we were allowed to go up to the upper deck. The people rushed together, grabbing their gadgets.

Oh, what views opened up, the beauty of the Andaman Sea, the picturesque island of Langkawi and other islands delighted and filled the soul with jubilation. After enjoying the beauty, we went down. There is air conditioning and TV in the salon. We sailed for an hour and a half, Ira managed to take a nap, I couldn’t sleep, and then the island of Koh Lipe appeared.

Koh Lipe is the farthest and southern island of Thailand and perhaps perhaps the most beautiful. It is also called the Thai Maldives. Although there are certainly similarities with the Caribbean. The beaches of the island are white, with coral sand, hence the stunningly beautiful color of the sea. You can only get to the island on your own, or probably on an individual tour, which will undoubtedly be more expensive. He is not very well known on our Internet resources. But it’s popular in the West, so there are a lot of foreigners here. Moreover, you can see tourists even from South America. Our package tourists sometimes come to the island on excursions from Phuket and other islands. But the path is not close to the island of Phuket, the distance is more than five hundred km. From mainland Pattaya it is even more, more than a thousand km. We met our tourists on Lipa, but mostly they were independent travelers. Malaysia's Langkawi is the closest to Lipa.

Koh Lipe is part of Tarutao National Park, Satun Province. And the park itself has more than seventy islands, most of which have not yet been developed. The island itself has a modest size of approximately 3 km. by 2 km. But at the same time it has a fairly developed infrastructure, shops, cafes, pharmacies, a hospital, even police and military.

Aboriginal people, sea gypsies, live on the island. They are very different from the Thais with their dark, almost Negroid skin and slightly slanted eyes and their linguistic culture. Gypsies live in a village near Sunrise Beach, there is a school through the territory of which tourists get to this beach. Some hotels and almost all the boats belong to them, the Thais also run hotels, but also shops and cafes. There are also a few Malays on the island who also have their own business. What’s most interesting, it seemed to me, is that the gypsies are by no means poor by local standards. But they still live in shack houses and do not particularly strive to rebuild them. Often passing through the village of gypsies, I saw their life, how they weave huge traps from mesh to catch crabs or fish. They wash clothes, bathe children or just relax. Their houses often stand on small stilts, covered with corrugated metal sheets, walls and roof. The doors of the houses are always wide open and inside you can see expensive plasma TVs and home theaters with meter-long acoustic speakers. That's what gypsies are!

Koh Lipe has three main large beaches. Pattaya Beach, Sunrise Beach and Sunset Beach. There are also small beaches. The most popular beach in Pattaya, the most beautiful in my opinion, Sunrise. Sunset is perhaps the least popular and less beautiful than the previous two, but you can see stunning sunsets from it. Hotels on the island are much more expensive than on other islands of Thailand. The average price starts from $100 and above per day. You can find guest houses for less, but not on the beach, but in the depths of the island. Although, again, the island is small and all the main beaches can be walked around in an hour on different sides of the island.

We booked the Sita Beach Resort & Spa hotel on Pattaya Beach for six nights at a cost of $150 per day. After booking, I visited the Booking website several times, but there were no more places in our hotel. We like to choose hotels locally, but the island is small and the risk of spending the night under palm trees or on the beach here is great.

The ferry slowly approached Pattaya Beach Bay, which shimmered with bright sea colors. What a beautiful sea this island has, simply emerald! We were transferred in groups to Thai long-nosed boats and taken to the shore. But not to the pier, which actually doesn’t exist! And about three meters from the shore, we hastily took off our sneakers and jumped into the water. In this unusual way we got to our paradise island. Then our arriving group of tourists huddled together near the customs booth. After a short time, customs gave us the go-ahead. They brought passports with stamps. They took 200 baht for entering the national park and let us go home. Five minutes later we were already in our Sita.

Sita Beach Resort & Spa, a very good hotel with good breakfasts and two swimming pools. Well maintained beautiful area. We took a Deluxe room which had a beautiful view of the sea. The room has everything you need, a large veranda for evening relaxation. The room is quite large, 45 meters, an interesting feature near the bathroom. The shower and bath are separate, and the bathroom with the bathtub is located in the open air. So taking a bath in this room will be in the open air, accompanied by the singing of birds or the rain. Hotel Sita rises smoothly through galleries up a small mountain. Some of the rooms are downstairs on both sides of the pool, and some are on the galleries. We lived on the first tier of those same galleries, a minute from the pool, two minutes from the hotel restaurant and the beach. Above the galleries there is another swimming pool with a beautiful view of the hotel and the sea. The hotel itself is to the right of the center of the beach, when viewed from the island. The sea is calm, shallow and smooth entry into the sea. True, there are quite a lot of boats on Pattaya beach. There are especially many of them towards the center of the beach, where the main traffic of tourists arrives. Although, despite such an abundance of boats, the water in the bay is as clear as a tear. In my opinion, this beach is just right for families with small children. Every day we migrated to Sunrise Beach, walk about fifteen minutes across the street, Walking Street, then through the gypsy village. I don’t know why the beach and the street were named after a famous Thai resort. But this local street, Walking, has little in common with the street in Pattaya.

Sunrise Beach! Here it is deeper and the left side of the beach is without boats. On this side is the famous sand spit that appears on all the business cards of the island of Koh Lipe. The place is very beautiful! Opposite, one and a half kilometers away, you can see the mountainous island of Adang, a little to the left and further away the equally large island of Ravi.

This is how our vacation began. In the morning breakfast at the hotel. And the breakfasts are varied and satisfying. Then to Sunrise, beachy, leisurely, lazy. Without any sudden movements, and in the evening a walk along Walking Street, getting to know the local cafes and shops. In the evening, the cafe owners lay out seafood. I was amazed by the amount of fish on the cafe counters. There are blue marlin of gigantic size, mackerel and red snapper, sea bass, dorado, grouper and other species. Everything is fresh, seafood. Of course crabs, squid, shrimp and lobsters. The prices are quite normal, for example, our favorite grilled red snapper of decent size cost about a little over two hundred rubles. Although everything on the island is absolutely imported, with the most likely exception of seafood. Alcohol, fruits, everything is much more expensive than the mainland. A bottle of beer starts from one hundred and thirty rubles in the store. The cafe is naturally more expensive. Wine from one and a half thousand, etc. But in general, local food, rice, soups, pork, chicken, prices are quite tolerable. And fruits too.

A little about Walking Street. The street starts from Pattaya Beach. On the street there are cafes where seafood is laid out in the evening, shops with textiles and souvenirs, in the evenings they bake pancakes and pancakes with various fillings, prices start from 40 baht. They make Thai ice cream from natural fruits that costs 100 baht. There are pharmacies and even a hospital. Travel agencies, grocery stores, including the well-known Seven Ileven, massage parlors. In general, walking down the street you won’t get bored with a lot of people, and there is certainly something to keep yourself busy. On the embankment of Pattaya beach, a slightly different picture is played, music is played, a fire show is shown, the picture is approximately similar to the beaches of other islands of Thailand. Other beaches on the island are quiet and calm. Our days on the island of Koh Lipe flew by unnoticed and the question arose of what to do next: either go to the island of Langkawi or choose another island in Thailand. What to do? Well, we really liked our island and didn’t want to leave, so we decided to stay for another week. We walked along Sunrise Beach and chose the Lipe Beach Resort hotel and took a bungalow right on the beach. $70 per day, for seven days. Wooden bungalow in Thai authentic style, with fan. Shampoo, soap, safe. Bottled water, daily. The first line is also a bungalow, our houses are located between the front ones and also have a direct view of the sea. Just right for us, we were very happy with our choice. Hotel with breakfast sets to choose from, eight sets. The fairy tale continues, we remain in paradise. Sunrise Beach became our favorite beach on the island, although we explored almost all the beaches, including small private beaches. There is a small island opposite our hotel. And just to the right of the hotel there is a kayaking station. Irina and I decided to try kayaking to the island. Kayak rental costs 150 baht per hour. Armed with oars, we got into the kayak and swam away. From the outside it looks beautiful as the kayak glides through the sea easily and naturally. When we tried it ourselves, we realized that not everything is so simple. It turned out to be not so easy to control the fragile boat. Either he turned left or right. Then, obeying the sea current, it was pulled to the wrong place, and the wind helped us. Somehow we reached the island, took a rest, took photos and swam back. The only conclusion is that you need skill and training. And it’s a pleasure to watch how some kayaking enthusiasts deftly control it, so they limited themselves to this.

One day sunbathing on the beach and looking at the opposite Adang Island. Suddenly a decision came, why not visit it, having discussed the issue with Ira, we decidedly go, or rather sail. It's getting closer to two, we have to hurry. Next to our hotel is the sea gypsy boat station. I approached them and agreed to take us there for a hundred baht per person. We ran into the bungalow and quickly got ready and we were flying in a boat along the emerald waves of the Andaman Sea. About ten minutes later we went ashore on the island, the purpose of our journey was to climb the mountain, the observation deck from which our island Ko Lipe is visible in full view.

There is very little civilization on Adang Island itself. An information desk, several rental houses, a ranger base, and a tent camp in a casuarina grove, that’s probably all! Adang Island is larger than Koh Lipe and is very mountainous, covered with impenetrable jungle. The right side of the island from Lipe has a fairly long deserted beach. And there is even a sand spit vaguely reminiscent of the spit on Lipa. Sand is more viscous. For those who like privacy, the place is quite suitable. But we are not yet able to reach the beach; our goal is an observation point on the mountain, the distance to the point is one kilometer and two hundred meters. Along a steep slope along a narrow, barely discernible path, through jungle and stones. When we started changing our shoes, to our regret, we discovered that Irina’s sneakers were in a hurry waiting for us in the bungalow. And I didn’t really want to go back. I give Ira my forty fours and we, as a half-barefoot team, set out on the intended route. At the beginning of the journey we met another Thai extreme sports enthusiasts, two guys and girls. So we went together as one team. At first the path went through the jungle with a slight rise, then it abruptly crawled up, winding among the hot stones, getting lost in the dense thickets. On some sections of the route we had to look out for the path because everything was overgrown and it was sometimes difficult to understand where to go. Walking, or rather climbing, became difficult. The midday heat and scorching heat made the climb difficult. My heart was beating wildly, my temples were throbbing desperately, and sweat was pouring into my eyes. The body seemed to be heated to the very limit. Ira began to ask for rest more often. The Thais have slowly overtaken us. The intervals between getting up and resting were rapidly shrinking. And we haven’t even covered half the route yet. Exhausted Ira could no longer move, and at a halt we decided that I would go on alone and Ira, having gained strength, would go down. My wife wanted to give me the sneakers, but I decisively rejected this option. I took only a bottle of water with me and the camera climbed further up the mountain barefoot. About ten minutes later I caught up with the Thais, I saw that they had it too, they were sitting exhausted. Having wished them good luck, he continued moving upward without slowing down.

The remaining part of the journey was completed in about thirty minutes, taking minute breaks to restore breathing. And now the pinnacle of our torment has finally been conquered. The view of our Koh Lipe was amazing, indescribable beauty in full view! For such a stunning view, the climb was definitely worth it! I gave myself a little time to rest, because I still need to go back. Having rested and enjoyed the beauty, I slowly began to go down. The return journey was also not easy, given my barefoot situation, but my breathing was no longer interrupted. Soon I met my acquaintances, the Thai martyrs; they had about ten minutes left until the final point of the ascent. Having wished them good luck once again, I continued my descent. While descending I met various living creatures: squirrels, wild monkeys, small monitor lizards or lizards.

Ira met me downstairs excited. How am I, what's wrong with me? Having calmed my wife down, we went for a swim before our boat arrived, there was a little over an hour left.

This is the adventure we organized for ourselves and we were very pleased with it! The next couple of days we relaxed on the beach, swam and looked with pleasure at our conquered mountain peak of Adanga Island. At this time, we met a company of our compatriots Lilia, Igor, Ruslan and Dasha, who were independently traveling around Asia. They decided to take a boat to the nearby islands. Again we went to the same gypsies who were based next to our hotel. After some haggling, we agreed on a price of 300 baht per person. In local travel agencies, the price of a similar tour started from 650 baht. The tour was a day trip and included a visit to five outlying islands and snorkeling. For 50 locals they gave us a mask and a snorkel. We took water, photographic equipment with us and forward to the beauties of the surface and underwater world. We boarded the boat and sailed for quite a long time. Almost an hour. The islands are wild, the only inhabitants found on the islands are naturally monkeys. A very rich underwater world, of course I don’t compare it with the Red Sea, but in this area the Andaman Sea is very rich in coral reefs and its inhabitants! You can spend hours swimming among corals of all shapes and colors and their inhabitants, reef sharks and coral fish, as if dissolving in their native environment. When the water is transparent, when up to ten meters you can see even the smallest pebble, and the rays of the sun penetrate to the very bottom, reflecting from the coral sand, in the breaking of the rays you come across fish that are by no means small, and even more in the crevices. Wonderful pop-eyed eyes look at you from the depths, seemingly in surprise, asking what kind of miracle has come to us. And the reef sharks made my new friend Ruslan a little worried, which is why he, unexpectedly for me, hastily swam back to the boat. In general, as the British say, enjoyment is pleasure. And time here seems to have stopped for you; without feeling tired at all, you can swim for hours watching the underwater world. And only the echoes of consciousness bring you back to reality; it’s time to swim to the boat and move on.

On Monkey Island, I became acquainted with plankton for the first time; it was an unusual sensation. You are swimming in clean, transparent water and your body is pierced with needles, I could not understand what kind of attack had overcome me, until Lily later told me with whom we swam to the corrals that it was plankton that stung so much. Lily suggested that plankton can be seen in the sea at night. Ira and I went to the sea that evening and saw these tiny creatures. The coastal wave glowed with small lights, as if scatterings of tiny diamonds had poured into the sea. An unusual, fascinating phenomenon that was difficult to tear yourself away from. It's a pity that the camera couldn't capture this miracle. This is how we spent another busy day in this beautiful corner of the earth! Soon our friends went home.

Ira and I continued to enjoy our vacation. During the day we sunbathed and swam, then a short rest in the bungalow from the beach holiday, a light snack, Tom Yum, with Thai salads or pancakes, and dinner with seafood in the evening. Thus our heavenly life quietly came to an end. Ahead of us was the Malaysian island of Langkawi. The weather during this rest period was hot. The first three days an atmospheric front passed through and sometimes at this time the tropics were hit by a wall of rain, but usually in the evening, but even in the rain we walked and enjoyed this action. During the day, the sun stubbornly burned through the clouds, although in neighboring Langkawi there were clouds and it was pouring like buckets, but here it was dry and hot. In general, this is an interesting feature of the island of Lipe. When there was a front for the first three days, lightning flashed around the island, it rumbled and poured, and above the island, although it was cloudy, there were gaps and the sun seemed to illuminate only our island. There was even such a wall of rain on neighboring Adang, and such that the island was not visible at all, and it is only one and a half kilometers from Lipe and we have the sun. After three days of the front, the clouds completely cleared and the heat increased. After all, this is the southernmost island of Thailand and the temperature here is a couple of degrees higher than, for example, in Phuket. On Sunrise Beach there was always enough shade from palm trees and a casuarina grove that provided shade, and there was a bungalow nearby. For those who don’t know, casuarina trees closely resemble our conifers in appearance. They grow to a decent size and remain shaded and cool under them.

This is how our unforgettable vacation went on now on our beloved island of Lipe. I would like to finally express my opinion about Koh Lipe. There are probably places no less beautiful and even wilder. But we liked the island precisely because of the beauty of the beaches, the emerald sea, and of course the developed infrastructure. The sea here never ceases to delight, changing its colors in different weather conditions, it always remains amazingly beautiful. White beaches with soft coral sand, quite wide, there was enough shade on the beach for everyone in the high season. Living on the island is very convenient and comfortable, despite its modest size, and I didn’t want to leave even after two weeks. My opinion is that the island is beautiful! I really hope that we will return to this wonderful island, which is called the Thai Maldives for its beauty.

There are many beautiful places in Thailand that are worth visiting at least once. Therefore, the question often arises of where exactly to go. Should you give preference to the islands in the south of Thailand or go to the waterfalls of the north? Surely, most people, having heard about the island of Ko Lipe, first of all asked the question “why go to Ko Lipe?” What is so attractive, interesting and beautiful about this tropical island of Thailand?

Koh Lipe is not as crowded as Phi Phi. Lipa has much better infrastructure and is much easier to get to than the Similan Islands. Lipe is much more compact than Samui. If we talk about the size of Koh Lipe, then it is only 3 km long (half of these 3 km is an uninhabited mountain), the distance between the beaches is a maximum of 1 km. You can take a leisurely walk and walk from one beach to another in 15 - 20 minutes. For those who do not like to walk, there are motorcycle taxis (moped with sidecar) in Lipa.

Lipe Island is a kind of rising star of tourism in Thailand, which is only gaining popularity. You can rarely hear Russian speech on the island. Koh Lipe is a popular holiday destination among Thais and their Malaysian neighbors. Therefore, on weekends and holidays the number of vacationers on the island increases significantly. Why do these tourists go to Koh Lipe when there are so many alternatives in Thailand?

1 | Incredibly beautiful seascapes

The beauty begins already on the way to Koh Lipe; from board a speedboat or ferry you can take many beautiful photos and enjoy the endless sea distance with islands rising out of the water here and there.

Seascape (photographed from a speedboat on Koh Lipe)

2 | Rich underwater world

A variety of fish, corals, and strange marine life that anyone can see (even those who can’t swim). There is no need to wear diving equipment to see the underwater beauty of the Tarutao National Marine Park (which includes the island of Koh Lipe) - just a mask and snorkel, which, if necessary, can be rented from a hotel or travel agency. You can get to the most interesting and beautiful points by purchasing a group excursion or ordering an individual tour.

Prices for excursions start from 650 baht (~$20) per person.

The most popular excursions on Koh Lipe:

sunset tour to the most beautiful places with snorkeling and a picnic on the beach,
morning tour with lunch on the beach and snorkeling in the most beautiful places,
tour with 2 scuba dives (experience not required),
a walk through the jungle of Ko Adang island with a visit to the observation deck and snorkeling.

Sea stars

Clownfish and anemone

A short video clip (2 minutes), which contains sunsets, beaches, underwater beauties of Koh Lipe and neighboring islands:

Video clip from Koh Lipe and excursions to neighboring islands

3 | Snow-white fine sand and turquoise water of the beaches of Koh Lipe

Despite a number of shortcomings (which I will discuss later), the beaches of Koh Lipe delight with their natural beauty. First of all, we are talking about the snow-white and fine, like powdered sugar, sand on Pattaya beach. Please do not confuse it with the resort of the same name in Thailand, which is located near Bangkok, which is much north of Koh Lipe.

Pattaya Beach on Koh Lipe is famous for its white sand

Good hotels for a holiday on Pattaya beach:

The Breeze Lipe Resort 3* (you can book the hotel on booking.com or agoda.com),
Bunbhaya Villas 4* (you can book the hotel on booking.com or agoda.com).

Sunrise beach is no less beautiful, especially its northern part:

Northern part of Sunrise beach

Good hotels to stay on Sunrise beach:

Salisa Resort 3* (you can book the hotel on booking.com or agoda.com),
Idyllic Concept Resort 4* (you can book the hotel on booking.com or agoda.com).

4 | Sunrises and sunsets within walking distance

In the morning you can meet the beginning of the day on one side of the island, and in the evening take a walk to the sunset point on the other side. Few islands can boast a beach where you can watch both sunrise and sunset. Ko Lipe can. This is Sunrise beach. Although it is customary to watch the sunset on the corresponding “sunset beach” - Sunset beach.

Sunset on Sunset beach

5 | Beach bars where the sea laps at your feet

Relaxing with a glass of your favorite cocktail or juice on the beach, in a comfortable sun lounger, enjoying the seascape and gentle waves at your feet - this is truly a heavenly holiday.

Beach bar on Sunrise beach

6 | Lunch or dinner in a restaurant with a gorgeous view of the sea and neighboring islands

In good weather, the Langkawi Islands belonging to Malaysia are visible from Koh Lipe. The most beautiful view of the sea opens from the restaurant on the cliff at the southern edge of Sunrise beach, at the Serendipity Resort hotel. The restaurant is open from 12 noon to 9:30 pm, drinks are served from 10:00 to 22:00 (the prices are not high, the food is delicious). If you want to wake up in a room with a beautiful view of the sea, then you should stay in Serendipity Beach Resort(you can book the hotel on booking.com or agoda.com).

Restaurant overlooking the sea and neighboring islands

7 | Wide range of seafood in restaurants

In the evening, feasting begins on the main street of the island, Walking street. Restaurants display trays of seafood, light barbecues and lure hungry tourists with the alluring smells of cooking food. There are so many temptations around that it’s not a sin to arrange a real belly celebration. In addition to the classic restaurant options, where you can choose a specific dish from the menu, on Walking street there are seafood buffets, where for a certain amount you can try everything that is in the establishment’s assortment (the price for such a buffet is from 490 baht ~ $15 per person).

Assortment of seafood in one of the restaurants on Koh Lipe

Disadvantages of Koh Lipe and what you should be prepared for

Vacation disappointments await those who are not aware of the shortcomings of the place where they are going. The island of Koh Lipe is rapidly gaining popularity and many disadvantages are associated with the growing tourist flow:

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there is too much garbage that local authorities do not have time to deal with;
a large number of boats, which are designed to satisfy the needs of tourists, filled the beaches (especially Sunrise and Pattaya beaches),
there are many quite large dogs that make a good living on restaurant waste (they can be annoying and unceremonious),
prices on Koh Lipe are higher than in other places in Thailand (even in the 7 Eleven store chain prices for all goods are 1.5 - 2 times higher),
The service in many hotels is lower than expected (due to the lack of experienced and qualified staff) and choosing a hotel on Koh Lipe should be approached with special care.

The natural drawback of the island of Koh Lipe is the pronounced ebb and flow of the tides. At high tide, most of the sandy edge of the beaches is under water and there is no place to sunbathe, and at low tide it becomes so shallow that it is impossible to swim. The only place on the island where you can sunbathe and swim almost at any time is the northern part of Sunrise beach.

This one can be called one of the most beautiful. This article will tell you about one amazing corner of the Earth. This place is the island of Koh Lipe (Thailand). Sights, recreational features and reviews will be presented below in this article.

The presented island is developing quite quickly, due to the desire to meet the demands of growing tourism in these amazingly beautiful and warm places. Therefore, certain global problems arise: an increase in the volume of garbage, the likelihood of a reduction in the diversity of animal populations. Today, serious projects are being developed, the main goal of which is to preserve the island of Koh Lipe in its pure, pristine form.

Ko Lipe (Thailand): general information

This is a small island of the Adang Ravi archipelago, located in the Adaman Sea. Koh Lipe is located in Setun Province, located in the southwestern part of Thailand. This fabulous piece of paradise borders on Malaysia.

The name of the island sounds in completely different versions, the most common of which are the following: Koh Lipe, Koh Lipeh, Koh Laip and Koh Lipei. The location of the island is the border with Tajutao (Marine National Park), next to the larger islands: Koh Ravi and Koh Adan. This place has long been inhabited by Malaysian sea gypsies, who are known as "Chao Lay" and "Urak Lawoi".

Thailand is a great place for tourists to relax. Lipe is one of the most beautiful places. It is located approximately 50 kilometers from Koh Tarutao (island).

Koh Lipe is 2.5 kilometers long and 1.5 kilometers wide. The widest territory of the island in the shape of the letter “L” was inhabited by those same sea gypsies (there are about 500 of them). They live in small villages, mainly in the east, near Sunrise Beach. Therefore, their main occupation is the tourism business.

Tourism

Koh Lipe (Thailand) has three main beach areas: Pattaya, Sunrise Beach and Sunset Beach. Compared to neighboring islands, this is the most popular holiday destination among tourists. A small island, shaped like a triangle, located 2 kilometers from the island. Ko Adang. The bulk of the local residents were resettled here between the wars from the island of Koh Lanta. The reason for the action was to preserve Thai territory from the invasion of the British who colonized Malaysia.

Koh Lipe, like its neighboring islands, also has excellent diving and snorkeling spots.

There are many diving centers and shops on the island that rent out the necessary equipment for snorkeling (swimming with a mask and fins). Interesting boat excursions on the sea are also organized here.

The water on Koh Lipe is amazingly clear and calm, making it ideal for snorkeling. A total of 25% of the world's tropical fish species live in sea waters here. In coral reefs at great depths you can find fish of the largest species. Koh Lipe is beautiful and convenient for relaxation in all respects.

Reviews, advantages

There are a huge number of guest houses and hotels on the island for tourists, and almost all of them are located on the coast, especially in the eastern part of the island. These are four-star hotels and 3-star hotels. There are also more modest establishments. Below are the best, according to tourist reviews, hotels in Koh Lipe (Thailand). The reviews and impressions about holidays there are the most wonderful.

1. Sawan Resort 2* It is considered one of the most convenient and pleasant options for relaxation. We offer accommodation here in one of 5 villas, comfortably located on the northern coast of the island. It is located away from the noisier Koh Lipe. Sunset Beach is just a 3-minute walk and Pattaya Beach is a 10-minute walk. Accommodation prices here depend on the house, but almost all of them are quite cozy and comfortable.

2. Ten Moons Lipe Resort 2* represents the most romantic holiday option. It represents 15 bungalows, built of wood, in the jungle, near a beach with snow-white clean sand. This place is also relatively calm and not heavily built up. The only small negative is the small beach, which gets crowded with a large number of vacationers.

Attractions

There are practically no such remarkable places on Koh Lipe. Only in the center of the island is the Hantalai Buddhist temple, which can be reached from the pedestrian street along the road leading to Sunset Beach (i.e. between Sunrise Beach and Sunset Beach). This temple is located in the jungle on a hill. It is not like the usual other temples in Thailand - with luxurious roofs and impressive staircases with fairy-tale dragons. It looks like a shack with a couple of statues and multi-colored ribbons. In the center of the establishment there is a large statue of the Golden Buddha. Local residents of Koh Lipe (Thailand) come to her to pray every day.

There are several monks living in Khantalai who take care of the large number of dogs and cats that live here with them. Although this temple does not look aesthetically pleasing, like many other more luxurious temples in Thailand, it is still a worthy attraction of this place. He also has incredibly strong energy. Being here, people receive peace and tranquility. In addition, the age-old tradition here is that the monks from the temple go for alms in the morning. This exciting event can be seen every morning on the main promenade of the island at 7 o'clock.

How to get there?

There are always many people who want to go on holiday to Koh Lipe (Thailand). How to get there?

The closest airports are in Trang and Hat Yai districts. Both of them are located about 100 kilometers from Pakbara Pier. Hat Yai receives daily flights from Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. The plane arrives in Trang only from Bangkok. It turns out that Russians have to get on vacation with transfers, possibly two. Some flights include transfer and ferry to Koh Lipe (but this is only from Hat Yai). Otherwise, you can book a minibus to the island at the tourist offices at any train station.

The nearest railway stations are also located in Hat Yai and Trang. Two trains arrive daily from Bangkok. A train from Malaysia also arrives in Hat Yai.

On your own

Many travelers travel to Koh Lipe (Thailand) themselves. How to get there on your own? Once you arrive in Thailand, the simplest and easiest way to get to the island is via Pakbar Pier (twice daily). There is a songthaew (public bus) running from Satun to Pak Bara every hour, which takes about 50 minutes to the final stop. It is also possible to get there by Ferryboat, the ticket for which costs 100 baht less, but the journey takes 1.5 hours longer.

Many travelers use combination tickets: minibus plus ferry from Trang, Krabi or Hat Yai to Koh Lipe. And you can get to these places from Bangkok and other cities in Thailand by bus.

A little about the western part of the island

Many of the trees growing in eastern Koh Lipe have been uprooted in recent years. Their place was taken by modern concrete structures. But there is also a western part of this island that remains practically untouched by people. Here you can take advantage of wild beaches and jungles for those who like to retire from the hustle and bustle and merge with magnificent nature.

Here you can wander among the trees and clusters of dark gray boulders scattered along the slope. Climbing them, you can admire the amazing pure natural nature.

Conclusion

Koh Lipe (Thailand) is a unique combination of beauty with a special atmosphere of almost untouched nature. This is one of the beautiful heavenly places in Thailand.

It is noteworthy that you can still find wild deserted beaches and places with amazing views and a great atmosphere.

However, how long will this last? A few more years and the last pristine areas of paradise will be built up with piers, hotels, bars and other buildings... So now we need to take advantage of the moment. After all, there are not many such places in the world.

Koh Lipe is one of the inhabited islands of Thailand in the Adang Rawi archipelago in the Andaman Sea, located in Satun province, near the border with Malaysia. It is part of the Tarutao National Marine Park. The distance to the mainland is 70 km, the island of Koh Adang is in close proximity, and Koh Tarutao is 50 km away. The Thai name for the island in English has many variant spellings: Koh Lipe, Koh Lipeh, Ko Lipey and Ko Lipe.

More than a hundred years ago, the island was originally inhabited by sea gypsies originally from Malaysia known as the Chao Lei or Urak Lawoi people. They still live here, numbering about 800 people - this is the main labor force on the island. Some were able to open small businesses.

Koh Lipe is popular for its white sandy beaches and clear sea. There are many islands nearby where you can go for a secluded holiday, snorkeling, diving, and also try your luck at fishing. There is no special entertainment on Koh Lipe; it is mainly a beach holiday with people gradually spreading to numerous bars after sunset. Life on the island calms down towards midnight.

The food on Koh Lipe is quite varied; in addition to seafood and Thai cuisine, there are many different establishments aimed at Europeans. Low prices for seafood - everything is freshly caught, but there is not much variety. Prices for food and services are average for Thailand, at the level of Phuket.

In recent years, Koh Lipe has changed a lot in terms of infrastructure and has become less “wild”. Good hotels appeared, electricity (24 hours a day) and the Internet became available, but, in turn, there were fewer secluded corners. Although even on peak dates it is not very crowded. There are no supermarkets or chain stores like 7 Eleven, but there are local mini-marts, their prices vary, but are approximately the same.

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