Railay Beach, Krabi Province

Traditional boats liked up at Railay Beach in Krabi Province, Thailand

 
The area of Krabi known as Railay is a bit of a geographical curiosity. While it's part of the Krabi province mainland, the resort area of the peninsula can only be reached by boat. High vertical cliffs cut off the peninsula from the rest of the coast. The peninsula is really just a build-up of sand between the cliffs and two large rock stacks. The result is three beaches with decidedly different characters.

East Railay is a long gently curving arc of rocky sand with some mangrove trees at either end. With its stony nature and boats from Nammao coming and going at just about all hours, East Railay is not the best beach for sun and fun. West Railay, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. White sand stretches between two large rocks at either end.

But the picture postcard beach is Phranang Beach, south of West Railay. White sand runs between the large rocks which divide Phranang from West Railay, down to the large stone pillar which caps the peninsula. In the side of this cliff at the south end of the beach is a cave housing an unusual small shrine. Another stone pillar just offshore completes the picture postcard beauty. While the two Railay beaches are lined with several resorts each, only one resort has direct access to Phranang, the Rayavadee. A path at the base of the southern cliff gives public access to Phranang Beach.