Railay Beach: Rockclimber's Paradise, Geologist's Heaven, and Beachgoer's Fantasy

After having exhausted the majority of “sights” in Ao Nang the night before, we hopped on a longtail boat to the nearby West Railay Beach for about two dollars apiece. The seas were calm and framed by dynamic white clouds that looked like they were about to burst with excitement at how beautiful a day we had happened upon for our beach day. The sky high limestone cliffs and empty, immaculate beaches were an added bonus to the already perfect day.

After walking through the ghost town of West Railay Beach, we asked a local how to get to the lagoon we had heard so much about from our friends Justin and Emily. We followed the directions given through East Railay Beach (more of a mud flat and garbage dump lined with ironically fancy hotels than a beach) toward the trail leading up to the lagoon. On our way, we asked another couple heading back toward the beach if we were going the right way. They said we were, but that the lagoon is just a big muddy mess at low tide, and the hike to get up there is horrendous! They also told us the lookout nearby was worth going to, so we kept walking. We somehow missed the turnout for the lagoon, probably because we were too busy admiring the karst geology of the area: stalagmites, stalactites, caves, intricate overhangs…. It was so neat! We stumbled upon the trail up to the lagoon, took one look, and laughed out loud. It was basically a sheer cliff of red, sticky clay interlaced with banyan tree roots. Add that with bathing suits and flip flops and you would probably get a downright mess! We decided to walk right past it.

The trail we were on dead ended into one of the most beautiful beaches we have ever seen, Phra Nang Cave Beach. The most noticeable feature on the beach was the limestone wall about 500 feet tall at the southern end of the beach that made a sort of cave over the ocean with a hangover of at least 50 feet. But to add to that, the powder soft white sand was lined with trees that shaded half the beach (perfect for a hot day), gorgeously clear water, a Buddhist temple, and a handful of food vendors selling ridiculously cheap food. It was quite literally the perfect beach day!

After quite a few hours of taking it all in, we caught a longtail back to Ao Nang from Phra Nang in a slightly rougher ocean. We took naps after our long day in the sun to recuperate. We had plans to go out on the town tonight, but ended up spending all of our time at dinner and admiring local paintings in an art studio instead of at a bar!