You’ve made it to Koh Chang and have now realized how daunting the island can be. Spanning 210² km, Koh Chang is the third largest island in Thailand and navigating the island on your own requires some motorbike skills and some patience. The roads are extremely hilly and steep, so while you’re definitely going to want to beach hop, you’ll want to be strategic. Here’s all you need to know about the beautiful Koh Chang beaches and what they offer!
Post Contents
The first village after the pier, White Sands is probably the most well known and touristy beach on the island. Not the prettiest beach on the island, people tend to stay here because it has the most amenities of any of the villages. Think large grocery stores, western restaurants, etc. In the evening the large hotels line the beach with tables and chairs for al fresco dining. White Sands is fairly family centric, with lots of large resorts and hotels to stay in. The beach itself is fine, but there are much nicer beaches further south.
There is a nightly street market in White Sands Village, it’s fairly touristy so I wouldn’t go out of my way to go there but if you’re in the area already you could check it out.
Very family centric, Klong Prao is divided into North and South, split by a canal (it entirely cuts off the beach in a deep river, so unless you want to swim across, so you have to go back up to the road and take the bridge, and then go back down to the beach).
Nice, larger resorts run along the beach, but across the main street you can find some smaller hotels and guesthouses. Northern Klong Prao beach itself is beautiful, and if you’re staying nearby we just drove down and parked in the guest parking of the resort and walked down to the beach. Not sure about any other access for scooters.
In all honesty, there’s not really a whole lot here. I’m including it in the list of Koh Chang beaches since when I was looking up where to stay in Ko Chang, it was one of the places I wondered about. Some larger resorts and a somewhat creepy ‘walking street’, lined with pubs and discos, that looked like it drew a pretty… interesting crowd. Along the beach side there is a street food stall plaza of sorts, it’s a dozen stalls or so that share a large seating area.
Kai Bae beach itself is fine, but there are nicer ones on the island.
The ‘backpackers beach’. Basically it’s the area where the majority of the hostels are, along with a solid mix of cheap local restaurants and a few ‘hip’ spots along the main road. The usual pancake stalls open up at dusk, the one ubiquitous Thailand marker that it’s missing in a 7-11. Don’t fret though, there are still 3 convenience stores in a 100 metre radius.
Lonely Beach itself is about a 10 minute walk north of the village, and has the best ‘lively but not packed’ feel of all the Ko Chang beaches. There are a couple hotels along the beach, but Nature Rocks is a good one to hang around, it has a good happy hour vibe and good music.
For some reason Koh Chang is home to a massive amount of nightclubs, and they’re all next to each other in Lonely Beach. Word of warning, if you stay on the side of the road closer to the beach it is LOUD at night. I can sleep through most things but even with industrial ear plugs in the music still woke me up.
Even if the clubs aren’t your thing (they’re not mine), Lonely Beach would still be my recommendation of where to stay for anyone looking for better ‘vibes’. Sunset was a bean bags on the sand sort of situation, and people were chilling on the beach. We drove around the other villages around 10 pm and it was entirely dead. Lonely Beach was the only place that still had people out and about.
If you’re looking to stay in Lonely Beach I would recommend Beach Jungle. Super cute spot right on the main drag, offering privates and dorm rooms, and has a nice back garden set up! It was fully booked our entire time in Ko Chang, and seemed like a good crowd was hanging around.
Bao Bang Pier is where the dive/snorkel/speed boats depart. The pier itself is extremely touristy, it was covered over a few years ago to give it more of a mall vibe. The ‘pier’ is lined with the usual souvenir shops and overpriced seafood restaurants, if you go on any sort of tour while in Koh Chang you’ll end up walking the length of it. I wouldn’t really recommend staying in this area since it’s not really near anything but also doesn’t have the secluded island feel you get when you’re actually at an empty beach.
However, if you’re down there to catch a boat or book a trip, the fruit stand next to the Scuba Dawgs office makes a mean shake. Go for the dragon fruit mango!
Klong Kloi is the still somewhat hidden gem of Koh Chang, and my choice for the best beach on the island. As far south down the west coast (confusing, I know) you can go, it’s home to smaller guesthouses and bougie cabanas, as opposed to large scale resorts. Sandy roads zigzag back from the beach, with small laid-back restaurants rocking rasta vibes.
The beach is quiet and wasn’t quite as family oriented as the rest of Koh Chang. (It wasn’t a nude beach or anything, there just weren’t a ton of kids running around). We found Klong Kloi on our third day in Koh Chang, and we ended up back here whenever we just wanted to chill out.
On the road between Klong Kloi and Lonely Beach you’ll pass by Rasta Bar (it’s impossible to miss). It has an amazing view over the bay and there’s tons of nooks and crannies to chill in with comfy seating. I’m not sure how the food is since we only had a couple drinks but it was a good spot to hang out for an hour and cool down after being at the beach all day.
If you’re going to spend time on a Koh Chang beach, you’re going to need to get to Koh Chang first.
Bus – Mini buses to Trat leave from Mochit Bus Station or Ekkamai Bus Station in Bangkok. The mini buses stop at a ‘terminal’ of sorts on the highway, and from here it’s a 45 minute ride to the ferry terminal in the back of a pick up truck. Our tickets covered the ride down to the pier, but didn’t include the ferry ticket. The ferry ticket was 80 baht, and took around a half hour to cross. A boat leaves every hour until 5 pm!
Plane – The closest airport is in Trat, with direct flights to and from Bangkok a couple times a day. The flight is about an hour, and can get fairly expensive if you’re booking last minute. From the airport to the ferry terminal is about a 30 minute drive. Ferries to Koh Chang leave from Ao Thammachat Pier and from Centerpoint Pier.
The best Koh Chang beaches are scattered up and down the west coast, and you’re definitely not going to want to walk all of them in the sticky heat.
Collectivo trucks run the route up and down the western coast, but it’s not a cheap ride, ranging from 60-200 baht depending on how far you’re going.
Scooter rental shops aren’t as prevalent on Koh Chang as they are elsewhere in Thailand. Depending on how comfortable you are on a scooter you can get a taxi from the pier to White Sands and get a bike there and drive to wherever you’re staying. A rental is 200-250 baht a day, but if you’re renting for more than a day or two you can usually weasel a bit of a discount.
Some accommodations offer free pick up from the pier, so look into that if you have somewhere pre-booked!
I'm sure if I told you that Tom and I had discussed buying a van…
One thing we didn't fully understand when we were figuring out how to get to…
Tucked away in the north west corner of the Sacred Valley, surrounded by tall…
The vibrant capital of Oaxaca state, Oaxaca City is the perfect place to take a…
Visiting Oaxaca and trying to narrow down where to eat? You've come to the right…
Nestled breathlessly high in the Andes, the town of Huaraz is the home base for…