Top 10 Beaches And Islands To Visit In Thailand

With crystal-clear waters, sugar-white sand, picturesque coconut trees rustling in the breeze and an abundance of mouthwatering (and cheap) Thai food on offer, the islands of Thailand may be as close as we’ll ever get to paradise on Earth. Now you just need to narrow down which islands to visit first.

Looking for solitude and disconnection from the world with a picture-perfect backdrop? Check out Koh Muk. Hoping to add a notch to your scuba-diving belt? Koh Tao Island’s the one for you. Prefer to party under a full moon? Kho Phangan. There’s something for everyone.

We’ve rounded up all the best islands and beaches that ‘the Land of Smiles’ has to offer and broken down their shining characteristics so you can decide which best fits your dream trip.

1. Koh Yao Islands (Koh Yao Noi and Koh Yao Yai)

The Koh Yao sisters are the two eye-catching islands in the Phang Nga Bay between Phuket and Krabi. These beauties top our list for their rare combination of virtues: stunning landscapes and beautiful beaches without the bother of tourist overcrowding. There’s the feeling of untouched isolation while still enjoying some high-quality accommodation options. Sounds too good to be true? Go and see it for yourself.

The islands are only reachable by boat, so plan on booking a 30-minute speedboat ride or hour-long ferry from Phuket. If you opt to stay at a resort, they may be able to make arrangements for you. Koh Yao Yai is the larger island of the two, yet the least developed. Most of the budget bungalows and luxurious resorts are located on the northern island, Koh Yao Noi.

The Six Senses on Koh Yao Noi gets a lot of attention (and rightfully so), but check out the even more remote Paradise resort and Treehouse Villas properties. These sister properties sit side-by-side in their own private bay at the northernmost tip of the island. It’s the definition of remote island paradise, but with the option to explore the island’s jungle of coconut groves, rubber plants and tiny villages via resort transport.

2. Koh Tao

Koh Tao has something for everyone: it’s a must for scuba diving fans and snorkelling fanatics – and for those who love a beautiful island paradise. So, basically it’s for everyone. This isle is farther out than most in the Gulf of Thailand, opening the door to a whole new world of tropical reefs and extensive marine life. We’re talking whale shark, ray and turtle-size marine life, not only the cute Nemo fish.

You can only reach Koh Tao by boat, so we suggest catching the ferry from Koh Samui. Whether you already have several scuba expeditions under your belt or not, there are plenty of dive schools around for beginners. The main hot spot on the island is Sairee Beach, the longest beach on the island.

3. Kata Noi Beach, Phuket

You can see the strain of over-tourism in the form of litter (and too many selfie sticks) on some of the most popular beaches in Phuket. However, the island is big enough that you’ll find some parts remain unspoiled. Kata Noi Beach is a great place to start. It’s just down the coast from the two biggest tourist traps, Kata and Patong, so it shares the same beautiful coastline, yet with a fraction of the crowds.

4. Koh Muk

A highly underrated destination, Koh Muk is the perfect place to totally disconnect from the rest of the world. The mobile connection is patchy and you won’t find an ATM on the island but there is no shortage of activities to enjoy.

A swim through a dark sea tunnel on the west side of the island will take you to the island’s most famous attraction: the Emerald Cave, or Tham Morakot. The cave opens up to a peaceful lagoon only accessible via cave when the tide is just right. If you are staying on Koh Muk, we suggest going early with a private guide to beat the day-trip tour groups.

While the novelty of the hidden lagoon draws in quite the audience, it seems the rest of the island is still a secret. So if the crowds at Emerald get to be too much you can escape to Sivalai Beach, a peninsula of white sand that just might be the most picturesque beach in Thailand.

Koh Muk is the perfect place to totally disconnect

5. Railay Beach (Krabi)

This beach is surrounded on all sides by towering limestone cliffs and jungle, which means several things. First, it’s only accessible by boat. Second, it’s a popular rock-climbing spot for those brave enough to scale the limestone heights. Third, there is a feeling of seclusion and tranquility that accompanies a hard-to-get-to destination. And lastly, it’s absolutely gorgeous.

There are no roads at Railay Beach, but there are caves, a hidden lagoon and even several hotels and Airbnbs to choose from.

These limestone cliffs are popular among rock climbers

6. Koh Samui

From the lively party scene to sunbathing and sightseeing, Koh Samui delivers on all fronts. The backpackers and revellers should head to Chaweng Beach – the life of the party with lots of bars and Thai eateries. Alternatively, for those looking for a little peace and quiet, Lamai Beach is the place to go.

At either one, you’ll be privy to the infamous crystal blue waters and powder-white sand that has been drawing visitors to Koh Samui for years.

7. Koh Kood (or Ko Kut)

This island is often heralded as the home of Thailand’s best beaches, yet it remains overlooked by tourists – perhaps because it seems a bit out of the way, which is all the more reason to add it to your itinerary.

Take an hour-long flight from Bangkok to nearby Trat and then journey another hour by speedboat to the island. Ao Klong Hin Beach should be your first stop. You’ll forget all about the effort it took to get there when you’re soaking up the sun on powder-soft sand – which you have all to yourself.

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8. Koh Phi Phi

Although Koh Phi Phi has dealt with several issues due to over-tourism (most notably the indefinite closing of the famous Maya Bay due to dying reefs and pollution), the Phi Phi islands remain an iconic Thai destination and there are still several spots on the island that are relatively untouched. Try Laem Tong, a beach which is a bit off the beaten path with a reef just offshore that’s also perfect for snorkelling.

Solo travellers, backpackers and partiers will definitely feel at home in the many bars flowing with cheap alcohol in Phi Phi. As will luxury holiday-makers looking for infinity pools and high-quality spa treatments. Phi Phi has it all.

9. Kho Phangan

While Kho Phangan is best known for its monthly full moon parties, there are also plenty of other aspects that deserve attention. Sunrise Beach is where you go if you want to dance and drink, but head north and you’ll find the peaceful Hat Khuat and Hat Thian beaches.

Blue Bottle beach is a secluded, boat-only-access beach that is popular as a day trip. However, there are a few modest bungalows that enable you to have the entire paradise to yourself for the night.

10. Koh Lipe

Located in the southernmost part of Thailand near Malaysia, Koh Lipe is part of an archipelago of 51 other islands constituting Tarutao Marine National Park. This means there are plenty of nearby isles to explore in a day trip. Why not start with Koh Adang, its bigger yet less developed neighbour island?

The three main beaches on Koh Lipe itself are Sunset Beach, Sunrise Beach and Pattaya Beach. Hire some snorkelling gear as the island has great snorkelling spots teeming with marine life just offshore – start with 8 Mile Rock, Yong Hua Shipwreck and Stingray City.

After youth-led protests in 2025, this year Nepal elected a 35-year-old former rapper as Prime Minister. In a country where tourism is its biggest industry, what’s next for travellers?

In 1986, Nepal changed its clock. It had used India Standard Time since 1920 so, to differentiate, it wound its clock 15 minutes ahead of, not behind, its big-brother neighbour. Boss move. “Nepal is strongly opposed to the idea that our identity is connected to India,” says Community Homestay Network (CHN) guide Bikal Khanal.

Tharu dance is traditionally set to hand drums. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

Today, Nepal is the only independent country with a 45-minute deviation to universal time; an oddity that’s become a symbol of national pride. The quirk is nearly as endearing as Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport where carved varnished wood and shiny red bricks rule. One sign points to a ‘Travelator’ and another to a ‘Grievance Handling Desk’ while visas are noisily stamped at customs for US dollars, cash only. When am I?

Spot the endemic Nepal gray langur. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The 15 or 45 minute anomaly sees me tap out completely on timezone calculations. Why bend my brain calculating if it’s quarter to or quarter past elsewhere when I’m in the honking here and now of Kathmandu where the air is high-altitude crisp, the prayer flags flutter and the street dogs howl?

How tourism is changing in Nepal

Bardiya National Park is rich with wildlife. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

India is not the only association many Nepalis would like to shake. With eight of the world’s 10 tallest mountains, including Mount Everest and Annapurna, Nepal has long attracted mountaineers and trekkers, and expedition numbers are continuing to rise.

Tourism is one of the country’s biggest sources of foreign currency, so this growth is not negative, per se. But according to Ang Tshering Lama, who co-founded Phaplu Mountain Bike Club, being reduced to a mere trekking destination is limiting.

“Trekking is just one layer of our identity,” says Ang. “When it becomes the dominant narrative, it limits how we’re seen and how we see ourselves.” Nepal’s recent success, however, in diverting trekkers to less-trafficked areas such as Manaslu mofuntain, where visitor numbers rose by 117 per cent last year, offers hope that tourism can diversify even more radically.

Local men in Bhada village. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The founder of CHN, Shiva Dhakal, wants that change. “The whole idea of the Community Homestay Network is to promote experiences outside of trekking,” he says. “Community tourism changes lives and helps kids stay home instead of coming to the city or migrating to the Middle East.”

Ang grew up seeing people leave, “not because they wanted to but because there weren’t enough opportunities to stay”, he states. Yet from remote villages to living traditions; food, art, music and emerging subcultures, “there’s so much that’s not being seen.”

CHN is opening some of those doors. It doesn’t own, or fund, any homes. Rather, it promotes homestays to travellers on a single, slick platform, while fostering entrepreneurship in places where women, marginalised castes, Indigenous people and the youth stand to benefit the most.

A new generation demanding more

Dalla Town Hall, where volunteers discuss anti-poaching tactics. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The future prospects of next-gen Nepalis can no longer be ignored. On a Kathmandu tour with 33-year-old guide Monica K.C, we pass buildings torched in the September 2025 ‘Gen Z protests’, including the Supreme Court and Parliament House. Seventy-two people died. “They were anti-corruption protests,” says Monica. “Politicians’ children are living a lavish life but the airports are crowded with youngsters leaving to find work.”

We stop in ‘little Tibet’ at the wondrous sixth-century Boudha Stupa. “The wheel of life is Buddhism in a nutshell,” says Monica. “Things such as hate, ignorance and anger keep you rotating around the wheel, so you must follow the principles of Buddhism to detach. If you can’t, there’s no nirvana for you.”

Boudha Stupa's prayer wheels — Boudha Stupa’s prayer wheels are used to recite Buddhist prayers. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

In a sun-drenched twist to the usual temple visit, we ascend the stupa’s sloping plinth and roam its whitewashed dome. Tendrils of diaphanous prayer flags stream from a steeple-like structure where the Buddha’s unblinking eyes stare out. No nirvana for you…

bouda stupa prayer flags — Tibetan-style prayer flags embellish the whitewashed dome of Bouda Stupa, a Buddhist temple. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

The dome is delightfully free of guard rails or chiding from security. There is, however, a stern ‘No TikTok’ sign, perhaps in response to the youth’s newly flexed power. The booted-out Prime Minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, was replaced in a resounding election victory in March by 35-year-old Balendra Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) – a former rapper and mayor of Kathmandu. The RSP’s manifesto indicates tourism is a priority, and that Nepal’s cultural identity in areas such as gastronomy will be strengthened.

Boudha Stupa vendors — Vibrant souvenir shops and cafes around Boudha Stupa. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

A more confronting stop awaits at Pashupatinath Temple. Today is Bala Chaturdashi, a Hindu festival where thousands of devotees gather to honour their dead ancestors. Vendors hauling foam mattresses do a lucrative trade as people set up for a night of vigil. This includes burning the bodies of recently deceased relatives on bamboo pyres in the Bagmati River, which flows into the sacred Ganges.

A woman at annual Hindu festival Bala Chaturdashi, in Kathmandu. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Wrapped in a shroud, the bodies are positioned with their heads facing north to the Himalayas where Lord Shiva resides. They’re covered with flowers and straw and set alight by male family members.

Hours later, the ashes are swept into the river where devotees will take a holy dip the next day. As much as Monica assures us it’s not voyeuristic to watch, I struggle to do so. “Here you see the reality of life because everyone ends up there,” she says, gesturing to the river.

Life unfiltered in the Terai region

tharu woman — Tharu woman and master weaver Parbati Chaudhary in Bhada Village. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The reality of life needs processing time, which the western Terai region delivers in spades. The Terai is largely separated from India by the Karnali River and Bardiya National Park, where elephants, rhinos and the elusive Bengal tiger roam.

Once a nomadic tribe, the Indigenous Tharu people are now the largest ethnic group here. “They didn’t know their daily life was interesting for international travellers but they’re starting to understand now,” says CHN founder Shiva.

Take a Jeep safari through Bardiya National Park. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

We fly Buddha Air to Dhangadhi airport and drive five hours to stay in Tharu homes. The journey to Bhada village is a blur of roadside fruit stalls, traffic-stopping sacred cows and fields sown with wheat, rice, mustard, spinach, cauliflower and potatoes. Nepal’s agriculture feeds only Nepal.

Marigolds are an important part of Hindu rituals. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

“The only thing we export is young people,” says our guide Bikal. As the light dims and we plunge evermore rural, mysterious mounds of compacted hay – some house-sized – loom like the creatures from Where The Wild Things Are. Even our trusty driver gets flummoxed by a dirt road that abruptly ends and we find ourselves hurtling across a paddock.

On arrival, some are ferried to mud-walled cottages greened by gourd creepers, with thatched roofs and rustic-chic mosquito nets. Myself and two others are ushered to the home of corner store owner, mechanic and mushroom farmer Man Kumar Chilaruwa and his wife Rajkumari.

community homestay entrance — A warm welcome at a community homestay. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

They escort us to a bunker-esque back building with steel doors and a folding security gate, behind which is gleaming linoleum, dolphin-printed tiles and a shower cavity that must be gingerly stepped through to reach the toilet.

The ceiling lights emit a rainbow of colours (the bathroom light gets stuck in, frankly, a quite frightening red). We’re nevertheless touched that our hosts invested in all this bling when the average salary is around $275 a month.

In the coming days, we participate in Tharu traditions such as making moonshine, dancing, weaving straw handicrafts and gold-panning. We’re fed well with staples of rice, mustard greens, lentil pancakes, daal, curried chicken and tomato chutney served on antibacterial saal leaves.

food at community homestay — Dig in. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Sonara community homestay president Indradevi Tharu tells us river snails are often served, and the boiled and pickled flesh of rats hunted in the rice fields. “Perhaps next time?” we say and all have a laugh.

The power of community homestays

community homestay owners in Nepal — Barda community homestay owners Parbati Chaudhary and Ram Krishni Devi Chaudhary. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

Immersing Western visitors in foreign cultural practices is not new. But with the Tharu, I never get that uneasy sensation that I’m being performed for. Despite being the only tourists, there’s no ‘othering’; just warm, composed and ultra-dignified welcomes. Like we’ve always been here.

“I love to have travellers in my village so I can see the world,” says local woman Parbati Chaudhary. “Why would I travel the world when the world comes to me?”

The graceful acceptance the Tharu offer, as well as the slow pace, works miracles on my frazzled nervous system. One day I even take a nap on a vacant homestay bed.

Sonara community room — An authentic stay in the Sonara community. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Roosters strut and goats bray as we sit on the ground in al fresco kitchens, rolling rice flour into cylinders steamed to make dhikri (dumplings). When water is needed, we fetch it using a hand-operated pump as a family of ducks strolls by, side-eying us like curious neighbours.

Animal lovers will delight in Tharu villages. Kind and resourceful inventions are everywhere, such as snacking stations where two posts lean together, with leafy boughs dangling on rope for baby goats to forage from.

CHN’s CEO, Aayusha Prasain, nods knowingly when one in our group says she cried when she left her host, Shayam Chaudhary, in Bhada. Shayam’s 17-year-old son, Prashant, had translated, which deepened the connection.

“Community tourism turns travel into a relationship, not a transaction,” says Aayusha. “It places decision-making power in the hands of local communities, especially women and youth.” Since 2018, CHN has hosted more than 4000 travellers from 52 countries in 408 households, and estimates women’s participation has increased by 381 per cent.

In the Bardiya community, where vexing human-animal conflict has been a balancing act for decades due to elephants raiding crops, long-time homestay operator Salik Ram Chaudhary says young people keep the older ones on their toes.

“We can’t keep homestays stagnant,” he says. “We have to upgrade our service and redefine our product or young people won’t see it as an attractive business. If we can keep evolving with this travelling trend we’re confident the youths will stay and continue it.”

Back in Kathmandu, Monica explains that after the deaths of young protestors in September, a determination had spread to not let their sacrifice be in vain. “We want to keep holding the government accountable,” she says. “We don’t know what situation we’re facing, but we’re ready to face it.”

Interested in Nepal but prefer to experience it in total comfort? Read our guide to luxury travel in Nepal.

Top 10 beaches and islands to visit in Thailand