Koh Lipe is a small island located in the middle of Southern Thailand and Malaysia. If you are looking for a short getaway from the neighbouring countries, this is a great destination offering you white sands and super clear waters. Check out the how clear the water is in the image above! You could literally see the corals and rocks in the sea.
Natalie and I went there in Mid-March. I wouldn't think there will be much difference any time in the year but I would say, probably avoid the monsoon season to soak up as much sunlight as possible if you're ever thinking of giving this little island a visit. Currently, Koh Lipe is perhaps still considered as a place that not many visitors frequent but I think it's popularity is slowly but surely picking up. So hurry visit before it becomes populated and touristy.
GETTING THERE
To be fair, it is NOT EASY getting there. You have to take/change loads of different modes of transport just to reach Koh Lipe.
1
First of all, you have to take a flight out from wherever you are to a nearby city that receives flights such as Hat Yai, Krabi and Phuket. These are the nearest. Alternatively, you could fly to Langkawi as well and then take a ferry from there but it's slightly tricky since technically, Koh Lipe is a part of Thailand, as are Hat Yai, Krabi and Phuket, but Langkawi is a part of Malaysia so you would have to cross international borders somehow. I did not do much research on this as we have already decided to travel via Hat Yai but you could always #googleit!
2
From Hat Yai, you would have to take a vehicle from the airport to Pak Bara which is the ferry terminal. This journey will take about an hour thereabouts. From Pak Bara, there will be a ferry to take you to Koh Lipe. However, there are only 2 ferry/speedboat options per day. Whether you take a ferry or speedboat depends on the time you would like to leave from Pak Bara. There is a daily departure at 1130am and at 230pm/3pm depending on that particular month of the year you are visiting.
3
The problem with this is that, with any earliest flight flying to Hat Yai (or Krabi or Phuket), by the time you touch down from the plane and take the vehicle from the airport to Pak Bara, you would have most probably already missed the last ferry out.
Which also means that, you have no choice but to stay in Hat Yai for a night and then take a vehicle to Pak Bara in the morning from your hotel. The vehicle transportation can be arranged with the resort you're staying in Koh Lipe, which was what we did. There are also alternative methods but if you want to play safe, it will be best to pre-arrange vehicle pick-ups.
4
Once you reach Pak Bara, you will have to look for this stall dealing with tickets from there to Koh Lipe. You get your ferry tickets and proceed to the ferry terminal. Unfortunately, I do not have photos of the ferry terminal. For our trip there, we took a ferry which could fetch quite a lot of people as compared to a speedboat. Needless to say, the ferry took about 2 hours (with delays) whilst the speedboat will take only an hour to get there. The ferry was air-conditioned but pretty chilly so do bring along a cardigan or scarf in your bag.
Click
HERE for the ferry and speedboat schedule.
5
So you think that the ferry will bring you straight to the shores of Koh Lipe. WRONG AGAIN. The ferry will bring you to this floating boat terminal just off the coast of Koh Lipe and the reason being, the waters from there on till the shore is too shallow for the ferry to dock at.
You will have to take a small boat to shore. This costs an additional 70THB per person (one way). You will have to pay the same amount again when you're heading back.
6
Arrival at Koh Lipe - FINALLY!
If I'm not wrong, they will drop you at this beach called the Sunrise beach, which we didn't really explore.
MOUNTAIN RESORT - KOH LIPE
There are a handful of resorts on the island but we are staying at Mountain Resort. Depending on where your resort is located at, the resort staff will be at the shore picking you up and shuttling you from shore to the resort via vehicle. (Cues 'Are we there yet?') Well, almost.
The ride in was very quick, about 5 minutes, but there was a really steep and long slope to get to the resort, therefore a vehicle is quite necessary. Upon arrival, they welcome you with a welcome drink and you proceed to check in and the staff will pass you the keys for your room and guide you there.
I believe our room type is the Grand Deluxe Garden View. Just to clarify, my friend could not make it for this trip so she gifted us the trip. So nice of her! Anyway, the room was really spacious and located pretty near the reception/dining area, stairs leading to the beach and the resort pool.
The bathroom was huge and comes with rain shower facilities. Technically, we had two such rooms to ourselves cos the accommodation was meant for 5 people but only 2 of us can make it. So wasted!
My only gripe was that there was an infestation of ants from the second day onwards and it irritated me slightly because I will keep feeling antsy. The resort provides wifi but the reception is not exactly wonderful. Better than none though! Also, the staff at the reception could not speak English very well so there is bound to be a language barrier if you need to ask about something. (We have first hand knowledge about this for sure)
These are the Honeymoon Jacuzzi Seaview Suites that literally have balconies facing the sea. You get to wake up to a gorgeous view. Anyhow, we decided to upgrade ourselves to the Honeymoon Suite. It costs about 10,000THB (S$400) per night but we only needed to top up a little just to move here. We supposedly could upgrade at no cost at all but this is a long story and I do not want to bore you with communicating problems with the staff.
Click
HERE to view the other room types available at the resort.
The Honeymoon Suite is super huge and lovely. It comes with a huge fluffy bed, a sofa that faces the tv obviously and a study desk that you cannot see in this photo.
There are 2 balconies in the suite and check out the view!
The bathroom comes with a jacuzzi bathtub that is so huge and fit for two. There is also a separate shower that is equipped with a rain shower as well.
The bathroom overlooks the bedroom and is only separated by a piece of glass. You could pull down the blinds if you want to. I don't even know why is this necessary, but apparently, there is also aircon in the bathroom.
Here's the balcony on the second level and it comes with a sunbed if you are the type that would like a good tan. You can actually see the resort pool in the background of this photo. I personally find no reason visiting the pool at all if you can walk down to the beach but lounging around in the pool could be nice too I guess.
Personally, I would say that the Honeymoon Suite is really lovely, we should have totally moved in there earlier. You get a lot of amenities and a lot of space and it is perfect for couples.
THE VIEW
Mountain Resort also has their own dining area and this is also where they serve complimentary breakfasts which we did not even wake up for. Not even once for the entire time we were there. Repeat after me. We love sleeping in. We spent 3 whole days doing nothing but chilling around and it was awesome. The island you see opposite Koh Lipe is actually Koh Adang, one of the destinations for coral snorkelling.
SUNSET BEACH
This is the view of our resort from Sunset beach. You can spot a flight of stairs on the far left that has lights on the boardwalk leading to the beach. It takes you less than 5minutes to get here.
There are many tourists lounging around here the whole day but it starts to get crowded in the evening when the sun starts to set. There is a reason why the beach is named Sunset beach because you get to see the sun set from here. One day I woke up trying to catch the sunrise from our balcony but I couldn't see anything because it was blocked by a hill. I guess you can only view the sunrise properly at Sunrise beach.
I am a big fan of sunsets.
RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES
The most popular recreational activity at Koh Lipe is probably snorkelling and diving. You can join in on day snorkelling trips to see corals and fish whereby they will bring you around to the different islands to snorkel. It is a whole day activity and is very reasonably priced at 490 THB - 590 THB.
Alternatively, we also saw many people kayaking or taking a boat to Koh Adang.
From Sunset beach, there is actually a "floating island" in the middle of the sea where you can see the sand forming at low tide. You can literally walk over because the water is that shallow. It only came up till my chest area even at high tide. (Fine print: Just be very careful when you're walking over because I actually tripped over a coral and stepped on a sea urchin. Yea, I know right? Alternatively, you can swim over)
This is very popular with the tourists of Koh Lipe apparently. I would say that our resort has a great location as it leads directly onto the beach itself. If you were staying at other resorts, you probably have to take a vehicle into Mountain resort itself in order to get here. I also did a
Koh Lipe - Photo Diary post so you can see the awesome photos that we shot there.
WALKING STREET
The walking street is located about 5 minutes away from our resort. I am not entirely sure if there is only one such particular walking street in Koh Lipe but it seems highly possible.
Mountain Resort provides shuttle from resort to walking street every half an hour from 6-10pm so it will be wise to hop onto the vehicle to get there. If you are intending to stay at the walking street till late, there are also taxi tuktuks available to send you back to your resort for a mere fee of 100 THB.
We tried walking back on the first day and got completely lost for a short while. That was until I flagged down a local riding a motorbike and he very kindly sent us back to the resort. Thank god!
There are a variety of shops at Walking Street, mainly pharmacies selling your daily toiletries and essentials, a 7-11, loads of cafes and seafood restaurants and places to sit and have a beer. The bar on top is our favourite as they have a live dj spinning pretty good music and alcohol is mad cheap in the land of Thai, what else can I say!
We also checked out the Elephant Cafe which serves up pretty decent food. That burger was stuffed with an aged beef patty. Super juicy. Their mango shakes are also to die for. There is just something about Thai mangoes, they are so sweet. Mangoes are undoubtedly my favourite fruit in the whole wide world. The cafe also offers you books in all languages for your perusal and many games that you can play with your friends. Definitely a nice place to chill at with live music in the background.
We also feasted on seafood when we there. We got barbecued king prawns, crabs, clams and some stir friend egg with broccoli. I think we only paid about 1270 THB (~S$50.80) for everything. Don't think you can find seafood that cheap back home and everything was really fresh and tasty.
HEADING BACK
Similar to how you got to Koh Lipe, you have to take a vehicle to the beach (this can be arranged for by the resort), take a boat to the floating platform to take a ferry/speedboat back to Pak Bara. On our way back, we ended up taking a speedboat and though it may be quick, it was so hot and stuff on the speedboat and not a comfortable ride for sure. However, it was definitely bearable.
If you're intending to bring huge-ass floats, remember to start deflating them the night before or at least hours you are going to leave. It was so hilarious trying to deflate them everywhere before we got onto the speedboat. Definitely a story for us to remember this trip by.
Mountain Resort Koh Lipe
(no idea why it's address states sunrise beach though)
Koh Lipe Ferry and Speedboat Schedule
In my opinion, I think Koh Lipe is worth checking out. The waters and sand are so clear, it's an amazing sight! It will make for a very good short getaway from Singapore where you can laze around the whole day and do nothing. Hurry up there before it starts getting populate with tourists!
Xoxo,
Amelia
