Railay Beach

Railay is a peninsula in Krabi province on Thailand's Andaman coast, joined to the mainland but separated from it by limestone karst walls that no road crosses. Every arrival is by longtail boat from Ao Nang or Krabi town, which is the single fact that shapes the place.

The rock is also why climbers come. Railay's limestone holds some seven hundred bolted routes and has been a world climbing destination since the 1990s; the walls rise directly from the sand, and watching people on them from the beach is part of the experience. Phra Nang cave at the southern end holds a shrine of carved wooden phalluses left as offerings to a spirit associated with fishermen — an active local practice rather than a curiosity.

There are several beaches on the peninsula and they differ sharply. Railay West is the main one, with fine sand and calm sheltered water. Railay East is mangrove and mud, unsuitable for swimming, and is where the boats from Krabi arrive.

Development is resorts along Railay West and East, restaurants, climbing schools and bars, with no cars anywhere — there are none, because there is no road. Tides matter: at low water the boats cannot land on the eastern side and passengers wade. Phra Nang, reached by a short path from Railay East, is generally reckoned the best of the peninsula's beaches, and Tonsai to the north is the climbers' beach — cheaper, scruffier and reached by scrambling over rocks at low tide.

No road reaches Railay and none will — karst walls see to that, and every arrival is by longtail. Swim at Railay West or Phra Nang; the eastern side is mangrove and mud and is where the boats land, which catches people out. At low water you wade ashore with your luggage.