Beaches in Thailand

Two coasts with opposite seasons, which is the single most useful thing to know. The Andaman side — Phuket, Krabi, Phi Phi — is calm from November to April and monsoon-driven from May, with the rip currents that account for nearly every drowning here. The Gulf side runs on a different calendar entirely. The Andaman coast's limestone karst produces the cliff-backed beaches the country is known for, several of them reachable only by boat. Thailand has also closed a beach to let it recover: Maya Bay was shut for three and a half years and reopened with swimming prohibited. Flags are the practical matter. Red means do not enter the water and it is meant; nearly every drowning on the Andaman coast involves swimming past one during the monsoon. Beaches are public, sunbed concessions are licensed and occupy a defined portion of the sand. Several sites now cap numbers, charge park fees or prohibit swimming outright — Maya Bay is the clearest case — and these restrictions are the reason anything is left to see.

Each is a different kind: five shores across five beach worlds. Together they account for 14 km of shore. · computed from the 5 records below