phuket and krabi, thailand

Thailand, a resort-lovers paradise! Top attractions in Thailand are the southern beaches, Bangkok, northern jungles and more. We opted for the beaches in the south!

Thailand is home to almost 1500 islands. We flew in and out of Phuket (pronounced "Poo Ket”), but made it a point to island hop. Phuket is a very popular tourist location in southern Thailand. Truth be told it felt a bit overrun by international resorts and often an underwhelming atmosphere in the surrounding towns. We have never been to Cancun but that was the analogy a friend made. We spent two days there with elephants and beaches. Then, we hopped on a ferry to see the famous Phi Phi Islands and Railay Beach. There are plenty of other islands that we could have gone to (and wish we had the time) but we are pretty happy with our beach experience in Thailand and have the sunburn to prove it!

Highlights:

Elephant Sanctuary
- More and more has come out about elephant riding and the inhumane ways these elephants have been trained to be ridden. Instead, we decided to go to an elephant sanctuary or elephant "retirement home." These 11 elephants in the sanctuary were “retired” from working the fields or in the circus. We spent our morning feeding and bathing them. We had SO much fun, especially watching a baby elephant play in a kiddie pool!
Phuket Old Town Night Market
- At the last minute, we took an hour long taxi to check out the Sunday Night market in Old Town, Phuket. So worth it. The streets were bustling with street vendors and performers - we could have walked around the market all night!

Railay Beach
- A friend recommended going here so we made our way via ferry from Phuket to Railay beach, which can only be accessed by boat because the island is surrounded by mountains. The ride in was a hilarious and unforgettable experience. There were hundreds of people and luggage packed onto a ferry, all being dropped off at different islands. 2 miles from Railay, we literally jumped off the ferry onto a rickety long-tail boat and were tossed our luggage. The beach was well worth the ferry ride. We had so much fun exploring the island, whose large cliffs hanging over the water make it a rock climber’s paradise.
Snorkeling at Phi Phi Islands
- Phi Phi Islands were made famous by Leonardo DiCaprio’s movie “The Beach” (which we still haven’t watched yet). Now over 200 boats visit these islands every day. Fortunately, there are plenty of islands to visit! The water was turquoise blue and gorgeous against the mountains and cliffs. We had a picnic on Bamboo island and had a great time snorkeling around the surrounding reef.

As with a lot of our stops, we could have spent more time here exploring the more remote islands. If we go back, it will definitely include a stop in Bangkok and another chain of islands.