Perhaps one of our favourite road trips is to the islands on the South West coast of Thailand is Ko Lipe. Living in Kuala Lumpur which is the capital of Malaysia, makes crossing the Malaysian Thai boarder by car rather easy, and then a gorgeous beach holiday is only a stone’s throw away.
Ko Lipe is an island in Satun Province, near the Tarutao National Marine Park, on the Andaman (west) coast of the south of Thailand. Ko Lipe is usually reached from the town of Pakbara. Speedboats take one hour to reach Lipe, leave several times a day and cost 650BHT one way or 1,200BHT return. If you bargain hard, you might knock it down to 900BHT return/person. Once your speed boat gets to Lipe, local Chao Ley (Sea Gypsies) will come with their longtail boats to pick you up from the ferry. They will take you to any beach on the island for another 50BHT (not included in your ferry ticket!).
Ko Lipe’s beaches feature white, soft sandy beaches with clear, calm, and shallow water. There are four main beaches to relax on, Pattaya Beach in the south the most popular beach; Sunrise Beach on the east, near the Chao Ley village; Karma Beach in the North which faces the Adang/Lipe channel, and Sunset Beach in the west, which as the name implies, faces the sunset.
We love this place because it is the perfect getaway and a brilliant place to party, have great food, and just get away from KL’s city life for a bit. Paradise so close to home, what more can you ask for?
Hi! Wow, such a coincidence! I was just there in January and I have not posted this one my blog. When did you go there? It’s such an amazing place.
David
Malaysia Asia
bargaining! that’s a skill i haven’t managed to pick up, so i always end up paying full prices without trying to haggle. i need lessons! 😀
I’ve head many good things about ko lipe too. Unfortunately, my partner would not be thrilled to travel to an island with bare necessities. There goes my travel option there! 😛
I love the white sands 🙂
Is heaven a place on earth? Ko Lipe could be one
i wanna be there!!!!
Beautiful. I would love to be there…
what a beautiful white beach! I’ve never been to white sand beach. wow, it looks so magical! 😀
sparkling clean and clear beach.
We went to Ko Lipe in 2004. It was our favorite island in Thailand. It was so deserted when we were there. Seems like it has changed quite a bit. The beach is still beautiful!
Two questions please:
a) distance im miles or km from KL to ferry
b) the border area was at times considered dangerous/unstable. Is it safe now?
Thanks
5.5 – 6 hrs drive fm KL to the Thai boarder, then crossing the border by car takes 1 hr. Check out our journey https://ccfoodtravel.com/2009/12/thailand-yala-province/ – the border is actually extremely safe, unlike the gruesome, sordid dangers described in the newspapers really.
There are of course many different points of entry into Thailand:
1. enter via Perlis at Wang Kerlian – fastest to get to Satun to catch speedboat to Ko lipe (only 0.5hr drive)
2. enter via Padang Besar – around 1hr drive to Satun
3. enter via Bukit Kayu Hitam – 2hrs to Satun
Cheers