Koh Phi Phi or Koh Phangan?
 

My husband and i will be in Thailand November 2015. We are planning on doing 2 nights in bangkok, 3 in chiang mai and then 5 on a beach but i can't decide between koh phi phi and koh phangnan.

We are looking for a beautiful relaxing beach. we like good restaurants but nothing touristy.

any recommendations?

Thanks!

can anyone offer any advise?

If you're going in November, seems to me that Phi Phi is the better choice. Given the weather at that time of year, it'll be much calmer on the Andaman side than the Gulf side. Note, though, that you're in shoulder seasons, when you still could get a touch of rain.

Of more important note, however, is that if you're looking for an island that is non-touristy, either place isn't really fit for that I love Phi Phi -- tourists and all -- but prefer to stay on the East side of the island when there as it's a lot more quiet than the main village, which is something of a backpacker/mass tourism haven.

Which hotels are you looking at?

Ko Phangan has its highest rainfall of the year in November. So I don't recommend that for a November trip. Koh PhiPhi is on the Andaman Sea side, so should have good weather in the later half of the month. So it is a better option. Still, I'd opt for a less busy area on the Andaman Sea, like Koh Lanta or Koh Lak.

When you write "We are looking for a beautiful relaxing beach. we like good restaurants but nothing touristy." It is as if you don't understand that if there aren't other tourists visiting that area regularly, it won't have the restaurants and services you want.

sorry i did not explain that clearly. of course we understand there will be other tourists there. we recently had a bad experience at a hotel in the Caribbean where it was fully catered to tourists and no local food or flavor -- this is what i would like to avoid.


The hotel that was recommended to me in koh phangnan is Santhiya Resort & Spa which looks great but if its going to rain everyday it's not worth it. can you recommend something similar in phi phi?

Look at Zeavola first, then check out the Outrigger and Holiday Inn (not what you think of when you think of a Holiday Inn) as backups.

We just returned from our adventure in Thailand and Cambodia. After much discussion, we stayed on Koh Lanta. It was very quiet and relaxing. Accommodations ranged from hostels and small hotels to larger resorts. We stayed at Relax Bay which was a little isolated, but we knew that going in. 5 days was just perfect between our busy times touring in larger areas. We were able to find a lot of local food. Enjoy your trip!

Ive been looking into zeavola and Koh lanta. Any other recommendations for a beach with good weather the first week in December?

Any of the beaches on the Andaman Sea side of Thailand will have good weather. That includes Phuket, PhiPhi, Khoa Lak, Ko Lanta, etc.

Krabi is in there too. Or, if you want more remote...then you could look at the Tarutao region in the very far south of Thailand (on the border of Malaysia) -- some place like Ko Lipe. Takes much longer to get to, but is definitely more untouched.

thank you all so much! One more question -- do you think it will be too much to do 3 nights in phi phi and 2 in krabi (we have 5 nights allotted for beach time)?

My advice is to choose one beach. That way you will have time to relax and enjoy. Especially since you will be staying on PhiPhi, transferring to another beach location will eat up more than half a day - time you could be enjoying the beach. Two nights in a place is just one full day., three nights is just two full days.