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Getting to Railay in June?

Getting to Railay in June?

Old Jan 18, 2017, 4:15 pm
  #1  
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Join Date: Jan 2017
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Getting to Railay in June?

Hi all!

I'm currently in the middle of planning a 3 week honeymoon trip to Thailand for this June (excited to take advantage of those shoulder season prices!). For our first week, my fiancé and I really want to stay on Railay Beach. In the low season it's obviously a bit of a challenge to get out there since there are fewer longtails running and the waters can be too choppy for anything smaller than a ferry, so we have been banking on probably needing to buy ferry tickets.

And here lies my confusion -- it appears to me that the Princess Ferry makes a stop on Railay after leaving Ao Nang, but the website is in Thai and I'm leaning on Google translate and that makes me a little nervous as far as making plans. We're pretty good at rolling with the punches as we travel, but the beach is literally our first destination of the honeymoon (first full week of June) so I'm trying to book flights etc. in a way that makes them the least stressful and gets us to Railay with the least amount of hassle.

Does anyone know about the ease or difficulty of traveling to Railay in early June? Should we book ferry tickets in advance, or wait until we arrive in Krabi (or travel from Krabi to Ao Nang and leave from there?). Would it be less of a hassle to fly in and out of Phuket that time of year (there's definitely a direct ferry connection from Phuket)?

Any advice would be AMAZING. Thanks so much for your help!
Kristen Gunther is offline  
Old Jan 18, 2017, 10:56 pm
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Where are you staying ? I know some hotels provide boat transport. If you're not at one of those I'm guessing your hotel would still provide the best advice on how to get there at that time of year.

I stayed at Ao Nang and swam at Railay (via longboat), but I know people who have stayed there at the Rayavadee Resort (which provides speed boat transport).

I'm sure there would be no shortage of boat operators at Ao Nang willing to take you. The question would be whether they would all be good options if the weather isn't great, whether you want to be getting in and out of a long boat with luggage (possibly straight onto the sand), and whether you want to be looking for a boat only after you arrive. Hopefully others can advise.

But it looks like the ferry does stop at Railay West ...
http://www.globaltravelmate.com/asia...-princess.html
timster is offline  
Old Jan 19, 2017, 5:22 am
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We haven't booked yet (mainly because I want to have the transit situation squared up at least in theory before we commit to going there), but we're planning to book at Sand Sea. Rayavadee looks incredible, but it's a bit too pricy for us!

We're not terribly worried about jumping in and out of the water with luggage (our suitcases have straps and a hip belt for wearing them as packs), it's more the other issue you mentioned -- safety and availability of boats.

I saw that info on the Princess ferry, which is what led me to their site directly. The writeup seems to be a few years old and I was nervous about things having changed. It seems like the safest thing would be to fly into Krabi the same night we land in Bangkok (not ideal, but oh well), and then to get the ferry in the morning. In any case, the specifics on booking on the actual ferry website are either not translated well or vague enough that I'm still a bit unsure! If only I could read Thai...
Kristen Gunther is offline  

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