Greetings,

Just booked a bit of a last-minute long weekend trip to Krabi and am now trying to choose where to go, as there are about one million identikit Krabi Sand Sunrise Beach Resort Hotel & Spas out there. Rayavadee seems to get a lot of rave reviews here, but at US$480/night it's about 10x more than I'd like to spend...! So any recommendations for small, intimate, resort-type places at under US$100/night? Easy access to the beach, diving and other restaurants/nightlife would be a plus, and anywhere within striking distance of Krabi airport is A-OK.

For about a hundred US$ you might go down the road just a bit to Koh Lanta where you will get quite a bit more for your money. Rawi Warin Resort seems to get great reviews as a high quality - but lower cost alternative to places like the Pimalai or other upscale resorts.

Photos and info are at: Rawi Warin Resort and Spa

Alternatively, here's a webpage with a list of hotels in the Krabi and Koh Lanta area.

Krabi and Koh Lanta Resorts: Five Star Thailand

Thanks for the recommendation! The resort looks great and the price would be OK, but alas, there's small print lurking at the bottom of the page:

* Required a minimum of 4 nights stay for all season
* Required a minimum of 7 nights stay during 20.12.05-10.01.06

So no can do, at least this time around. Other ideas? And yes, Koh Lanta or Khao Lak would be fine.

There are plenty of excellent hotels try Sawadee.com they have a good range of accomadation & there are plenty of positive reviews of their service.

Yes, I know there are plenty of hotels in Krabi, that's why I'm attempting to solicit Flyertalkers' personal advice on the subject and find a gem! I use Sawadee/R24 for my bookings too, but many of the reviews border on useless, with backpackers praising places as opulently luxurious because they have air-con and hot water, retired couples beyotching because the restaurant's food is too spicy, and (my personal favorite) somebody waxing ecstatic about how convenient it is to have tuk-tuks just outside their door so they can go to the other end of the resort for just 100 baht a trip.

There are hardly any hotels on the beach at Ao Nang which is the main resort area for Krabi, any that are on the beach are some way from Ao Nang this is where most of the restaurants are. I have stayed at noth the PAvillion Queens Bay & Krabi Thai Village about a 10 mins walk to the resataurants we enjoyed both of those. Next year we are staying at Vogue Pra Nang. I agree there is a wide variety of reviews & sometimes it is hard to get a subjective view. I also look at the reviews in Tripadvisor again take a balanced opinion but if a hotel gets overall favourable reviews then chances are its good. On Tripadvsor "The Cliff" seems to get good ratings at the moment.

PS If someone paid 100baht for a tuktuk then they were ripped off it used to be 20baht each

ydnpa, a slightly belated thanks for the tip -- we ended up staying at The Cliff, which was a little over my planned budget at Christmastime, but goes for under $100/night in the off season. It's a great little place with infinity-edge pool looking over the Ao Nang cliffs, Balinese-style garden in your bathroom and very friendly service, just the kind of place I was looking for. ^ Location is pretty good too, central to the action (quite a few restaurants etc within 5 min walk, perhaps 15 min stroll down to the beach) but still very quiet. Downsides would be that the bungalows and the entire resort are a llittle on the cramped side and, despite what some agents say, they do allow families with kids (although hyperactive toddlers and colicky babies were mercifully absent).

Krabi in general was surprisingly full of people, almost entirely German and Scandinavian, with Rai Leh in particular packed to the gills. Quite frankly I feel sorry for the people who forked out US$500+/night for Rayavadee, the grounds looked nice enough but its notionally "private beach" was absolutely inundated with hordes of sun worshippers, coconut sellers and kayakers like yours truly daytripping from Ao Nang. Beautiful place though!

Glad you had a good time, we considered The Cliff but chose the Vogue Pra Nang, your comments I will bear in mind for future though.

I am glad Krabi/Ao Nang was busy there have been many reports of the area being very quiet post Tsunami.

We enjoy Railey but think it is better to stay in Ao Nang as there is a better choice of accomodation & restaurants. It must be a shock for the guests at the Rayvadee when they find out anyone can use thir beach.

I am now looking forward to March when we will be there [

Does anyone have experience with the Sheraton Krabi? Wondering whether SPG Platinum nets you anything worthwhile there and how it compares with other resorts in the area.