84280 Koh Phangan
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Ко Панган · Koh Phangan

Koh Phangan beaches

Every beach on the island on one map: where to swim, where to eat by the water and how to get there.

One beach, a whole day. Swim, have lunch, return to the water. These three shores make very different days out.

Map
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Places: 2 Beaches × For sunset × Northwest: Haad Yao, Salad & Mae Haad ×

Haad Yao, Haad Salad and Mae Haad. Different bays for a day by the sea.

  1. Haad Yao · Beach

    Haad Yao Beach
    Editorial pick Sunset Beach

    Swim at high tide · calmest Dec–AprSand, rocks at low tide · reef 300–400 mPalm shadeSunbeds, cafés & SUP hireSea sunset all year

    Our pick · A day without moving between stops

    A long northwest bay for alternating sea, a beachside lunch and a book. A useful choice for a group that doesn't all want to do the same thing.

    Depth changes with the tide. Check the sea forecast before leaving and the waves when you arrive.

    A long arc of light sand on the west coast, the most built-up beach on this side of the island. Along the water: resorts, restaurants and bars, sunbeds and umbrellas, massage, kayak and SUP rental, dive shops; behind the beach, on the main road, cafes and a 7-Eleven. Palms give shade.

    Directions in Google Maps ↗Place page →

  2. Haad Salad · Beach

    Haad Salad Beach
    Beach

    Swim at high tide · shallow to reef at low tideSandy centre, coral bits · reef 80–100 mPalm shade · quiet family bayRestaurant sunbeds · sea sunset in summer

    A beach in the north-west: five or six hundred metres of soft white sand. Quiet and family-friendly, with fewer people than Haad Yao next door. Resorts, restaurants, a couple of bars and massage line the shore; the restaurants have sunbeds, the palms give shade. There is no nightlife on the beach itself. It is also called Pirates Beach.

    Directions in Google Maps ↗Place page →

Which shore for what

Koh Phangan has two different seas, and it is the shore, not the weather, that picks one. The west lies behind a reef: the water is calm and shallow, and at low tide off Hin Kong it goes out 700 metres to a kilometre, so people walk the sea floor. In the east the water is deep a few steps from the sand: at Haad Yuan, Than Sadet and Bottle Beach you can swim at low tide too. The east is open to the wind, though: from November to January the north-east monsoon brings waves, and on some days swimming is banned.

The tide has seasons as well. From about April to September the west's water stays low for long hours in the daytime, and a swim has to be timed to high tide. From October or November to March it is the other way round: the water is high most of the day. Each beach's page says when high tide is today.

Snorkelling without a boat. Mae Haad: the coral starts some thirty metres off the beach, by the islet of Koh Ma. Only at high tide on a calm day — at dead low tide it is too shallow and easy to scrape the coral.

With small children. Nai Wok by Thong Sala: behind a sand spit, a knee-deep lagoon at any tide.

To swim, not to wade. The east, and Bottle Beach. A longtail goes to Bottle Beach from Chaloklum, usually 150 baht a person: it leaves once about four people are aboard, the last at about five in the afternoon. In a storm the boats stay put and you can be stuck there for a day or two. As places to be stuck go, it is not the worst.

Box jellyfish occur in the island's waters. Where a beach has a net, swim inside it, and stay out of the sea at dusk and at night.