Lanta is a wonderfully laidback island in the Andaman Sea, situated south of Krabi and east of Koh Phi Phi.

Koh Lanta is a welcome contrast to the larger, more developed islands like Phuket and Koh Samui, less visited than even some of the smaller islands like Koh Phi Phi and Koh Tao.

We reached Koh Lanta by ferry from Koh Lipe.  We reached late afternoon and checked-in to the property. It was a homestay run by a French Family.

Had lunch on the beach side restaurant just behind our hometsay. It was a quite place, had authentic Thai food. The wooden style restaurant over looking the ocean with a lot of cats roaming around was a pretty site.

 

Hired a two wheeler and drove to the old town. The drive was beautiful crossing small mountains to reach the Island’s other end.

This place is fascinating, with laid back cafes, some buildings that are more than a hundred years old, dating back to the time when Old Town was a Chinese trading post and the most important place on the island.

Lovely street to take a stroll with colorful and boutique cafes, gives you a feel of history with modern blend. One cafe had an heavenly view that was overlooking a projected limestone mountain not far in the ocean and you are seated just above the water during the golden hour.

Could see people on a guitar, some singing and a few vintage style resto showing old hollywood movies, this old town is definetly an experince not to be missed.

Later that evening, went to a French fusion restaurant called Santi on a small cliff. Amazing fusion food, the french owner suggested us what to eat and gave a brief history of francophones in Lanta. It’s because of a television series in early 2000 that made it very famous among the French.

Next morning we started towards the National park to do a trek to Khlong chak waterfall. It was a nice 45 mins ride to the national park with Ocean on one side and mountain slopes on the other…. parked our scooters at the entrace and we started to walk. It was a beautiful walk with river by your side and then a slight elevated hike takes you to the mountain top.

We even walked through the river at places to skip mountain climb. Visited the bat cave, it was a good experience for kids to walk into the cave to see bats.

Finally we reached the waterfall, took a nice dip in the chill waters and spent some item there before heading back. On the way back we stopped by a restaurant on a cliff with a beautiful 180 degree view of the ocean.

Got back to the resort to have a nice sundowner with good music. Sunset is magical in this Island. Later we visited a street that was very happening, with lot of small eateries and good music with a lot people enjoying their evening.

Morning we set out to an activity, that was to Lanta animal welfare center. It’s a NGO that takes care of stray cats and dogs. They takecare of animals that are physically challenged or injuried. You are taken on a tour around the center explaining how their daily routines look like and about voluteering there. They are soley responsible for this Island being 100% rabies free for decades now.

Next drove down to a cafe and the owner was very friendly, he gave us brief intro about his cafe and buddhism, also what brought him to Lanta from Bangkok. He spoke good french too, wanted to have a slow paced hence he landed up here.

For lunch we visited the Cat Cat restaurant. It’s right on the beach…. keep kids engaged with a lot of activities to do and ofcourse good food. One can have a perfect beach time here.

we also did a mangrove tour in Lanta which was good. On a slow boat they take you deep into the mangrove forest. It was beautiful but feeding of monkeys isn’t that good for the animals. Almost everyone who goes there tries to feed monkeys with Lays chips or chocolates. Not good for the monkeys though.

Later our scooter broke down while returning, so we took a taxi to the old town again and spent time roaming around. That’s one place where you lose track of time by doing nothing.

We reached the resort’s beach on time for the sunset, again sundowner music coupled with happy hour makes the sunset even more lively.

We went to a restaurant on the main street. There are so many cafes/restos on the main road to choose from…. Not all are busy, we went to a more relaxed one. The restaurant was run and maintained by owner’s family along with his neighbours… Authentic as you get…  Post that i started hopping a few places. Met a lot of travellers….

Played some games with them and we chitchated for a long time about our travel and other. Met a swiss national running a small cafe and he said a lot of people from his country stay here, also their kids study here for 6 months and in their country for next 6 months.