Khao Lak

Bang Niang, the Similans and Lam Pi Falls across three Khao Lak days

Three days in Khao Lak covers the beach, the islands and the forest. Day one is Bang Niang beach and Police Boat 813, day two a speedboat trip to the Similan Islands from Thap Lamu pier, and day three Khao Lam Pi waterfall and the trails of Khao Lak-Lam Ru National Park.

Spend the first day finding your feet after the drive up from Phuket International Airport, where flights from Bangkok land. Swim at Bang Niang in the morning, then walk inland to Police Boat 813, the patrol boat the 2004 tsunami carried more than a kilometre from the sea, and the small memorial around it. Go back to the beach for sunset, when the sun sinks straight into the Andaman.

Day two is for the Similan Islands. Speedboats leave Thap Lamu pier in the morning, and most tours include hotel pickups, so expect an early start and a full day of snorkelling or diving among granite boulders before returning in the late afternoon.

On the third morning, drive about 30 minutes south to Khao Lam Pi waterfall, where the sun rises behind the mountains and lights up the spray, and swim in the pool below. Spend the afternoon on the trails of Khao Lak-Lam Ru National Park around the headland, then finish with grilled seafood in Bang La On.

Seafood on ice along the beach roads and the Bang Niang market

Seafood is the main reason to eat out in Khao Lak. Restaurants along the beach roads and Highway 4 display fish, prawns and squid on ice, cooked to order, and southern curries such as kaeng som and massaman are worth trying. Bang Niang market is the cheapest place to graze on market evenings.

Restaurants lay the catch out on ice, ready to be grilled, steamed with lime and chilli or fried with garlic. Southern Thai cooking runs hotter than the central version: try kaeng som, a sour orange curry with fish, and massaman, the mild, Muslim-influenced curry with potatoes and peanuts. Ask for 'phet nit noi' if you want a little less heat.

Bang Niang's market, held several evenings a week, is the cheapest and liveliest place to graze, with grills, noodles, roti and fruit shakes. Bang La On has the widest choice of sit-down restaurants, from simple Thai kitchens to French-Thai places such as O'Rendez-vous, which opens from late afternoon and closes in the low season. Green Pepper in Bang Niang cooks Thai seafood and runs cooking classes that begin with a trip to the market to choose the ingredients.

Many restaurants close or cut their hours from May to October, so check before walking any distance. Heading south to Hat Thai Mueang National Park, stock up on food in Thai Mueang town first, as the park has no shops or restaurants.

Diving and snorkelling the Similan Islands from Khao Lak

The Similan Islands are the main reason divers choose Khao Lak. The marine park opens from mid-October to mid-May, and boats leave from Thap Lamu pier just south of the resorts. Speedboat day trips suit snorkellers and newer divers, while liveaboards reach the Surin Islands and Richelieu Rock.

Liveaboards spend several nights at sea, reach the best sites before the day boats arrive, and often carry on north to the Surin Islands and Richelieu Rock, a pinnacle prized by divers for its marine life.

Book early for December to February, when day trips fill up. Choose a dive shop on its safety record and group size, and treat price as secondary; the established operators in Bang La On and Bang Niang run both day trips and liveaboards and can match the trip to your experience. If you have never dived, do a course locally before heading for the islands.

Closer to shore, the dive shops also visit old tin-mining barges sunk off the coast, a good warm-up dive and a fallback when the island boats are full. Outside the season, when the park is shut and the sea runs rough, diving here more or less stops, so plan around the dry months.