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If you close your eyes and picture Thailand, the version from the films, you are picturing Railay Beach. Towering limestone cliffs, longtail boats everywhere, no roads, no cars, monkeys in the trees and sand that squeaks. If that is the Thailand you are after, this is where you need to be.
We spent our time here as a family of four and it was everything the postcard promised, with a few honest caveats. Here is our full guide to Railay Beach with kids, including how to arrive without carrying your suitcase over your head.
Getting to Railay Beach (there are no roads)
Railay is not an island, but it might as well be. Limestone cliffs cut the peninsula off completely, so the only way in is by longtail boat (here it is on Google Maps). That arrival is half the magic. You putter across the water surrounded by those famous karst cliffs and land like every backpacker film you have ever seen.
Arriving the only way you can. No roads, no cars, just this.
There are two ways in. Boats from Ao Nang (around 100 baht, 10 to 15 minutes) drop you at West Railay, which is a wet landing straight onto the beach. Fine with a daypack, less fun wading in with a suitcase. If you have luggage, go from Ao Nam Mao pier, about 20 minutes by taxi south of Krabi Town, and you arrive at the floating pier on East Railay where you can wheel your bags along like a civilised person. You can book your longtail boat ticket in advance here.
Luggage tip: arriving with suitcases, aim for East Railay and its floating pier via Ao Nam Mao pier. There is loads of room on the boats for bags. Arriving at West Railay means a wet landing on the sand, which is brilliant fun right up until your suitcase is on your head.
Where to stay: pick the west side
Stay on the west side. The east side is mainly mangroves and a crusty low tide beach, and while it is where the pier and some cheaper hotels are, the west is where the postcard beaches and the famous sunset live. You can walk from one side to the other in about ten minutes, so nothing is far.
You can get seriously nice hotels here for a fraction of what the equivalent would cost anywhere else in the world. The one we would point you at is Rayavadee. It sits in the jungle between the beaches with its own private beach frontage, and it is proper five star luxury for a price that would get you a mid range chain hotel back home. There are plenty of cheaper options on the peninsula too, but if you came here for a slice of luxury, that is the base.
The walk to Phra Nang Beach (and the island you can swim to)
From East Railay a cliffside walkway takes you to Phra Nang Beach, the hidden one. You walk beneath overhanging stalactites with the cliff dripping above your head, which feels properly adventurous with kids, and then the path just opens up onto one of the most beautiful beaches in Thailand.
Just offshore sit two lumps of rock called Koh Rang Nok. At high tide you can swim across, and at low tide you can more or less walk there through the sea. There is nothing on it, which is exactly the point. Swim over, feel like you have discovered your own island, wade back, and get a coffee from the little cafe set up back on the sand. You can even get a massage on the beach afterwards, which we did, because when in Thailand.
Koh Rang Nok from Phra Nang Beach. Swim over at high tide, walk across at low tide.
The monkeys (and one very naughty parrot)
Railay has two kinds of monkey and they could not be more different. The dusky leaf monkeys, also called spectacled langurs, are the gentle ones with white rings around their eyes, and their babies are a bright auburn colour, completely different to the adults’ dark grey. There are loads of them and they mostly ignore you.
A dusky leaf monkey carrying its auburn baby directly over our heads. Not a zoo, just the walk to the beach.
Then there are the long tailed macaques, who run the path to Phra Nang like a protection racket. They will have food out of your bag, sunglasses off your head and absolutely no shame about any of it. Keep snacks zipped away, especially around the cave section in the evenings.
Special mention to the resident parrot, who did a morning round of the hotels near our room, marching in, squawking the place up and flying off to bother the next hotel. Same time every day. Total professional.
Rock climbing capital of Thailand
Railay is world famous for its rock climbing, and the community here is a big part of the atmosphere. Those cliffs that make the place so beautiful are covered in routes, and there are beginner friendly courses where kids and complete novices can have a go with all the gear and a proper instructor. There are even spots where you can climb above deep water and just drop into the sea, which is about as cool as climbing gets.
You can book half day and full day Railay climbing sessions here on Klook, gear and instructor included.
Sunset on West Railay (do not miss this)
Every single evening, everyone on the peninsula floods onto West Railay for sunset, and it deserves the crowd. It is one of the best sunsets we saw in a year of travelling. Locals come down every day too, and you will often find yourself underneath a seriously impressive frisbee session, with throws flying a hundred feet over your head while the sky goes orange. Add in the fire dancers practising outside some of the hotels and the whole beach turns into a show nobody is charging for.
A local spotted us walking, followed us down the beach and insisted on taking this photo for us. That is Railay in one picture.
That photo sums the place up. We were just walking, and a local chased us down the beach because he could see the shot and would not let us miss it. The people here are a huge part of why it works.
Food, Walking Street and the honest bit
Time for the honest review. The food on Railay is fine rather than fantastic. It leans western and touristy, and if you have come from eating your way around Thailand you will notice. The big exception is on Walking Street, where there is a place with chickens turning on spits all day, every day. It is outstanding and we ate there far too many times. Walking Street itself is great fun in the evenings, all retro neon, little bars and dispensary signs, without being a party strip.
The general mood of the place, printed on a coffee cup.
A note on the dispensaries: cannabis shops are a big, neon lit part of the scenery here and there is a whole laid back scene around them. Worth knowing: the law officially tightened in mid 2025 and cannabis is now medical only on paper. On the ground, especially somewhere as cut off from the real world as Railay, it clearly is not being enforced with any enthusiasm. That can change overnight though, and the fines are real, so treat it as at your own risk rather than a free for all.
For a proper night out, one of the restaurants on the east side runs a fire show every night at around 7.30pm, and the cocktails are great. That bar is also where this blog got a plot twist, because it is where I found out I had got a job in Australia. The beach from the films is where the next chapter of ours started.
The 4 Islands boat trip
If you want a day out on the water, the classic 4 Islands tour leaves from right here and hops between Poda Island, Chicken Island, Tup Island and Phra Nang, with snorkelling gear and lunch included. We have done it and it is a brilliant family day, with the usual warning that you will not be the only boat at the pretty spots. Check prices for the 4 Islands tour here. National park fees (400 baht adults, 200 baht kids) are paid separately on the day.
Is Railay Beach worth it with kids?
Completely. It is the single most Thailand feeling place we went in Thailand. The beaches are the ones from the films, the wildlife wanders through your day, the locals make you feel like part of the furniture, and the whole place runs at walking pace because there is literally nothing to drive. Go for two or three nights minimum, stay on the west side, and do not miss that sunset.
Sort your boat over in advance, treat yourselves to Rayavadee if the budget stretches, and before any trip make sure your travel insurance is sorted. Fancy island life with even more to do? Have a read of how we got on during five weeks on Phu Quoc.
