Guide to Tropical Islands of Trang Province - Thailand

sunrise from Koh Ngai

Guide to Tropical Islands of Trang Province – Thailand

Trang Province lies in southern Thailand along the Andaman Sea on Thailand’s west coast. Trang is directly south of Krabi Province (think Koh Phi Phi or Koh Lanta) and north of Satun Province, Thailand’s southernmost province.

Like all of Thailand’s southern provinces, Trang’s interior is mountainous with several lush tropical parks and gushing waterfalls. The coast is lined by long, lovely beaches and scattered rock outcroppings. The idyllic Andaman Sea is dotted with small, laid-back tropical islands and limestone karst outcroppings.

Trang train station

The capital town, also named Trang, is what I refer to as ‘a real Thai town’. Compared to most other southern Thai towns, there is very little tourist influence there and very few westerners. Those who do appear are mainly en route to/from Trang’s charming islands.

A handful of small tourist and resort offices are clustered near the train station, and that’s about it. Trang town does have its charms and is worth a couple days’ visit. For full details, read my post: Trang Town

The main reason visitors go to Trang (both Thais and foreigners) is to luxuriate on Trang’s beautiful tropical islands. Actually, that’s a bit of a mis-statement. Thai tourists go there – in huge crowds – to snorkel on reefs (more like thrash around. Lol) and to get pulled on ropes through Emerald Cave on Koh Mook Island. But more on that later…

view from Koh Ngai at sunrise

Trang’s beautiful islands are considerably smaller, less developed and much more laid back than Thailand’s internationally famous islands like Phuket and Samui. Many of Trang’s islands are so small, in fact, that no roads exist. Roads that do exist are mostly dirt and used by motorbikes and ‘cargo motorbikes’ – adapted with trailers to haul merchandise or people. Cars, minivans and buses have thankfully not invaded the Trang islands.

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Trang’s dozen or so islands can be roughly divided into three types: those with long-standing Muslim villages, those developed solely because of tourism, and national park islands. The villages, or lack of, give distinctive atmospheres to the various islands. (In Thai, ‘Koh’ means ‘island’)

Those with villages include Koh Sukorn, Koh Libong and Koh Mook. Two islands that have never had villages and thus were developed purely as tourist destinations include Koh Kradan and Koh Ngai (also known as Koh Hai). National Park Islands include Koh Rok, Koh Petra and Koh Lao Liang (part of Petra national park).

Muslim village on Koh Mook

Inhabited islands

Koh Sukorn, Mook and Libong are first of all inhabited, working islands with small fishing villages. They have shops, homes, schools and mosques. These islands have rubber plantations, coconut plantations and small scale fishing operations.

Secondarily, a few low-key resorts have sprung up on each island over the years, catering mostly to independent travelers and a few small-eco-tour groups. These islands are very quiet, laid-back and au naturale. They all have nice beaches, mostly located at the various small resorts.

Visiting these islands offers travelers a bit more to do beyond enjoying the sand, sea and sun. Curious visitors can wander into the villages, take a look around, watch local people going about their daily lives and maybe strike up some limited conversations. All these islands are large enough for long walks & explorations along quiet country roads, through rubber plantations and along beaches.

view from Koh Kradan

Islands without villages

In contrast, Koh Kradan and Koh Ngai are even smaller islands with no towns, shops or inhabitants. The only things to do are enjoy tropical sand, sea, sun and chill out at the charming low-key resorts. Kradan and Ngai both have extensive reefs lying just offshore. And both offer short walks up over the island, strolls along extensive beaches and kayaking rentals.

Ten years ago all of Trang’s islands were supremely quiet, little-visited tropical paradises where you could escape crowds, beach bars and noise in order to simply chill out & relax.

However, round about 2008 a few of Trang’s islands were ‘discovered’, particularly by Thai tourists. Koh Ngai and Koh Kradan began attracting large shiploads of daily Thai visitors for snorkeling on the reefs and picnicking briefly on the beaches. At the same time, Koh Mook’s already popular Emerald Cave became a huge tourist attraction.

speed boat full of Thai tourists heading to the islands

Since their discovery, every high season, from Dec to March, regular high-speed speedboats have been running between Koh Lanta (just north in Krabi Province), Koh Ngai, Koh Mook and Koh Lipe way down in Satun Province. This speedboat service makes travel between those particular islands much easier. However, it also means hordes and hordes of tourists now invade those particular Trang islands daily throughout the high season. (Dec through April)

Koh Mook is mostly spared the mass tourist mobs since the tourists are only interested in Emerald Cave. Thankfully, it lies away from Koh Mook’s beaches and bungalow resorts.

However, Koh Ngai and Kradan are inundated by mass tourism on a daily basis now. Even worse, I’m very sad to report, the once gorgeous & thriving coral reefs just offshore have been 50-70% decimated. In just one decade!

When I visited in 2002, the reefs were so pristine that I was mesmerized day after day by a huge variety of healthy colorful corals and every kind of reef fish imaginable. In 2013, the reefs were a mere shadow of their former glory with very little fish life and seriously destroyed corals.

tour boat full of snorkelers - Trang Province

one of many tour boats full of snorkelers heading to Koh Kradan and Koh Ngai every day during high season

In addition to the regular high-speed boats running between Koh Lanta, Trang islands and Koh Lipe, several massive, double-deck wooden passenger boats, overloaded with Thai groups and families descend upon Koh Ngai and Kradan on a daily basis.

The tourists, most of whom can’t swim, swarm the narrow beaches for lunch-time picnics, making a tremendous amount of noise and leaving behind traces of trash (even though their guides do their best to keep clean with large trash bags they bring along and take out).

After lunch the boats head over to the reefs, where the non-swimming Asian tourists don bright orange life-vests and thrash about on the reefs, often standing on corals or grabbing them to stay in place. Quite sadly, the tour companies do nothing to educate their customers about reef ecology or safe handling of corals. In fact, the companies make things worse by constantly feeding the reef fish for the guests’ enjoyment.

As a PADI Dive Instructor, I regretfully predict that Trang’s reefs (and Satun’s as well, for that matter) will be completely destroyed within the next decade. Tragic.

Emerald Cave tourism - Koh Mook - Trang Province

Emerald Cave tourism at Koh Mook

After invading Koh Ngai and Kradan the same dozen over-loaded double-decker tour boats head over to Emerald Cave on Koh Mook. There, all the tourists are strung out along ropes, while wearing life jackets, and pulled through dark Emerald Cave to the center of the island, which miraculously opens to the sky, complete with a beach, tropical trees…and trash.

On a more positive note…

sunset at Koh Ngai

Koh Kradan and Ngai are exceptionally beautiful islands with long, stunning white-sand beaches and astounding views over the clear Andaman Sea. Both have several charming low-key bungalow resorts. They are truly tropical island paradises… except for the hordes of daily tourist invasions midday. If you can put up with that, Koh Kradan and Koh Ngai can still be very enjoyable. Mornings and evenings at the islands are quiet and tourist free, after all. And sunrises are gorgeous affairs.

If you prefer more serene, less ‘discovered’ islands, I have three recommendations:

Option one: head to Koh Libong, Mook and/or Sukorn instead.

Option two is to visit Kradan and Ngai in the off-season.

Option 3 is to visit charming Koh Bulon just a bit further south in Satun Province.

my campsite at Koh Kradan

National Park Islands

Koh Rok consists of a duo of remote national park islands located quite far out from the mainland. Koh Rok is expensive to access. For those who do venture that far, the national park offers a campground and park restaurant. Visitors can snorkel at the island’s reputedly pristine coral reefs. Note that Koh Rok has also recently been ‘discovered’ by Thai tourists. Large groups of day trippers often invade the island, restaurant and reefs during midday. Some groups stay overnight as well.

the perfect untouched beach – Koh Ngai in early morning

Koh Petra National Park includes both Koh Lao Liang and Koh Petra islands. Petra island is located close to the mainland at the far southern edge of Trang Province and is accessed from a nearby mainland pier.

Koh Lao Liang is often visited on snorkeling day trips from Koh Sukorn and elsewhere. The island has one private resort offering luxurious tents and home-cooked meals that can be booked as package tours from the mainland. They are expensive. Rock climbers often visit Lao Liang to climb the island’s sheer cliffs, kayak the calm waters and scuba dive on coral reefs.

Technically speaking, Koh Kradan and Koh Ngai are actually national park islands as well, though you’d never know it by visiting! Each island has a small national park office and campground. However, the islands have been so thoroughly taken over by resorts and day tours that they function nothing at all like national parks. The park service presence is quite negligible. Still it is possible to camp at either park HQ area.

If you visit Trang islands during low season, you will certainly be taking a risk with the weather because monsoons blow through from May to October or November. May and Sept-Oct are traditionally the heaviest monsoon months. During June through August and November, though, you’re just as likely to have great, sunny weather as stormy. Be warned that boats will stop running in bad weather, particularly in May.

dramatic sunrise at Koh Ngai

And that’s my 2013 report on the beautiful islands of Trang Province. I am most certainly glad I experienced them back in 2002 before they were ‘discovered’. At that time they were still remote, little-visited, idyllic paradise islands with gorgeous coral reefs. If you’re interested in visiting, I highly recommend going as soon as possible, before the struggling reefs are completely decimated.

QUESTIONS:

Have you been to any Trang islands?

If so, what are your impressions?

Which islands would you recommend to visit or avoid?

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You might also enjoy my other posts about Thailand’s southern islands:

My Visit to a Tropical Paradise Island: Koh Bulon

Koh Tarutao National Park Island

Koh Adang & the Other Islands of Koh Tarutao National Park

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