Khao Lak was well on its way to being Thailand's next big travel destination, and that's when the December 2004 tsunami hit. Almost every resort was hit, and several were completely wiped out. It's take years for the area to recover, but if you didn't know about it, today you would see very little sign of what happened here. Even the memorials, such as the police boat tossed 2 kilometers inland, are rather poorly marked.
Of course, there's very little reason why the events of 2004 should affect your vacation plans. Khao Lak is a sun, sand and sea destination, and an increasingly popular one. There's a wide range of hotels and resorts available, from simple bungalows to five-star international brands.
Map of Khao Lak
The area generally referred to as "Khao Lak" is actually quite large, running from Tap Lamu harbor in the south up to Bangsak Beach, around 16 kilometers in all. Some of the beaches are fairly built-up, with hotels, resorts, restaurants and lots of shops, while other areas remail less developed. You won't find any ugly high-rise hotels though. Post-tsunami building rules limits the size and height of any new structures.
Things to do in the area includes scuba diving or snorkeling trips to the Similan islands, or adventures to Khao Sok national park, one of the oldest rain forests in Thailand.
January 2010
The Bhandari was a pleasant surprise. For the low high season rate I got, I wasn't expecting much, and was also unsure of what to expect of the location. Several people had told me that there was nothing in Khao Lak. So, I was quite surprised to find such a nice resort, only a short walk from several good restaurants, shops and other services.
My room at the resort The Bhandari's 77 rooms are mostly housed in small one and two-room Thai-styled bungalows set in well manicured gardens.
Khao Lak remains somewhat inaccessible, which is part of its charm for many people. The beach lies about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Phuket, which is the closest airport. There was talk of building an airport in Phang Nga province, but these plans where shelved after the December 2004 tsunami wiped out much of the tourist infrastructure in the area.
For now, the best way to get to Khao Lak is to fly to Phuket, then arrange for ground transfer to Khao Lak.
The December 2004 tsunami had a devastating effect on Khao Lak. Almost all of the area's 80 or so resorts were severly damaged or even completely destroyed. Many have since been rebuilt, and joined by new resorts.
When selecting a resort, one important consideration, as ever, is location. "Khao Lak" is actually a term applied to quite a large area of the Phang Nga coast, stretching around 16 kilometers. Parts of it are relatively built-up, while other areas are somewhat isolated.
Nang Thong is a beach area at the south end of the most developed stretch of Khao Lak. It's a good area to stay in, with lots of restaurants and services, such as dive shops and trasportation. The resorts aren't as fancy as those further north, but they are rather good.
The built-up areas of Nang Thong and Bang Niang in Khao Lak (see map) have many restaurant options to chose from. In addition to Thai, Italian restaurants seem to predominate. There are also two or three Indian restaurants in the Bang Niang area.
Resort restaurants tend to come and go, so I won't try to list any of them here. However, I will give one suggestion which I think has already been around for a little while: Stempher Cafe on Petchkasem Road in the Nang Thong area.
On the morning of 26 December 2004, Police Boat 813 Buretpadungkit was at anchor about 1 nautical mile off the coast of Khao Lak, where Her Royal Highness Ubonrat Rajakanya Siriwaddhana Phannawaddee was staying at the La Flora Resort with her son and daughters. When the tsunami struck, the boat was swept inland almost 2 kilometers, to where it sits today.
The tsunami Police Boat memorial. The boat was left where it landed and is now maintained as a memorial, although there is very little around it except a sign.
Khao Lak's weather is very similar to Phuket's weather: The [relatively] cool dry season lasts from December to March, with rains beginning in April, and becoming heavy by September. The main difference is that it does seem to rain slightly more in Khao Lak. Indeed, in my last stay there over a New Year holiday, it rained every afternoon.
As with the rest of Thailand, the rainy season is not necessarily a bad time to visit.
