Lennam Journal

Guides & Destination Stories

Considered writing on Phuket's islands, beaches and departure points — for travellers who prefer substance over slogans.

Destination Guide· 8 min

Coral Island Phuket: Hornbills, Clear Water and Beach Clubs

Coral Island (Koh Hey) sits just off Phuket's southern coast — close enough for an easy crossing, distinct enough to feel like a proper escape. Two beaches, hornbills in the canopy, clear shallows and beach-club comfort.

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Island Guides· 6 min

Koh Bon Guide: Beaches, Restaurant, Snorkelling & Amenities

Ko Bon is one of those places that becomes familiar very quickly. The crossing from Rawai is brief enough that the mainland never fully disappears, yet the island has its own rhythm from the moment the boat reaches its shore.

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Island Guides· 7 min

Racha Island Guide: Beaches, Hotels and Snorkelling

Racha Island is first understood through colour. The water brightens before the shoreline comes fully into view, deep blue giving way to turquoise, then to the pale, glassy green that gathers over white sand.

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Island Guides· 8 min

Ko Lon Guide: Beaches, Village Life, Hotels and Beach Club

Ko Lon sits low across Chalong Bay, close enough that the mainland remains visible through much of the crossing. From a boat, the island appears almost entirely green, its rounded hills descending toward beaches, mangroves and rocky stretches of coast.

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Island Guides· 7 min

Maithon Island Guide: Beach, Coral, Dolphins and Island Character

Maithon Island appears slowly from the sea, its long green ridge rising above a narrow band of pale sand. There is nothing abrupt about the approach. The shoreline comes into focus by degrees: a beach folded beneath the trees, a few low buildings set back from the water, and the reef showing through the shallows where the sea turns from deep blue to clear turquoise.

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Island Guides· 8 min

Khai Islands Guide: Khai Nai, Khai Nok and Khai Nui

The Khai Islands lie east of Phuket as three small interruptions in a broad field of blue. Their Thai name means "egg," a reference to their rounded forms, though from the water they appear less alike than the name suggests.

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Island Guides· 9 min

Ko Yao Yai Guide: Beaches, Villages, Hotels and Island Life

Ko Yao Yai reveals itself slowly. From the water, the island is a long green mass stretched across Phang Nga Bay, its central ridge softened by jungle and its shoreline broken by mangroves, small beaches and fishing villages.

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Island Guides· 7 min

Ko Maphrao Guide: Beaches, Village Life and Floating Restaurants

Ko Maphrao is reached almost before the journey has had time to become one. From Laem Hin Pier, a long-tailed boat crosses the narrow channel in five to ten minutes, passing low fishing craft and the floating seafood restaurants moored between the mainland and the island.

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Island Guides· 8 min

Ko Naka Yai Guide: Beaches, Island Life and Phang Nga Bay

Ko Naka Yai sits just beyond Phuket's northeastern shore, close enough that the crossing from Ao Por feels less like a departure than a loosening of the mainland. Marinas, mangroves and low green headlands fall behind; ahead, the island resolves into coconut trees, broad beaches and water opening toward the limestone islands of Phang Nga Bay.

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Island Guides· 9 min

Ko Rang Yai Guide: Pearl Farm, Beaches and Island Character

Ko Rang Yai is known as Pearl Island not because pearls are sold there as souvenirs, but because the surrounding sea has been used to cultivate them. The crossing from Laem Hin takes around fifteen to twenty minutes, yet the approach has its own gradual reveal.

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Island Guides· 4 min

Ko Naka Noi Guide: Phuket's Private Pearl Island

From Ao Por, Ko Naka Noi appears as a small green fold in the sea, easily overshadowed by the broader beaches and resort villas of neighbouring Naka Yai. The crossing is brief. Its real landscape lies below the surface.

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Island Guides· 5 min

Ko Kaeo Yai Guide: Island Monastery Near Rawai

The crossing from Rawai is short. Within twenty minutes Ko Kaeo Yai appears beyond Promthep Cape as a dark, forested rock — a functioning monastery where a yellow chedi rises above the trees and a gilded Buddha faces Phuket.

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Coastal Journal· 11 min

Hidden Coves of Phuket: Where the Coast Folds Inward

South of Patong, the hotels begin to disappear behind the shoulder of the headland. These smaller beaches are not hidden because no one knows their names — their secrecy is architectural, seated below cliffs and beyond difficult tracks, reached by a boat that rounds stone until the beach is suddenly present.

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Destination Guide· 13 min

James Bond Island: Into the Stone Labyrinth of Phang Nga Bay

The route to James Bond Island begins among mangroves, fishing piers and broad channels the colour of tarnished jade. Blue barrels are stacked beneath corrugated roofs. Longtails leave narrow wakes between the mudbanks, while egrets stand among exposed roots, watching the boats pass with the grave concentration of sentries.

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Island Guides· 6 min

Ko Yao Noi: The Quiet Heart of Phang Nga Bay

Set between Phuket and the limestone theatre of Phang Nga Bay, Ko Yao Noi feels remarkably composed for somewhere so accessible. Coconut palms lean over narrow roads. Fishing boats rest beside wooden piers. Rice fields appear between villages, and beyond them, the sea opens towards a horizon punctuated by improbable karst formations.

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Destination Guide· 13 min

Phi Phi Islands: Limestone, Light and the Andaman Sea

The first sight of Phi Phi is not a beach but a wall of stone. Limestone rises almost vertically from the Andaman Sea, dark at the waterline and thick with green above, its surface scored by rain, salt and centuries of weather. Longtail boats pass beneath it with painted bows and bright ribbons lifting in the wind, briefly reduced to flecks of colour against the cliffs.

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Coastal Journal· 12 min

Promthep at Sunset: The Evening Phuket Slips into the Sea

By five o'clock, the heat has begun to loosen its grip on southern Phuket. The glare on Rawai Bay softens. Longtail boats return in uneven lines, their narrow bows cutting through water the colour of smoked glass. Along the shore, engines cough into silence, ropes are looped around wooden posts, and the day's final passengers step onto the sand carrying wet towels and plastic bags of fruit.

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Destination Guide· 9 min

Racha Noi: Into the Blue

There is a point south of Phuket where the familiar geography begins to loosen its hold. Mobile signal weakens. The sea loses its pale coastal tint. Racha Yai passes behind, and ahead there is only open Andaman water, darkening towards a blue so saturated it appears almost mineral.

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