Ko Lanta is home to many long stretches of good-looking beach packed with accommodation. Some resorts close for the May-to-October low season; others drop their rates by 50% or even more. Resorts usually have their own restaurants and tour-booking facilities, which can arrange island snorkelling, massages, tours and motorcycle rental.
Twin Lotus is a stunning resort that features Balinese-style architecture with a modern twist. Interiors are lavished with lacquered dark-wood panels and roofs have towering, canvas-coloured thatch that looks a bit like Marge Simpson’s hair.
Loads of shade in the tropical garden and a good-sized beachfront. The pool has a water slide and the bungalows come with TVs, hot showers and minibars. The resort is family friendly and you can organise horse riding from here for 600B per hour.
Simple huts surrounded by swaying palms. It’s not much, but it’s darn cheap.
A good midrange find, Castaway has a cottage-clad garden that winds inland away from the beach. Bungalows are spotless and sport lots of Thai paintings and murals. We liked the 2000B rooms the most.
Brand spankin’ new, Eyes Lanta still has that new-car smell. This self-proclaimed ‘lifestyle resort’ mixes traditional Asian decoration (think tin gongs, and Chinese paper lanterns dangling from gabled Balinese roofs) for a truly unique ambience.
The restaurant and many of the bungalows sit right on the semiprivate beach and have perfect sunset views. The thatch bungalows come with bamboo-framed beds and rustic porches made for slinging up a hammock.
Make your way here for Ko Lanta’s little slice of bohemia. The bungalows may be a bit shaky but there is great mojo here and the place buzzes with backpackers.
Bungalows surrounding a leafy courtyard. The air-con rooms offer the best bang for your baht.
Lanta Emerald has all the trappings of a resort, but it’s tailored to smaller budgets. Concrete air-con bungalows mix with a handful of comfy bamboo huts on the well-manicured grounds. It’s 1km south of the 7-Eleven in Khlong Khong.
It’s like you stumbled into Alice in Jungleland – the rooms are in the trees, the trees are in the rooms – it’s all so deliciously nonsensical.
Clinging to the hillside above Ao Mai Pai beach, this place has a variety of brick and concrete bungalows on stilts and a fine restaurant down on the sand.
This friendly spot offers a couple of quaint rooms that look out over the lazy long-tail boats tied to the wooden pier.
Subscribe now and receive a 20% discount on your next guidebook purchase
© 2013 Lonely Planet. All rights reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced without our written permission.