Pattaya Beach - Lipe's most popular from the western headland. Shot from a Pattaya Song (aka Pattaya 2) second row bungalow balcony. Daya and luxury Sita Resort are in the near section up to the first longtail near the beach. Leepae Resort is adjacent the second set of beach longtails. The cross island track "Walking Street" and Varin are just past the distant longtails (you are maybe two-thirds along the beach here). Popular Bundhaya's big reception restaurant roof can be just seen left of the right tree foliage. The eastern most 20% of the beach is unbuilt on except for a restaurant up against the far headland. This is a nice shot to click to expand - may be dependent on your browser. I've redone this page after my latest (4th) visit in late November-early December 09 - the first was in March 99, the second in March 07 and the third in late November 08.
Lipe is a fair bit more developed since I was first there in 99, but it remains a pretty nice place to visit with several good white sand beaches, some fairly nice snorkeling, good diving and a variety of accommodation, restaurants and bars. Some of the latter can get a bit lively, so people seeking some night-life don't go without. There are only a few narrow roads and not too many motorcycles. Hey, and there are very few dogs! It is fairly compact - I did a circumnavigation of the settled eastern two thirds of the island in around 3 hours.
It is still easy to find a quiet, laid back beach area away from busy Pattaya.
In recent years it has got a fair bit of criticism about overbuilding, rubbish problems, high prices and overcrowding at peak. I have a section on each problem down page.
Map from Pooh Bungalow
Lipe beaches - Google's resolution is nothing to get excited about.
Area map from Sea CanoeMy favourite location is VIEWPOINT BUNGALOWS where I stayed in March 07. These read up real nice in the travel guides and on travelfish.
I wasn’t disappointed. This is an old style beach-hut type place, with rustic bungalows built up the steep hillside overlooking twin compact bays just south of a small headland at the end of the big eastern beach, Andaman.
Most of these bungalows have very nice views from their verandas. Mine was the second highest, cut into the rainforest up a pretty awesome set of stairs, and was panoramic - a small islet just offshore, Tarutao in the far distance, mountainous Ko Adang close to the north with the sweep of Andaman Bay between.
View from my bungalow directly east.
....and north.THE BUNGALOWS AT VIEWPOINT.
These are built on the steep hillside behind the twin bays, all with pretty nice views. They are traditional woven-bamboo wall, thatch-roof style places of various sizes from one-bed to pretty spacious. March prices seemed to be from 300 to 400. (hey, and 300 was quoted to me 20 months later).
I had one of the bigger ones, way up a set of killer steps, the 2nd highest bungalow. Note most of the bungalows are in the first 2 rows and the climb to these is not difficult.
Rustic is the best way to describe my bungalow - it was just like the good old days. It was solid and clean, but I swear it had a very small (say 2 degree) sideways tilt, although the huge bed (king size - double++ - with thick seemingly brand-new comfy mattress, nice pillows, ornate top-cover and sheets and good mozzie net) was dead level.
Very rustic was the lighting - the switch to the main room light did not work - it was turned off by unscrewing the bulb!!!! Far out - I left the bulb unscrewed, the bathroom and balcony lights gave plenty of illumination - but despite the dodgy electrics, the size, the comfy bed and the amazing view from the big wrap-around veranda made the bungalow well and truly worth the 400b.
Now in contrast, the lighting all the way up the steps to my place, which I thought would be a death trap at night, was very good.
The bungalow came with one towel and hand towel although for two people I imagine it is just a matter of asking. No soap, no toilet paper, no hammock on the deck - 2 plastic chairs and some very ornate artistic woodwork if that sort of thing cites your ex. The veranda opened into the bungalow by full width folding doors which created a kind of pavilion effect. There were extensive clotheslines where it wrapped around the side of the bungalow. Inside were lots of hooks, some wall shelves and lots of storage on the horizontal wall framework.
The attached bathroom had western toilet, awsome water pressure and a good mirror.
A caveat here - these higher bungalows are cut into the rainforest, so at times during the night there are crashes and thrashes outside in the bush, plus a few meece scuttling across the rafters. Rustic. As I said, just like the good old days.
The no-frills restaurant was down at beach level and consisted of 4 plastic tables + chairs. Food was standard bungalow (good), prices perhaps slightly higher than the average budget bungalow (that is - still very reasonable) and the service was fast if a bit dour - it was hard to get a smile out of the girls. The youngish guy with crook eyes who owns the joint is very friendly and obliging.
BEACHES
PATTAYA BEACH
Nice swimming enclosure in front of Varin Resort near where the cross island track WALKING STREET hits Pattaya Beach. Some pretty reasonable coral and fish 70m out from the sand. Young Lady in centre has the big holiday book - click to enlarge.Pattaya on the south side of the island is the main beach and has gone from one-third built on in 99 to pretty fully built out now. Nevertheless it is still quite attractive** with white sand, pretty clean water which is deep at all tides except at the far western end, some trees for shade at some parts of the beach and some interesting patches of coral at both ends which are okay for snorkeling.
Pattaya gets even nicer at night when several outfits set up restaurants and bars with candle-lit tables etc on the sand.
** I'm a bit conflicted here - after my 08 trip I put in a section here saying Pattaya had jumped the shark - ie got past the point of no return, being too crowded with longtails for peace and quiet. But this latest visit I made a point of actually staying on Pattaya for the first time in years - at Varin, and although I have mixed feelings about that joint, I have to revise my opinion - Pattaya was the nicest beach on the island unless you were looking for somewhere completely out of the way - Pattaya's sand was cleanest, its water clearest and there is a very good range of restaurants and shops on the beach or nearby which keeps prices lower. They have several sections partitioned off for swimming and the beach is sheltered from those over-brisk north-easterlies which sometimes cut in during dry season. It also tends to be largely protected from the wet season westerlies unless there is more than usual south in them, although Andaman and Viewpoint beaches are better in this respect. Most of my visit was in shoulder season and the beach was uncrowded and the longtails somehow seemed more orderly - however 2 days coincided with the King's Birthday holiday and heaps of Thais hit the island. The beach itself was still not Bondi busy but the boat congestion was pretty high - around dusk I counted 13 big speedboats backed into the beach, a heap of those bigger old style ferries the Thai packagers love and 5 cruising yachts - normally there are one or two.
Lady Tezza on her first visit to Lipe, declared Pattaya one of her favourite beaches to stay on anywhere. Lady Tezza as an ex surfer-babe has seen a few beaches.
There are lots of places to stay along here - in my low budget range, the ones I like the looks of most are the headland bungalows of PATTAYA SONG aka Pattaya 2 - high up overlooking the beach at the western end. This year these had jumped in price to 1000 and 800 for the front rowers and 700 for the fairly new higher places (um, maybe not so low budget, but everything on Lipe has gone up (800, 500, 300 in Nov 08 before bargaining).
Pattaya also have some substantial looking concrete bungalows in a little valley behind their beach-level restaurant for 400 latest visit - the best deal on Pattaya Beach.
I stayed in one of the headland front rowers for a few nights in 99 when they were new, and the view was great.
Note that Pattaya Song has a reputation for good Italian food - and the Italian owner has a reputation for eccentricity when he gets tanked.
Pattaya Beach - real nice at night when the restaurants on the sand set up - not too shabby by day either (image Poh Bungalows)
Nov 08 shot. The headland concrete bungalows of Pattaya Song on the western end of Pattaya Beach. This angle from the corner of the beach is deceptive because the bungalows actually look directly down the beach and there is a bunch of cheaper more trad style ones with similar views behind and higher. Departing Lipe, my boat went past the seaward side of this headland (well duh!) and there were similar nice looking bungalows high up looking directly out to sea.
Pattaya Song's rather good restaurant is at beach level tucked in against the headland to the right of the far beach umbrella.
DAYA RESORT has some nice trad looking beach level front and second row bungalows to the right of camera with the popular restaurant to their east - but hell, 1000 and 800 no brekka for what is still really shoulder season? Daya have some cheaper bungalows inland behind the restaurant but dummy forgot to ask the price.
This end of Pattaya used to be busiest, but now is the quietest section - so if you value fewer noisy longtails and want to stay on Pattaya, this could be the region. The new SITA luxury resort is very close for all you big-mover bond traders. Umm - on reflection, after the Global Financial Crisis maybe you Masters of the Universe will be staying at a 300b Viewpoint cheapie with tezza.
Cheapest beachfront bungalows on Pattaya are the funky HANDICRAFT to the east of the cross island path at 500 early Dec 09 - and the guy told me they will not go up in peak. Shot shows their great bar area - has an upstair deck. They also set up mats and chairs on the beach after dark and play funky music, but the adjacent REGGAE BAR does the same, and has a bigger sound system. May not be the best location for those wishing to hit the sack early, but great for ragers on a budget.
The next best deal in early Dec seemed to be GREENVIEW which had a sign up asking 500 for their rather large, attractive and newish trad bungalows back from the beach.
VARIN ON PATTAYA
Beach at Varin is real nice - some good trees for shade out of frame to left.
Lady Tezza aint a bum like me, prefers aircon and hot water if she can get it, so I did some research on lower priced aircon rooms on Pattaya. LEEPAE's cheapest was too expensive although this old place keeps getting updated and did look real nice latest visit. BUNDHAYA has a grand beach frontage reception/restaurant area and is in a nice section towards the eastern end of the beach, but user reviews were quite savage about the cheaper bungalows. Reviews of VARIN were a bit better so we went for that, although The Lady can forget about the hot water in our price range. This place has a huge number of bungalows and rooms closely packed behind the big reception-restaurant area.
Good points - Great position fairly central to the beach and adjacent to the cross island track with its abundance of restaurants and shops. The beach in front is real nice with free beach lounges for guest (and no shortage), some nice trees for shade and beach umbrellas for hire plus a boueyed-off section for swimming with crystal clear water and some quite good coral and fishies relatively close to the beach for snorkellers. Use room towel as beach towel and then swap at reception for fresh one.
Good buffet breakfasts - Varin gets a lot of package Thai tourists and runs a very efficient brekka with a big range of tasty stuff which tends to be pretty hot because new trays are constantly arriving from the kitchen. But make sure you arrive early before the Thais are loaded onto longtails and boats for the day's excursion - late-comers may find the trays have cooled. Other meals seeemed to be about 10-20% dearer than outside restaurants - we gave them a miss, there is a huge range of good alternatives nearby. Drink prices out of the fridge seemed pretty reasonable - there is a shop 3 minutes walk away at the start of Walking Street keeps them honest.
VARIN has a rep for rude service, but we found Aom2 and the other people at reception charming and efficient.
Bad points - our aircon/cold water bungalow was crap. It was really an old backpackers' fan bungalow which had been tarted plus having an aircon added. Okay, it was in fine condition and clean and had flashpacker inclusions like towels, soap, shampoo etc, a pretty comfy king size bed and was situated in a sparsely planted but still nice garden setting. But it was tiny, with just enough room for 2 and their gear, was packed close together with other bungalows and worst feature - the bathroom was not a separate room out back but part of the main room, partitioned off by a concrete barrier which didn't go to the ceiling - and a shower curtain. Better be on good olfactory and auditory terms with your travelling partner. This seemed to be a feature of all the cheaper standard aircon and fan rooms. Once you go higher you get a separate bathroom. And a bigger room. Spacing still fairly tight though.
At least Varin gives some warning. This shot was on their brochure (but not website) - that's the bathroom behind the white concrete wall. Note good mirror - but not in bathroom which makes shaving a hassle. Big king sized matress on right fills complete area to front wall - these are not big bungalows.
Our squeezy standard aircon bungalow at Varin. Fan cottages seem identical apart from no compressor cranking thru the night.
So value - at 1300 shoulder season and 1500 high season including brekka you have to be kidding . Our great room at COOKIES on Phangan with fabulous beach views, hot water, TV, heaps of space and a lovely pool was cheaper at 1200 this past August, high season on that side of the peninsula. But this is a feature of Lipe - like Phi Phi, you pay considerably more than at most islands for accommodation.
Newest rooms at Varin were what they call their garden rooms in a big U shaped block - 64 units in total. Looked similar inside to nice western motel rooms. Asking 2100 high season.
SANOM BEACH
A newer place, Sanom Beach Resort, which looks trad budget in style, has been built on a small cove behind the western headland of Pattaya Beach, accessed by a bamboo and timber walkway along the rocks from the corner of the beach below Pattaya Song. You have to rock-hop the first 14m before reaching the walkway. This is a really nice little beach. Prices are in keeping with Lipe - 800 for a fan with bathroom early Dec09.
SUNSET BEACH
- is in the north-west of the island, reached by taking the track to the left side (facing inland) of Daya Restaurant near Pattaya Song and walking moderate slopes past a few locals' houses then after 5 minutes turning right at the top of the small hill and following the PORN signs for another 5 minutes. This is a smaller, much quieter beach with 2 accomm places, PORN and FISHERIES DEPT BUNGALOWS.
Now Sunset Beach and Porn have a good rep in the guide books and I had a great stay there in the first part of my 99 visit (in one of their overflow tents!), but this year things had deteriorated from then and from my pass-by last year. For a start they must have had a hard wet season because the beach was heavily eroded. Plus it was not all that clean - it had obviously been cleared up at the start of dry season but maybe only once because there was a lot of flotsam and jetsam at back of the beach. And for some reason the water was not as clear as previous visits. I was also disappointed to see some broken bottles exposed by erosion on one of the entry paths and a heap of paint tins and an old toilet bowl piled up behind some bungalows. Maybe Porn is relaxing behind its good publicity - and maybe things will be a lot better by high season. By the way, beaches which have lost bulk sand by storm erosion can recover in a matter of weeks given fine weather, so I wouldn't worry about this factor if I had already booked for Christmas/New Year.
Wet season storm wave erosion on Sunset Beach in early Dec 09 - if you look carefully you can see the wave swash in the background in this high tide shot - the beach is pretty narrow. But the shot above this was taken a few days later at full low tide, so early Dec visitors still had a fair stretch of sand a lot of the time. See my comments about glass on the beach in the RUBBISH section down page.
Porn's front row fan with bathroom bungalows were going for 600 this shoulder season with second rowers 400 - expensive but cheaper than many on Pattaya Beach. The restaurant has okay food at slightly higher than average Lipe prices. Service is a bit dour.
Nice outlook from Porn's restaurant - that is Adang nearest and Rawi behind - both National Park islands.
FISHERIES DEPT is only abt 100m further north-east, with a similar restaurant and a reputation for the cheapest seafront accommodation on the island in high season in what seems to be rooms in concrete blocks rather than bungalows. However this year (09) they were not yet open in early December. The restaurant looked to have been refurbished since 08.
Just inland from PORN/FISHERIES (take the walkway in from SUBAYE SPORTS (diving)) is FLOUR POWER BAKERY with some yummy pastries, good normal meals and great shakes etc. Prices are not budget-bungalow cheap, but the stuff is real nice.
Follow the walkway less than 5 minutes inland to reach JACK'S JUNGLE - which has nice bungalows and gets good reports for food and for good times at the Jungle Bar.
A tezza shot Nov 08 - Porn's bungalows and restaurant are behind the trees to the right, but have good sea-views. There was major constuction work** going on at Fisheries Dept at the far end which made the beach less pristine than I remember it - but it still doesn't look too bad at all. I had a real nice swim and some sun-time.
**actually I found out this latest visit that the Thai Princess has had a big beach house built on the headland ridge north-west of Fisheries with great views of Adang and Rawi - there's also a line of nice looking chalets presumably for her buddies built on a small cove the other side of the headland.
BILA BEACH
This nice little beach is about 200m west of Sunset Beach. There has been a beach bar here for years but I was delighted this last visit to find the owners had refurbished it and built a handful of nice traditional bungalows plus A DORM. Bila Beach is reached by turning left at the same point you turn right for Porn. Well signposted - walk another 3 minutes.
New fan/bathroom bungalows at Bila Bar and Resort built on the slope above the beach. That's ex-New Yorker co-owner Emily cleaning on the verandah. Those 4 doors open to a bigger than normal bungalow with similarly big bathroom behind. The dorm is similar - has 2 double bunks with thick king sized single matresses Emily told me she had to order specially.
Dorms 300, normal bungalows around 700.
ANDAMAN BEACH - aka SUNRISE BEACH
Andaman Beach (Sunrise Beach) south - part of fishing village right, hillside bungalows of Viewpoint, far left (image Castaway Resort) - the northern third is out of frame to the right but can be seen in the shot below.
Andaman is the long beach which takes up most of the eastern side of the island. The section in the middle is dominated by the fishing village and is crowded with long tails, fishing traps etc and is the least attractive section, but as you head north it gets real nice. There are about 4 resorts in this direction. ANDAMAN RESORT is the northern most one and has a huge range of bungalows.
The nicest section of beach on the island IMHO is right at the northern tip of the east coast where Andaman beach wraps around and turns west to form a lovely white sand spit which extends outwards a short distance towards Ko Adang.
The northern end of Andaman is nicest - Andaman Resort's restaurant is to the left as are the more expensive bungalows. The traditional fan jobs are under those casuarina trees further from camera. The beach turns hard left towards Mountain Resort at the end - that is mountainous Ko Adang you can see background right.
MOUNTAIN RESORT is situated at the top of a low cliff overlooking this wrap around section at the north end of Andaman beach, and has a rep for being one the most attractive accommodation paces on the island.
I've always wanted to stay here and with The Lady seeking comfort, we went for this in the first half of the latest trip.
Approaching Mountain Resort in our longtail. Guys run down and pick up your luggage. Great clifftop restaurant to right. Clifftop and beachlevel bungalows are most expensive, other bungalows are ranged up hillside in the trees behind. Beachlevel building closest the stairway is the famous Karma Bar - no longer called that and under new management.
There is another stairway up from the beach out of frame to left.
The restaurant serves up pretty good food at prices maybe 20% up on budget bungalow average.
Inclusive buffet breakfasts were pretty good, but tended to cool pretty quickly if the heating flames below the dishes blew out in the wind.
Wind was a problem on 2 of our 4 days - the infamous dry season north-easterlies kicked in strongly, so much so that conditions actually became unpleasant in the restaurant. I have spent a fair time in the Andaman and but mostly on sheltered beaches - exposed beaches are fewer but of the 20 odd days I've spent on such beaches only these 2 were windy enough to be unpleasant. However this is something I'm going to study up on more fully - good od WindGuru should be a help.
The nearest alternative restaurant to Mountain is Andaman Resort's, maybe 10 minutes away on the beach. You can keep walking past Andaman Resort and reach the start of the cross island WALKING STREET in about another 10 - plenty of good value restaurants here.
You can walk out the back of Andaman and take a more direct inland route to WALKING STREET and maybe save 5 minutes - you'll need a torch at night. And by turning right when walking out the back you can reach Sunrise Beach in around 10-15 minutes.
This is Chez Tezza at Mountain, the cheapest aircon bungalow at 1400 shoulder - 1600 high including brekka. Note cold water - but some of Mountain's fan bungalows have hot water - go figure. Pay more and you can get a much nicer newer bigger aircon bungalow with hot water, TV etc.
The cheapest aircon bungalows were situated in the 3rd and higher rows away from the cliffside - most were staggered to give some glimpses of the sea and neighbouring Ko Adang.
The bungalows were not too bad - in good condition, normal flashpacker inclusions like towels, soap etc, big enough for two plus gear - a third guest would be a bit squeezy but possible.
I thought the biggest letdown was the lack of paths - the heavily erosion from wet season had left lots of exposed roots, gulleys, even a few water pipes and even though lighting of the grounds at night is not too bad, the shadows of the holes and gullies make visibility difficult and at one stage Lady Tezza tripped and fell. Not good enough for 1400-1600. Note the newer area on the western side of the restaurant had good paths.
Quite a few of the fan bungalows have prime position in the second row where island sea views are less interrupted.
Panoramic shot from Mountain Resort's restaurant - Ko Adang in background. That's the northern most section of Andaman beach forming a spit on the right - Andaman Resort has bungalows very close to the beach there (images Mountain Resort )
Same section of beach from the restaurant in earlier years.
Below is a late November 09 shot of Mountain's beach - spot the difference.
Indications of a tough wet season - the recurved end of the spit has been washed away. It's hard to see in this shot but the water closest to the restaurant had a plume. This is not unusual on resort beaches, waste water is often not fully filtered by the holding tanks and sand - Bila had a small one, Sunshine seemed particularly bad this year, parts of the main part of Andaman were a bit suss. Interestingly busiest Pattaya was pristine.
Anyway, I did all my swimming at Mountain towards the end of the spit were the water was very nice. There are some interesting lumps of coral off-shore.
UPDATE - LATEST SHOT
Steve Manklow sent this shot taken in February 2010 - 2 months after my shot above this one. Note how the recurved end of the spit has regrown. Doesn't take long.
Steve also gave this info on Mountain Resort: Just got back from Lipe and can report that the sand bar is back on Mountain resort beach.
We had a front row hut @ mountain view, very nice view but resort was lacking in many areas (service, food, breakfast, house keeping, staff mood) however i knew this to be the case before booking and the view more than made up for it.
The island has certainly changed since our last visit in 2003 but it remains a nice place to visit.
ANDAMAN RESORT
If you check the far right of the my shot above Steve's you can see what looks to be two people standing near the grass-trees (if you click-expand the shot you will see it is actually a sign - for Andaman resort). In the trees just to the right of the sign are the the most northerly of Andaman Resort's bungalows which stretch through the trees and around the corner of the beach for maybe 400m to the restaurant area. I've always reckoned the most northerly bungalows have a fabulous postion actually fronting Mountain's beach - and always seem largely vacant in shoulder season, but when I came back from Adang in Nov08 heavy rain had created a small lake in front of them, so I took a similar bungalow much closer to the restaurant. The beach around the corner there aint that shabby either.
I always hit a new place when I revisit and was determined that trip to try Andaman Resort with its great position, despite bad reviews in the various forums. Um 500 for a not-too-flash trad fan bungalow in the back (3rd) row in shoulder season 08. And world-champ haggler tezza can’t reduce this a baht. This is immediately on crossing from Adang where I had a gorgeous, huge almost brand new tile-floor and concrete fan bungalow with skylight, dormer windows, tinted sliding doors and fabulous views for 600.
BTW - apart from the exxy bungalows, Andaman Resort wasn’t too bad at all. Maybe I’m easily pleased. I'll do a report on travelfish with a link when I get a chance.
This is a front-rower at Andaman Resort, identical in all other ways to my back-rower. Basically just a traditional bamboo thatch walled fan job with a bathroom and verandah - 600b in late Nov shoulder - 700 come Dec. Nice position - the beach out front is one of the better on Lipe and there are nice views across to Adang which you can see in the background - and to Tarutao and Langkawi if you are a bit further south around the curve of the beach. A fair few longtails during the day (but nowhere near as painful as on Pattaya Beach) but I noticed it was pretty peaceful at night.
It aint as dingy under the trees as this shot appears - my elcheapo point-and-shoot Olympus can't handle contrast variations.
Andaman also has some attractive concrete beachfront bungalows close to the restaurant which look to be aircon.
I can't remember the restaurant being anything special food and price wise and this was confirmed this latest 09 trip when we walked around from Mountain for dinner.
Between the Andaman Resort and the fishing village is the smaller LIPE BEACH RESORT (traditional style budget bungalows) and the school. The beach outside the fishing village is pretty messy with lots of rubbish, broken glass, boat mooring ropes etc - at least they have cleared away the old broken boat motors etc.
The section of Andaman Beach south of the fishing village improves, although it can be a bit shallow along here at lowest tide. There are about another half dozen bungalow places along here, inluding the huge TARUTAO CABANA, the new VARIN VILLAGE aka Varin 2 (run by the same named outfit on Pattaya), the attractive upmarket CASTAWAY and the way upmarket and new IDYLLLIC towards the southern end. Some of the dive companies have bungalows adjacent or just inland from the beach.
Castaways Resort, south of the fishing village on Andaman. I've never seen a place attract so many conflicting reports on travel forums, and a look at its website shows it aint exactly budget. But those 2 storey bungalows look pretty cool to me. The beach here aint great or bad, but Viewpoint's good beach is less than 5 minutes further south and the nice end of Andaman at Andaman Resort/Mountain Resort is 10 minutes north.
Varin Village or Varin 2 - not finished in Nov 08 but quite popular in Nov 09 - nice Brit girl told me fan with bathroom front rower was costing her 800. There are about 6 rows x 12 bungalows here and the beach is pretty nice in front.
VIEWPOINT BUNGALOWS’ TWO LITTLE BEACHES
These are just south of Andaman beach in those small twin bays are very nice, particularly the further, most southerly one. Back in 99 there was no resort here or on the southern half of Andaman, yet it was still popular with travelers. Note at low tide it can get real shallow, particularly in the northern bay where the coral was exposed right across to the small forested islet about 150m offshore (in a month’s lowest (no moon) tide). The same conditions in the southern bay saw okay swimming in the sandy sections between coral outcrops and wading possible right out to the reef drop-off. Snorkeling was good along the drop-off at all tides and fairly interesting closer to the beach at higher tide levels.
Note there was a slight tidal current moving thru this area at higher tide levels - I found it easy to swim against but parents should keep an eye on kids. The same current moves along the reef drop-off at low tide.
Viewpont's southern beach.
WALKING AROUND THE SOUTH EAST CORNER TO PATTAYA
DON’T!
I saw a few people walking on past VIEWPOINT’S bays at low tide in an attempt to get around to Pattaya Beach. I saw them walking back. It is very difficult and dangerous. I did it in 99 - it took me about 90 minutes (I had figured 10), there are several cliffs which you must climb up or down, and on one my hand-hold broke off (weathered rock - d'oh, what a surprise with all that salt air about!) and I nearly fell and broke my neck.
The best way is to go back to Andaman and use that daggy track (packed with restaurants, ticket sellers, “supermarkets”, tattoo bars, trinket sellers, t-shirt vendors and the famous POH‘S) between the fishing village and Pattaya.
You can also climb the steep stairs thru VIEWPOINT - at the top the track drops thu the jungle, goes past a few local residential areas and comes out near Poh’s, but this aint really any shorter. Nice walk though and you see my bungalow, 2nd highest at VIEWPOINT - totally cool.
Avert your eyes if the long term French girl resident of the highest bungalow is walking around her veranda naked. I was shocked at this affront to Thai cultural standards - but I didn’t say anything, partly because I didn’t want to embarrass her. But mainly because she had a totally hot body.
EXCURSIONS
I didn’t worry this time, but in 99 I took one of the snorkeling trips offered by Porn Bungalows to the surrounding area. This took a half day and we first snorkeled a reef mid way between Lipe and Ko Rawi, and then did fringing reefs on both Rawi and Ko Adang. The coral and fish life were pretty good by Thai standards.
Lipe has a number of dive operators and there are many dive sites in the surrounding area.
It's dead easy to grab a longtail at 50b per person and spend time on Adang's lovely beach. There is a great scenic lookout which only takes 30 minutes to access and a less than whelming waterfall after an hour or so's nice rainforest walk which turns into a circus river rock hop the last 300m. See my Adang page.
FOOD
I'm not a gourmet. Being a budget traveller, if it's cheap, fills me and tastes okay, I'm happy. But for food lovers Sbruny provided this in February 09- "Koh Lipe is limited for excellent food. The best thai is at the Jungle Bar in the middle of the island. For seafood try the sea gypsy place on Pattaya beach. For nice view with meal the Mountain Resort can't be beat. For tasty fried chicken try the muslim ladies behind the local school early in the morning. Overall, I would say the food on Koh Lipe very average compared to the rest of Thailand. However, the island and surrounding are spectacular."
I'll add that several users have reported Pattaya Song's restaurant does great Italian food - The Lady and I shared a pizza this trip and it seemed pretty good to me.
RUBBISH PROBLEMS ON LIPE
Lipe gets bad press from some visitors for high amounts of trash on beaches, around building sites and dumped beside hinterland tracks and the fishing village outskirts.
Early dry season beach junk on north end of Andaman (Sunrise) Beach (image WEBME - click the link for other similar shots)
Bigger image from THEMANZOMANDISTARSQUADRON - still Andaman Beach.
Beach rubbish is largely a seasonal thing.
Most of it is Thai domestic rubbish + rainforest debris carried to the ocean by flooding wet-season streams + an amazing amount of fishing boat detritus. A lot of this stuff gets moved considerable distances by currents and wind and dumped on Lipe.
In dry season less rubbish gets washed and blown onshore - and a greater proportion is fishing junk. In this season most bungalows are pretty conscientious in cleaning beaches each morning. Few places are open in wet season, so things are let go. If you happen to arrive very early in dry season before locals get around to clearing the build-up, then WEBME's pix is the result. My Andaman beach shot up page (the one with the speedboat in midground) was taken 2 weeks after WEBME's - a pretty big contrast.
Beach dump of cement bags early dry season (image WEBME)
Many people get upset about unsightly building activity. Islandboi has some good building shots here.
Wet season and early dry season sees frantic building activity to finish projects for high season - so unsightly dumps of building materials and building sites are not uncommon at these times. CHANCHAO has pointed out that you can't get somewhere to sleep and have a meal if no building takes place. Hardliners say there is already too much development and the answer is to avoid the island.
Note I saw much less than normal building activity this latest trip - virtually nothing on the beaches and the new shop-fronts had been completed on the cross island track (and don't they look so much better than the messy old collection of ramshackle joints used to be there). Most new building was taking place on the side roads away from the main track - the business area is expanding laterally.
Environmentally aware travellers can get depressed by the amount of domestic and bungalow/restaurant trash dumped alongside tracks in the hinterland, on the outskirts of the village and even behind certain bungalows. This is not a seasonal problem - it's 365/12, but seemed less evident in the latest O9 trip.
Like many islands, Lipe has no organised rubbish collection and disposal - it is left to resorts and households to cart their stuff to the dump. And unfortunately some Thais are pretty lazy when disposing of household and tourist generated trash.
Possible answers are environmental education, less laxity, more money and resources (Lipe is part of Satun local government area) and an effort by tourists themselves to cut down on trash generating activities. Suggestions include a national park type visitor quota system - difficult to implement for an island which is not administered by the National Park.
Hardline environmentalists urge travellers to avoid the island. Your call. Note that dumped rubbish is common in SE Asia - maybe sensitive travellers should avoid the area as a whole. I'm so used to it I didn't find Lipe anything out of the ordinary - but certainly if you have just arrived from Lanta, Phuket, Langkawi or other islands where trash collection in most areas is better organised, you could think Lipe looks messy in comparison.
PROGRESS
The promised rubbish removal service by the Satun provincial government has started. This large barge was beached in the centre of Pattaya near Leepae Resort and a shuttle of trucks was transferring both domestic rubbish and building material cast-offs from the central island tip. The same "Lipe is a rubbish dump" will probably now moan about visual and olfactory pollution to the beach.
The barge was loading for a good 5 hours. Later in our trip a smaller boat was receiving the same cargo.
Rubbish bins like these on the cross island WALKING STREET were set up in several parts of the island - if you click to enlarge you can see they cater for the usual general, organic and recycle waste.
The village itself seems a lot neater. I think this is largely the result of concrete paving of a few of the cross streets leading off the cross island track - formerly these were dusty wayfares which turned to mud (or pools where the drainage was poor).
REGRESSION
The beach at the village had gone downhill since 08. A storm surge coupled with a king tide (as occured in October 09) would wash most of this junk into the sea, including the bottles and thus future broken glass.
BROKEN GLASS
Lady Tezza's underpriviliged childhood has made her world champion at finding stuff on the ground - I once saw her scoop up a heap of coins in shin-high grass on a dark night - and the amount of glass she and I managed to collect was amazing. On Sunset Beach we loaded a washed up 10 litre plastic bag (Malaysian in source) half-way with with the stuff and had several unbroken bottles separate. It was worse on the scaggy low tide only beach behind the Thai Princess' hangers-on chalets (I bet the royal dogsbodies do a big clean-up of both this and Sunset before each of her visits). Disappointingly the beach at Mountain yielded quite a supply. But Andaman Beach was worst - we had to make several unloads at bins in resorts as we moved down the beach - with the village area worst of all. The best? Maligned Pattaya - in several full length walks I managed to find only a few pieces of glass and no bottles.
The sources of most of this glass are Thai fishermen who throw their Red Bull and beer bottles overboard and lazy Thai villagers who chuck bottles onto the beach or dump them above the normal non-storm tide mark - the bottles smash on seaside rocks (wind + currents + wave swash and the long-shore drift will get them there) and then beach drifting/wave swash will distribute the broken glass onto the beach. BtW if you are picking up, include those sand-rounded bits - we later met a Swedish girl who stepped on one of these which then broke and cut her.
Eradicating these practices is the best solution - in the mean time, resort owners have to RAKE the beach each morning to sift out the glass and other rubbish. Note glass was a small problem on nearby Bulon Lae and Langkawi where resorts and other beach businesses do this.
Now I wonder if my visit to Lipe was too early for many of the resorts to start this sifting - I can't believe places like Mountain and Porn will want visitor complaints and injury when things get really busy. They should be doing this right from the start of the season - it was obvious many Pattaya places were. I wonder too, if I'm lucky - I've wandered the beaches/waded in the water for 4 visits bare-footed and never cut myself. I've never noticed much glass - but then I wouldn't notice Paris Hilton sunbathing naked on the sand unless I tripped over her.
Maybe peak season visitors could post in and comment on the glass situation.
Broken beer bottle found immediately on hitting the Princess' back beach - interestingly I have it sitting on the supports for the water pipeline which comes onshore here from nearby Ko Adang waterfall. Lipe has few permanent streams - I know of none in the settled eastern half of the island.
Water pipeline from Adang. Some of you cynics might think it is a sewage pipe, but trust me, it is well away from the Princess' joint, there are no other resorts in line and it is pointing directly at the waterfall area on Adang's southern slopes. I have hiked up to the falls - there are 3 similar pipes to a small pondage area a bit higher than the falls.
OVERBUILDING
People returning to Lipe after some time get a shock at the amount of new places. It seems most obvious beach places have been taken - but I reckon we will start to see more joints on sea-side rocks, headlands like Tao, Phangan etc.
The other process we will see is more of the knock down the cheap joint and build a flasher place - like at Sita on western Pattaya and of course expand and redevelop the joint as Varin has so successfully done on its Pattaya site.
Even the most anti-development traveller will welcome some of the new building such as the paving of the cross-island WALKING STREET and the neater shop-fronts along it plus the concreting of some of the formerly dire village streets that intesect it.
The new paved track - about time! The biggest negative on Lipe eliminated IMHO. Note this is a late 08 shot when the paving was only a few months old - one year later it was considerably sandier and dustier in parts. Still a huge improvement on the daggy mess before.
Some good businesses and restaurants along here - plus some of the cheapest rooms on the island. A Norwegian guy we met on the Langkawi speedboat told us he got a room for 250 - and long time travellers' favourite Pooh's has always had rooms cheaper than a similar standard on the beach plus a rep for a good range of services.
In the past it's been hard to pick the relatively narrow gap where the track starts on Andaman from similar sized Bungalow entrances, but they now have a big overhead banner sign: WALKING STREET - so named because the busiest section is blocked off to motorcycles in the evening.
The track doesn' t quite reach the beach at Andaman/Sunrise - but it's a short distance through the new Varin Village to the beach. There is an access lane to the north side of Varin2 but this looks like part of a resort too (I don't think it is).
HIGH PRICES
I have already indicated that high bungalow prices are a feature of Lipe. It is doing a Phi Phi in this respect. Prices to me seem 20 to 50% higher than you would pay on many popular islands. 800 and 900 for a fan bungalow with bathroom is outrageous compared to similar places on say Phangan or big Chang, and particularly to the good value islands like little Chang, Phayam, Jum. But I'm a great believer in the market - if people are prepared to pay these prices they can't be wrong, can they. And I keep going back and paying them don't I?
OVERCROWDING
All my visits were in November/early December and March, hardly high season. Things were very uncrowded with popular resorts seeming to be running around 30% -many others less. In late Nov08 my favourite budget joint VIEWPOINT had no guests! I was pleased for the owner that a few of his great hillside bungalows were occupied this latest trip.
I did get a taste of more busy periods this trip because the King's Birthday Holiday Weekend coincided with 2 of our days on the island and Lipe is real popular with Thai locals. I'd say Varin was running 70%. However Pattaya Beach was uncrowded people wise, but as I said before there was a bunch of extra boats.
Despite this I have seen posts saying Peak-Peak at end of Dec into January has been VERY busy these last few years with unbooked poeple sometimes not finding a bed. Note Christmas is not a big deal with Thai holidayers, but New Year is.
SO SHOULD YOU AVOID LIPE?
No way in my opinion unless you are actively environmentally-sensitive.
For people who don't like messy beaches, maybe you should avoid really early dry season (say up til the second week of Dec) until the beaches are likely to have been cleared. And wet season of course. I'm hoping the glass will be better cleared later in the dry season - keep an eye out for it.
Repeat visitors who remember Pattaya as two thirds unbuilt with a bunch of small dunes backing the beach in the eastern half may prefer to stay somewhere else - on Viewpoint’s beaches, Sunset Beach, Bila Beach or the little beach over the headland from Pattaya Song where Sanom Beach Resort has been built. However I found this trip Pattaya to be the most pristine of all - followed by Bila and Sanom. The top end of Andaman around Mountain and Andaman Resorts is nice but is busier boat-wise. Viewpoint's most southern beach is nice.
Or in future stay on Adang and cross to Lipe for daytrips. The boaties were charging 50baht per person (and they don‘t wait for a full boat, often I was the only passenger, then normally it becomes 100baht) - a rate that is a flat fee per person all around Lipe. Makes those guys at Ao Nang look like the thieves they are.
GETTING THERE
In high season you can get ferries and speedboats from a number of operators out of PAK BARA about midway between Trang and Satun. Note these also call in at Taruatao or Bulon Lae (new this year - speedboats only).
They sure do pack them in - there were another 4 people closer to me in this undercover section. I had to stand on this Nov 08 Taruatao to Lipe trip, but I didn't mind - if the sea is bumpy it can be hard on the bum. The bow section was packed too - I counted 11 passengers out there. The slower ferry trip is real pleasant and way cheaper if you have the time.
The SPD speedboat from KO LANTA which will also pick up at Kos Muk, Ngai and Bulon Lae.
- a speedboat directly from LANGKAWI - emigration at the Telaga Harbour office - immigration at one of the SPB office which is next to Bundhaya resort on eastern Pattaya Beach. We used this one on our latest trip - it seemed to be a joint effort between Telaga Shuttle and SPB Speedboat using the latter's boats. In early Dec 09 there were 2 services per day and we found if you don't book well ahead they may be booked out.**
- Tigerline ferries which now runs from PHI PHI/LANTA to Lipe and on to Langkawi - stopping at several islands and the mainland pier at Hat Yao south of Trang on the way down. Tigerline also has a minibus service from Phuket, Surathani, Krabi/Ao Nang and Khao Lak to connect with its ferries. Note that in early Dec 09 Tigerline was not running to Langkawi although it had started services from Phi Phi via several other islands including for the first time Ko Kradan.
I have details of how to get to the Hat Yao pier at Ban Chao Mai independently on my Libong page, although Tigerline's minibus will transfer you from Trang railway station and airport.
For the budget conscious costs increase significantly in order of Pak Bara, Satun, Langkawi and Lanta.
Note that there is no pier at Lipe. Most boats stop offshore and people are ferried to the beach by longtails - 50 baht. There is often a longtail from Ko Adang to meet boats and any longtail meeting the ferry will take you over to Adang for 50 baht per person - and anywhere around Lipe island for the same - this is a really good service. The flat 50 baht per person applies to any trip around Lipe off the beach too.
Some ferries and speedboats pull into a pontoon off Pattaya Beach - or a pontoon not too far off Porn at Sunset Beach (I think this may be weather dependent) and a lot of ferries moor a bit further east between Lipe and Adang. The longtails distribute their passengers from these places.
Note too the fast ferry from the Thammalang pier about 10km south of SATUN (which is also where the ferries from Malaysia’s Langkawi island come in) hasn't run for years. I think the new boats direct from Langkawi may have killed this service.
**If the direct speedboat is booked out and you have to use the 4 a day Langkawi - Thammalang ferries it will take you maybe 90 minutes to reach Pak Bara from Thammalang . Cheapest is a motorcycle taxi or songthaew the 10km or so to Satun and then a regular bus or songthaew to La Ngu and then a motorcycle taxi or songthaew across to Pak Bara.
FERRY TIMETABLE - very good, tends to have all of the services and is kept pretty well up to date.
GETTING TO PAK BARA.
From Hat Yai - minibuses run roughly hourly from the new central minibus station to the pier area - abt 2 hours. You can also get a bus from the bus station but this will be slower.
From Trang - the travel agents in the street parallel to the railway station run minibuses down to the pier (abt 2 hours) and will provide you with a bus/ferry ticket. They can book bungalows - I find them very efficient. Apparently reps meet flights at the airport and shuttle people down to the agencies to book and pick up a minibus.
If you want to do it independently catch a Satun bound bus, get off at La Ngu (Langu) and then get a motorcyle taxi or songthaew the 10km or so to Pak Bara.
ARRIVING BACK AT PAK BARA
Most people catch one of the travelers’ minivans from Pak Bara north to Trang whre you can change minivans for Lanta, Krabi etc on the one ticket. These vans often wait for later boats to come in, and so if you take early ones you could be sitting around in Pak Bara for 2-3 hours - Pak Bara is a real hole. Plenty of restaurants, cheap internet etc but hot, dusty, full of travel touts etc. Note the latter will come down in price for minivan and ferry tickets if you are a good bargainer.
If you are going to Hat Yai, minibuses leave hourly.
You can also get to Trang by catching a songthaew or motorcycle-taxi the 10km or so to La Ngu, where the Satun-Trang public buses come thru roughly hourly. Note these terminate in southern Trang about 2km from the center and 4km from the main bus station for buses further north.
WET SEASON TRANSPORT - for some time there was only one wet season ferry per week from Pak Bara to Lipe - Fridays at 1100 and back Sundays at 0930. There is also a cargo boat you could get a ride on - out Wed 1100, back Fri 1000.
However late in wet season 08 a daily ferry service from Pak Bara kicked in, plus a daily speedboat service. This got better in 09 - there was one speedboat service each way per day, weather permitting.
There were no services wet season 08 from Thammalang near Satun, Langkawi or Tigerline's island-hopper from Phi Phi. But the Langkawi speedboat seemed to be operating a lot of 09's wet season
Pak Bara services often begin in full early/mid November 08.
Tigerline's tends to start late November.
Speedboats seem to have taken over most of the transport to Lipe - in November 09 the only other alternative was one slower bigger ferry per day to from Pak Bara and Tigerline to Phi Phi via the Andaman isles. Maybe things will improve as the busier period kicks in.
This is our Langkawi speedboat. Note it reverses into Pattaya beach when the tide allows - all the other speedboat services moor alongside the pontoons where the longtails transfer passengers to the beaches. I think the authorities don' t want people from Langkawi shooting off on longtails before they do immigration.
BE CAREFUL ON SPEEDBOATS!
It's a good idea to waterproof baggage (I have a big 50+ liter thin plastic bin liner bag I chuck everything into and then stuff into my travel bag) - our identitcal boat to Bulon Lae hit such choppy seas that everything including me, crouched behind the elevated driver's chair for cover, got soaking wet. If you are susceptible to seasickness take some motion sickness tablets and look at the horizon.
DO NOT sit out the front if you are susceptible to back injury (a girl on our return journey to Langkawi hurt her back on a vicious bump hit at speed in lighter chop and had to be wheelchaired off to hospital on arrival).
USER REPORT FROM LATE DEC O7
JimmyK just filed this report about his Dec visit to Lipe:
"I had booked a week at Mountain Resort on the quieter side of the island at Sunrise Beach. It looked idyllic and I’d read some good reviews on here about the place. I wasn’t disappointed initially. The location was amazing with the huts perched on the edge of a small cliff face overlooking a beautiful beach and Koh Adang in the background. I splashed for the Deluxe Cabin, 2200 Baht a night, as I’m on holiday and with the missus and I have to make my life as easy as possible when she’s in tow. Ok, first the positives about Mountain Resort. It has a great location with beautiful views. The rooms are clean and well thought-out with hot water and satellite TV. And Karma bar is great, very chilled place for a drink or two in the evening.
One thing I had heard about this place was that it is owned by a big-shot Thai who is responsible for a lot of the development on Koh Lipe and the exclusion of the local Chao Ley people (please correct me if I’m wrong). However, I was quite impressed by the relative low-impact of the resort. It isn’t an eye-sore and there isn’t rubbish scattered everywhere. The beach is kept clean and there is an active recycling scheme in place, even down to having a water-bottle refilling station to reduce plastic waste. (Not any more - tezza) In contrast when I walked along the beach to the Chao Ley village, the beach in front of the village is strewn with litter left by the local people. Empty diesel canisters, metal battery parts etc.
Anyway, back to Mountain Resort and I’m afraid that’s where the positives end. The restaurant has great views but resembles a canteen with no atmosphere whatsoever. Also, the service is very very slow and not particularly friendly. Food and drink is expensive compared to resorts at Pattaya beach. The Thai food is average and the western food is awful, possibly the worst I’ve had in Thailand. And it doesn’t end there. From early in the morning, around 7am onwards the longtails create a hell of a lot of noise which can be heard from anywhere in the resort and sounds like you are sleeping next to the world’s loudest snorer. So, we only stayed 3 nights of the planned week and after visiting Pattaya beach for the day, decided to relocate there.
But before I go into that I will finish with Sunrise beach first, and particularly a new resort called Castaway.We had a couple of meals at Castaway Resort but didn’t stay there. It’s newly opened and seems to be run by an English guy. The accommodation looks really nice with large huts just set back from the beach. The restaurant area is also nicely designed with a raised area with hammocks and cushions. The food here is very good, both Thai and Western and the service is friendly and attentive. Castaway is only a short walk coming from Pattaya beach past Pooh’s bar, with the path coming out right at Castaways on the beach. Also, it’s worth noting that the snorkelling is excellent off the beach between the two small islands 100m in front of Castaway. Beware though of the current as this side of the island is especially windy and the sea can get choppy. Another cool thing to do is scramble across the rocks on the headland that connects Sunrise beach to Pattaya beach. It took us about 2 hours and it involves a bit of actual climbing with decent climbing shoes but it’s a good way to kill a few hours.
And so to Pattaya beach. I expected this beach to be busy being the main drag, and it seemed to be running at full occupancy when I checked out places but it was still pretty low-key. Kinda like Koh Chang’s White Sand Beach 8 years ago before it got bought up and trashed. Bundhaya Resort seems to be the biggy with most families staying here. Nice place though with good food and service and reasonably priced. We stayed at Varins in a regular AC villa for 1500 Baht. Loved it. One thing you really notice after staying on a quieter beach as part of a captive audience is service is so much better and the prices lower when there’s a bit of competition. The bay here can be busy with boats but go to either end by the rocks for calm safe water and good snorkelling.Walking inland towards the infamous Pooh’s bar you’ll pass small shops selling the usual tourist tack and offering massages, tattoos etc. There’s more being built and I’m sure in a few years it will resemble the alleys of Phi Phi. Pooh’s is apparently an institution and rightly so. The bar is full of atmosphere, with live music, pool table. The restaurant does great food and the service from Pooh himself and his staff is exceptional. Highly recommended.
Anyway, that’s it. Koh Lipe was great, still a quiet island, maybe not for long, and you might argue that reviews like mine will only make it worse, but there you go. It will happen eventually anyway, unless regulations are put in place."
Okay, another person's perpective is always good value - and it looks like Jimmy is a better appreciator of food than me. Longtail noise is the bane of many otherwise great Thai beach locations.
ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE
- Hans Meier has an entertaining account of Lipe HERE - he is very good on personalities, has some nice pix and I kinda got the impression he was less than gruntled about Pattaya Beach.
Taking it easy on Viewpoint's beach - note patches of coral in the water which make this
If you want to do a trip report on Lipe or any other beach or island pleases send text and/or pix and captions to lajolla22@hotmail.com.
If you have extra info or see mistakes please post them below.
If you have any questions, please ask them in rather than below. I don't get a chance to check all threads daily, but unless I'm travelling I'll try to monitor THE FORUM regularly.
