---
node: spot_krabi_ao_nang
type: spot
slug: ao_nang
destination: dest_krabi
title: "Ao Nang"
lead: "Ao Nang is the main beach town of Krabi and the departure point for the longtail boats to Railay and the islands. It is a working base rather than a destination: the beach is average and everything else is the reason to be here."
published: 2026-08-12
updated: 2026-08-12
image_file: spot_krabi_ao_nang.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ao_Nang_beach_panorama_1.jpg"
image_author: "kallerna"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 3.0"
---

## Overview

The town is one road along the bay with a boat office at the end of it, and the fleet leaves from the beach itself — you wade to the boat. From here run the four-island tour, the crossing to Railay and the ferries to Phi Phi and Lanta. The 2004 tsunami reached the shopfronts and the town rebuilt with a warning tower that still tests monthly.

## Highlights

Buy boat tickets at the official office on the beach rather than from touts; the prices are posted and the boats are the same. Nopparat Thara beach, ten minutes north, is longer, quieter and where residents swim. Eat at the market end rather than the strip, where prices are set for people who arrived yesterday.