---
node: spot_krabi_railay_beach
type: spot
slug: railay_beach
destination: dest_krabi
title: "Railay Beach"
lead: "Railay is a peninsula cut off from the mainland by limestone cliffs, reachable only by longtail boat from Ao Nang or Krabi town. Those cliffs make it one of the world's best-known sport climbing areas."
published: 2026-08-12
updated: 2026-08-12
image_file: spot_krabi_railay_beach.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cliffs_(4442239275).jpg"
image_author: "Caitriana Nicholson from 北京 ~ Beijing, 中国 ~ China"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 2.0"
---

## Overview

There are four beaches: Railay West for the sand and the sunsets, Railay East which is mangrove and boat traffic, Phra Nang with its cave shrine of carved wooden phalluses left by fishermen for the sea spirit, and Tonsai, the climbers' beach. Around seven hundred bolted routes run up the walls, from beginner slabs to overhangs, and the climbing schools take people with no experience. There is no road, so everything arrives by boat.

## Highlights

Stay overnight if you can; the day boats leave by five and the peninsula empties. Phra Nang beach at the end of the path is the best of the four and has the shrine. Boats stop running in rough weather and will not take you back — build a day of slack into any onward travel.