The beaches of Thailand and Malaysia – where to dip your toes in the water before and during a Far East cruise!!

The islands and beaches of Malaysia and Thailand are varied, beautiful and exciting. I have travelled to a lot of places in the Far East and all around South East Asia but the best thing about some of the island below is that you can holiday in a beautiful resort with most of the comforts of home but still be within striking distance of amazing temples and wildlife.

Phuket

Patong is the main busy beach area in Phuket, its quite lively and fun and the beach isn’t bad but more like a city than a deserted white sandy beach that you see in brochures, if you want that then I think you can in theory get over to Ko Phi Phi for the day or even out to some of the outlying islands from Phuket. Otherwise Cape Panwa is a beautiful area and Ive been there a couple of times. There is some great snorkelling to be had off Phuket

Scenery near Cape Panwa Phuket

There might be some excursions that get you to the rainforest for example. Khao Sok national park is one that might be possible from Phuket port. Id recommend this if you wanted to see wildlife and do something more adventurous, I did a bit of kayaking, elephant riding and caving whilst I was here although I also stayed here overnight in a treehouse lodge and did some night walks in the national park proper!!                                               You can also head into Phuket town for some shopping and to have a look at the Portuguese architecture and history, nearby is also the Phuket Gibbon Sanctuary which is worth a visit.                                                                    Phuket is connected to the mainland by a causeway so getting over to the mainland is easy, Khao Lak is another resort area nearby as is Krabi…….

Cheow Lan Lake Khao Sok NP

Krabi

The best thing about Krabi is the scenery, the main beach at Ao Nang is just ok in my opinion compared to some at Phuket and around that area but you get much better beaches on the outlying islands and away from Ao Nang reachable by boat. That said it is still a beach that puts Bournemouth to shame! We went out on one of the many day trips to Chicken and Tub island where you can see fish in the shallow water and the snorkeling is fantastic. Like with Phuket, Ko Phi Phi is reachable on a day trip from here as are the delights of Khao Sok national park.

Koh Samui 

My personal favourite and somewhere we’ve holidayed twice at the Centara Villas resort in the south of the island. Not somewhere that is hugely regular on cruise itineraries, or pre stays but a great place to holiday and somewhere Id recommend prior to a cruise if an extra flight or two is tolerable! Amazing beaches, snorkeling and tons of water sport options are the norm here. The main beach is Chaweng but I personally like the northern beach at Bo Phut which has the great fishermans village walking street, which is a less commercial, relaxed atmosphere to Chaweng. There is also the beautiful big Buddha and temple nearby. In Chaweng itself all the trappings of a western beach resort are available along with Thai Boxing and water skiing from the beach!                      Ang Thong Marine park which featured in the film “The Beach” is just off the coast is a destination for a lot of day trips from Chaweng for snorkeling and diving, Samui is also a setting of point for Ko Pha Ngan and its famous full moon parties….

Penang

Not my favourite beach, as the main beaches at Batu Ferringhi and Tanjung Bungah are for me a bit polluted and nowhere near as unspoilt as some of the places above, which are also less developed and commercial. Penang also has a big shipping lane and port nearby so this is probably part of the cause. That said it is beach resort in its own right but the main attraction of the Penang area for me is Georgetown and its historical and foody delights. My personal favourite here is the readily available Assam laksas, mee goreng and some amazing indian food like at Sri Ananda Bhawan restaurant. Also worth a visit is the E&O hotel in Georgetown which is a bit like Raffles in miniature and a bit more private and less touristy! There are days worth of things to do and see in Penang like the Kek Lok Si temple, snake temple, Penang national park which has some beautiful walking trails and for shopping the Komtar tower is a massive mall.

Malaysian Borneo

I did both extremes travelling here, staying in the 5 star Shangri La resorts but then going up to Kinabalu national park and staying in essentially a shack whilst hitch hiking to get around Kinabalu national park and beyond. We went to the Australian War memorial at Ranau from here and also the Poring hot  springs. Its also in this area that in season you can see the biggest flower in the world the Rafflesia.

The beaches on the mainland around Kota Kinabalu are long and slightly wild so not the picture perfect Thai island beaches but from Kota Kinabalu the main town you can get out to the Abdul Tunkul Rahman islands which are part of a national marine park. The snorkelling here is amazing and as good for sealife as Ive seen anywhere, this could be done as a daytrip from a ship docking at KK or nearby. Kota Kinabalu isnt much of a place in all honesty and all the best things from here are either a boat or car ride away. The main draw in Borneo is the Orangutan sanctuary at Sepilok but you would have to fly all the way across to Sandakan to get to this unless you are lucky enough to get a cruise that calls there!!