3 Day Itinerary for Krabi, Thailand

Plenty of folks are satisfied to pass the days poolside sipping on cocktails and Krabi is the perfect place to do so, but I also like to explore. Here’s my itinerary from my three days at the Centara Grand Resort. But first, a montage with highlights from the resort, the night market, and island hopping.

DAY 1

We arrived late in the day so we spent the day settling in and recovering from our trans-Pacific flight. The resort hosted what they called a Thai Hawker Buffet. It was an abundant buffet of Thai specialties and perfect for tasting many dishes. The meal was accompanied by a culture show with traditional dances and a fire performer.

DAY 2

The breakfast at the Centara was a grand production. For more on that, see Eating Asia: Thai Edition. As absolute foodies, we took our time at the buffet each morning. We spent part of the day relaxing by the pool and discovered the local monkeys who steal unattended edibles. In the afternoon we trekked the Monkey Trail to town, browsed around downtown Ao Nang, ultimately reaching the Krabi Night Market. The market is alive with music, street food, and souvenirs. It was fun to walk through the stalls and browse all sorts of exotic delicacies. It’s a large market. We likely spent a few hours there. The mango was so incredible everywhere we went that we could never pass on mango with sticky rice. A popular souvenir were these soaps perfectly carved and painted into orchids, chrysanthemum, and lotus. We finished out the day with dinner at the generically named, Food Center, located next to the Ao Nang Holiday Inn. Like a food court, the eateries here served exquisite eats for cheap.

DAY 3

A popular activity for Krabi visitors is island hopping. There are many picturesque, uninhabited islands off the coast. We arranged a 3-hour, private tour with the hotel and boarded a long-tail boat to a couple of islands for exploring and snorkeling. It was nice to see some different sights. While our snorkeling wasn’t impressive at our first stop, we found a giant iguana and explored a cave. Each stop had something different to offer. Our last stop was Railay Beach which was a cool little town and the perfect stop for a beer and something to eat. We finished off the day back at the Food Center for dinner and Thai “fried” ice cream, illustrated in the video.