Thailand Guide
The east coast
Bang Bao
Almost at the end of the west-coast road, the southern harbour village of BANG BAO, much of it built on stilts off a central jetty, is the departure point for boat trips and transfers to the outer islands and is also an increasingly popular place to stay. Though it has no beach of its own, you're within a short motorbike ride of both undeveloped Hat Khlong Gloi, 2km to the east, and Lonely Beach, 5km up the coast. Accommodation is mostly in jetty homes and bungalows, often with surpassing bay views, and some pleasingly chilled bar-restaurants share the outlook. Bang Bao is however almost entirely given over to tourist facilities and vanloads of daytrippers clog the jetty village daily as they linger over the trinket shops, clothes stalls and dive shops. Seafood lunches are another attraction, most famously, at the long-running Chow Lay restaurant.