Kayaking in Krabi: Ao Thalane or Klong Root?

Krabi has 96 kayaking offers on our inventory, and almost all of them go to one of two places. Getting the choice right matters more than getting the operator right, because the two places have nothing in common except the boat.

Ao Thalane: mangroves, cliffs and a cave

Ao Thalane is a tidal bay north-east of Ao Nang, hemmed in by limestone walls and filled with mangrove channels. You paddle in salt water, mostly in shade, between cliffs that come straight out of the water. Most routes stop at Crocodile Cave – named for a rock formation, not for its residents.

This is the quieter half of Krabi. There are no beaches, no bars and very little noise; the usual sounds are kingfishers, herons and the occasional splash from a troop of crab-eating macaques in the branches. Operators also promise “iguanas”. What you actually see is the Asian water monitor, a large lizard that swims well and is entirely harmless from a kayak. Iguanas live on the other side of the planet.

The benchmark trip is the Kayak Adventure through Ao Thalane Mangrove Forest: 4.5 hours, from €28.39, 4.6 stars from 2,332 reviews, with hotel pick-up, guide, lunch and all the gear. The Half-Day Kayak Adventure at Ao Thalane runs the same 4.5 hours for less, from €22.08 with 1,089 reviews, and it includes the entrance fee.

Read the pick-up line on that second one before you book. Hotel transfer is included from Ao Nang. From Krabi Town or the Klong Muang and Nong Thale areas it costs 200 THB per person extra, and from Tubkaek 250 THB. That is the kind of detail that turns the cheaper listing into the dearer one, and it is stated plainly on the page.

There is also an Ao Thalane trip with pick-up from €20.97 with 538 reviews, if price is the deciding factor.

Klong Root: freshwater, clear, and you can swim

Klong Root is something else entirely: an inland lake fed by springs, so clear that you watch fish under the boat. It is sometimes sold as the Crystal Lake or Crystal Lagoon.

The Klong Root kayaking tour runs from €22.58 with 464 reviews and is listed at 2.5 hours. Door to door it is longer than that: the listing gives the morning session as 8:30 am to 12:00 pm and the afternoon as 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, and those windows include the drive each way. Even so, it is a half-day rather than a whole one, which is the single biggest argument for it: it fits into a day that also contains a beach.

You can get out and swim, which you cannot really do at Ao Thalane. The water is fresh, cool and still. Some departures include a stop at a pineapple field on the way, and the listing says honestly that this depends on the season and disappears once the crop is harvested.

Pick-up covers Ao Nang, Ao Nam Mao, Krabi Town and the Klong Muang area. It does not cover Railay or Tubkaek – and Railay has no road, so if you are staying there this trip means a boat to the mainland first.

Which one for children

Klong Root, in most cases. Two and a half hours is a length a six-year-old can manage, the water is calm and swimmable, and life jackets in children’s sizes are part of the kit. The listing excludes children under 2, pregnant travellers and people with mobility impairments.

Ao Thalane is saltier and more exposed, and both of its listings run 4.5 hours door to door. The half-day listing excludes pregnant travellers and people with back problems – a shared tri-yak seat and a morning on the water are not a gentle combination for a bad back. The mangrove trip excludes children under 2 and pregnant travellers, and anyone over 60. That last one catches more readers out than any other limit on this page, and it is stated on the listing rather than buried.

None of these are our rules; they are the operators’ own, and they differ from listing to listing. Check the one you are buying.

Which one if you only do one

If you have already done an island day and want something that does not look like it, take Ao Thalane. The mangrove channels and the cliff walls are the part of Krabi that no boat tour shows you, and four and a half hours is enough for it to feel like a place rather than a stop.

If your days are full and you want a good two hours rather than a whole morning, take Klong Root. It is also the better answer when the sea is rough, because it is not the sea.

And if you want the sea caves and the lagoon at Ko Hong instead, that is kayaking too – but it is bought as an island day with paddling attached, usually as an optional extra with its own fee, rather than as a kayak trip.

Practical things worth knowing

Go in the morning. Both places are cooler and emptier before 11:00 am, and on this coast the afternoon is when the weather turns.

You do not need to be able to paddle. Guides steer from the back of a two- or three-seat kayak on every one of these trips. What you need is the willingness to be in a boat for a few hours.

Take a dry bag anyway. Some listings include one, some do not. Phones go in it.

Wear something you can swim in. Even where swimming is not on the programme, you will be wet from the paddle, and there is no changing room in a mangrove.

The full range of paddling trips is on the kayak tours page, from €20.76. If your plans still have a boat day in them, the choice between the Four Islands and the Hong Islands is the next one to make.