Where to watch the sunset in Krabi, and how to get back

You do not need a tour to see the sun go down in Krabi. Ao Nang and Railay West face west, and so do the beaches on the west coast of Koh Lanta: from any of them, on a clear evening, the sun sets over the sea. What decides the evening is the cloud, the season, and how you get home once it is dark, which happens fast this close to the equator.

Below: what time to expect it, the beaches, the boat days sold as sunset tours, the one viewpoint where people go for it, and what the monsoon and the tide change.

The short answer

For an easy evening, walk down to Ao Nang Beach in the late afternoon. For the cliffs, watch from Railay West, but sort out your boat back to Ao Nang first. If you want a sunset at sea as part of a long island day, one Phi Phi tour ends at Koh Poda with dinner. If you are sleeping on Phi Phi Don, the viewpoint above Ton Sai is where people go, and it is crowded at that hour.

Come in the dry season if the sunset matters to you, and do not plan a climb that brings you down a trail in the dark.

What time the sun goes down

Krabi is close to the equator, so the time changes little through the year, and darkness follows quickly. The useful light after sunset, what astronomers call civil twilight, lasts only about 20 minutes here. Twenty minutes after the sun has gone, you are walking, riding or boarding a boat in the dark, so have a torch, or your phone charged, before you sit down to watch.

The sun sets around 6pm in November, a little after in December, and at about a quarter to seven in July. The times below are calculated, not observed: we worked them out for Krabi Town, for the middle of each month, with the sunrise-sunset.org service and checked them against the NOAA solar formulas, which agree within a minute or two. They are rounded and approximate; check the exact time for your date in a weather app.

The beaches that face the sunset

Ao Nang. The town beach faces west, with limestone cliffs closing the view to the south. Late afternoon is the time for the light on the cliffs, and you need nothing but a place on the sand. At low tide the sea pulls back a long way, which changes the foreground from one evening to the next.

Railay West. The sandy, west-facing side of the Railay peninsula, between two walls of limestone. It is the classic sunset beach of the area, and it has no road. The shared longtails to Ao Nang run until about 6pm, leaving when they fill; after that, sources disagree on whether a shared boat still runs at a higher fare or only a whole boat to hire. If you sleep in Ao Nang, plan on the second case.

Nopparat Thara. Ao Nang's long neighbour, inside the national park. At low tide a sandbar runs out towards the islet offshore; it is a walk for the daytime, not for dusk. The tide comes back faster than it seems, so do not be out on the sand as the light goes.

Koh Lanta. The island's beaches line its west coast, Long Beach among them, so a sunset there is part of staying on Lanta rather than an evening trip from Ao Nang.

Getting back from Railay in the evening

Krabi beaches: the sunset and the boat back

Sunset from a boat

Two of the Phi Phi days we list are sold as sunset tours, and both are long: you leave in the morning and come back in the evening, after nine hours or more on the water.

Phi Phi at sunset, with plankton. About nine and a half hours. Most of the Phi Phi stops by day, then the sunset and a barbecue dinner at Koh Poda, one of the islands off Ao Nang, with plankton on the programme after dark. How much of either you get depends on the clouds and the night, and no operator can promise them.

Phi Phi and four islands at sunset, by catamaran. Nine to ten hours on a twin-hulled speed catamaran, sold as a sunset tour. The listing does not name its stops, so read the booking page closely before you pay.

Neither suits young children who tire early or anyone who gets seasick on a long day. In the rainy season the open-water crossing to Phi Phi is rougher, and the operator can cancel when the sea is up. If you only want the evening on the water, the plankton night swim leaves after dark: it is a night trip, not a sunset one.

Phi Phi with a sunset and dinner at Koh Poda

Phi Phi and four islands at sunset, by catamaran

From a height: the Phi Phi viewpoint

If you sleep on Phi Phi Don, the viewpoints above Ton Sai village are where people go for the sunset. Travel guides put the main one, Viewpoint 2, about 30 to 45 minutes up a stepped trail, and they agree that sunset is its busiest time, on a small platform. One guide prefers Viewpoint 3, further on, for the angle on the setting sun, and advises a torch for the way down. The fee is paid in cash on the trail.

The other high places are not sunset climbs. The Railay viewpoint trail, on ropes and mud, is not one to come down after dark. Dragon Crest has an early last entry, around 2pm by guides' accounts, and you should be down well before night. At the Tiger Cave Temple, guides suggest the late afternoon for the climb, but the closing time is not settled: do not count on watching the sun set from the top and walking down in the dark.

Krabi viewpoints, from the easiest to the hardest

The monsoon and the clouds

The sunset is a dry-season pleasure. From about May to October the southwest monsoon brings rain and cloud to this coast, and the official averages put the wettest months at October, September and August. January and February are the driest. A clear horizon is never certain, but the rain figures say where the odds are.

In the monsoon, keep the sunset as a bonus rather than the plan: an evening can clear, but a sunset boat day can also be cancelled by the harbour authority or the operator when the sea is rough, and you lose the whole day, not just the sunset.

The best time to visit Krabi, month by month

Krabi in the rainy season: what stays open

The tide and the way back

The tide changes the coast every day, at a different hour each day. At low tide the sea draws back from Ao Nang and you may wade out to a longtail; at Nopparat Thara the sandbar appears and then disappears. Look at a tide table for the evening you have in mind.

Then think about getting home before you think about the sunset. From Railay, agree your boat back before you settle on the sand. On the mainland, if you ride a scooter, do not plan to ride back after dark on a road you do not know.

Staying safe in Krabi: the sea, the roads, the scams