We rented a car during our last 2 days in Krabi. By driving, we got more flexibility and ability to explore every place that we wanted to explore in Krabi. We enjoyed our drive along Ao Nang beach area and the drive Krabi town. Unfortunately, during our last two days in Krabi, it was raining every day. Not really the best time to explore the city. But, we still had fun.
The Road
The road around Krabi is quite good. We didn’t see any pothole. Although during and after rain, there were some muddy sections at the side of the road.
The Traffic
Traffic in Krabi was not bad. We didn’t experience any traffic jam, except one long queue because of a traffic light or road construction. But it cleared after a couple of minutes.
Most road signs have English latin written translation. But some marks on the road surface are written in Thai only. But it shouldn’t be a big deal because we just need to follow google maps to go anywhere.
As in most Asian cities, we need to be careful with a plethora of motorcycle riders on the road. Especially in Ao Nang, motorcycle riders seem to be careless about safety. They didn’t bother to wear a helmet, and even ride with two pillions in one motorcycle. Road rules are often be ignored too. It is not uncommon the see motorcycle going against the traffic flow just to avoid longer route if they had to go to next u-turn.
In Ao Nang, there are some motorbike rental companies. We notice that tourists with rented motorcycle tend to follow the rules, at least they wear a helmet.
Parking
During our drive, we found out that parking was not really strict. Some cars parked at the motorcycle designated parking space along Noppharat Thara Beach, but no one seemed to care. Was it maybe because of the low season? We never any Thai police or transport authority on the road either during our drive. In all places we had gone during the trip we also didn’t need to pay any parking fee.
Places to Go
Car or even scooter will matter if you stay in Ao Nang but want to explore other places outside the beach area. You can use songtaew or motorbike taxi to explore Ao Nang. But to go further, renting vehicle might be cheaper.
Krabi Town is only about 15 Km from Ao Nang. There are some shops, restaurant and a nice waterfront there. There is one Department Store called Vogue in Krabi town, but I don’t think there is any shopping mall in the town.
There are some other nice natural sceneries that might worth to visit such as Emerald Pool or Fossil Shell Beach. But again because of timing and the rain, we didn’t have enough time to go there.
For further driving, Phuket is only 150 Km from Krabi and it can be reached for about 3 hours only. We planned to go there but as many other plans that we had, we dropped the idea considering the heavy rain that happens every day and the non-optimal condition of our rented car.
To see what other fun activities you can do in Krabi, please see this post.