After Klong Prao Resort, the road heads away from the beach and meanders for a couple of kilometres before reaching through Klong Prao village before running parallel to the beach again at the southern end of Klong Prao beach. This southern section is home to several of the island’s best resort plus a couple of cheap backpacker hut options. Bu there isn’t much here for anyone looking for 2 star, mid range accommodation.

Having headed a kilometre south past Klong Prao resort you may well have spotted the row of hastily constructed shop units set back and below road level on the right of the road – if you need a welder there’s a guy here who’s cheap, also a small bakery, an sign maker and several units housing sweatshops which are where your tailored clothes are all made. Not far away, the 3 star Ramayana Hotel sits roadside, hoping that visitors will stay in the belief that they can easily walk down to the beach from here – they can’t, although it’s a good choice for anyone wanting a very nice room at a reasonable price. 200 metres away, on the river estuary, Aana Resort offers some of the best rooms on the island, but still not on the beach. The hotel restaurant is a bit iffy, but nearby two far better options exist in the form of ‘Pu-Talay’ and ‘Iyara’ both also on the banks of the river estuary and both serving your Thai & seafood favourites.

On the opposite side of the road to Ramayana, by a large sing for Aana Resort, you’ll see a dirt track. If you’ve ever wondered where all the Cambodian labourers and hotel workers live then take a look down here. Hidden away from sight is a shanty town slum that’s home to an estimated 2,000 people. These are workers who will be earing 100 baht or so a day for working from dusk till dawn. It is in this area that a Dutch couple have set up a small private school to provide the workers’ children basic education and a safe place to play.

Not far away, back on the main road, the cheapest of Klong Prao’s budget accommodation options is also in this area, by the roadside, ‘Green tree’ bungalows – they’re just plain awful – but you can’t expect much for 150 – 200 baht/night by the road and with deals for longstays. (Far better budget options exist in Lonely Beach or Bailan.)

A little further on and you’ll meet the turning for the waterfall – located about 1.5 kilometres inland. It’s worth a look but don’t expect to see more of a cliff face and less of a waterfall if you visit late in the high season. But from May until December you can swim in the clear pool and watch visitors, usually loud Americans, jumping off the cliff face into the water. The walk from the entrance to the main fall takes 15 minutes and is shady and cool. There’s a 200 baht entrance fee for foreign visitors. Avoid weekends & Thai holidays when the place is packed out. At the entrance you’ll find a couple of good roast chicken and papaya salad restaurants. When Thais travel & need food to fill a minibus full of friends the simplest thing to do is order a couple of roast chickens , a few plates of ‘somtam’ plus beer or coke. Simple. (If Jesus was Thai he’d have fed the 5,000 with chicken & somtam.)

There’s also a very good seafood place just south of the waterfall turning. Pass Jae Eiw Seafood virtually any evening and it’ll be busy, 99% Thais. On low season weekends it’s probably the busiest restaurant on the island with the roadside resembling a parking lot. While all the foreign tourists are eating overpriced seafood by the beach, the Thais are heading here for cheaper prices at a restaurant that’s very well known as, the original Jae Eiw opened years ago at Ao Sapparod ferry pier on the east coast.

The beach itself is split in two by the Klong Prao river estuary and is a great place to walk the dog as there are plenty of empty expanses of sand. Along the entire length of the beach, the sand shelves gently into the sea and so is ideal for children. In high season dangerous currents or rip tides are very rare. During the rainy season it’s a different story as high tide often leaves the the beach littered with flotsam and jetsam and riptides are common. At certain times of year jellyfish can also be a nuisance, the reason being jellyfish like to congregate and breed in areas where rivers flow into the sea. The estuary that splits Klong Prao beach in two makes for a prime jellyfish hangout at the beginning and end of the rainy season.

The estuary is a little haven of tranquility. There’s nowhere like this elsewhere on the west coast or indeed on the island. It’s also the only palce on the west coast where you can moor a speedboat or fishing boat right outside your house. The bank nearest the main road is lined with fisherman’s houses, and two excellent seafood restaurants that I mentioned earlier – ‘Iyara’ & ‘Phu Talay’. A new cafe/spa will open in late 2009 and a couple of houses have also been renovated by foreign owners.

The opposite bank has half a dozen houses and is backed by mangrove trees and coconut palms. This is where I live, and a lovely place it is too. (If you want a comfortable, quiet place to stay, take a look at ‘Baan Rim Nam’ our guesthouse.)

Paddle down here in your canoe and you can go around a kilometre along the river. Go past the houses, the luxurious Aana Resort, and River View Villas (1bedroom bungalows available for monthly rent) and you’ll come to a lagoon with two mangrove lined rivers leading off it. In the evenings an area along the river leading off at the right of the lagoon comes alight with fireflies. On a good night the mangrove trees light up like Christmas illuminations, although getting the fireflies to form any readable festive phrases or outlines of recogisable Disney cartoon characters is next to impossible. I know, I’ve tried. Both Iyara and Phu Talay restaurants run free firefly trips down here for anyone dining at their restaurants.

The nearby beach is home to the budget KP Huts and Tiger Huts; (Thale Bungalows, which had been running for around 15 years closed in mid2008.) as well as three upmarket places – Panviman Resort, Barali Resort and Tropicana Resort.

Panviman is a good choice if you want peace and quiet, an also most deserted beach and like buildings styled like Thai temples. Not quite kitsch, but teetering on the brink. Tropicana, with it’s new annex is one of the largest on the island but only has a small stretch of beachfront, so expect the battles for sunbeds to be fierce. However, the bungalows and hotel rooms are very bright and spacious and it is only a few minutes walk to the village. Barali doesn’t seem to have much personality, it’s OK just a run of the mill 3-4 star resort that’s unlikely to provoke any strong reactions from guests, although I’m told the breakfast is pretty bad.

Near the Tropicana, Blue Lagoon bungalows has a loyal following amongst travellers and seekers of peace & quiet. They also run popular, fun cooking classes at their cooking school on the banks of a smaller river estuary. A raft on a pulley system allows people to cross from one side of the river mouth to the other without getting their feet wet. You can walk along the remaining southern section of the beach, past The Dewa & Amari Emerald Cove resorts, to the headland. More on this stretch of beach later.

Back on the main road, after passing Jae Eiw Seafood you cant miss the ultralight airstrip on the right and opposite Chang Chutiman Elephant Camp. For a great view of Koh Chang take an ultralight flight – from 1700 baht for 15 minutes – long enough to take photos of Klong Prao & Kai Bae at sunset. Take a 30 minute flight if you want to see Bangbao & Salakphet bays from the air. In 2008-09, there were very few flights, due to issues over the legality of the airstrip, but if that gets resolved then its definitely a good way to experience Koh Chang, sunset flights especially.

In the village of Klong Prao, around 5-10 minutes walk from Panviman, Barali & Tropicana Resorts and 2 minutes drive south if the airstrip, there are still quite a few local shops, a temple, a school, a gas station plus a selection of restaurants catering to tourists, a good bakery, a clinic, an elephant camp plus an ATM. As it is home to a community of locals and also a large number of workers, who live

For very good food, try Kati Culinary & Yummy Hut, both roadside near the elephant camp at the southern end of the village. Kati has probably the best Thai food on the island. Try it, and if you disagree you obviously don’t appreciate Thai food, get your tastebuds fixed and then go back and try it again But don’t expect quick service, everything is prepared from scratch, so it can take a while for your food to arrive at your table. If there is a better Thai restaurant on the island, I’ve yet to find it.

Between these two restaurants is Sima Massage, a very good choice if you want a proper Thai massage, designed to soothe aching or stressed muscles but not at inflated spa prices. They also do acupressure – we’ve had a few guests try it and they all say that it did wonders for their ailments which ranged from injuries from a car accident to muscle strains from lifting weights.

For people on a budget or those like me who would rather not pay a premium to eat a simple plate of regular Thai food, two good places for a30 baht lunch are Chumnan Restaurant and ‘Noodle Duck’ on either side of the petrol station and motorbike repair shop in the centre of the village. They both have all the usual Thai dishes at dirt cheap prices. At Chumnan you’ll often see a few elderly expats nursing their beers mid-morning, don’t be put off. It’s just that they sell the cheapest beer on the island – 44 baht for a large Beer Chang. Noodle Duck is so called because that’s the only English on the sign. And again it’s around 30 baht for lunch.

Opposite the petrol station is KP Clinic, which, when open, has an English speaking female doctor who ill patch you up and dish pout pills. You’ll also find an ATM a little further south in the village, in the wall of the Eco Divers office. Head down the adjacent track to find a good, cheap laundry – ‘Pu Laundry’. Much cheaper than getting your hotel to do it and they do the laundry for many of the resorts in the area. (If you are staying in the area and give your laundry to your resort to do, they will bring it here.)

Also in the centre of the village is the local temple, nothing too exciting, just a common or garden village temple with a dozen or so resident monks but if you want to see a typical village temple then you can wander through the grounds. The local school is located at the back of the temple. Opposite the entrance to the temple is ‘Crust’ one of the better bakeries on the island. If you need croissants and a coffee then put it on your must visit list. Close by there is also now a small western run, takeaway pizza shop.

Heading south through Klong Prao village the road again veers inland and onto the southern end of Klong Prao beach, in an area technically called ‘Mab Klong Kao’. The development in this area was all due to the 160 room Amari opening up. A couple of rows of new shophouses and a small plaza of, permanently unoccupied shop units have sprung up. The plus side is that there is a good dentist’s here which offers a range of therapeutic & cosmetic dental treatments. So if you need a movie star smile you can get it here at a fraction of the cost back home.

Lucky folks staying at Amari and nearby Dewa – a new uniquely designed luxury resort, are spoilt for choice as to which tailor to give their custom to as several occupy shop units near the access road to the resorts. Try ‘Morrissey’ Designs’ for an Australian owned tailor with good customer service. Other than that, there isn’t a lot to spend your money on in this part of the beach (Do your souvenir shopping at Chatuchak market in Bangkok and save money is my advice, but I’m sure I’d say something different if I was renting a shop unit here.)

Not much in the way of inspired eating and drinking options by the main road in this area but ‘Baan Captain’ offers Thai and Western food cooked by the Thai owner who used to be a chef at the Hilton Hotel, Adelaide. ‘Country Restaurant’ is a few hundred metres to the north, just around the left hand bend, a well established place where you’ll get good Thai food in eclectic surroundings. Almost opposite is ‘ JuJu’ one of the best places for live music on the island, when it’s open – which in the 2008-09 high season was rarely. Various types of music from Blues to African drumming plus jam sessions. The stage is in an old house and the audience sits at tables in a beer garden. Nice place to spend an hour or so after dinner before heading back to your hotel

By the beach for a sunset beer or meal on the sand, you’ll find Pilot Bar, located two minutes walk north of Amari, Dewa and VJ Hotel, which offers well priced, but generic hotel rooms.

South of the Amari are three mid-range resorts, Grand Cabana, Magic and Chok Dee, which cater more to Thai than Western visitors. The beach here isn’t great but the views north along the length of the beach are very good. Chok Dee and Magic both have restaurants built over the sea, far better to eat your Thai food here in the evening than in your 5 star resort. The service won’t be anywhere near as good, the tableware wont be a match set, but you can be sure the food will be good and the bill will be fare more easy on the wallet.

From here a 5 minute walk along the main road brings you to Kai Bae.

Details and Reviews of hotels and resorts in the Klong Prao Beach area