Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Once the domain of backpackers and sea gypsies, Lanta hasn't just gentrified, it's morph-
ed almost completely from a luscious southern Thai backwater into a midrange getaway
for French, German and Swedish package tourists who come for the divine beaches
(though the northern coast is eroding rapidly) and the nearby dive spots of Hin Daeng,
Hin Muang and Ko Ha. Within eyeshot of Phi Phi, Lanta remains far more calm and real,
however, and caters to all budget types. It's also flat compared to the karst formations of
its neighbours and laced with good roads. A quick loop by motorbike reveals a colourful
crucible of cultures - fried-chicken stalls sit below slender minarets, stilted
chow lair
vil-
lages cling to the island's east side, and small Thai wát hide within green-brown tangles of
curling mangroves.
Ko Lanta is technically called Ko Lanta Yai, the largest of 52 islands in an archipelago
protected by the Mu Ko Lanta Marine National Park. Almost all boats pull into Ban Sala
Dan, a dusty two-street town at the northern tip of the island.
