On the morning of our flight home, we had a couple of hours left in Thailand.

We took one last scooter ride through the dramatic limestone cliffs, soaking in the scenery that had made this part of Thailand feel so special. The roads twisted past towering rock formations and patches of jungle, and even after several days there, it still felt unreal.

After we turned in the scooter, we made one last stop by the beach, and took a few quiet moments to look out at the beautiful water.

We sure loved our short time in Krabi. We almost never even went there to begin with – our original itinerary included time in Phuket instead.

Phuket is he most famous beach destination in the country. But the more we researched, the harder it became to make the logistics work.

Phuket is a large island with one main ring road, and many of the attractions sit at different points around that loop. To get from one place to another, you often have to drive long stretches around the island. As we mapped out our days, it started to feel like we were going to spend a lot of time commuting.

We also got the impression that Phuket has a bigger nightlife and party scene. That’s not necessarily a bad thing—it’s just not really our style. With two kids at home and early mornings usually on the agenda, we tend to lean toward adventure and scenery over late nights and crowds. Though Krabi has plenty of energy and nightlife too, I just hear it’s a tad more tame than Phuket.

Before we’d settled on Krabi and I was researching how to spend out time in Phuket, I learned about the Tiger Cave Temple. One of the suggestions I read about for visitors staying in Phuket was to take a day trip to Krabi to see Wat Tham Suea, also known as the Tiger Cave Temple. As soon as I read about climbing 1,260 stairs to reach a mountaintop temple overlooking limestone cliffs, I knew immediately that was exactly our kind of thing.

So how best to get to Krabi from Phuket? Getting there would have required a long transfer, turning it into a full-day commitment. It just didn’t seem like it was going to work out. My biggest concern in Phuket was seeing the James Bond Island, and I wasn’t gonna skip out on that.

But then I found out you can reach James Bond Island from Krabi almost as easily as you can from Phuket! So that was that, we changed our plans and we ended up spending three incredible days climbing temples, exploring caves, riding scooters through jungle-lined roads passing towering limestone cliffs, and even swam with glowing plankton.

Our final scooter ride that morning before heading to the airport was the perfect way to say goodbye to Thailand.

Up Next

The myths, histories, and stories of Thailand—because behind every temple, statue, and cave, there’s usually a legend waiting to be told.

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