Best Beach to Stay on Koh Lipe

Before we start, there are a few things to know about Koh Lipe that may affect your decision about where you want to stay. First of all, Koh Lipe is one of the most expensive islands to stay on in Thailand. The average price for a hotel in Koh Lipe is about 2,500 Thai Baht per night, which is considerably more expensive than other places in Thailand.

Second of all, Koh Lipe is a small island. This means that there are fewer options available, and it may also explain why it is so expensive. But it also means that no matter where you stay, you are going to be within walking distance of pretty much anywhere on the island.

Pattaya Beach

Let’s start by looking at the most popular beach to stay on, and that’s Pattaya Beach.

Pattaya Beach is the first beach that you will encounter when you arrive at Koh Lipe, because this is exactly where the pier is. This makes it quite a convenient place to stay, especially if you have a lot of luggage, because it will save you carrying your luggage across the island. However, some hotels may have a representative who will meet you at the pier to help you carry your luggage to your hotel, so this might not always be a problem.

Pattaya Beach, in my opinion, is the liveliest beach on the island, especially at night. There are lots of bars and restaurants on this beach, so if that is something you want to be near, this is the perfect location for you. Towards the western end, there are a few cheaper Thai-style restaurants, and towards Walking Street, it turns more into beach bars.

It is definitely an advantage that this connects straight to Walking Street as well, because this is where a lot more bars and restaurants will be. In general, accommodation on Pattaya Beach is a little swankier, and therefore a little more expensive, than elsewhere on the island. Most of the hotels that are on Pattaya Beach cost between 2,000 to 32,000 Thai Baht per night, which, in my opinion, is pretty pricey for Thailand.

The main disadvantage of staying on Pattaya Beach is that it is, in my opinion, the worst beach to swim at, because this is the area where the main pier is. That means there is a constant stream of boats coming in and out of the beach. This means you have to be careful of the blades of the longtail boats or just boats hitting you in general. These boats might bring pollution with them. There might be oil in the water, or just bits of debris from the boats. So, in my opinion, it is not very nice to swim here, and I would spend most of my time swimming at some of the other beaches that I discuss later.

Sunrise Beach

Sunrise Beach is probably the second most popular beach to stay on. This beach has the advantage of being a little bit cheaper than Pattaya Beach, with most hotels ranging from 1,500 to 2,000 Thai Baht per night, although there are definitely some more expensive ones if you feel like splashing out.

What I like most about this beach is that it has plenty going on still, but has a much more chill vibe than Pattaya Beach. There are lots of cool beach bars and coffee shops to explore here, and you can definitely spend a day just hopping between them.

It is way better to swim here because the main pier isn’t here, although there are still a few boats coming in and out. What I love about Koh Lipe in general is that it has some of the best snorkeling directly off the island. When you swim here, there are coral reefs directly there and lots of tropical fish swimming around too.

Similar to Pattaya Beach, this also connects to Walking Street, so if you’re staying around here, then you’ll be able to visit Walking Street in the evening and go to all the bars and restaurants there.

If I was to go back to Koh Lipe, this is probably where I would stay.

Sunset Beach

Sunset Beach is the final major spot that I want to talk about. As the name suggests, this is the best place on the island to catch a sunset and, in my opinion, this is a really stunning beach.

I suppose this is the beach that is most distinct from the other two. There are not a lot of bars, not a lot of restaurants and not a lot of boats coming in and out. This beach has a much more natural feel to it. There is a place to buy a cocktail as you watch the sunset, but there is really not a whole lot else going on around here, which, depending on how you look at it, could be a positive or negative.

Personally, I think this is the beach with the most secluded desert-island feel to it. I’ve only visited this beach at sunset. I imagine during the day you have very few people there, so you’d have it pretty much all to yourself, although it does get busier in the evening as many people come to watch the sunset here.

The sunset here is one of the best that you’ll ever see in Thailand, so even if you’re not staying here, I would definitely come and check this beach out in the evening.

Now, looking at the prices of these hotels, this has the biggest range in prices of anywhere on the island. I’m seeing some hotels that are as expensive as 5,000 Thai Baht per night, but I can also see a few cheap bungalows for around 1,000 Thai Baht per night. There are definitely fewer options to choose from at this beach than the other two. This might be because it is the furthest from Pattaya Beach, meaning it is the furthest you have to walk from the pier. It is also slightly tricky to get to, as you have to climb down the hill to get there, so if you have any accessibility issues, this might not be the beach for you.

Inland Koh Lipe

These are the three main options of places to stay. However, I want to look at some less explored options to give you something that might be just right for your budget or to give you a more unique experience.

The first option I want to look at is not staying on any of the beaches. It is staying further inland, perhaps towards Walking Street, but definitely just further inland.

Simply put, this is the best option for people on a budget because as soon as you go away from the beaches, the prices drop. It is not as much as in other places around Thailand, as you’re still looking at paying around 1,000 Thai Baht per night if you get a private room.

Like I said at the beginning, Koh Lipe is a small island, so although it is definitely a disadvantage not being on the beach, you’re probably only a 10 or 15 minute walk away, which isn’t that far. You could also stay closer to the bars and restaurants, which, depending on your personality, is either positive or negative.

Walking Street is generally open quite late, so if you’re trying to get an early night, especially if you’re going scuba diving the next day, then that might be a problem.

Small Beaches Near Sunset Beach

On my first trip to Koh Lipe, my wife and I wanted to stay somewhere a little bit more secluded, so I simply went on Google Maps and looked at some of the smaller beaches to see if there was any accommodation near there.

I found that there are a couple of really small beaches on the western side of the island near Sunset Beach that have accommodations on them, and they are not even that expensive.

We stayed at a place called P Usess Resort, and it was really basic accommodation. It was basically just a beach bungalow. We had a shower, a not very comfortable bed and a fan, but the advantage was that we would wake up every morning and have a private beach to ourselves. We only paid about 1,000 Thai Baht per night for this.

Because there were fewer people around here, the snorkeling was absolutely amazing. This is still the best snorkeling spot that I’ve been to that is directly off one of the main beaches we were staying at, so we would get up every morning and go snorkeling here.

The disadvantage of staying in this area is that we had to trek over to where our friends were staying. A lot of them were staying on Pattaya Beach, so if we wanted to go to the bars every night, we’d have to trek back through the jungle, which was quite dark.

However, if you just look at some of these smaller beaches, you can find accommodations too.

Koh Adang

The final option for you to consider is not actually on Koh Lipe. It is on Koh Adang, which is the neighboring island.

Koh Adang is a much bigger island to the north of Koh Lipe. However, it is really mountainous and jungly, so it is pretty much uninhabited apart from a few resorts.

Koh Adang makes for a really beautiful sight from Koh Lipe, and if you really wanted the secluded desert-island feel, I think Koh Adang is the option for you.

Looking online, they have some really nice resorts. There are not many of them, so you’d be there with a few other people in your hotel. Bars and restaurants would be very limited, so you’d have to eat at the hotel.

Another issue is that you’d have to get there. You’d probably have to catch a longtail boat from Pattaya Beach to take you to Koh Adang, although this may be included in the price of your hotel.

Surprisingly, even though some of these seem to be some of the fancier hotels, they’re actually some of the cheaper ones, with some of them ranging around 1,500 Thai Baht per night.