Planning to visit Koh Lipe, Thailand? Our travel guide’s got you covered!
For the first two days, we weren't fans of Koh Lipe.
Having arrived from one of the best islands we've ever visited - staying longer than planned but still feeling like it was all too brief - our expectations were that little Koh Lipe would be an equally low-key and chilled out match.
Barely two miles long, and skinner than that from side to side, reports that it was car-free with a single main street gave the impression of dusty roads linking palm tree shacks on the sand, and a gentle balance between the few who called it home and the many more that visited. Known as 'The Maldives of Thailand' thanks to its white beaches and azure waters, it sounded like it would be a true paradise found in the Andaman Sea.
It didn’t take long for that illusion to be shattered.
First sight at the landing pier on Pattaya beach and the walk with our backpacks along the enclosed and squeezed-in tight 'Walking Street' made it clear that Koh Lipe was much more of an established and densely packed holiday destination than any research and recommendations had indicated.
Perhaps not on the scale of several other southern islands we were intentionally avoiding, but beyond what an island of this size and configuration should (and could) necessarily sustain.
Throw in the constant whirring, chugging, and belching from a flotilla of longboats on a couple of its signature beaches, and the evening atmosphere of the densely congested Walking Street, and there was a sense that maybe the tiny island's time had come and gone at least a decade or so before.
When a destination disappoints on first, second, or third impression though, we know that it can sometimes be on us: maybe the timing is wrong, our mood is off, we’ve been spoiled by somewhere else, or the gulf between expectations and reality was always too wide.
So, after a few beers, a day of diving, and a wee moan about just how silly and entitled we were being, we did what we always do when that situation arises on our travels and our perspective, our attitude, or our understanding of a place needs to shift: we walked.
And, thanks to dusty roads, secret beaches, stiff margaritas and a man from the moon, by the third, fourth, and fifth day of our stay in Koh Lipe, we had a much, much better idea of what makes this place special, and a better understanding of how every traveller can make the most of it.
In this travel guide to Koh Lipe, Thailand, we've shared everything you need to know to plan for your own visit. As well as the best things to do on the island, we've shared personal insights on accommodation and bases, where to eat, the very best beaches (with a secret one to keep in your back pocket), and a day trip you can't miss, plus a range of travel better tips to help you get the most of out your stay.
You'll also find all the information you need on transport connections to/from the island.
the koh lipe essentials
· Tiny southern Thai island in the Andaman Sea
· Main tourism hub within the Tarutao National Park
· Only accessible by ferry or speedboat Pakbara pier
· High season runs from November to May/June
· Several paradise beaches and dive sites, including Stonehenge
· Not a party island, and popular with all travel styles
· Has a problem with longboat numbers + noise
· The multi-island snorkel trip is a highly-rated activity
· We stayed at The Reef Hotel, Castaway Resort is an excellent spot on Sunrise Beach (or Serendipity Beach Resort if you’re feeling fancy), backpackers will love Bloom Cafe & Hostel but if you’re visiting Koh Lipe for a special occasion consider the stunning Bulow Casa Grand View Resort
Where To Stay on Koh Lipe & Getting Around
Although the island is very small, choosing the right part to stay on will still be your most important decision. Not all the beaches are created equal, or have the same vibe, merits, or style of accommodation, and appreciating this before you arrive or book anywhere is important.
This applies if you’re long-term backpacker or visiting Koh Lipe on a two-week Thailand vacation.
Wherever you're based, you will still be able to do all (or most) of the best things to do on Koh Lipe, and your choice won't negatively impact your ability to do anything else on the island.
Getting around Koh Lipe is best done on foot or with the ubiquitous side-car tuk-tuks charging 50 baht per passenger from anywhere to anywhere. Drivers will usually pass by and ask 'Where you go?', and if in need of one, you'll always find a few hanging out in the official red bibs to the left of the 7-11 at the end of Walking Street, whilst there are also usually one or two stationed by more remote accommodation and beaches.
There are also boat taxis available to go from one side to the other, or take you across to the neighbouring, uninhabited island of Koh Adang.
Unlike several other Thai islands, renting a scooter is not really done in Koh Lipe as the island's size and configuration makes it impractical and unnecessary.
And, as we’ll get to, some specific journeys are best made via rented kayak or just swimming!
We've done a quick overview of the main accommodation hubs/bases in Koh Lipe below to help you choose the best one for your travel style and budget:
Pattaya Beach | On the south side of the island, this is the main entry and exit point for ferries, speedboats, and dive / snorkel boat trips. Due to this, it has a lot of boat traffic, people coming and going in the daytime and a more cluttered feeling than the other beaches in Koh Lipe. It's also connected to one side of the busy 'Walking Street', and is the most commercialised beach overall.
So, it's not somewhere we'd put forward as a beach to hang out or stay on, BUT it is actually home to several of the island’s popular resorts and hostels - and if you stay on the left (like the secluded Chareena Hill Beach Resort) or right sides rather than in the cluttered central section, it will be better.
However, we do recommend checking out other options before settling on anything on Pattaya.
A few of the more luxurious resorts to consider are: AKIRA Lipe Resort, Mali Resort, Ananya Lipe Resort, and Sita Beach Resort.
Our top affordable pick on Pattaya Beach - for those that don’t mind a little more of a rustic vibe - are the cute little cabins at Green View Beach Resort.
Walking Street | The eating out and commercial hub, we really didn't love Walking Street and learned that avoiding it was key to giving us a much better overall impression of Koh Lipe. There are some accommodations based right on it, but unless budget is your main concern, we’d recommend looking elsewhere.
For backpackers, our hostel pick is Bloom Cafe & Hostel but the less fancy Nest Hostel Lipe is a super popular alternative.
Sunrise Beach | The longest and best known beach on Koh Lipe, with an abundance of accommodation options for all travel styles and budgets; the downside is that it has far too many boats based on certain sections and quite restricted areas of enjoyable sand to lay down on in comparison to the smaller Sunset Beach.
Its southern side however offers a few exclusive resorts which enjoy a hidden away, practically private section of sand with no boats, and those not on a budget should consider these - Serendipity Beach Resort and Ten Moons Lipe Resort are our two top picks for this section of beach (both are gorgeous!)
Alternatively, although it is on a busier part of beach, the nearby Castaway Resort is a firm favourite that offers a more ‘traveller + diver vibe’, with excellent facilities and individual cabins - we’d happily stay there!
If you’re looking to be on/near Sunrise beach but are travelling on a budget, be sure to check out Varin Village’s basic huts (try and nab one in the front row, steps from the sand) or Chic Lipe Hostel.
'The Middle' | If you're not particularly tied to staying beachfront, then opting to stay in 'the middle' of the island is a great choice. We stayed at and recommend The Reef Hotel which was ideally situated walking distance from Sunrise Beach, Walking Street, Sunset Beach, and a few lesser known cool backstreet bars, and being based in that central point was excellent for our travel style.
Other options to consider include The Noi Guesthouse, Plawan Lipe Bungalows, San Pita Resort, and the Koh Lipe Homestay.
North Point Beach | To the north side of Sunrise, this is our favourite stretch of beach that’s easily accessible (keep reading to discover our very favourite place to lay our towel in Koh Lipe). Shallow turquoise waters hug the shore, the white sand is powdery fine and - perhaps most importantly - boat traffic is almost non-existent!
Due to this, it’s a super popular spot to spend the day, irrespective of where you may stay on the island.
Accommodation however is limited to a handful of luxurious resorts, which comprise some of the most stunning but expensive places to stay on all of Koh Lipe. If you’re heading to the island for a special occasion - like a honeymoon - however, they would absolutely be worth a splurge. Our two favourites are the equally beautiful Irene Pool Villa Resort and Bulow Casa Grand View Resort.
Travel Tip // If North Point Beach becomes a little too busy for you, just follow the coast towards Sunset Beach to find a number of beautiful, quiet bays backed by vibrant greens and tropical vibes.
Sunset Beach | A great base on Koh Lipe, the island’s northern beach has a more chilled out vibe, offering nature and undeveloped spots, great sunsets and swimming, and you can easily walk along the coast from there to a number of other excellent sections of beach. Several of the accommodations are set up slightly on the cliff too, so you can enjoy stellar views across the Adaman Sea and on to Koh Adang.
The only potential downside for some is that you will be a little walk, or a five-minute tuk-tuk ride from the majority of the island’s restaurant & drinking options, so if you’re keen to completely relax it's a good idea to choose accommodation that has a decent restaurant on-site or nearby.
If you’re looking for luxury, we recommend checking out The Cliff Lipe or Casa de Lipe, but for something mid-range (but with an excellent view and fantastic spot for a sunset mojito), take a look at Bayview Sunset Resort.
How to Get to Koh Lipe
Whether you’re coming from Malaysia, Bangkok or one of southern Thailand’s other popular islands, there are a myriad of ways to reach Koh Lipe.
Because of this, it would be too convoluted to explain all the options in this post so we’ve put together a separate article on how to get here from:
· Krabi
· Koh Phi Phi
· Phuket
· Bangkok via Hat Yai & Trang
· Malaysia
We recommend looking + booking transfers, shuttles, and ferry connections via the 12Go website.
Read Next // How to Get to Koh Lipe
The Best Things To Do in Koh Lipe
Watch the sun come up on Sunrise Beach
Sunrise Beach and Sunset Beach; you’d be forgiven for thinking that the beach naming process for Koh Lipe’s tropical stretches of sand is not the most imaginative.
Running for over a kilometre on Koh Lipe’s east coast, as the name suggests, this is the place to come to enjoy sunrise on the island - and it’s definitely worth setting the alarm early on at least one of your mornings.
We recommend you amble bleary-eyed toward the southern section of beach (here on Google Maps in front of Varin Village) and put your phone in your pocket to start the day with a smile.
On days where you’ve indulged in a longer lie-in, Sunrise Beach is a decent pick for sunbathing and eating, but the main drawback are the number of longboats that come, go and congregate on the sand or in the shallow. Aside from the noise of their helicopter rotors and steampunk engines, their ropes cut off parts of the beach too, which is a shame.
Eat | There are far fewer veggie or vegan restaurants on Koh Lipe, but one which deserves all its accoldaes is Benny's On The Beach (maps). There are also several beach restaurants attached to the resorts along Sunrise, all with a very similar menu, but do be aware that many of these tend to close in the evening (likely because most people head to Walking Street).
Do | Located within the grounds of Benny’s, you’ll also find Kerita’s Yoga which offers three beachfront classes daily (6am, 8am and 7pm). Classes cost 400 baht per person, with various bulk packages available - you can book the into the sunrise class here.
Stay | Serendipity Beach Resort · Ten Moons Lipe Resort · Castaway Resort · Varin Village’s basic huts (try and nab one in the front row, steps from the sand) or Chic Lipe Hostel.
Grab a sundowner at Zodiac SEE SUN
At the northern end of Sunrise Beach, beyond the cluster of hotels, you’ll find the area known as North Point Beach.
As we mentioned up in the ‘Where To Stay’ section, this is a great little boat-free sunbathing spot on fine white sand, especially when no music is playing. It does become quite popular as the day goes on, but there was always enough room for it to be bearable before cocktail hour.
However, as sundown approaches, it’s probably the second most popular spot on the island thanks to the Zodiac bar.
When we were yet to see the positives of Koh Lipe, the crowds, the music, and the vibe here put us right off. Returning a few days later with smiles on our faces, we decided it was the best choice on the beach for a couple of stiff margaritas.
Several stiff margaritas more, and we were positively enthralled with it all.
Though the Zodiac bar may be hit-and-miss depending on your mood and the vibe that day, its peak time is always in the hour leading up to sunset; people come more for the sundown vibe and music more than views though. Except for one excellent place on Walking Street, they also did the most passable cocktails we had on the island (though it should be expected for the price point of 250 baht).
Where + When | Find Zodiac at the north end of Sunrise Beach, here on Google Maps. The place cleared out pretty quickly after sunset and the fire show, but it may start to ramp up again later in the evening.
A Slow Breakfast At Mojo
Whilst you should prioritise all the delicious Thai food (more on that later), we do have to share this lovely space with you if you want a change of scene and a green, light-filled, and well-designed place to start the day slowly.
Mojo Cafe is owned by the same people as The Reef Hotel - where we chose to stay for our five nights on the island - and breakfast is included in the nightly rate. Usually, we’d happily do that for the first couple of mornings before preferring to check out other options, but Mojo had such a nice vibe and breakfast menu that we happily went there each day.
The pancake stacks are 100% worth the indulgence.
It’s one of the nicest non-beachfront spaces on the island to hang out in, and the best pick for any digital nomads looking to do morning work in a pleasant environment with decent coffees (but space is limited and the wi-fi ain’t great).
Where + When | Open 7.30am-1pm, seven days a week, note that it’s only open for breakfast & brunch. Find it here on Google Maps
Stay | We can happily recommend The Reef Hotel to travellers looking for somewhere peaceful who aren’t too concerned about staying on the beachfront (we paid, it wasn’t gifted or sponsored).
Hang Out On Sunset Beach
If you’d prefer to avoid the larger crowds and boat traffic of Sunrise, then Sunset Beach is an excellent pick.
The beach front has less commercial development, its gentle, shallow water is ideal for swimming, the vibe is really relaxed too.
Happy Mojitos bar / restaurant by the rocks is pretty much the only business here (maps), and their wooden terrace offers up the ideal spot for a drink or food with a lovely view between sunbathing and swimming sessions, or if you’re just dropping by for a change of scene. Their eponymous happy hour mojitos for 100 baht do the job but, as with lots of cocktails in Thailand, the enthusiastic levels of ice obliterates much of the flavour after five minutes.
The best place from which to enjoy sunset or lay your town down is not by Happy Mojitos though.
Instead, walk away from it along the beach for a few minutes to the northern section, where you’ll find fewer rocks, clear water, and soft white sand; that’s where to hang out and enjoy the show. There are no shops/beach bars there, so you can either grab a takeaway drink from Happy Mojitos or look out for the vendor with a small table in the centre of the beach selling cold beers and basic cocktails.
Where | It’s a 15-minute walk along the road from Pattaya Beach or a 20-minute walk from Sunrise Beach, or you can opt to hop in a tuk-tuk for 50 baht per person (you’ll usually find a couple of them waiting around there after sunset too). The easiest beach access point is signposted down the stairs at Bayview Sunset Resort, and they’re more than happy for you to go pass through.
If walking back after dark, make sure your phone has enough battery for a torch - and you may wish to stop by at our favourite drinking hole too.
You can also walk to / from here along the coast from Sunrise beach, via a couple of bays and some rocks. Find it here on Google Maps.
Stay | There are only a few accommodation options on Sunset Beach, and it offers more of a quiet, secluded retreat in nature than the holiday vibes of Sunrise Beach. It’ll be perfect for some travellers but, due to this, there are fewer options on your doorstep for dinner, so you will have to walk/tuk-tuk into the centre of the island some nights. Also, note that accessibility up/down to the beach and accommodation may not be desirable for travellers with mobility issues.
If looking for luxury, check out The Cliff Lipe or Casa de Lipe, but for something mid-range (but with an excellent view and fantastic spot for a sunset mojito), take a look at Bayview Sunset Resort.
Top Tip // There’s a new rubbish boat, which removes the significant amount of trash generated by the island’s tourism trade; unfortunately it docks on Sunset Beach on Mondays. The smell isn’t that bad, but it is an eyesore and will mean you’ll want to avoid visiting the beach when it’s there.
Walk To Our Favourite Beach in Koh Lipe
The morning we spent at this beach kickstarted the positive shift in our perspective of Koh Lipe.
As we mentioned in our introduction, our first two days on the island left us in a little bit of a funk - so we did what we always do when we need a new perspective on a place: we walked, we walked all the way to the lesser-visited and less built-up western side of the island, along a dusty road, and down through a secluded trail amongst the trees.
We emerged out into paradise.
Secluded and taking a little effort to reach, Pantai Galah beach is breathtaking. There’s no accommodation on or near it and you need to bring everything with you, but its waters are divine and you'll only share it with others who are in the know.
However, if you time it right, you could likely have it all to yourself in the morning.
Where + When | You can find Pantai Galah beach here on Google Maps
We suggest you forego the tuk-tuk and walk along the road past Han Talay Monastery.
When the road switches from tarmac to dust, you'll eventually come to a slight fork (here on Google Maps). Go left there down through the plants and along the trail, and you'll arrive at the beach in 5-10 minutes. The trail is a little uneven with various roots and rocks, but can be done in sandals and is much easier on the way back up.
From the beach, you can continue over the rocks on the right hand side, and wade through the water to the little enclave called Svedo Beach (maps), but Pantai is better.
Bring a snorkel as well as anything else you need as there are no shops, bars, or vendors here.
Alternatively, if you rent a kayak, a stop here should 100% be on your route. It's even possible to swim there if you follow the coast round from Sanom Beach Resort or Daya/Pattaya Beach, but you should only attempt that if you’re a very confident, strong swimmer.
Travel Tip // Recuctantly dragging ourselves away after a few hours, we rejoined the trail and went straight at the fork. This eventually took us down through thickening jungle to the very secluded Lipe Secret Beach (maps), but we don't recommend all of you making the effort.
After passing a solitary monk heading in the opposite direction (quite a surreal moment), we were the only people there for the full 45-minutes. It's got lovely water to swim in and you’ll probably have it to yourselves too, but there’s quite a lot of trash to one side, the sliver of beach is mostly rock, and the trail down to it is very overgrown and sweat-inducing.
A Day Trip To Ko Adang
To get the best view of Koh Lipe, you have to leave it.
Koh Adang is the big sister island you’ll see across the water from Sunset and Sunrise beach, and it’s an unmissable day trip from Koh Lipe.
Some talk about it as a deserted island or a hidden paradise, which we think is a tad misleading, but it is still an absolute gem.
Uninhabited save for a few bungalows, a campsite, and one secluded resort, it’s a world away from the unexpected congestion and commercialisation of Walking Street.
In order to work off some of the pad thai weight, we headed over there with a 10-minute longboat taxi (100 baht each) from Sunrise Beach. The sweaty hike up its nature trail to the trio of Chado Hill viewpoints, with the final one offering a stunning view out over the entirety of Koh Lipe and the shimmering Andaman Sea, is worth the journey alone.
In addition, Koh Adang has two easy-to-access beautiful white sand beaches which have far fewer people than any on Koh Lipe, and the surrounding water is absolutely perfect for snorkelling.
This is the place to come and really escape it all.
Stay | You can also choose to stay on Adang, which would be a very memorable experience for sure. The National Park offers a few bungalows and a campsite which you have to book via e-mail or when you turn up, whilst the other option is the Adang Island Resort.
Plan | There are no bars or shops on Koh Adang, and just one simple restaurant that’s easy to access for most beach day-trippers. We’ve shared everything you need to plan a day trip or stay for a few nights on the island in our definitive Koh Adang guide.
GO Scuba Diving in Koh Lipe
We got our Open Water and Advanced PADI in Utila, Honduras a couple of years ago, and a big reason for choosing to travel in Thailand for the first time was because of its decent reputation for scuba diving (plus, who wouldn’t want to escape here during the bleak British winter?)
Several of our Instagram followers recommended the dive sites and general excellent set-up in Koh Lipe, so the compact island seemed like the ideal place to do a quick refresher of our skills and as many dives as we could squeeze in.
There are an abundance of sites within the Tarutao National Marine Park, with most only requiring a 15-30 minute boat ride to reach them from Koh Lipe. Stonehenge, with its vibrant soft corals is the most famous, whilst 8 Mile Rock is one for advanced divers to make note of. In the right season, whale sharks can also be seen.
There are over a dozen dive shops/schools operating on the island catering to all levels, with most offering ‘Discover Scuba’ experiences for first-timers looking to try it out.
Our choice of school was dictated by the fact we wanted to do a proper refresher, rather than just a quick informal chat before going under the water, after not diving for 18 months and the best timetable of classroom learning and two skills dives was offered by Pura Vida & Ocean Republic. The former is PADI and the latter is SSI, but both highly-rated dive centres are actually owned and operated by the same people, so we went with Ocean Republic as their ‘Walking Street’ HQ was closer to our accommodation.
We had a great instructor from Spain and small groups for each of our dives, but wouldn’t necessarily put them forward as the shop/school you should opt for above all others; our second choice would have been Adang Sea Divers (they also operate the excellent ‘Benny’s On The Beach’ restaurant).
A few points to note in advance of diving in Koh Lipe:
· Expect to pay around 1,400-1,600 baht for a single dive, with discounts available the more you dive with the same company. We paid 3,800 baht each for the scuba refresher course (inc. theory + two dives) at Ocean Republic.
· Divers have to pay a 200 baht national park fee per day of diving, and this is separate to the national park fee you pay to enter Koh Lipe and any dive costs.
· Due to the short distances, some dive centres go out and back for dives, rather than to multiple sites in a single morning / afternoon session.
· Most dive centres use traditional longboats rather larger dive boats. We weren’t huge fans of this set-up, as it feels always feels like a tank is going to get dropped on your foot, but it’s an experience nonetheless. However, when there are big swells and you’re trying to get back in the boat, it’s really not so fun. One dive school uses a speedboat, which may offer a more stable ride, whilst there are also a couple of schools we chatted to on Walking Street that have more conventional big dive boats, which would be more comfortable. HOWEVER, they also appeared to require much larger groups of divers and snorkel trips in order to fill the boat, so that’s a potential negative to balance out the larger, better laid-out vessel.
· One other factor when choosing your dive school is where they’re based; most launch from Pattaya Beach or Sunrise beach.
· Currents are quite common at certain sites, and our first experience of a pretty strong one made us feel like much more accomplished divers.
· Tarutao National Marine Park closes down for about four months every year to refresh coral and sealife; this is usually in May-November, but there are still sites outside the park which can be visited in those months.
· Lastly, we unfortunately had really poor visibility of about 5 metres across our four dives in Koh Lipe, including at Stonehenge, which is why we don’t sound as effusive as you may expect! This was supposedly due to bad luck and the phase of the moon as many others enjoy really clear waters here; thankfully, we had fantastic visibility a few days later in Koh Lanta!
Go KayakinG & Snorkelling
One of the best things to do in Koh Lipe is rent a kayak and explore the coastline of the little island.
As mentioned, this is a great way to make it to Secret Beach, whilst from Sunrise Beach you can stop on or around the two little islands of Kla and Usen (both of which offer a few secret places to sunbathe, and excellent snorkelling)
Though theoretically possible, we don’t recommend trying to kayak all the way over to Ko Adang. Instead, take the boat taxi over and rent a kayak there.
Some fancier accommodations will allow guests to use their kayaks for free, whereas most people will have to pay. The standard cost is around 200 baht per hour and 500 baht for the day and you’ll see plenty of signs advertising that they rent kayaks (as well as SUP boards) on signs along sunrise Beach.
Alternatively, there is fantastic snorkelling all over the island and off most of its beaches.
However, if you’d like to make more of an adventure out of it, you can also go on a full-day longboat snorkelling trip to surrounding islands and reefs. You can choose a few different itineraries, largely based around which beaches and how many islands you visit, but the below options all have excellent ratings, and free cancellation 24 hours before departure:
· Longtail Boat Snorkeling Trip with Lunch
· Full Day Multi-Island Snorkeling Trip with Lunch
· Full-Day Koh Lipe 7 Islands Snorkeling Experience with Lunch
There’s a plethora of tour & travel agencies along Walking Street, and they all offer a similar number of other activities and excursions.
Drinks & Eats in Koh Lipe
You can get really good Thai food everywhere on the island, with most restaurants offering up a pretty similar menu and price range.
In the evening, Walking Street soaks up most of the custom, but several places are too packed to be terribly enjoyable in peak season - however, you should absolutely venture there some evenings (and some of our reccos are on it)
A few of our favourite places to eat and drink in Koh Lipe are:
· Thaidurm Restaurant | Has a lovely atmosphere, great staff, and is the place to come when you want fresh fish, a kick-ass papaya salad, and prawns the size of your head for dinner.
· There’s a man singing and selling coconut fritters all day on the corner of the Walking Street market - ‘10 baaaaht, coconut, 10 baaaahth, coconut’ - and you simply must stop and try these little stodgy parcels of joy whenever you pass by. They’re called Kanom Krok, and the small market is also a good spot to have a quick Thai lunch or dinner (here on Google Maps).
· Benny’s On The Beach | Thai and Western vegetarian and vegan food on Sunrise Beach.
· Happy Mojito | For the setting and view more than anything.
· Mojo’s | For breakfast / brunch in a lovely space.
· Jimmy's Bar | A refreshingly old school hippy traveller bar on the backstreets that’s good at night, with a barman who tells you he’s from the moon.
· Bombay Indian Restaurant | Thai food is great, but this is excellent, authentic Indian fare.
· Rainforest | The best cocktails we had in Thailand with a kick-ass negroni, but the atmosphere / music can be hit-and-miss. They also have a floor above the Walking Street facing bar.
· Madame Yoohoo | The eponymous owner is a local legend, and you’ll still see here selling doughnuts on the beach (always stop to buy some), and this is her popular restaurant for very well-priced Thai food. We didn’t eat here, but no Koh Lipe guide would be complete with her in it!
A few we didn’t eat at but were highly recommended and / or very popular whenever we passed;
· Elephant | Pricier but with a full vegan and western menu as well as good Thai options too
· Forever Restaurant | We didn’t manage to eat here, but it was recommended
· Bloom Cafe & Hostel | A modern cafe on Walking Street spot for coffees, smoothies, and brunch - check out their dorm and private rooms here
· The Box | This is a modern tapas-type restaurant on Walking Street that we weren’t drawn to, but was always packed.
