Rawai Beach

At the southern tip of the island is Rawai, which continues to attract visitors year after year. The reason? Great seafood.

Rawai offers the perfect place to eat a simple but excellent meal, shaded by the ancient Casuarina trees and with great views of the outlying islands in the distance. Casual and open air, the beachside restaurants attract locals from as far away as Bangkok at the weekends.

Baan Had Rawai at the western end of the beach, built in the basic Thai restaurant style, is probably one of the best on the island. Not only great seafood, but also classic Thai dishes like Green curry (Geng Keowan) and Tom Yam Gung (Shrimp soup) with an authentic Thai taste. Close by, Maggie and Mario's Pizzeria has excellent home made ravioli stuffed with spinach as well as wonderful pizzas. Rawai doesn't have any large beachside resorts, or even any deckchairs, but it's a great place to relax and eat. It's also the best place to charter a boat to one of the many offshore islands viewed so clearly from the shoreline.

Coral Island or Lone Island can easily be reached by hiring a local longtail boat or a speedboat. Just west of Rawai is Promthep Cape (Laem Promthep), a small peninsula that has a sensational sunset viewpoint over the ocean beyond.