Ao Thong Yee
Ao Thong Yee
4.6
What is Travellers’ Choice?
Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Top ways to experience nearby attractions
Are you currently on your trip?
Help us find experiences available for you.
The area
Best nearby
We rank these restaurants and attractions by balancing reviews from our members with how close they are to this location.
Restaurants
4 within 5 kms
Contribute
Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
4.6
23 reviews
Excellent
17
Very good
2
Average
4
Poor
0
Terrible
0
blackeldo
Kiama, Australia2,230 contributions
Mar 2017 • Solo
…or THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE ROAD.
If I write a TRAVE GUIDE FOR THE KHANOM AREA I’m going to borrow from “THE HITCHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY” and call it “THE BICYCLIST’S GUIDE TO THE KHANOM AREA”. Similarly, the chapter on lovely little AO THONG YI/YEE I’ll call “THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE ROAD”. Maybe ADAMS’ “THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE” doesn’t need changing - this place is so isolated it feels like the end of the universe. In a nice sort of way.
GET IN. - take the coastal road from the intersection at the southern of long KHANOM BEACH* where it veers left-uphill – follow the coast behind a few small deserted beaches for about 3km and then drop to longer NAI PHLAO BCH (450M) past which the road gets hilly again thru a rainforest-meets-the-sea area. After 2.5km it ends** at THONG YI/YEE beach.
*See TRIPADVISOR’s separate page on KHANOM BEACH
WHAT’S THERE – a 400m bch, wider in the north, a bit narrow full tide other end. Sand white-yellow with a fairly steep profile. Overhang palms give a real tropical feel. The water deepens normally with a few submerged rocks. Stiff onshore easterly winds had a bit of chop working my visit but conditions reasonably pleasant. Beach backed by steep rainforested slopes.
3 other westerners were the only people – Id travelled 15km of coast in total and seen half a dozen folk – mostly Thai beachcombers and fishermen. The Thanon coast is way laid back.
Walk south at lower tide to 4 or 5 small strips of sand nestled between the rocks. Deserted. Someone down page says “FEEL LIKE ROBINSON CRUSOE”. Yep. To plagiarise JOSEPH CONRAD (in sticking with the literary pretentions of this page) – “LOST PARADISE”.
A budget resort and restaurant backs the beach in the south. I ordered lunch – menu the usual comprehensive affair of chicken everything, beef everything, seafood everything + plenty others. I always go with the chicken at quiet restaurants figuring most popular=freshest. I’m amazed how quickly meals arrive – taste and quantity okay, prices budget. Outlook from front tables over beach great.
Eat yer hearts out ZAPHOD BEEBLEBROX fans, I’m eating at THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE!
Slopes behind the beach have a rather nice DORM AREA. Dorms are scarce in Thailand where budget beach bungalows rule. Bet this one is popular with Thais on weekends and public holidays. So too the CAMPING area across the access road – not sure if it is BYO or they can supply a tent.
CAVEAT – this one would be great for western backpackers. But ACCESS is tricky – no buses or public songthaews (pickup- truck share-taxis) come down here. A motorbike taxi and a full size taxi 15km from Khanon town would be expensive. Best bet: a rental motorcycle but you need a proper backpack – BLACKELDO’s sports bag won’t cut it. Bicyclists with luggage will find those hills near the beach a bit trying.
**Actually only the PAVED PART of the coastal road ends at THONG YEE. A new rough dirt road has been graded along the mountainous coast to the northern-most of the SICHON AREA’s beaches. I didn’t take it being a bit bushed after 2 hours (71yo on a bicycle) and had a lot of hilly spots to check over the next 3 hours in the KHANOM area. I later kicked myself – didn’t make that part of SICHON when I stayed in the town a few days later.
Hope this info helps you plan your KHANNOM area visit, gang.
If I write a TRAVE GUIDE FOR THE KHANOM AREA I’m going to borrow from “THE HITCHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY” and call it “THE BICYCLIST’S GUIDE TO THE KHANOM AREA”. Similarly, the chapter on lovely little AO THONG YI/YEE I’ll call “THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE ROAD”. Maybe ADAMS’ “THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE” doesn’t need changing - this place is so isolated it feels like the end of the universe. In a nice sort of way.
GET IN. - take the coastal road from the intersection at the southern of long KHANOM BEACH* where it veers left-uphill – follow the coast behind a few small deserted beaches for about 3km and then drop to longer NAI PHLAO BCH (450M) past which the road gets hilly again thru a rainforest-meets-the-sea area. After 2.5km it ends** at THONG YI/YEE beach.
*See TRIPADVISOR’s separate page on KHANOM BEACH
WHAT’S THERE – a 400m bch, wider in the north, a bit narrow full tide other end. Sand white-yellow with a fairly steep profile. Overhang palms give a real tropical feel. The water deepens normally with a few submerged rocks. Stiff onshore easterly winds had a bit of chop working my visit but conditions reasonably pleasant. Beach backed by steep rainforested slopes.
3 other westerners were the only people – Id travelled 15km of coast in total and seen half a dozen folk – mostly Thai beachcombers and fishermen. The Thanon coast is way laid back.
Walk south at lower tide to 4 or 5 small strips of sand nestled between the rocks. Deserted. Someone down page says “FEEL LIKE ROBINSON CRUSOE”. Yep. To plagiarise JOSEPH CONRAD (in sticking with the literary pretentions of this page) – “LOST PARADISE”.
A budget resort and restaurant backs the beach in the south. I ordered lunch – menu the usual comprehensive affair of chicken everything, beef everything, seafood everything + plenty others. I always go with the chicken at quiet restaurants figuring most popular=freshest. I’m amazed how quickly meals arrive – taste and quantity okay, prices budget. Outlook from front tables over beach great.
Eat yer hearts out ZAPHOD BEEBLEBROX fans, I’m eating at THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE!
Slopes behind the beach have a rather nice DORM AREA. Dorms are scarce in Thailand where budget beach bungalows rule. Bet this one is popular with Thais on weekends and public holidays. So too the CAMPING area across the access road – not sure if it is BYO or they can supply a tent.
CAVEAT – this one would be great for western backpackers. But ACCESS is tricky – no buses or public songthaews (pickup- truck share-taxis) come down here. A motorbike taxi and a full size taxi 15km from Khanon town would be expensive. Best bet: a rental motorcycle but you need a proper backpack – BLACKELDO’s sports bag won’t cut it. Bicyclists with luggage will find those hills near the beach a bit trying.
**Actually only the PAVED PART of the coastal road ends at THONG YEE. A new rough dirt road has been graded along the mountainous coast to the northern-most of the SICHON AREA’s beaches. I didn’t take it being a bit bushed after 2 hours (71yo on a bicycle) and had a lot of hilly spots to check over the next 3 hours in the KHANOM area. I later kicked myself – didn’t make that part of SICHON when I stayed in the town a few days later.
Hope this info helps you plan your KHANNOM area visit, gang.
Written 8 May 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
AntonStroganov
26 contributions
Apr 2018 • Couples
very beautiful road and landscapes
on the way we met wild pigs - they were very afraid of us, I had to come to them with goodies next time to feed them
on the way we met wild pigs - they were very afraid of us, I had to come to them with goodies next time to feed them
Written 13 January 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
chocdikrab
Frankfurt, Germany3,452 contributions
Feb 2016 • Couples
ao thong was a recomment from the owner of our resort and so we took our motocicles after breakfast and went to the deep southend of khanom beach. maybe five kilometer southly from nai plao beach the beachroad ends directly on the beach of ao thong. there is located one single restaurant with camping place and thats all. some longtailboats were around, but no fishermen...also no tourists. this beach is the biggest one of a few beaches in that area. the other ones are smaller and interrupt with beautiful rockformations and they are located maybe 1 kilometer back the road to nai plao. because the main beach had no shadowzones during that daytime we decided to drive back one kilometer to see whats happen on the other beach sections.
we arrived after a few minutes and it was phantasic. a beautiful small sandy beach, big rocks were spread around. the vegetation in the back was wild and lush and one lonely privat house was located in the djungle nearby the road. we found a nice place in the shadow and stayed the whole day.
we had wind and high waves on that day and so we didn´t went into the water, but we saw that the beach doesn´t slope gently to the sea, because the waves broke very close to the beachside.
with the beginning of the lowtide we started a beachwalk over the sections of big rock to the other small untouched beaches of the area....all together we found 5 small beaches...one nicer than the other..pure...untouched...lonely.
because there is no beachbar it is necessary to bring drinks and food for own.
all the beachsection are natural beaches...that means stranded goods and plastic trash is around, but also beautiful shells to collect.
we can recomment ao thong and the small beaches in that area very much. we had a great day with robinson crusoe feeling and great views. when we are back in khanom we will be there again.
we arrived after a few minutes and it was phantasic. a beautiful small sandy beach, big rocks were spread around. the vegetation in the back was wild and lush and one lonely privat house was located in the djungle nearby the road. we found a nice place in the shadow and stayed the whole day.
we had wind and high waves on that day and so we didn´t went into the water, but we saw that the beach doesn´t slope gently to the sea, because the waves broke very close to the beachside.
with the beginning of the lowtide we started a beachwalk over the sections of big rock to the other small untouched beaches of the area....all together we found 5 small beaches...one nicer than the other..pure...untouched...lonely.
because there is no beachbar it is necessary to bring drinks and food for own.
all the beachsection are natural beaches...that means stranded goods and plastic trash is around, but also beautiful shells to collect.
we can recomment ao thong and the small beaches in that area very much. we had a great day with robinson crusoe feeling and great views. when we are back in khanom we will be there again.
Written 12 March 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Art M
Bangkok, Thailand262 contributions
Sept 2022
This beach is super natural. No tourist. No bangalow nor resort. Next time, I'll over-night at this beach. A full moon day should be best time.
Written 11 December 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Islander
Taling Ngam, Thailand26 contributions
Mar 2019 • Couples
This place is far from the mass of tourist! It’s still thailand back 20 years ago. The restaurant is really good.
Highly recommended if you don’t want to see too much people.
Highly recommended if you don’t want to see too much people.
Written 3 April 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Carola A
21 contributions
Mar 2019 • Couples
Have been visiting this beach / camping for some years. Always equally cozy. Do not recognize that it would be fate and junk. We were there in March 2019 and everything was as usual. A little more mess away from the farm than it usually is. Food and drinks were served at an incredibly cheap price. The beach outside is absolutely magical. The road there was an adventure this time as a new road is being built. Worth a visit. Don't like that there is a little monkey in chain at the house
Written 27 March 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
John K
Costa Mesa, CA2,444 contributions
Dec 2018 • Solo
This cute little beach looks like she used to be a paradise. Now just a ghost town. Remnants of a bar, restaurant, perhaps accommodation, it's hard to tell what used to happen down here. There are signs up indicating private property, but the one man I did see assured me that I could use the beach. What a lovely spot, but unfortunately covered with trash. I do recognize that the trash is just flotsam washed up from the gulf, and with nobody here to run the place, it also means there's nobody here to clean up. The road was in pretty bad shape, but construction crews were actively building debris barriers. This is a place where one can sit and enjoy some serious solitude.
Written 25 December 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Procol
Thailand2,196 contributions
Apr 2018 • Friends
lots of interesting rock features, but the rubbish so much rubbish, spoilt it somewhat, a nice walking beach but better up north
Written 7 May 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Florian B
Palma de Mallorca, Spain50 contributions
June 2017 • Solo
It is the last beach at the end of the road and the road to go there is quite adventurous. The beach is pretty and there are normally no people, however it is not cleaned often and therefore quite full of trash which is why I give only 3 stars.
Written 27 June 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Berit B
Bangkok, Thailand34 contributions
Nov 2016 • Couples
This is rustic and cool - so slow that the time might have stopped years ago. Beautiful and calm, with just one homestay/restaurant. If you can make them get up from their hammock that is ;)
Written 13 November 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Getting to Ao Thong from Surat Thani airport by car?
Written 6 April 2018
Showing results 1-1 of 1
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
*Likely to sell out: Based on Viator’s booking data and information from the provider from the past 30 days, it seems likely this experience will sell out through Viator, a Tripadvisor company.
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing