The Ultimate Beach Guide for Koh Chang, Thailand

Koh Chang

Most people’s dream vacation, including ours, involves an exotic tropical beach location or somewhere where you can relax in the warm sun with a beautiful backdrop. Having already spent almost a month and half on Koh Ta Kiev off the coast of Cambodia, we were ready to see some more of Southeast Asia’s beautiful islands and beaches. Koh Chang is located off the eastern gulf coast of Thailand and offers plenty of beaches for you to explore.

As beach lovers, we created the ultimate Koh Chang beach guide. Giving a breakdown of the nine Koh Chang beaches we visited during our week long stay at Koh Chang along with our list of pros and cons of each location to help you plan your stay.

Want more inspiration and useful info to help you plan your trip? Check out this planner for a great 3 weeks in Thailand itinerary!

Best Beaches on Koh Chang

White Sand Beach

White Sand Beach Koh Chang

White Sand Beach Koh ChangThis is the most popular and crowded of all of Koh Chang beaches. The town itself offers a variety of restaurants, stores, and pretty much anything you may need. Even for being “crowded” it wasn’t nearly as crowded as a Southern California beach during the summer time. This is a great spot for families as well and most accommodation here is mid range to high end.

Pros: Beautiful white sand and nice clear water to swim in.

Cons: The most crowded beach on the island.

Lonely BeachLonely Beach Koh Chang

Lonely Beach is definitely for the party crowd and younger scene. This is the backpacker mecca on the island due to its affordable prices. You can stay on the beach for a little more money, or stay in town for less. We stayed at Bamboo Cottage for 350 baht a night for a big bungalow. (we negotiated it down from 500 baht because we were staying a week) We were far enough away from Himmel Nightclub and Ting Tong, the two culprits for loud music until 6 am, that the music was faint enough that we slept right through it. If you are a sensitive sleeper make sure you are FAR away from these to places in town. This is also the place to go if you are looking for a tattoo, there are too many tattoo places to count.

Pros: The beach has nice clean water and sand. This beach also has a nice view of some smaller islands off the coast.

Cons: This is a party scene if you are looking for complete peace and quiet.

Long BeachLong Beach Koh Chang

Located on the more isolated side of the island and about an hour drive via motorbike lies the most remote beach on the island. The journey itself to get there is a rough one and not advised for those who are not experienced motorbike riders. The road is broken, windy, and rocky. But once you finally reach this end of the island you will really enjoy how peaceful it is. There is only one guest house over here that offers fair prices for food and drink. If you are an adventurer you can trek through the jungle a bit here. You can also see the fisherman village from this beach which is also worth a visit to Island View Resort for their mango fish entrée for two.

Pros: Absolutely beautiful and you feel removed from the rest of the island. Since there are no resorts the island is more natural looking here with palm trees everywhere. The water and sand are also really nice over here.

Cons: Trash from the ocean or other parts of the island wash up to the beach here which is unfortunate. The ride itself to Long Beach is also not for the faint of heart or for those who are new to riding motorbikes.

 Bang Bao

Bang Bao Beach Koh Chang

This was probably our favorite beach on Koh Chang. Like Long Beach, we felt more removed from the rest of the island down here. If you need anything you can go to the fisherman village and town, but we really enjoyed the view from the tiny bungalow resorts a bit further down the beach. We literally had the beach to ourselves and realized the bungalows were just as affordable as Lonely Beach. This is a great place for people who are on a budget who want to get away from the party scene. The beach was beautiful and the bungalows do not charge you to use their beach chairs. If we were to do Koh Chang again we would for sure stay here.

Pros: Gorgeous and a somewhat removed feeling from the rest of the island.

Cons: There are some rocks in parts of the water that can be annoying when trying to swim.

Kai Bae

Kai Bae Beach Koh Chang

Kai Bae is another popular resort town beach area between White Sand Beach and Lonely Beach. Also, the price for accommodation falls between the more expensive White Sand Beach and the affordable, cheap Lonely Beach. You can find places for 500 baht and this is a great place for people who like having a lot of options for food since the town is reasonable in size. We noticed the crowd was younger without as many families as White Sand Beach. Overall, we really liked the area and the beach was enjoyable and beautiful.

Pros: Good vibes here, pretty beach, and a younger, quiet crowd.

Cons: Some parts of the beach are rocky and have a lot of washed up seaweed. (Central parts of the beach were pretty clear)

Chang Noi (Siam Royal View Resort)

Siam Royal View Koh Chang

This private beach is located at the luxury condos and resort of Siam Royal View. We were not even sure if we were going to be able to drive through the gate, but we did! We were impressed with the accommodation here, but obviously, it was an astronomical amount of money to own a condo or stay here. The beach is absolutely gorgeous and the water was perfect. You have a beautiful view here and it’s a great place to go if you have a lot of money and or a family. You can’t help but love the dream vacation homes here and the private beach. We recommend checking out this secret Koh Chang beach, even if its only for the sunset.

Pros: Beautiful, secluded beach with perfect water to swim in.

Cons: SANDFLIES! Neither of us have experienced these little devils before and we paid for it. Make sure you have coconut oil or some sort of repellent here or you will regret it! These bites made mosquito bites seem like childs play.

Bailan Bay

Bailan Bay Koh Chang

Bailan-Bay-vert-looking-out-at-rocksThis beach town is located right past Lonely Beach and a great alternative to stay if you want to get away from the party crowd. Bailan is quiet, small, and a walking distance away from Lonely Beach if you need more variety in food or beaches. The rooms here are priced low to mid range and is family free. We saw people here of all ages enjoying the quiet, calm atmosphere.

 Pros: Quiet and small, not crowded.

Cons: Almost too small, there is only one decent area to swim and the other area is a bit rocky.

Chai Chet

Chai Chet Koh Chang

This beach is an easy one to miss unless you have a map and know which resorts connect to the beach. Not far from White Sand Beach this is a great, more quiet alternative to take your family. We liked the view from this beach. You can see a cluster of small islands out in the water and also the beautiful, green jungle mountains of Koh Chang from here. There are plenty of beach front bungalows or hotels to choose from here.

 Pros: Nice view of islands and mountains.

Cons: The water near the shore almost looked dirty because of black stuff washing up on shore.

Klong Prao

Klong Prao Koh Chang

This is another one of the Koh Chang beaches a the family vibe going on and another good alternative close to White Sand Beach. From here you have access to a lot of food and accommodation choices. This beach is also not a far trek to the Klong Plu waterfall. We liked Klong Prao beach and water here as well as the view of islands off the coast. If we had a family we would probably choose this beach.

 Pros: Nice sand and water here as well as a pretty view. Great family beach.

Cons: For us, too many families since we do not have kids!


What we liked most about the Koh Chang Beaches is that there really is a beach for anyone here. Whether you are a party goer, you have a family, or you are just a couple looking for some peace and quiet, there’s a beach for you here. We stayed at Lonely Beach for the budget prices on food and bungalows, but not for the party scene. If we had learned about Bang Bao earlier we probably would have stayed here instead for its more relaxed, quiet atmosphere. Either way you will have a trip of a lifetime enjoying the natural beauty of the island, delicious food, and your own bungalow steps away from the beach.

Check out this out if you want to know about the best beaches in Thailand or check out the best islands in Thailand to visit!

Think you can improve our Ultimate Koh Chang Beach Guide? Let us know in the comments below. We’d love your feedback.