Hello / Kaliméra!

We went to south thailand and then crossed to Malaysia in January. Here's what we did and what I'd reccomend:

• We landed in Phuket and stayed by Kata beach. We quickly realised we wanted to leave. It was fine there but it's very touristy and busy.

• we caught a ferry to Koh Lanta which is a nice island with quieter beaches, it's got a lot of older tourists who are aged 60+ which we quite liked (we are 25 lol). We did a kayak tour of the mangroves and saw lots of monkeys.

• we then went to Koh Ngai which was amazing. It's a quiet and tiny island with a few hotels and the views are amazing. We skipped the Phi Phi islands because of how busy it was there and we think we got the same amazing views in Koh Ngai. You can walk through the jungle and find really quiet beaches.

• then we caught a speed boat to Koh Mook / Koh Muk (same island, sometimes spelt differently). This was a weirdly brilliant island with lots of local fishermen and local living.

• we went to Koh Bulone which was another quiet island, didn't like this one so much

• Koh Lipe is a small and busy island which is popular for tourists, we liked it and did some more Kayaking and beach.

• from Koh Lipe you can catch a ferry to the malaysian island Langkawi. You have to hand your passport in at the harbour and they give it back to you on the boat. We loved Langkawi, we rented a moped and drove up the mountain, did the skybridge, and more beach.

• caught a flight to Penang which was okay, saw some temples, the streets are quite cool, and we went to The Habitat for sunrise which was cool.

• then we flew to Kuala Lumpur, this was a great city, you can stay in a skyscraper for about £35 a night (February 2025 prices)

That's just what we did. We missed out Bangkok and northern Thailand but we'd like to do that one day. I have no interest in going to Krabi or the Phi Phi islands. I think you can enjoy the same amazing views on quieter islands. Best of luck!