Krabi

It is attached to the mainland, but cliffs cut the road off, so boats are the only way in, fifteen minutes by longtail from Ao Nang or Ao Nam Mao. Hundreds of bolted climbing routes run up the walls, and in the morning people cross the sand carrying ropes.

It works more as a pier than as a beach. Island boats leave from here and tickets go by departure time at the booth mid-beach, the four-island run being the common one. Boats coming back late in the afternoon take the swell head on.

Three islands join by a sandbar when the tide drops and part again when it comes in. Go without knowing the tide and you will see nothing, so ask about low water when you book the boat. From the bar the two sides read as different colours.

It is 1,237 steps to the seated Buddha at the top. Almost nothing to sit on along the way, so allow an hour. Nothing is sold above, so buy water at the bottom. From the summit the towers scattered across the rice fields land in one view.

Twenty minutes of forest track brings you to a limestone pool you may swim in, while the Blue Pool above it is shut to swimmers for its spring water, so read the signs. The colour is deepest in the morning and clouds up when the afternoon crowd arrives.

Spring water runs down stepped limestone basins and people sit in the basins. It is around forty degrees, long enough in it makes you light-headed, and the way here is to cool off in the cold stream just below. The rock is slick, so keep your shoes on.

Two towers face each other like gateposts at the river mouth and boats pass between them. A quarter of an hour by longtail out of Chao Fa pier, and a sign in the cave marks where human bones were found. At low water you walk in to the deck at the cave mouth.

The name means the canal of two waters. Fresh water off the hills and salt water pushed in from the sea meet in the same channel, and where they divide rides up and down with the tide. A boardwalk loops it in half an hour, over water clear to the roots.

Rent a kayak into the mangrove channels and the cliffs close in on both sides into a narrow canyon. At high water you pass under an overhang; at low water mud shows and channels shut. Macaques go for whatever sits in the boat, so keep bags out of sight.

Friday to Sunday on the riverside square. Tables sit in the middle and you eat what you bought from the ring of stalls around them, so claim a seat first. On nights when the stage has singers it is too loud for conversation.

A cluster of limestone islands north of Ao Nang, the main one hollowed into a cliff-ringed lagoon. At low tide the boats cannot get into the lagoon, so you switch to a kayak. The stairs to the viewpoint behind the island are steep and take about 30 minutes.

About 20 minutes by longtail off Ao Nang, an island with a pointed rock stack rising just off its beach. Every four-islands tour calls here, so at midday the boats queue along the shore. A national park fee is paid on landing.

A trail some 20 minutes' drive from Ao Nang ends at a rock lip jutting into empty air. Expect two-plus hours of forest climbing on rock slick enough to need trainers. Plenty of walkers leave before sunrise, beating the worst of the sun.

A temple on a rise in Krabi Town, its white ordination hall hard to miss. Naga serpents ride down both balustrades of the stairs. Being right in the centre, it slots in easily before the night market.

In forest near Ao Luek, springwater pushes up from under the limestone into green pools. The pools are chilly and shallow, and local children wade in every weekend. Kayaks set off nearby through mangrove channels to caves with ancient paintings.

A shore where freshwater snail shells have hardened into broad slabs of rock. The slabs tilt toward the sea and run on under the water. Go at low tide, when the grain of the slabs shows.