Ao Phante Malaka

Ao Phante Malaka is the arrival point for Ko Tarutao, the ranger-run bay on the island’s northwest coast where the ferry from Pak Bara docks and Mu Ko Tarutao National Park’s headquarters sit under the jungle canopy. Entry to the park is 200 THB for foreign adults, 40 THB for Thai adults, collected on arrival; reach it only by boat, a crossing of roughly 1 to 1.5 hours across the Andaman Sea.

This isn’t a resort beach — it’s a working park headquarters, with a visitor centre, a small shop, a clinic, longtail boats for hire, and basic ranger-run accommodation and a campground rather than hotels or beach bars. The main draw right behind the visitor centre is Toe Boo cliff, a 114-metre limestone outcrop reached by a steep, roughly 500-metre trail through the jungle and up a series of stone-cut steps. The climb takes about 20 minutes and opens onto a view over Laem Chorakae and Tarutao’s inland mountains that’s worth the sweat.

Insider Tip: Hire a kayak or longtail at the visitor centre jetty and follow the Phante Malaka canal inland to Tham Chorakhe (Crocodile Cave), a roughly 300-metre limestone cave hung with stalactites, about 20 minutes upstream. It’s named for saltwater crocodiles once reported in the area, not for any you’re likely to see today.

Facilities stay deliberately basic. There’s no beachfront dining scene here — bring cash, sunscreen, and drinking water, and expect the same simple canteen-style food you’d find at any national park headquarters rather than the beach barbecues found on Thailand’s more developed islands.

Watch out: The park thins out considerably in the rainy season. Several outer areas close from around June through September and Ko Adang stays shut until the end of the year, and Pak Bara ferry departures can drop to a single trip a day, so island-hopping plans need more slack in the low season even though Tarutao’s own bay stays open.

Combine a visit with Tarutao National Park more broadly or the boat trip up to Tham Chorakhe, both reached from this same bay — and don’t expect the postcard sand and coral of Koh Tarutao’s outer islands here; this is the park’s jungle-and-limestone gateway, not its beach.