Hat Bang Ben

Hat Bang Ben is the mainland headquarters of Laem Son National Park, a stretch of casuarina-backed sand in Kapoe district, roughly 60 km south of Ranong town. At 100 km, this is Thailand’s longest protected coastline, and Bang Ben is where the park’s rangers, camping ground and welfare shop are based — not a resort strip. A 200 THB park entry fee applies for foreign adults (100 THB for children), 40 THB for Thai adults (20 THB for children), collected at the checkpoint.

The beach itself runs long and mostly empty, backed by casuarina pines rather than the coconut palms typical further south. Waves are gentle — this coast faces a scatter of islands rather than open sea, so there’s rarely much swell. Offshore you can pick out Ko Kam and Ko Yipun on a clear day, with Ko Phayam visible further out; the islands are part of the same national park and reachable by longtail boat from piers near Ranong town, not from the beach itself. Mangrove channels thread inland from the shore, and the surrounding forest holds deer, monkeys and a healthy population of hornbills and other birdlife — expect to hear them more often than see them.

Watch out: we found no reliable source — not the park’s own pages, Wikipedia, or Thai-language travel sites — backing up the popular claim that wild elephants wander down to drink at this beach. If you’ve read that somewhere, treat it as unverified rather than a reason to plan your visit around a sighting.

Because it’s a working park headquarters rather than a beach resort, don’t expect beach bars or watersports rental here. What you get instead is quiet — outside Thai holiday weekends, it’s common to have long sections of sand to yourself. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami flattened the original park headquarters; what stands today was rebuilt afterwards, a detail worth knowing if you’re curious why the buildings look relatively new for a park established in the 1980s.

Insider Tip: Bring cash for the park entry fee and the welfare shop — there’s no ATM at the headquarters, and the nearest reliable one is back in Kapoe or Ranong town.

Rainy season (June-October) brings a lush, deep-green forest backdrop but can leave the access road muddy in places; dry season (November-April) gives easier driving and calmer seas if you’re planning to continue on to the islands by boat. Either way, allow half a day if you want to walk the beach, visit the HQ, and still have time to arrange onward island transport before the light goes.