Laem Son National Park

Laem Son National Park protects roughly 100km of Andaman Sea coastline running from southern Ranong province down into Kuraburi district in neighbouring Phang Nga — Thailand’s longest single stretch of protected shoreline. It’s a separate park from Mu Ko Ranong National Park, which covers the smaller island group closer to Ranong town itself; Laem Son is the larger, mainland-and-islands park further south.

The park was established on 19 August 1983 and covers about 315 square kilometres of beach, mangrove, coral reef and lowland rainforest. Its mainland headquarters sits at Hat Bang Ben, a long casuarina-backed beach around 60km south of Ranong town, from where longtail boats run out to the park’s islands — among them Ko Kam Yai, Ko Kam Noi, Ko Khang Khao and Ko Kam Tok. The waters and mangroves here were designated a Ramsar wetland site in 2002, and the park recorded under 22,000 visitors in a recent year, low by the standards of Thailand’s better-known marine parks.

Beyond the mainland beach, the park’s islands vary in character: some carry fine white sand, while Ko Hin Ngam (“Pretty Stone Beach”) is known instead for smooth, rounded pebbles rather than sand. On a couple of the more remote islands, long-tailed macaques have been observed using stones as tools to crack open shellfish — an unusual documented behaviour for the species. Boat transfer times between islands and the mainland vary by weather and tide; there’s no fixed public ferry timetable, so visitors arrange trips through the park office or a local operator.

Insider Tip: Ask at the Hat Bang Ben office about which islands are running boats that day — conditions and demand both affect what’s realistically reachable, especially outside the November-April dry season.

Watch out: This is a working national park with basic facilities, not a resort island — bring cash, sun protection, and drinking water, since options for buying supplies thin out once you’re on the smaller islands.

Camping and simple bungalows are available at the Hat Bang Ben headquarters; a handful of independent beach bungalow operators sit nearby too. The park is reached by hired car or motorbike from Ranong, roughly an hour’s drive south — there’s no direct public bus to the entrance itself.