Looking for some Thailand beta.

My wife and I are in the process of planning a trip to Thailand in February and we're looking for some beta.

The current plan is that we'll arrive in Thailand on Feb. 11th and we'll fly out on the 22nd. We're obviously looking at Railay for a chunk of time, but we're also considering a few days in Ko Phi Phi. We'll be with another non-climbing couple from the 11th until the 16th, so ideally we'd like to spend that time in a place that's both exciting for them and has enough climbing to keep us interested. Would Ko Phi Phi fit that bill (for 5-6 days), or would we be better off spending more time in the Railay areas with only a few days in Ko Phi Phi? They're flying out of Phuket on the 16th, so Ko Phi Phi could be convenient as there's a ferry to Phuket.

I have a few 12s under my belt and my wife isn't that far behind, so 11's to mid 12s is probably the sweet spot in terms of grade.

Any information would be greatly appreciated, including any accommodation tips that you guys might have!

Thanks!
- Ian

Railay/Tonsai is beautiful and Railay is full of non climbers. There is plenty to do there for non climbers. Well, not plenty, but enough for 3 days I guess. It is a bit isolated from shopping, or even culture, but if they like snorkeling, sunbathing, swimming, kayaking....they can stay occupied for days. The climbing at Railay is much more plentiful than Phi Phi. Another option is Chiang Mai, which has some fun climbing and a lot of accessible culture, and it's inexpensive.

I didn't have the time to go to pee pee island, but i have heard that it's one of the most beautiful places to scuba in SE Asia. Tonsai is definitely a climber's paradise, but it's a little--how do I say-- unkempt and hippy. Railay is much more clean and you'll see a good number of more wealthier Euro sunbathers and such. Ko Phi Phi is a much more touristy place,so that may be the best option. I don't know your budget, so do what you can.

Look into Koh Lao Liang. A little bit of a trek to get there, but absolutely worth it. Island paradise with climbing, snorkeling, kayaking, and a 50 person max on the island at a time. Feel free to PM for more details.

Hey, I went to ko phi phi for 5 days before heading to Tonsai. The climbing in phi phi is really not anywhere near as good as Tonsai. This is definitely the climb you want to do: mountainproject.com/v/rev-d…
You've heard of soft Tonsai grades? Get ready for even softer ones there. Overall, it is fun, there's no one around, and scenic. But, you better like drinking and beaches or phi phi will get old fast. Worth a visit, but maybe with the limited time you have, you'll have more fun in Tonsai.

Thanks guys!

Keith Earley wrote:Tonsai is definitely a climber's paradise, but it's a little--how do I say-- unkempt and hippy. Railay is much more clean and you'll see a good number of more wealthier Euro sunbathers and such. Ko Phi Phi is a much more touristy place,so that may be the best option. I don't know your budget, so do what you can.

We were planning on staying in West Railay instead of Tonsai or East Railay as I heard it was nicer. Our budget isn't outrageous, but it looks like we could still be pretty comfortable in West Railay (let's say max $150/night). You can walk from Railay to Tonsai easily enough though, right? A couple miles or so?

Joe Kreidel wrote:Look into Koh Lao Liang. A little bit of a trek to get there, but absolutely worth it. Island paradise with climbing, snorkeling, kayaking, and a 50 person max on the island at a time. Feel free to PM for more details.

That certainly sounds appealing. Expect a PM from me shortly!

burado wrote:This is definitely the climb you want to do: mountainproject.com/v/rev-d… You've heard of soft Tonsai grades? Get ready for even softer ones there. Overall, it is fun, there's no one around, and scenic. But, you better like drinking and beaches or phi phi will get old fast. Worth a visit, but maybe with the limited time you have, you'll have more fun in Tonsai.

That climb looks awesome! Is that the only route to the summit? How soft are we talking about here? My only limestone experience so far has been around home...Shelf, Lander, and Ten Sleep, with Great White Behemoth at Ten Sleep probably being my stiffest send for reference (12b, 6 attempts). Are the higher grades generally just steep jug hauls, or are there pretty technical faces (so I know what to train for the next couple months).

The walk from Railey to Tonsai is pretty short and there's two trails (actually three, but the third isn't worth it) to get there depending on the tide. If I remember right it might be about a 20 minute hike? And beware if the tide is high, since you're going to get wet when you get close to Tonsai. You also can take a longtail between the two, which is also dependent on the tide. Oh yeah, also be ready to wade a bit out to your longtails. My one friend failed to mention that to us before we got there...

Tonsai's a little less fancy, but there are still one or two nicer hotels. My friend and I stayed at one of these hotels on the off season for about $50 a night. The room was similar to a nice-ish room you can get in the US and we also had air conditioning and warm water (and a pool!).

And I noticed burado is from Japan, but if you've done a lot of climbing in the Colorado area, I would say that the grades are pretty comparable to what you've climbed (Shelf and Ten Sleep), since we're pretty soft here. And as for the type of climbing, if you climb around Tonsai I would focus mostly on training for overhanging routes, which I pretty much think applies to all grades in the area.

I also meant to travel around Thailand a bit more than I did. I went directly to Tonsai from the airport and just couldn't leave. I think that had to be the running joke for everyone who visited. You would keep running into people who you thought left the day before.