We were excited to hike to “the most beautiful beach on the island” Bottle Beach, but we realized the directions we had found online were from Chaloklum, not from Thong Nai Pan Noi where we are staying.
So here are our directions 🙂
From the little town at Thong Nai Pan Noi, we headed out for the main road coming in to the beach (so going away from the town and beach). As you leave town the road curves to the right then there’s a steep-looking but mild hill. Go up it.
The road that crosses goes to Thong Nai Pan Yai to the left (I think), and to go to Bottle Beach you turn right. This paved road is yet another hill, going northwest I think. Keep a lookout for a dirt road on your right nearing the top of a hill as the road curves to the left. After a sign for Great Escapes Chalets.
We heard from the guy working at our bungalows it would be a 90 min walk, and from a European girl working at other bungalows it would be a 45 min walk. For us it ended up being a 105 minute walk…but I (Sammy) was sick with a cold so maybe that slowed us down. It was great though and worth it, for the beach and for the exercise.
Instead of saying Bottle Beach, a little sign at the dirt road turnoff said Haad Khuad Resort 3km — Haad Khuad is the Thai name for Bottle Beach. So we turned right there and from there on out followed signs for Haad Khuad Resort. About 1km down this dirt road (passing houses and chickens!) there will be a turnoff to the left, a steep sort of treacherous-looking dirt road with another sign for Haad Khuad Resort 2km. That’s where you’ll go.
This road was steep, rutted with the last rain’s erosion and kind of slip-slidey. We were wearing sneakers, it would not be impossible but not that fun in flip flops. There were scooters parked by the side of the road, riders who had abandoned them to walk instead. I would never take a scooter down (or up) this road!
Anyway, you go down this steep curvy treacherous road for 2km, and at the end you get to some dilapidated bungalows and a house, and you’re there. There’s a sign that says Bottle Beach, and either way at the fork gets you there. We just followed signs for Haad Khuad Resort for consistency, but there’s Bottle Beach II as well. This is as of July 2016, who knows what development will come in the future.
The beach was great, but has not many shady trees to sit under like our little bay at Thong Nai Pan Noi. We probably still think Zen Beach is the prettiest–quiet, shallow, super picturesque. And there’s constant longtail boat taxi traffic on Bottle Beach, as really the easiest way to get there is by boat. Lucky for us, we got to take one of those boats back as we were too hot and tired to hike back. I actually never intended to hike back, since I knew I wanted to take one of those cool boat taxis at some point during our stay here. The boat ride was awesome, about 15 min and 600 baht (~$17-$23…they make a killing off these trips!) and we got to see the beautiful rocks of the beachless coastline.
All in all a great day!
Happy hour back in Thong Nai Pan