Krabi is certainly a great destination for families visiting Thailand. Specifically, Ao Nang Beach has a variety of restaurants, markets, and entertainment venues to complement its peaceful beach and beautiful island hopping excursions. The Holiday Inn Krabi is in a great location to experience all that Krabi has to offer, as well as all of the resort amenities that you’d expect for a fun vacation.
The Hotel
The hotel is situated on the northern part of Ao Nang, and is about a 5-minute walk to the Landmark night market, and a 10-15 minute walk to the main Ao Nang beach area. The resort is basically divided into two sections. The first section has a building with rooms by the adults and couples pool, where people are typically lounging around and relaxing. The other building typically hosts families, and is next to the pool where activities take place. There’s also a children’s pool with 4 waterslides and shallow water (our 4 year old was tall enough to touch the bottom on her feet).
As is typical with Holiday Inn properties across the world, kids eat free at this resort as well (as long as an adult buys a meal as well). The InnAsia restaurant, located above the lobby, hosts delicious breakfast buffet, with a mix of Western, Thai, and Asian meal options. InnAsia also has lunch and dinner, and their Paneng Curry with Chicken is absolutely delicious!
The Holiday Inn Krabi also has a kids club and teen area. Parents can drop off kids ages 5 and up, and there are plenty of options to keep kids entertained. There’s a Lego table, plenty of board games, toy kitchens and play houses. There’s also a small structure with a slide and a ball pit, along with a reading area. Our kids enjoyed spending an hour or so a day there, since in reality they enjoyed the pools a lot more.
The Room
We stayed in the family suite, and honestly, it was one of our favorite rooms we’ve stayed in. The suite consists of two connecting rooms; one with a king size bed for us, and one with 2 beds for the kids. The kids room has a fun kids theme, as well as a bathroom sink that’s lower to the ground so younger kids can reach it. But our favorite feature by far was the access to the children’s pool! We were on the first floor, so the sliding doors in the back of each room opened up to a patio area with reclining seats and a dining table. The children’s pool was a few feet beyond it, so we could either work or relax in the patio while the kids splashed around and went down the water slides! So if you’re planning on booking a family suite, make sure you request one on the first floor (specifically room 5103 if possible), because having that access to the pool is completely worth it.
Things to Do In Krabi
Although the Holiday Inn Krabi offers plenty of entertainment options, themed dinner, and live music, there are plenty of other activities that are fun for the family. The first one we recommend is a longtail boat tour, which will take you island hopping across a few of the islands near Krabi. We booked a private longtail boat, which cost us $100 for about 5 hours, and we visited three islands as well as a beautiful lagoon. Depending on the time of day as well as the season, you may end up at one of these islands and have it all to yourself, which gives you plenty of space to run around, swim, and snorkel.
Another option is to take a longtail boat transfer to Railay beach, which take approximately 20 minutes and costs about $6 per person for a round trip. Railay beach has a long stretch of sandy beach to enjoy, as well as a main street full of dining options. You can easily spend all day at Railay beach and take the last longtail boat back at the end of the day just before sunset.
Aside from the beach, the Landmark night market has plenty of arts and crafts for sale, as well as authentic Thai street food dishes and seafood. There is live entertainment on many of the nights that the market runs, so you can enjoy a fun evening together. There are also a lot of Muay Thai arenas to watch a fight, as well as Cabaret shows, although I can’t vouch for how family-friendly these are since we didn’t go to them.
Ultimately, we had a great time in Krabi, and the Holiday Inn was a perfect location to be able to enjoy the pool, waterslides, beach, and other attractions that were a short walk away.
