Last updated on January 14th, 2024 at 02:45 pm
Most people simply travel through Ranong on their way to Koh Phayam without even spending a couple of hours there, which in our opinion is a mistake and here’s why:
Step one in having a nice stay in Ranong: go to Lanna House Ranong and enjoy the delicious northern Thai food served there. While you’re at it, chat a bit with the owner, Micheal, and then, just follow his advise. Done. That’s it. You will be having a good time. End of story.
You’re still here? Ok, fine, I will tell you more about what we did. Mind you, I still strongly recommend following step one though. Micheals English is probably better than ours so we had an easy time talking to him. As vegetarians we occasionally have trouble communicating with the locals and getting our food meet free, especially since there often aren’t any obviously vegetarian dishes on the menu. So when we asked him, what we could have, he pointed us to three vegetarian dishes, he has on his menu, and offered to cook up a vegetarian version of something else, that he occasionally makes for himself, but hasn’t served anyone yet (Khao Soy). It was phenomenally good and since we had already started talking, he gave us some advise on Ranong:
- Stay there for a maximum of four days. It is a small town, with little to do and longer stays would probably result in boredom.
- Go to Raksa Warin Hot Spring. This is the hot spring the locals go to and opposed to the more touristy ones farther out, you can simply walk there. There is actually three possibilities to access the water there, the first you will see is run by the government and free, however, you have to sign some paperwork and they do not want you to leave the place wet, so you better bring a towel and something to change. Then there is the public one, which is also free. This is the one we chose to dip our feet in, for more the water is a bit shallow, even though some locals were laying down in there (the water is really hot, I can’t help but wonder if their skin is made of stone or something, i couldn’t have done that). The third option is to pay an entry fee of 50baht (about 1,5€) for the private one. He actually recommended that one – less people, you get a towel and noone cares if you leave wet. A note to all the ladies out there – you do not go to the hot spring in a bikini or bathing suit. Actually, the local women all wore shirts and trousers, and also the men wore shorts that go at least down to their knees and only the occasional rebel dared go without shirt. This is also true for swimming in the nearby river.
- Visit the Mangrove in the City. It’s in the middle of the city and hardly anyone goes there. It’s free and nice for a walk in the shade.
3 additional recommended things, that we didn’t have the time to do:
- 100 Years Thein Suek House
- Residence of the Governor of Ranong
- Go for a hike in the area, e.g. to the Sip Hok Rang Waterfall (leave Ranong on the big road leading south, then take a tiny road right after the hospital and follow the trail next to the river until it ends, for the last bit, you have to walk in the river)
So this was our short but worthwhile stay in Ranong, we hope you enjoyed reading about it! Feel free to leave a comment below and let us know, if you’d visit Ranong should you be in the area! xxx
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