Four days in Krabi: a peninsula with no road to it

Land, find the beach, and do nothing much. Ao Nang beach runs north west to south east behind a row of restaurants, and the eastern half is the better swimming. Give the western end near the creek a miss entirely.

Late in the afternoon, walk to the far southern end of the beach and take the wooden walkway around the headland to Pai Plong. It is a small cove, five metres of sand at high tide, backed by a resort whose security guards will ask you to sign in. Sign in. Every beach in Thailand is public land and this one is worth the mild awkwardness: it is prettier than anything you can walk to in Ao Nang, and it faces the right way for sunset. The walkway is lit, so coming back after dark is easy.

Dinner is where Ao Nang is strong. The seafood places along the beach road charge beach road prices; a street back, the night markets do grilled fish, som tam and pad kaphrao for a third of that.

The Rai Leh peninsula is ten minutes south of Ao Nang by boat and there is no road to it. Limestone walls cut it off from the mainland completely, so the boats that leave from the end of the beach are the only way in, and that geography is the whole reason the place feels the way it does.

Boats land at Rai Leh West, a proper stretch of sand facing the sunset, backed by resorts. Walk the few minutes across the neck of the peninsula to Rai Leh East, which is mangrove rather than beach, then follow the path south to Phra Nang. That last one is the beach on the postcards: white sand under a huge limestone overhang, water the colour of a swimming pool, and a cave shrine at the end of it filled with carved wooden phalluses left as offerings by fishermen asking for a good catch and a safe return.

Above Rai Leh East a rope and mud scramble climbs to a viewpoint over both bays, and continues down into a hidden lagoon. It is short and it is genuinely steep, muddy in any weather, and not something to attempt in flip flops or with small children.

The cliffs here are one of the best known rock climbing spots in Asia, with hundreds of bolted routes above the beaches. Half day beginner courses run from the schools on the peninsula and from agencies in Ao Nang, and no experience is needed. Watch the macaques: they are bold, they open bags, and they are not friendly.

Inland, and early, because the main event is a staircase. Tiger Cave Temple sits against a forested hill a few kilometres from Krabi Town, and 1,237 concrete steps climb the rock face to a gilded Buddha and a shrine on the summit. It is a hard forty five minutes to an hour up, the steps are steep and uneven, and there is nowhere to buy water above the bottom. Go at seven, take a litre each, and stop when you need to. From the top the karst towers stand out of the flat green plain in every direction, which is the view that explains this province better than any beach does.

At the foot of the hill the temple itself spreads through the forest, with monks' huts, caves used for meditation, and a very large number of macaques who will take anything that is not held.

Then Krabi Town for the afternoon: a small working river port rather than a resort, which after Ao Nang is a relief. Wat Kaew Korawaram stands on a rise above the main street, white from top to bottom, reached by a naga staircase, and it takes twenty minutes to see properly.

Finish at the pier. A longtail runs out in about a quarter of an hour to Khao Kanab Nam, the two limestone rocks that stand in the river mouth and appear on every piece of provincial signage. There are caves in the base of them with steps cut up inside, and human remains found there are thought to be very old indeed.

Nopparat Thara is the beach immediately west of Ao Nang, and it is the better one: longer, quieter, backed by casuarina trees rather than restaurants, and protected as national park. A creek splits it in two, with the pier for speedboats and longtails at the divide.

Time it for low tide if you can. The water pulls back a long way and sandbars come up out of the sea, so you can walk out towards the islands offshore on wet sand, which is the sort of thing children remember for years.

Then the airport. It is about half an hour by road, or an hour on the shared bus that picks up along the beach road, and Krabi is a small enough airport that two hours before a domestic flight is generous.