Ko Lanta Eastern Islands - Ko Bubu & Talabeng
The islands off the east side of Ko Lanta are not nearly as well visited as popular spots such as Ko Rok and Ko Hai, but are no less impressive. They are a lot closer as well, typically taking around 30 minutes to get to Ko Bubu from Old Town.
The water here is not suitable for snorkeling – it can be quite cloudy, the main attractions are the pristine beach around Ko Bubu, the huge limestone mountain island that is Ko Talabeng, with its enormous sea cave, and some smaller uninhabited islands in between, all of which we can visit on your private longtail trip.
Ko Bubu
Koh Bu Bu is a small island with tropical jungle and rainforest with a beautiful soft sandy beach on the south side. In high season there’s a small private resort with a few bungalows, restaurant and bar available. This is a great spot to stop and relax on the beach for a while. There’s plenty of shade provided by the large tropical trees hanging over the beach. Apart from a few people staying at the small resort, there’s a good chance you and your group will have most of this pristine tropical paradise island to yourselves.
Ko Talabeng
Ko Talabeng is a large mountainous island north of Ko Bubu. massive vertical cliffs go straight down into the water. Surrounding the island, there’s pockets where the water is very shallow, and at low tide some beaches are exposed. There’s a small hidden beach in an inlet that we often stop for lunch. There’s a group of very inquisitive macaque monkey’s that live around the beach, making for some fun photo opportunities.
Ko Talabeng also has an enormous sea cave, which can be easily entered. Inside is a huge limestone cathedral, with the cave ceiling high above you, and stalactites and other rock formations created by 1000’s of years of water dripping through the cave. There’s a huge pillar in the middle of the cave hanging down from the ceiling that over millennia the ocean has eroded the base so it no longer joins with the cave floor.
DON’T MISS – inside the Ko Talabeng sea cave there is another, “secret” cave. There is a ladder made of car tires that takes you up the rear wall of the main cave into a much larger cave system – its hidden behind a wall of stalactites. Ask the boat captain if you want to visit the “secret” cave and one of the boat crew will take you inside. Note this is a steep climb and the inside of the secret cave has no natural light – your guide will provide a torch.
Koh Phee
Koh Phee, aka “Skull Island”, or Koh Daeng (The Red Island) is a small rocky pinnacle north of Ko Talabeng. The island has eroded into a series of caves that from the outside look like a skull. Its possible to climb up inside the cave and actually get up into the “eyes” of the skull. You will have to be quite fit and sure-footed to climb to the higher points of the cave, it involves quite a lot of scrambling around, with some ladders and ropes fixed to the steeper parts.
Other islands.
On your private longtail trip, be sure to ask your captain for recommendations – there’s a few other small islands between Bubu and Talabeng which are all uninhabited, and we are happy to moor up on these islands so you can explore them at your leisure.
| Travel time 45 minutes |
| Hotel / Resort pickup |
| Lunch included |
| Water included |
| Fruit included |
| Snorkels and masks included |
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View our other destinations
Ko Kradan
Ko Rok
