Bang Tao
Bay is a large bay which is made up of three beaches: Bang
Tao Beach, Lay Phang Beach (pronounced like the "pong" in
"ping pong"), and Layan Beach.
The whole bay will take you at least an hour to walk its
full length - usually more like 90 minutes. It is a
beautiful area - great for an early morning walk. Look for
the Brahminy Kites that soar off the beach front at sunrise
and sunset.
The far northern end of the bay is called Layan Beach.
Soft white powder sand. Largely undeveloped - but it is
coming! There is a small excellent restaurant and some
chairs and umbrellas in this area. This beach is about a 20
minute walk from the Laguna area. During high season you
will often find sand dollars on the beach.
The north central
part of the beach (no one is exactly sure where the line is)
is called Lay Phang Beach. Roughly the beach front in the
Banyan Tree Resort area. This is the area where the beach
shack restaurants begin to proliferate. From there south, it
is impossible to go hungry!
Bang Tao Beach -
is everything south of Lay Phang, probably about 50% of the
bay area. Not all of the beachfront is developed - though
some day we can guess it might be. There are still
stretches of native beach peppered with small thatched
restaurants and bars. Thailand - the way we all love it!
