experiences bailan beach koh chang thailand

Koh Chang: Beach Escapes under Falling Coconuts in Bailan Bay, Thailand

02/05/2016 by Piia | Ticket to Adventures 14 Comments

After spending the first 5 days of my Thailand island hopping adventures enjoying quiet beach life by blue lagoons and green mountains in the small village of Klong Prao in Koh Chang, next I decided to venture further south to the village of Bailan Bay on the west coast of Koh Chang.

Bailan Bay is a very sleepy little village, a true haven of peace and quiet for people like me who like things easy. There are some simple backpacker resorts but also a few more luxurious resorts. Jungle rises up steeply right behind the main road with monkeys playing around on the road side cables.

I had not booked accommodation in advance but intended to stay at Mercure Hideaway, one of the most luxurious resorts in the village. They had advertised accommodation for only 38 €/night on Hotels.com so I automatically thought that they had plenty of rooms available. When I arrived at the hotel I was disappointed to find out that they were fully booked. So off I went and shopped around for another hotel.

After walking around the village in the scorching sun dragging my suitcase behind me for an hour I eventually found a nice bungalow village, Elephant Bay Resort, right by the sea. They have a gorgeous green garden with a nice swimming pool, plenty of hammocks and abundant colourful tropical flowers.Every day I would spread my beach towel on the grass, read a book, take a nap in the hammock, just enjoy the sun and great views over the sea. I absolutely loved spending easy days in the garden! In the evenings it was absolutely perfect to watch the sun set from my bungalow terrace.The beach in Bailan Bay is quite short and fairly rocky, just like the beach in front of my hotel. However there is a stretch of fine white sand protected by a breakwater in front of the Mercure Hideaway. When I went to the beach for the first time I assumed it to be private but the beach is actually public and everyone is welcome.At the very southern end of the beach I found a secluded beach bar called Lisca Beach, a peaceful place to enjoy a cold mango smoothie under leafy trees and coconut palm trees. The best thing was that they do not even have WiFi at the bar (and they are very proud of it) so all you can do here is just unwind and forget the world. You may even get hit by falling coconuts, so mind your head.The village of Bailan is very quiet and sleepy. There is not much infrastructure at all, just a couple of simple and inexpensive Thai restaurants and a few shops to buy drinks and snacks along the main road. There is a cash point, but no banks or places to exchange currency. Most hotels and resorts have a restaurant but I always went up to the village for dinner. At restaurant Happy Turtle along the main road with a cooking school they really know how to cook delicious Thai food. The No Name Sea Food Restaurant by the sea was also a great place for dinner.

I was also extremely happy to find a place where to buy fresh fruits and fresh fruit juices in the village. This was at a small stand on the main road run by a Thai lady. Large fruit shakes cost just 40 baht and a bag of fresh fruit 25 baht. This place was very popular among locals and I became a regular too.