Ban Kai Beach

Loosely translated, Ban Kai means "camping village", named for the days when gold miners used to spend their nights here. While you won't find any gold these days, the area still maintains a quiet and rustic camping feel. A creek breaks the beach and sets the border between Ban Kai and Ban Tai. While there can be a fair amount of rubbish and debris around the creek, most of the beach is very clean and quite lovely. The sand is a bit rough and the beach narrow in some spots, especially to the far east where it peters out at the small rocky headland at Gold Beach Resort. The sea here descends slowly and the seafloor is smooth, so the swimming is decent but shallow.

Long stretches of palm grove and open space lie between many setups, so it feels much more isolated than it really is being so close to Haad Rin. The options are mostly very basic, popular among mellower backpackers, although nights can get a bit rowdier than the other beaches along here due to the predominantly younger crowd. There are a lot of very friendly and chilled spots to stay along Ban Kai, so it's a good choice if you want tranquility by day and a little more action at night without leaving the vicinity of the major centres of the island.