«The minibus will pick you up and take you to the pier» is the single vaguest line in a Krabi booking. There are several piers, they sit up to 18 km apart, and each one does a different job.
- What each Krabi pier is actually for
- Road distances from the airport, Krabi Town, Ao Nang and Klong Muang
- Where individual trips leave from, and at what time
- What a pick-up costs when you are not staying in Ao Nang
- Why Railay is a special case for every booking
Getting this wrong costs a boat, not a euro, because a morning departure does not wait.
Which piers does Krabi have, and how do they differ?
Below are the five starting points the operators and the pier guides name for this coast, and only one of them is a full passenger terminal.
| Pier | Where it is | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Klong Jilad | At the mouth of the Krabi river, some 4–5 km south of the centre of Krabi Town | The province's main passenger pier: a terminal with check-in, covered waiting areas and parking; ferries to Phuket, Phi Phi and Lanta leave from here |
| Nopparat Thara | West of Nopparat Thara beach, in the Ao Nang area | The main arrival point for Ao Nang; a small pier where boats tie up beside the sala, with the national park building alongside. Trips to Phi Phi leave from here, and in season to Lanta |
| Ao Nang beach | The beach strip itself | The starting point for longtails to the four islands and to Railay |
| Ao Nam Mao | East of Ao Nang | The main mainland gateway to Railay: longtails come in to the old pier, Pier No. 1. When the sea off Ao Nang is unsettled, Railay is reached this way, landing on Railay East |
| Railay West and Railay East | A peninsula with no road to it | Longtails from Ao Nang land straight onto the sand at Railay West; boats to Ao Nam Mao leave from Railay East |
One caution about the second row. Sources describe Nopparat Thara differently: one reference calls it a pier for day speedboats to Phi Phi only, while others sell a scheduled ferry from there and, in high season, a run to Lanta. The safe reading is the neutral one above. The description of Klong Jilad's terminal, likewise, comes from a transfer operator's own page rather than from a state source.
How far is the pier from where you are staying?
The kilometres below were computed with a routing engine on 5 September 2026; they are what actually decides whether a 07:45 departure is comfortable or tight.
| Route | km | Router estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Krabi airport (KBV) → Krabi Town | 12.7 | ~20 min |
| Krabi airport → Klong Jilad Pier | 15.6 | ~23 min |
| Krabi airport → Ao Nang beach | 28.7 | ~36 min |
| Krabi airport → Klong Muang | 40.1 | ~62 min |
| Krabi Town → Klong Jilad Pier | 3.8 | ~5 min |
| Krabi Town → Ao Nang | 15.0 | ~17 min |
| Ao Nang → Nopparat Thara Pier | 2.8 | ~3 min |
| Ao Nang → Ao Nam Mao Pier | 7.0 | ~15 min |
| Ao Nang → Klong Jilad Pier | 18.0 | ~21 min |
| Ao Nang → Klong Muang | 16.3 | ~33 min |
| Klong Muang → Nopparat Thara Pier | 13.2 | ~31 min |
Two lines in that table are worth reading twice. Klong Muang is 16.3 km from Ao Nang but the drive is estimated at half an hour, and from Klong Muang to the Nopparat Thara pier it is 13.2 km of roundabout road for about the same again — a beach that looks close to Ao Nang on a map is not close in the morning. Klong Jilad, meanwhile, is 3.8 km from the centre of Krabi Town and 18 km from Ao Nang: staying in town puts you next to the ferry pier and far from the longtails.
Distances and times: OSRM driving profile, computed from point coordinates on 5 September 2026. The kilometres are reliable; the times are the engine's estimate and do not know about traffic or road surface.
Where does your particular trip leave from?
The departure point is a property of the trip, not of the town, and the pages say so plainly.
| Trip and operator | Where it leaves from | Times the page gives |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Islands by longtail, Barracudas Tour | Ao Nang Pier | Departure 09:30, back 15:30 |
| Early Bird Phi Phi and the 4 Islands, Koh Tour | Nopparat Thara Pier, entering through the Welcome Gate | Railay guests board at the East Floating Pier between 06:50 and 07:10 |
| Koh Hong plus the 4 Islands, Krabi Ezy Trails | Ao Nang Pier | Departure about 07:45, pick-ups from 06:20 |
| Phi Phi by speedboat, Wangsai Speedboat | The operator's own Wangsai pier in Ao Nang | Round-trip transfer within the Krabi area included |
| Sunset cruise, Krabi Sea Cruise | Ao Nam Mao Pier | Departure 14:00; Railay guests collected by boat from Railay East at 14:30–14:45 |
| King Cruiser fun diving, Railay Dive Center | The centre on Railay West | Collection 08:30, drop-off 17:30 |
The Koh Tour Early Bird is the clearest example of why the pier matters: it leaves from Nopparat Thara through a named gate, while the Barracudas four-island day leaves from Ao Nang Pier and the Krabi Sea Cruise sunset trip from Ao Nam Mao, 7 km away in the other direction.
What does a pick-up cost if you are not in Ao Nang?
Ao Nang is the free zone almost everywhere; the price of everything else varies more than the distance does.
| Operator | Collected free from | What the other areas cost |
|---|---|---|
| Barracudas Tour | Anywhere in Ao Nang | Klong Muang, Tub Kaek and Krabi Town ฿100 (about $3) per person; Railay ฿200 per person and on the speedboat option only |
| Krabi Ezy Trails | Ao Nang, Klong Muang, Tubkaek, Ao Nam Mao and Krabi Town | No surcharge is listed for those areas |
| Koh Tour | Ao Nam Mao, Ao Nang, Klong Muang, Krabi Town and Tubkaek | Railay guests board at the pier instead of being driven |
| Krabi Vip Tour | Ao Nang | Krabi Town, Railay or Klong Muang ฿500 (about $14) per person |
| Thalassa Tour | Any hotel in Ao Nang | Railay ฿750 (about $21), Krabi Town and Klong Muang ฿1,100, Tup Kaek ฿1,300 — each covering one to three people, ฿100 per further person |
| Local Diving Krabi | The Ao Nang area | Krabi Town, Khlong Muang, Tub Kaek or Railay ฿400 (about $11) |
Compare the unit and not only the number. ฿100 (about $3) per person and ฿1,100 for a car that carries one to three people are different things: for two adults the first is ฿200 and the second ฿1,100, and for a family of four the ordering can flip. The Krabi Ezy Trails day and the Krabi Vip Tour small group both go to Hong and treat Klong Muang completely differently — free in one case, ฿500 per person in the other.
Important
the pick-up starts far earlier than the departure. On the Krabi Ezy Trails day the boat leaves around 07:45 and the cars begin collecting at 06:20 — an hour and a half of driving around before you see water. If you are staying in Klong Muang or Krabi Town, plan the evening before around that, not around the departure time printed on the ticket. Draw your cash on shore while you are at it: the nearest machine to the Ao Nang boats is in Ao Nang, about five minutes' walk from most hotels, and there are none on the islands.
What makes Railay a special case?
Railay is a peninsula cut off from the rest of the land by limestone walls: there is no road, and the only way in or out is by water. Longtails from Ao Nang land straight onto the sand at Railay West — there is no concrete pier there — while boats towards Ao Nam Mao leave from Railay East.
That shows up in every booking. Barracudas serves Railay at ฿200 (about $6) per person and only on its speedboat option; Koh Tour boards Railay guests at the East Floating Pier rather than driving them anywhere; Krabi Sea Cruise collects them by boat from Railay East. And The Dive Ao Nang states outright that it does not pick up on Railay or in Krabi Town at all.
There is also a weather route. When the sea off Ao Nang is unsettled, Railay is reached through Ao Nam Mao instead, landing on Railay East — worth knowing if a boat you expected on the west beach does not appear.
Questions people ask the day before
Can you reach Railay by road?
No. It is formally part of the mainland, but the limestone walls leave no road, and every arrival and departure is by boat — from Ao Nang to Railay West, or from Ao Nam Mao to Railay East.
How much time should you leave between the airport and a morning boat?
The routing engine puts the airport 28.7 km and about 36 minutes from Ao Nang, 15.6 km and about 23 minutes from the Klong Jilad pier, and 40.1 km and about an hour from Klong Muang — before traffic. Add the pick-up window, which can open an hour and a half before departure, and a same-morning arrival stops being realistic.
Departure points, pick-up windows and transfer surcharges — from the operators’ own pages, read on 5 September 2026. Pier roles, the Railay approach and the cash machine — a transfer operator’s guide to Krabi meeting points and a travel reference, read the same day; the roles of Nopparat Thara are given neutrally because those two sources disagree. Road distances and travel-time estimates — OSRM driving profile, calculated from coordinates on 5 September 2026: the kilometres are solid, the minutes are the engine’s estimate.
