ALPHA Hostel Cafe&Bar

The rooms at ALPHA Hostel Cafe&Bar range from single rooms with a private bathroom and a mountain or city view to dormitory rooms, one with a bunk bed and another with a balcony or terrace. Several rooms have air conditioning, a shower, hair dryer and toiletries, and some also have blackout curtains, a reading light or a dining table.

Free Wi-Fi is available in all rooms, and the public areas also have Wi-Fi, so guests can stay connected in their room or in the common spaces. Daily housekeeping is part of the service, and several rooms have linens and towels. Check-in runs from 14:00 to 20:00, and check-out is until 12:00.

Food and drink are available from a coffee shop and a bar, and there is a breakfast takeaway service as well as alternative meal arrangements. Tours and ticket services are available, and activities include snorkelling, diving, hiking and canoeing.

For day-to-day needs there is a laundry service and dry cleaning, daily housekeeping, lockers, and private check-in and check-out. Guests can also use an airport transfer and a shuttle service, car hire is offered, and free parking is available nearby, with bicycle parking too.

There is 24-hour security on the property, and English and Thai are spoken at the hostel. Breakfast takeaway and alternative meal arrangements mean that food can be arranged in more than one way.

Ao Nang is a busy beach town on the Andaman coast of Krabi province, with a long beach road lined with guesthouses, tour offices and small restaurants, and limestone cliffs rising behind the bay. Street-food stalls and massage shops fill the evenings along the road, so the area stays lively after dark. It is a good choice for travellers who want to be close to the boats that leave for the islands and the nearby cliffs.

Ao Nang Beach is 1.6 km from the hostel, and its pier is where longtail boats set off for Railay, a limestone peninsula 2.7 km away that is reached mainly by boat. Poda Island is another island trip from the same beach, and Mountain Buddha Temple is a Buddhist temple in the hills near the town. Tiger Cave Temple, a hillside temple complex, is 13.8 km away, and Krabi International Airport is 17.5 km away. The Hong Islands, a longer boat trip, are farther out.

A good day out is a boat trip to Railay or to Poda Island, followed by an evening along the beach road. Sea conditions around the islands can change during the rainy months, and that affects boat trips, so the choice of day can matter.