Sailing Cruises
| Price Range: | 1000 U$ – unlimited |
| Duration: | 3 days to several weeks |
| Experience: | ☆☆☆☆☆ |
How to get there
Most boats leave from Kaw Thaung, guests will be picked up in Ranong and transferred straight to their boat at Kaw Thaung after clearing Thai Immigrations. Myanmar immigration procedures will be finished on the cruise vessel. After the cruise, procedures will be the same reversed, so choosing Phuket as an international fly-in, fly-out option is the most convenient entry and exit point for this kind of travel option.
Hotels
The most classic way of spending holidays, just staying in a hotel, is the most undeveloped option in the Mergui Archipelago. Although several new resorts are in the stage of planning and construction of new facilities have begun on two of the islands, there are currently only two hotels in the whole Mergui-Archipelago.
The Andaman Club
| Price Range: | from 60,- U$ |
| Duration: | 1 day to several weeks |
| Experience: | ☆ |
Next to pool and lounge areas, the Andaman Club offers a Casino and high class cuisine. The only downside of it is the small distance from the mainland, so neither do visitors get to see the vastness of the Archipelago. Also the water quality on the small beach is, due to it’s position right at the outflow of the big Kyan river, not what one would expect from a high class tropical holiday destination.
Myanmar Andaman Resort
| Price Range: | from 500,- U$ |
| Duration: | 3 days to several weeks |
| Experience: | ☆☆☆ |
How to get there
Both hotels offer boat transfers from and to Ranong, Thailand. The Andaman Club is serviced daily, The Myanmar Andaman Resort on McLeod Island offers speedboat transfers every Wednesdays and Saturdays – these are also the designated check-in and check-out days. Individual transfers to and from McLeod can be organised but are quite costly.
Diving Safaris
| Price Range: | 750 – 3000,- U$ |
| Duration: | 3-8 days |
| Experience: | ☆☆☆☆☆ |
How to get there
Most of the diving cruises start in Thailand, mainly in Khao Lak, 40 minutes north of Phuket Airport. Khao Lak has decades of history in the diving industry, so the divecenters operating from there can be regarded as safe, experienced and well-equipped. Three budget divecenters are operating straight from Ranong and can offer a lot lower prices than their higher quality competition from Khao Lak. Leaving from Ranong saves quite some fuel, on the other hand, a diving safari from Khao Lak to Myanmar mostly includes three of the best dive-sites in Thailand, which the Ranong operators don’t offer in their schedules. People on a medium or high travel budget are definitely better off in Khao Lak. It is a true holiday destination in itself, offering miles of beach, stunning jungle covered mountains, a fully developed infrastructure and plenty of interesting accommodation across the full price range.
Ranong is a typical authentic Thai border- and harbourtown. The scene is dominated by a lively boatbuilding-, trade- and fishing-industry. The sea roars of boat engines and the next beautiful beach is miles away. One hour by speedboat away is the lovely Koh Payam, maybe the best place to spend a couple of days in this area. Ranong has plenty of hotels and guest houses to stay a night in.