Koh Lanta tide times

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived.

Model-derived from a global ocean grid. Useful indication; expect about ±45 minutes on average vs. a local harmonic gauge, individual stations vary widely. See /methodology for per-region detail. Not for navigation.

Conditions as of 05:00 local time. Refreshes daily.

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived. · Not for navigation.

The angler tradition for major/minor fishing windows: major ≈3-hour windows around moon transit and opposition; minor ≈2-hour windows around moonrise and moonset. Times are Asia/Bangkok local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Fri 08 May (range 1.3m). Next neap on Sun 10 May.

Spring tides cluster around new and full moons (biggest swings). Neap tides land on quarter moons (smallest swings). See the spring tide and neap tide glossary entries for the why.

Koh Lanta — properly Ko Lanta Yai, to distinguish it from the smaller Ko Lanta Noi to the north — is a long, thin island 27 km from end to end on Krabi Province's Andaman coast. The main tourist strip runs down the western coast from Klong Dao beach in the north to Klong Nin and Kantiang Bay in the south, a sequence of crescent beaches separated by low headlands and backed by the jungled interior hills. The east coast is mangrove and tidal flat, facing the narrow channel that separates the island from the mainland and the town of Baan Hua Hin; the main vehicle ferry crossing to the island and the National Park pier at the island's southern tip are on the east side. Ko Lanta Old Town — a Sino-Portuguese fishing village on the NE coast, 6 km from the main pier — has some of the most intact wooden shophouse architecture in southern Thailand, built on stilts over the tidal flat. The tidal regime at Koh Lanta is semidiurnal; spring range runs 2.5 m. The Andaman Sea's tidal character applies here as it does further north at Railay — two highs and two lows per day, pronounced spring-neap cycle, and a spring range large enough to change the visual character of every beach on the island. At Klong Dao, the main beach in the north, the low-tide sand flat exposes 60–80 m of firm sand at spring low water; the beach at high spring narrows to 20–30 m. The gradient at Klong Dao is gentle — beach walkers and joggers use the tidal flat at low water as a running surface. Long Beach (Hat Phra Ae), 4 km south of Klong Dao, has a steeper gradient and a more pronounced headland at the south end; at low spring, a rocky shelf below the headland exposes, and small tidal pools form in the limestone indentations. These pools are accessible for 1.5–2 hours either side of the predicted low. Klong Nin beach, further south, is narrower and more shaded by casuarina trees; the tidal exposure is similar to Klong Dao but the beach is shorter. Kantiang Bay, at the island's south end before the National Park boundary, is a sheltered horseshoe bay with the most consistent flat-calm conditions on the west coast — the headlands on both sides deflect the SW monsoon swell, making it swimmable even in October when the northern beaches are rough. The NE monsoon season (November through April) brings the dominant swell to the west coast. The swell track is northwest to west — arriving from the Andaman Sea across the full Indian Ocean fetch — and the west-facing beach at Klong Dao catches the cleanest lines of wind swell from late November through February. Heights at Klong Dao reach 0.5–1.0 m on persistent NE wind days; the beaches are swimmable but active, and paddleboarding and kayaking in open water should be limited to the sheltered northern end of each bay where the headland provides a lee. For snorkelling, the reef sites at Hin Daeng and Hin Muang (40 km offshore) are considered among the best in Thailand for pelagic encounters — both are seamounts rising from 70 m depth, accessible by day-trip liveaboard from Ko Lanta pier. The shallower reef at Koh Rok (20 km south) has consistent visibility in the dry season, best in the two hours either side of slack water. Ko Lanta National Park covers the southern third of the island. The park headquarters beach is accessible by road; the mangrove boardwalk on the east side of the park runs through a mature mangrove system where king cranes, purple herons, and mud skippers are visible at low tide. The tidal flat beside the boardwalk exposes fully at low spring, and the mangrove root systems and pneumatophores are exposed for 2–3 hours at low water — the best window for bird observation and photography. Ferry schedules from Ko Lanta pier to Ko Pha-ngan, Koh Samui, and Phuket run during the NE monsoon season (Nov–Apr); services thin or stop in the SW monsoon months. Tide predictions here are from Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model, accuracy ±45 min / ±0.2–0.3 m. Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) is the authoritative reference.