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Scubafish Dive Centre is open all year round, which means you can take a PADI Diving Course whenever you like in Lanta Old Town.

During the high season (November – April), Scubafish’s boats are moored in Kantiang Bay in the south of Ko Lanta, and during the low season (May – October) the dive boats depart from the pier in Lanta Old Town, making it really convenient if you plan to stay in Lanta Old Town during the summer months.

Ko Lanta is the best place to base yourself if you want to dive some of the top dive sites in Thailand. With spectacular reefs, unmatched marine diversity and great visibility, Ko Lanta offers the convenience of day-diving with the chance to enjoy the relaxed and laid back atmosphere of island life.

PADI 5-Star Dive Centre, Scubafish offers the full range of PADI Dive Courses from complete beginner through to professional Dive Instructor.

Courses start from Bubblemaker – for kids (1 Day Course, Age 8+), Discover Scuba Diving (1 Day Course, Age 10+) or the full PADI Open Water certification (3-4 Day Course, Age 10+) and go right up to a 6-8 week Divemaster Training Course or 2 week Dive Instructor Course (Age 18+).

You can even start your PADI Dive Course on-line to day!

For further information about staying in Lanta Old Town during low season (and why this is actually the best time to come), see Low Season? Not In Old Town.

Hammock House in Lanta Old Town is open all year. We invite you to come and take a look, and even test out, our large selection of unique, luxury, handmade hammocks, proudly woven by the Mlabri tribe of Thailand.

The Hammock House is home to the largest selection of quality hammocks in Thailand and is located in one of Old Town’s traditional wooden stilt houses, overlooking the sea.

With a Jumbo Hammock, it’s not only you who gets to relax, but also the manufacturer! Now, by making these quality hammocks, the Mlabri tribe have been able to establish financial independence within their home village. The project makes alternatives such as tough fieldwork or sweatshop labor unnecessary. Instead it has brought them healthcare and probably the first unemployment fund in Thailand. Positive products from and for positive people.

All our hammocks are hand-woven by the Mlabri tribe of northern Thailand.

Please visit www.jumbohammock.com for more information, prices or to order a hand-woven hammock.

The Royal Thai Government has announced that they will continue to issue tourist visas free of charge until at least March 2010. This is part of a continuing effort to attract tourist to the Kingdom and support the ailing tourism sector.

The free visas are available from all Thai embassies and consulates around the world and apply to the 60 day, single entry, visa (extendable for 1 month at 1900 THB).

All other visa types remain unchanged.

Whilst some of the resorts and restaurants on Lanta’s west coast have closed for the traditional ‘low’ season or summer months (May – October), Old Town continues as if nothing has changed.

The weather is generally fine with blue skies and hot sunshine, shops are open as usual, there are plenty of places to stay and things to do. Boat trips and tours are departing regularly from the pier.

Old Town can be found on the East coast of Ko Lanta and is about a 20 minute drive from Saladan in the north.

Lanta Old Town enjoys the best of the weather in Lanta, all year round. During the high season (the hottest months) there is a gentle breeze rolling in from the east, and during low season (May – October) any wind and rain tends to come from the west, so Old Town is naturally protected by its location on the east coast and the area around the pier forms a natural harbour. Many people choose to moor their boats in Old Town during the low season to take advantage of the calm seas and gentler weather. Continue reading →

The dates for the 2009 Laanta Lanta Festival have been announced as March 7th, 8th and 9th. This annual event is Held in Old Town and is a showcase for the diversity of the Islands inhabitants. Many food and beverage stalls, traditional arts and crafts. 2 large stages are built with nightly shows offering everything from traditional Sea Gypsy song and dance, to Reggae and Jazz!

Laanta Lanta Festival is an evening event that attracts people from all over the island and beyond, creating a party atmosphere throughout the whole town, an absolute ‘must do’.

Lanta Old Town’s preferred tour operator Lanta Longtail/Sun Island Tours are pleased to announce their brand new 42 hp turbo motor—and muffler for the 2009 high season. They probably have the quietest long tail boat on Ko Lanta. Outfitted with a lovely new canopy and cushions, it’s a very comfortable ride.

Well-stocked with ice-cold beer and fine Thai cuisine, this is 5 STAR LONGTAIL BOATING!

Open all year round, Lanta Longtail/Sun Island Tours offers authentic longtail boat trips to many Islands off Ko Lanta’s east coast, including Ko BuBu, Ko Talabeng and the famous Emerald Cave / Four Island Tour.

Come see why they are number one!
Call  +66 (0)87-891-6619

Orange House are offering Xmas dinners for private parties of 6-8 guests on their unique, over the sea, private dining deck. In Orange House style, you can expect this to be a huge ‘gut-busting’ meal of the highest quality. The menu includes roast turkey and/or roast beef, stuffing, roast potatoes, boiled potatoes, sausage wraps, 3 veg dishes, and of course ‘Orange House’ famous gravy. For dessert you can choose from Xmas pudding with cream, custard, or brandy butter, or cheese cake with blueberry topping and cream. Tea, coffee, fruit juice, water, soft drinks, and ‘reasonable’ quantities of beer and wine, are also included in the set price of 1250 baht / head.

Advanced booking is essential and a 50% deposit is required at the time of booking. Bookings are taken on a ‘first come first serve’ basis, so early booking is recommended to ensure you get the date you want. There is only 1 sitting per day, in the afternoon, or evening.

To book, call into Orange House or telephone Graeme on +66 (0)831 043 109.

The local authorities here in Old Town have just announced a ‘Loy Krathong’ festival.  Loy Krathong is an annual event celebrated in  the whole of Thailand which allows you to appease the spirits and to get rid of your bad luck all at the same time!

To do this you must set adrift a ‘Krathong’ which is an ornately decorated float made from a piece of banana tree (actually it’s not a tree, it’s a plant, hence banana plantation) this is then decorated with flowers, incense, money, bits of hair, fingernails, candles and stuff like that. The idea is that the ‘Krathong’ drifts with the wind or current and disappears along with all your bad luck! It is a very beautiful festival and this year, as a promotion of Thai culture and traditions, the powers that be are making a special event in Old Town, for Thais and tourists alike.

On November 12th, starting  around 4pm, there will be a parade through old town with displays of magnificent Krathongs and beautiful Thai ladies! this will be followed by a beauty pageant, a competition for the best Krathong, a competition for the best ideas for promotion and preserving this kind of Thai tradition, stage shows and, of course the launching of the krathongs.

In true ‘Old Town’ fashion, we expect this to be a really great event and we invite all of you to come along, with your ’krathongs’ (no Styrofoam please!) and enjoy it with us.

On October 11- 13, 2008 we celebrated the annual Vegetarian Festival with the local Chinese-Thai community. All local residents of Chinese ancestry observed a 3-day strictly vegetarian diet for the purposes of spiritual cleansing and merit making. Vegetarian food was prepared and eaten communally 3 times a day in a tent in front of the Chinese Temple. Everyone was invited to refrain from eating meat and join in the vegetarian meals for three days. On the last day, processions of worshippers paraded down the main road playing their drums and chanting. Later in the evening, worshippers engaged in a spiritual trance and walked barefoot over hot coals in front of the temple.

On the full moon night of Oct 14, 2008 we celebrated Loy Rua or also know as “Setting Adrift of the Chao Lay Boat”. This bi-annual animist festival takes place on Ko Lanta during full moon of the sixth and eleventh month in

the lunar calendar. This religious rite is performed by the Sea Gypsies (Chao Ley), who gather on the beach near Hua Laem in Lanta Old Town and Saladan. Two main music areas were set up. One with a large PA system featuring popular Thai music for dancing and the second under a “sala” where the Chao Lay men played traditional instruments and sang. We danced with the other partygoers to their famous “rong ngeng” Traditional Chao Ley folk music around the communally built boat to be set adrift at the first break of day.

Ferry timetable Phuket – Phi Phi – Lanta

Ko Lanta – Phi Phi (Price 400. -) Dep. Arr. 08.00 09.00

Phi Phi – Lanta (Price 400. -) Dep. Arr. 11.30 12.30

Phi Phi – Phuket (Price 500.-) Dep. Arr. 09.30 11.30/14.30 16.30

Phuket – Phi Phi (Price 500.-) Dep. Arr. 08.30 10.30/ 13.30 15.30