Where is Koh Lipe? Location, history and the Urak Lawoi

Where is Koh Lipe?

Koh Lipe is in Satun Province, which lies on the shore of the Andaman Sea³ in southern Thailand. Here’s how far the island is from the places you’re most likely to set off from:

From	Distance	Boat time
Langkawi (Malaysia)	50 km¹	about 1.5 hours¹
Pak Bara (Thai mainland)	67 km¹	about 1.5 hours¹
Phuket	200 km¹	5 hours¹

Koh Lipe lies directly south of the larger islands Ko Adang and Ko Rawi, in the Adang-Rawi Archipelago of the Strait of Malacca². Boats, fares and timetables are on how to get to Koh Lipe.

View over a Koh Lipe beach and sandbar towards Koh Adang

Koh Lipe is small, though Wikipedia can’t agree with itself on how small: its island article gives 2 km²², and its Tarutao park article says about 4 km²⁴. The name comes from the Malay Pulau Nipis, meaning “thin island”².

Is Koh Lipe in a national park?

Sources disagree on whether Koh Lipe is inside Tarutao National Marine Park, so be wary of any flat answer. Here’s where each one puts it:

Inside: Koh Lipe is part of Tarutao National Marine Park⁵, according to Thai National Parks.
On the edge: Koh Lipe is on the border of the park², says Wikipedia.
Outside: Lipe is outside the park’s jurisdiction, which is why building is allowed there⁵, says Wikivoyage.

The park around the island is not in doubt. Tarutao became Thailand’s second marine national park on 19 April 1974, and its 51 islands⁴ fall into two groups: Tarutao to the east and Adang-Rawi to the west⁵.

What it means for you:

The park fee is 200 baht for adults and 100 baht for children aged 3 to 14⁵ (checked October 2026), due on first entry to Koh Lipe and valid for 5 days⁶.
Koh Lipe itself is open to tourists all year, but the Adang-Rawi islands around it have closed from 16 May to 14 October in past years⁷. Read Koh Lipe weather by month before a monsoon trip.

What Koh Lipe is known for

Koh Lipe lives mostly off tourism, mainly thanks to its white sandy beaches and scuba diving². Most visitors come for some mix of these:

The beaches: three main ones, Sunset Beach (Hat Pramong), Sunrise Beach (Hat Chao Ley) and Pattaya Beach². Compare them on Koh Lipe’s beaches.
The reefs: boat trips to nearby islands and reefs such as Ko Usen and Ko Kra². Sites and prices are on snorkelling and diving on Koh Lipe.
Evenings out: drinks and fresh seafood on Walking Street².

Who are the Urak Lawoi?

The Urak Lawoi are a group of Malay-speaking sea people who first settled Koh Lipe². They also live on Phuket, Phi Phi, Jum, Lanta, Bulon, Lipe and Adang, and about 6,000 of them speak a language close to Malay but influenced by Thai⁸.

Koh Lipe is home to about 500 Urak Lawoi, called chao leh in Thai and orang laut in Malay¹, by Wikivoyage’s count. Their villages are mostly on the far east side of the island, near Sunrise Beach¹.

Beliefs: Wikivoyage describes animist beliefs in the spirits of their ancestors, the island and the sea¹.
Festival: the boat-floating ceremony is held twice a year, typically in May and November⁹, a 3-day festival called pla juk or loy rua¹.

You’ll also see “sea gypsies” in older guides. Chao Leh and Orang Laut aren’t insults, writes David Luekens of Thai Island Quest, but the Urak Lawoi he knows prefer their own name for themselves¹⁰. This guide uses it.

The land dispute on Koh Lipe

To stop Malaysian encroachment, the Urak Lawoi were granted half of the island¹, says Wikivoyage. Yet 125 families, half of the Urak Lawoi community on Lipe, had lost legal title to their land⁸, according to Wikipedia.

The same Wikipedia article says the Urak Lawoi have largely not gained from the tourism boom⁸, and its Koh Lipe article says many developers have built resorts on national park land².

If you’d like your money to reach Urak Lawoi families, start here:

Sanom Beach Lipe Resort: the owner says her family are Urak Lawoi born on Koh Lipe¹¹.
Daya Resort: its seafood restaurant is run by a local Chao Ley fishing family¹.

More stays are on where to stay on Koh Lipe.

A short history of Koh Lipe

Koh Lipe’s story runs from a sea people’s settlement to a resort island. The dates come from Wikipedia, Wikivoyage and Thai Island Quest, and where they differ, the table says so.

When	What happened
Late 1800s¹	Many Urak Lawoi fled when the Dutch mistook them for pirates¹
Around 1910¹⁰	The Urak Lawoi are thought to have first settled the then uninhabited Butang archipelago, Lipe included¹⁰
1974¹⁰	Thailand claims the whole archipelago by setting up Mu Ko Tarutao National Park¹⁰ (Wikivoyage gives 1973¹)
1982⁴	Tarutao is listed as one of the original ASEAN Heritage Parks⁴
1980s¹	Money (currency) reaches the island¹
1984¹⁰	The first “resort” opens, run by an Urak Lawoi village headman on Patay Panyak¹⁰
1990s¹	Wikivoyage’s date for the start of resort building¹
Late 2000s¹⁰	More than 100 resorts go up¹⁰

For the island’s first settlers, the Urak Lawoi way of life has changed fast, pushed by the market economy and the opening of Tarutao National Marine Park⁸. The latest population figure on Wikipedia is 1,210 people, from 2012².

Long beach lined with resorts and longtail boats on Koh Lipe, seen from above

Plan your trip to Koh Lipe

Now you know where Koh Lipe is, these pages take you the rest of the way:

Getting there: boats from Pak Bara and Langkawi, buses and flights.
Where to stay: each beach and its price range.
The beaches: which one suits you.
Weather by month: dry season, monsoon and boat seasons.
Snorkelling and diving: reef trips and dive prices.
Map of Koh Lipe: where the beaches, Walking Street and the viewpoints are.