Ao Nang Beach is the main beach of the tourist town of the same name in the southern Thai province of Krabi. Ao Nang (Thai: อ่าวนาง, roughly meaning Ladies' Bay) is the most popular and busiest holiday resort in the region and is often what is meant when people talk about Krabi.
The town has around 10,000 inhabitants and is located about 15 kilometers southwest of the provincial capital Krabi on the eastern edge of Phang Nga Bay (Andaman Sea). Ao Nang is an excellent transfer point to other beaches and islands.
Until the early 1980s, the sleepy fishing village of Ao Nang was still an insider tip among backpackers. In the years that followed, the town rapidly developed into the tourist center of Krabi. The entire infrastructure of the town is now geared towards tourism. The predominantly Muslim population, which once lived from fishing and growing coconuts and rubber trees, now lives largely from tourism. Ao Nang is particularly popular with families and package tourists. Classic backpackers, such as students, trainees, free spirits and survivalists, are increasingly rare here. Ao Nang is relatively expensive compared to other places in the region. In addition, the entire environment in this purely tourist resort is rather bourgeois and commercial. Many backpackers therefore prefer the cheaper and more authentic provincial capital of Krabi as a starting point or stopover on their way to the dream beaches and islands of the region.