The gateway to the Mergui Archipelago in South Myanmar

Sunset in Kawthaung, the gateway to the Mergui Archipelago is in the Andaman Sea in south Myanmar and is about 30 minutes by long tail boat from Ranong, Thailand. In November 2015, I spent 3 nights & 4 days exploring this region of over 800 mostly uninhabited islands.

I travelled by liveaboard boat, snorkelled the clear blue waters, found Nemo, walked on powdery-soft sandy white beaches and hung out in places with no one else in sight.

Only 2612 tourists explored these islands in 2015, I am grateful to be one of them.

Andrea is a professional travel and portrait photographer, photography educator, founder of The Heart of a Woman Project, a women's mobile photography initiative and publisher of wanderingiPhone.com. Andrea began her photography career in 2003 in Toronto, Canada. Her work has been featured on CBC, W Network, Splice Network and in national and international print and digital magazines including Shutterbug magazine.

  1. Cecilia November 18, 2016 at 11:19 pm

    Hi Andrea,
    Thanks for good posts. Any chance on sharing more info about Mergui archipeliigo. Is ther any accommodation for a reaosonable prince to be found? The Only thing I Found on the Internet was a very expensive 200 us / per night at an Island and Cruise ships which are very expensive as well. Travelling around Myanmar Dec/Jan first to the normal tourist trail and then would like to go to the south, but it is a long way if there is no accommodation. Grateful of any suggestions,

    1. Andrea Rees December 1, 2016 at 2:54 pm

      Hi Cecilia,

      Sorry for the delay in responding as I was travelling. I haven’t yet posted about Mergui in detail. I travelled for 3 nights and 4 days by liveaboard boat as a private charter with family and a crew of 4 plus a Myanmar tourism official and the Captain. The Mergui Archipelago only sees about 2200 tourists a year so it’s not at all built up and while out on the boat we only came across fishermen and Moken people.

      There is a beautiful hotel in Kawthaung we stayed at called Victoria Cliff Hotel but that was only for 1 night. It was under 200 CAD a night for November 2015. So that may be a cheaper option if you want to get to South Myanmar but I don’t know if you can take a day trip from there as I haven’t researched day trips.

      I stayed at the Farm House hotel in Ranong, Thailand on the way out which is about 30-45 minutes from Kawthaung to Ranong by long tail boat. We were there for 1 night before returning to Bangkok to fly home to Canada. I didn’t research day trips in Thailand but do know they exist. That may be the only cheaper alternative for the area?

      Feel free to send me an email at wanderingiphone@gmail.com or through messaging on the Wandering iPhone facebook page. Hope that helps some.

      Andrea

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