Centara Ao Nang — On the Quiet End of Ao Nang Beach, with Pool Waterslides and Karst Views
If you want a Krabi resort where you can walk straight from your room to the sand but skip the crush in the middle of Ao Nang Beach, Centara Ao Nang Beach Resort & Spa Krabi is a name that keeps coming up. It opened in late 2019 as Centara's first branded beachfront resort in Ao Nang, sitting at the quieter end of the beach just 90 metres from the water. What guests talk about most is the central pool with a waterslide and a swim-up bar — and the green limestone karsts rising behind the property that you only get in Krabi.
Centara Ao Nang opened in late 2019 as the first Centara-branded beachfront resort in Ao Nang. The buildings are bright white in a breezy colonial style, with railed balconies running parallel to the central pool. There are 179 rooms and suites in all — from the 39 sqm Deluxe Ocean View with a sea outlook, to the 45-46 sqm Deluxe Pool Access where you step off the balcony straight into the water, up to the Family Residences that come with bunk beds and a small kitchenette. Families travelling with kids tend to say a Family Residence works out better value than booking two rooms.
The heart of the resort is the central pool, a long stretch of water running alongside the room blocks that mirrors the white facade and the sky at midday. At the far end there are two waterslides — one yellow, one blue — that kids queue for all day, plus the swim-up Coco Pool Bar where you order drinks without leaving the water. Beyond the main pool there's a separate shallow kids' pool, and a smaller, quieter pool over towards the sea side that's a good spot for a cold drink once the sun drops. Families consistently say they hit the pool on day one and barely went anywhere else.
Guests describe it like this: "You walk out of the room, past the pool, through a little gate and you're on the sand — kids on the slides in the morning, beach in the afternoon, dinner back at Sands Beach Club. They never got in a car all day."
Dining is spread across several spots. Breakfast is a buffet at the Veranda Brasserie, a bright, high-ceilinged room with round chandelier lights, live cooking stations for eggs and fresh noodles, and both Asian and Western spreads. Down by the water, Sands Beach Club serves Thai and international plates, barbecued seafood, pizza and cocktails with the Andaman Sea right in front of you. There's also Piazere Pastaria, a casual Italian corner doing Pugliese-style pizza you can eat poolside. Honestly, on-property food prices run high — a lot of guests end up walking out to the cheaper restaurants in the Ao Nang sois, which are only a few minutes away.
On the unwind side there's Spa Cenvaree, Centara's in-house spa, leaning on Thai treatments and longer massage packages in a quiet, leafy garden setting that reviewers regularly rate above its price. There's a Kids' Club for the children and a well-equipped Life Fitness gym for the adults. What people single out most, though, is the location at the quiet end of the beach — a few minutes' walk reaches the Ao Nang restaurants and walking street, but the resort itself sits away from the noise, so you get the convenience and the calm in one place.
The Trip.com score sits at 9.1/10 from 281 reviews (TripAdvisor 4.4/5 from over 1,000), with the most praise going to the beachfront location, the pools, the spa and friendly staff. But to be straight about it, the most common complaint is the smell from a drainage canal that runs through the property, which affects certain room blocks on certain days. Some reviews note housekeeping running late into the afternoon, and there's a public beach walkway cutting through the resort, so the seafront isn't fully private and you'll sometimes hear longtail-boat engines from the sand. Worth knowing before you book.
On price, a Deluxe Ocean View starts around ฿3,200/night in low season (May–October outside holidays), rising to roughly ฿5,500–7,500 in high season (November–February) and over public holidays. If you want to step into the pool from your room, go for a Deluxe Pool Access; for a bigger family, a Family Residence is the best value. Krabi Airport is about 40–50 minutes by road, so arrange a transfer or a Grab in advance.
The bottom line: Centara Ao Nang works best for families or couples who want a beachfront Ao Nang resort with plenty of pools, waterslides and karst views — at a price below Krabi's luxury resorts. It isn't a sealed-off private retreat, given the public path through it, and it's worth checking which block you're in to avoid the canal side. But if the goal is walking to the sand, kids in the water, and food by the sea, it does that well without overspending.
Summary from Booking & Agoda
- ✓ Beachfront — easy walk to the sand and Ao Nang restaurants
- ✓ Fun pools with a waterslide and swim-up bar kids love
- ✓ Spa Cenvaree well-regarded, quiet garden setting
- ✓ Friendly, helpful staff, occasional room upgrades
- ! Drainage-canal smell affects some room blocks on some days
- ! On-property food prices run high
- ! Housekeeping can run late into the afternoon
- ✓ Limestone karsts and Andaman Sea views are gorgeous
- ✓ Pool Access rooms let you step into the water from the balcony
- ✓ Family Residences with bunk beds suit bigger families
- ✓ Breakfast buffet with live stations more varied than expected
- ! A public beach path runs through, so the seafront isn't fully private
- ! Busy in high season — pools and the beach out front get crowded
- ! Longtail-boat engine noise from the beach at times
- 💡If you're sensitive to smells — ask at booking for a room away from the drainage canal, on the pool or sea side → some blocks catch the canal smell on certain days, especially at low tide
- 💡If you want to step into the pool from your room — pick a Deluxe Pool Access where the balcony opens straight onto the water → better than coming down from an upper floor when kids are in and out of the pool all day
- 💡If you're a bigger family — a Family Residence has bunk beds and a small kitchenette, cheaper than booking two rooms → but confirm the view and block position before you commit