Ao Nang was actually the last stop on our Krabi tour. We'd passed through on our way to Railay, and from Railay we moved on to Koh Lanta. Basically, Ao Nang seemed like the best choice for a place to make the airport run from, so it came last.
Definitely the most commercial stretch of beach in Krabi. Restaurants and souvenier shops line the road opposite the beach, and there's even a small beer bar area hidden behind them with maybe a half dozen bars. I only caught a cursory glance though since my one and only stroll that way was on the pretext of looking for more shops. Once V saw the beer bars I was hustled out of the area quickly.
After the beauty of Railay and the peace and solitude of Koh Lanta, Ao Nang was a bit hard to take. Far too commercial for my tastes at the time, it was over-run by backpacking german tourists.
Like Railay, air conditioning is VERY scarce in Ao Nang.



Adding to our dislike was the location of our hotel - about a quarter mile up the hill from the beach. I must say though, that other than poor location, the Somkiet Buri Resort was quite nice, as you can see from the pics:



We paid about 2700 thb per day for the upstairs room by the pool.



Not a bad sunset though...



drew

agree w/ drew that ao nang is ´far too commercial´, lots of t-shirt shops, retail clothing stores, & beach is not nice. there are some beer bars but didnt see any pretty gals.