Went to old town for a few hours whilst staying in Koh Lanta and it was very pleasant. The Main Street has various shops and restaurants and the prices for clothes/gifts are much better than other places on the island so worth holding off on any purchases elsewhere until you look here. We ate at rare view restaurant and the food was very good and excellent value for money. All in all it’s a nice place to visit even for just a few hours

We visited here twice in our 5 day trip, because it's rather quaint and slow paced. We arrived the first time at about 11 am, just as a small fresh market was closing. There's a longish pier with a statue of a huge crustacean which we walked along to look at some fishing boats at sea. There are a few tourist-oriented shops and quite a few restaurants of varying price levels. We had a coffee in one, but didn't eat at any although I have read good reviews of a few of them. Worth a few hours at most, maybe more if you had a leisurely lunch. Further south is a small sea gypsy village, but when we went there were major road works on the way where huge water pipes were being installed and I think we may have missed the turn-off.

Old Lanta is such a cool place to see, it would seem all of the history of Koh Lanta is condensed into this relatively small area. The old town has many new buildings, and refurbished buildings, statues, markets, and then ravaged structures from when the tsunami tore through the area 15 years ago, it's not easy to describe in some ways because it can be viewed, depending on the person as just piles of rubble, without taking the time to consider the disaster that came through. There are multiple pictures of Old Lanta even before that too, in the 50's or maybe even earlier, hung up and on display by the new pier. They have a few statues/displays made entirely of waste found in the ocean, plastic bottles, caps, straws and other waste and have turned it into a way to keep the area clean for not only the human inhabitants, but also the animals with whom they share the island and surrounding ocean. The place just leaves you in awe, and while your driving away you only want to turn around and go back for more. Definitely visit the old town if you are in Kob Lanta, you won't be disappointed!