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A pristine natural marine park and hidden saltwater lagoon set among 42 limestone islands scattered across the Gulf of Thailand. Ang Thong National Marine Park, meaning Golden Bowl, protects a dramatic archipelago of jungle-cloaked karst peaks rising sheer from turquoise waters, their silhouettes forming one of the most photographed panoramas in Southeast Asia.

At its heart lies Ko Mae Ko, the Mother Island, cradling the park’s crown jewel: Thale Nai, an emerald-jade saltwater lagoon enclosed within a collapsed limestone crater and linked to the sea through hidden subterranean channels. A steep wooden staircase climbs through tangled forest to a ridge-top viewpoint, rewarding visitors with an unforgettable aerial vista over the lake’s luminous green waters, ringed by vertical cliffs and framed by distant, beach-fringed islets adrift in the surrounding sea.

Reachable only by boat from Ko Samui or Ko Phangan, the park rewards travelers with snorkeling, sea-kayaking, and hiking amid a landscape virtually untouched since it inspired Alex Garland’s The Beach.