International families
Moving your family to Krabi
The questions people actually ask us before they get on a plane — schooling, visas, healthcare, cost, and whether there is anyone here to make friends with. Answered honestly, including the awkward parts.
A visa for you
The education visa route, what it covers and what immigration charges.
Living in Ao Nang
Rent, healthcare, getting around, and what it actually costs.
Talk to us
Tell us your situation and we will tell you honestly whether it works.
Already decided? Enrol your child or book a visit — we will confirm a place before you book flights.
The practical questions
What people ask before they decide
Schooling
Healthcare
Cost of living
Where to live
Getting around
Visas for parents
Why families come
What a week here actually looks like
Ao Nang is a small town between limestone cliffs and the Andaman Sea. School runs eight-thirty to three-thirty. Afternoons are the beach, the pool, or the garden. Weekends are islands, mangroves and long lunches.
It is not a city. There is no international hospital and no shopping mall, and if you need either, Krabi Town is twenty minutes and Phuket is two hours. Some families find that liberating and some find it small — worth being honest with yourself about which you are before you commit.
What consistently surprises people is the community. Ao Nang has a sizeable international population and a much smaller one with young children, which means the families who are here know each other quickly.
How we help
What Daisy Chains can and cannot do
Being clear about the boundary is more useful to you than an open-ended promise.
We can
- Confirm a school place before you book flights
- Show you the classroom on a video call
- Issue enrolment letters and school documents for visa applications
- Introduce you to other international families here
- Tell you honestly what living here costs and what it is like
We cannot
- Issue, grant or guarantee any visa — that is Thai Immigration’s decision alone
- Give legal or immigration advice
- Find you a house, though we can point you at people who do
- Promise a place in a class that is already full
Questions
Before you move
Is Krabi a realistic place to raise young children?
Thousands of families do it, including plenty who arrived intending to stay a year. The trade-offs are real — it is a small town, healthcare for anything complicated means Phuket or Bangkok, and the wet season is genuinely wet. But children here grow up outdoors, in a mixed community, at a cost of living that surprises people.
Will my child cope without any Thai?
Yes. English is the language of our classroom and most of our international children arrive with no Thai at all. They pick it up alongside, at a speed that tends to embarrass their parents.
Can we start mid-year?
Yes, subject to space in the right age group. Families arrive in Krabi all year round, so this is normal rather than exceptional.
How long do we need to commit to?
A term, if that is what suits. Half-days and drop-in sessions are available for families who are here for a shorter stay or want to try before committing.
What about visas for us, the parents?
The route our families use is an education visa, which follows from enrolling on a Thai language course at our partner school. We run that as a one-year programme you can arrange through us. The visa itself is granted by Thai Immigration, not by us — we have written up exactly how it works and what it costs.
The first move is a conversation
Tell us where you are and when you are thinking of coming. We reply usually within one working day, and we will say so if this is not going to work for you.