Police Boat 813 Tsunami Memorial
Patrol boat carried ~2 km inland by the 2004 tsunami, preserved as a memorial with a small museum.
- Category
- Historical Sites & Ruins
- Entrance fee
- Free
- Hours
- Daily, roughly 08:30–18:00; confirm locally
- Best time
- Morning, when it is cooler and quieter
- Time needed
- 30–45 minutes
About Police Boat 813 Tsunami Memorial
A police patrol boat that the 2004 tsunami carried far inland, left where it came to rest and preserved as a memorial. It is a striking, sobering thing to stand next to, and it makes the scale of what happened here real in a way words do not. There is a small tsunami museum on site to give context.
It costs nothing and takes well under an hour, but it is worth doing. Come in the morning when it is cooler and quieter, which also suits the mood of the place.
This is a genuine memorial to an enormous loss of life, not a photo op. Visit respectfully.
Highlights
- The patrol boat left where the tsunami carried it inland
- A small on-site tsunami museum
- Free to visit
- A sobering, powerful sense of the 2004 disaster
- Right by Bang Niang market, easy to pair with a visit
Tips
- Visit respectfully; this is a memorial to a huge loss of life
- Go in the morning for cooler air and fewer people
- Free entry and a short visit, easy to combine with the nearby market
- Just off Highway 4, a few minutes from town
How to get there
~2 km north of Khao Lak centre in Bang Niang, just off Highway 4 near the market; 5 min by scooter/taxi