A Different Kind of Retreat in Ao Nang, Krabi

Ao Nang is known for a few things. The beach, which runs in a long crescent backed by palm trees and fronted by the dramatic karst formations that make Krabi one of the most photographed places in Southeast Asia. The seafood restaurants that line the beach road. The rental scooters. The tours to Railay and the Phi Phi Islands. The particular atmosphere of a beach town that has been thoroughly discovered but has not quite given itself over to pure tourism — there are still families here, local markets, the easy rhythm of a Thai coastal town going about its life.

There is also, quietly, St. Agnes Church.

And at St. Agnes, there is something that almost no one who comes to Ao Nang knows is here: a retreat. Silence, prayer, one-on-one time with a priest who has been in this town for 28 years and who knows how to help people hear what they've been missing. A place where you can stop — actually stop, not just change what you are running toward — and spend a week in some of the most beautiful natural surroundings on earth doing something entirely different from whatever you have been doing.

What the Retreat Is

Ao Nang Sanctuary is a directed retreat in the Catholic tradition, built around the Examen of Surrender — a daily prayer practice adapted from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. It is led by Kip Hartley, who developed the practice and wrote the book, and directed by Father Peter Waranyu, a Stigmatine priest who has been at St. Agnes for 28 years.

The daily rhythm: Mass at 7:30am, morning teaching on the Examen prayer practice, long hours of silence through the morning and early afternoon, one-on-one meeting with Father Peter, evening prayer and Adoration, dinner, the evening Examen. That is the shape of a day. It repeats for 3 to 14 days, depending on how long you can stay.

What makes it work is not the program, though the program is carefully designed. What makes it work is the combination of silence, beauty, and genuine personal attention. Father Peter meets with you every day. He is not processing you. He is paying attention to your specific interior life and helping you hear what is happening in it.

The Place Itself

The retreat is held at St. Agnes Church, on a street in central Ao Nang. The beach is a ten-minute walk. The church has a garden. The rooms are clean and simple. The meals are Thai food — good, simple, nourishing.

During the free hours of the day — and there are long free hours, because the retreat is structured around silence, not activities — you can walk to the beach, sit in the garden, read, journal, pray, or simply be still. The beauty of Krabi does not stop working on you just because you are on retreat. It keeps going. The light on the water in the morning. The limestone spires at dusk. The warmth of the air. All of it is available to you, and all of it, in silence, has a way of opening things that ordinary life keeps closed.

For People Who Need to Stop

Most people who come to Ao Nang are moving. From one beach to the next, from Krabi to Koh Lanta to Koh Phi Phi, optimizing the trip, getting the most out of Thailand. That is one way to be here.

Some people come to Ao Nang because they need to stop. Not stop and lie on a beach — though that has its place — but actually stop the motion, the planning, the management, the performance of being a person moving through the world. Stop and see what's there when the motion ceases.

That is who this retreat is for. You do not need to be Catholic. You do not need to have any particular beliefs. You need to be willing to spend a week in silence in a beautiful place, to pray a simple prayer every morning and evening, and to meet with a priest who will help you hear what you have been unable to hear in the middle of ordinary life.

That is a different kind of retreat in Ao Nang. But it might be exactly the one you came to Thailand to find.