Located north of Ao Nang (20 mins) the area of Klong Muang is quiet. The hotel has about 20 rooms or rather bugalows set around a pool. All quite basic but pleasant and well air conditioned. Restuarant for breakfast is across the road just above the beach. There is a Sofitel about 5 mins away and then nothing more in the direction for a few more miles. As we stayed here for 3 nights we went the opposite way and found about 5 restaurants along the road (7 - 10 mins walk) There is also a bar just over the bridge from the hotel doing cocktails and some food, which is a great place to watch the sunset. One drawback is that beyond the sofitel is an ugly pier used to transport gypsum from the quarry to the waiting cargo ships. The road is therefore continually used by lorries delivering the stuff. Go the other way and the beach improves. You wil end up at the Sheraton with a great pool and surroundings. Managed to catch a few swims in the pool without drawing attention and if you are canny enough aquiring a towel is not that difficult.
We hired a boat to Hong island on one day: this was a private hire and cost about 1600bht: Well worth it as we could stay as long as we wanted and the owner of the boat insisted we did just that. when we left, onward travel to lanta by ferry was easy and included free transfer to the boat.
I recommend stying here if you like the quiet and would be happy with a few places to eat.Beach is ok but nothing special. I would not be happy if I paid top dollar to stay at the sofitel and looked out onto acargo ship being loaded. At least at the Sands resort it is further away and out of sight of this activity.

I had tried to book the Krabi Sands in the past but the airport siege stopped us going so I was keen to go there this time. Klong Muang and the hotel were both as expected from info I'd seen online but it is pretty sparse so I hope my detail will be of help to others.
The area of Klong Muang is quiet with little to see except scenery, but we like that. We did discover the hard way that if you turn right out of the hotel there is very little to find except some scruffy local businesses and the vast Sofitel hotel. If you turn left there are a few bars and restaurants and a little further along a very small village. We only found that on the last day.
Same goes for the beach. Don't go to the right of the KS hotel turn left and walk along to beach where you will find 2 bars (one right on the sand called Little Jamaica) and further along a nice stretch of beach. The views from the beach across to the limestone stacks are gorgeous. We ventured up to Tubkaek beach (about 7 kms) because of its reputation but we were not impressed. It is indeed a nice beach with nice views but there are 3 hotels and that's it. Only worth perhaps an hour or so. I tried snorkelling but nothing of any interest and we were there for 4 hours. Klong Muang was just as good.
As for the hotel, Krabi Sands has nice rooms, is very quiet and the pool and gardens are lovely. Just hope there are no noisy guests. A group of Asians arrived on our last day and the peace was shattered. The other thing is that as with many Thai places the staff's children are allowed to use the pool. On our first full day we had to complain about a toddler shrieking and screaming first thing in the morning. This went on for about half an hour before we complained . The child was supervised but they don't keep them quiet! We'll put up with quite a lot but this was ridiculous and spoilt the relaxation for everyone.
The very attractive pool could be cleaner. It seemed that the algae attached to the tiles is not being successfully cleaned off although there is a pool cleaner around in the mornings - perhaps the filtration isn't good enough. Also the British owner appeared to be absent and it was noticeable as there was little management control. Worst thing was the dogs and cats in the restaurant. Their notes talk about experience in the catering trade yet the animals wandered around the restaurant scratching. They were quite smelly too. At least we didn't see the owner and it is a very small place. Wife and child was there though. Also must mention the sunbeds. They were bamboo and fitted in with the surrounds but only one of them had any adjustment so for those who like to sit up and read a bit uncomfortable.
The restaurant is across the road. We had no issue with that but it was quite expensive and had little charm or character. The beer was way overpriced. So after the first night we ate and drank directly next door for half the price. For example large bottle of Chang in the hotel was 150baht. In Jos's Kitchen next door it was 75baht. The food at Jos's was fine (you could say not as good as the hotel but it was half the price). The advantage was that Jos has very good English and is very flexible so you can tell him exactly what you want. His wife Jun(e) is a character. They occupy the back of a funny little complex of shop units. I think they run all of them obo others because they seemed to be the only people around. A bit odd but very 'local'!
A taxi down to Ao Nang from there was 400 bahts. Not too bad as it's a bit of a way (about 12-15 minute drive). I thought there was a coastal road and hoped for a tuk tuk but not practical because there is no coast road.
We enjoyed our couple of days as we were straight off the plane and just wanted to chill out but I wouldn't recommend it for more than a couple of nights.

Don´t take the managers word for getting their so called "deposit" back in case of cancellation.
I understand the regression is a serious problem but this is definately not the right way to make a living in Thailand!!!

My husband and I recently stayed at the krabi sands resort, and at first it seemed to be ideally what we wanted, quite and peaceful, when we were showed our bungalow we were a bit unsure as we were put right down the far end of the resort also when left alone and looked over the room my husband had concerns about the locks on the windows but as we thought we were in a safe enough place left it. This is something that we should not have done as we were staying for 4 nights on our 3rd night we were broken into via the bathroom window, and some of our belongings stolen, this was done while we were in the room sleeping.
When if was reported to the receptionist in the morning she was very concerned and helpful and called the owner who was less than helpful and mentioned when he arrived "everytime.....windows.....doors" but this was directed at the receptionist and not us, which made us think that it had happended before.
He did nothing to help us, eventhough he is English himself, but left it all to the receptionist to deal with, who took us to the police.
On our return as we missed breakfast, if you can call it that, not much choice and not very nice either as you are not given all that is on the menu and i had to keep asking for toast eventhough it came as part of the set breakfast, he arrived and sat at the table behind us with 2 other english men, he not once came and asked if we were alright, if we had got on ok with the police, if there was anything he could do, NO he just ignored us completely.
I would not recommend this place at all, we were lucky to have
slept though it and that they found stuff to take, but what would have happened if either one of us had woken up or that we had been security concious and put everything in the safe, does not bear to mention.
PLEASE FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY STAY AWAY FROM KRABI SANDS!