Handpicked experience · Phi Phi Islands
Phi Phi Islands, Thailand
Islands that stood as hills on a plain twenty thousand years ago, macaques that dive for shellfish, and a beach made entirely of the reef's own broken pieces.
Six locations in one day, including two snorkelling stops
A famous bay seen from the sea rather than queued for on land
Cliffs and caves passed close enough to read the rock
A beach of coral rubble that rewards a closer look
Crew who reorder or substitute stops as conditions require
An eight-hour speedboat circuit of the Phi Phi archipelago and Khai Island: a pass by Maya Bay from the water without landing, the cliffs at Viking Cave and Monkey Beach, snorkelling at Pileh and Bamboo Island, and beach time on Khai.
Six places in a day, which is only possible because of the boat. A speedboat runs at three times the speed of the traditional craft working these waters, so the day is built around covering ground rather than settling anywhere for long. Maya Bay is seen from the sea on this itinerary — there is no landing.
Twenty thousand years ago you could have walked here. Sea level was more than a hundred metres lower, the Andaman shelf between these islands was dry land, and the limestone towers you are sailing between stood as isolated hills above a coastal plain that reached out past Phuket. The sea flooded it as the ice sheets melted, drowning the plain and leaving the hardest rock standing. The water you cross is shallow throughout — the islands are the high points of a landscape that is still down there.
The macaques on Monkey Beach are not simply beach-dwelling. This population forages in the sea: they wade, swim and dive for shellfish and crabs, and individuals will cross open water between rocks. Very few monkey populations anywhere feed from the intertidal zone, and watching one turn over a rock in knee-deep water rearranges your sense of what a monkey is.
The sand at Bamboo Island is not sand in the geological sense. Pick some up and you will see fragments — branches of staghorn, pieces of shell, bits of urchin spine — because the beach is the reef's own debris, thrown up by storms and ground down over decades. The island closes to visitors for part of each year to let the reef and the beach recover.
The pace is the product. A longtail covers perhaps eight or ten knots; the boats used here run at three times that, which converts a two-day loop into an eight-hour one. What you lose is stillness and quiet; what you gain is the whole archipelago in a single day.
Sit toward the stern if you are prone to motion sickness — the bow slams hardest in chop. There is little shade on the boat, and the reflected light off pale sand and shallow water is far stronger than the sky suggests. Bamboo Island's seasonal closure means the route can change without notice, and the crew will substitute another stop rather than cancel the day.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
No. On this itinerary the bay is seen from the water as the boat passes; the stops for swimming and snorkelling are elsewhere on the route.
Yes. Twenty thousand years ago sea level was over a hundred metres lower and the shelf between them was a coastal plain. The towers you sail between were hills standing above it.
They feed from the sea. This population wades, swims and dives for shellfish and crabs, and will cross open water between rocks — behaviour very few monkey populations anywhere show.
Not geologically. It is broken coral and shell thrown up by storms and ground down over decades, which is why you can pick out recognisable fragments in a handful.
Bamboo Island closes for part of each year to let the reef recover, and sea conditions can rule out other stops. The crew substitutes an alternative rather than cancelling.
Speed is what makes six stops possible in a day — roughly three times the pace of the traditional boats here, turning a two-day loop into an eight-hour one.
Yes. National park and landing charges are collected at the islands and are not always part of the booking.