Handpicked experience · Phi Phi Islands
Phi Phi Islands, Thailand
A bay made famous by a film that damaged it, now reopened under rules stricter than any photograph suggests.
A shorter crossing than the same trip run from Phuket
Limestone cliffs passed close enough to photograph properly
Swimming and beach time on the main island
A famous bay seen under its current rules
A day you can shape around your own food and pace
A nine-hour day from Krabi to the Phi Phi archipelago by speedboat, taking in Maya Bay from the water, beach time on Phi Phi Don and cruising among the limestone cliffs of the Andaman.
Worth being straightforward: what is included here is the boat. Not lunch, not snorkelling equipment, not the national park charges — those are collected on arrival at the islands, in cash. Budget for the day rather than for the ticket, bring your own mask if you own one, and carry local notes.
That is not a criticism of the product. Stripping a day back to the boat suits people who would rather choose their own food and stop when they like. It only becomes a problem if you arrive expecting a full-service day out.
Maya Bay was made famous by a film shot there in 1999, and the making of it caused real harm. The production altered the beach — clearing native vegetation and reshaping the dunes to fit the scene it wanted — and the damage led to a legal case against the studio and the Thai parks department that ran through the courts for the better part of two decades before the state's own agency was found to have failed in its duty.
The bay then spent years being loved to pieces by the tourism the film generated, until the authorities closed it entirely in 2018 to let the reef recover.
Since reopening, the bay operates under real restrictions: boats do not enter it, mooring instead at a jetty behind the headland with access on foot, and swimming inside the bay has been prohibited to protect the recovering coral and the young sharks that use the shallows.
Access is also suspended outright at times, seasonally and at short notice. A photograph of an empty beach with a boat pulled up on it is a picture of the past, not of the day you will have.
Bring reef-safe sunscreen, a dry bag and small local notes for the charges collected at the islands. Sea conditions decide the route, and Maya Bay in particular can be dropped from the itinerary at no notice if the swell is running. Nothing about that is unusual, and no operator can promise otherwise.
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.
The boat transfer. Meals, snorkelling equipment and the national park charges are all separate, and the park charges are collected in cash on arrival at the islands.
No. Stripping the day back to the boat suits travellers who would rather pick their own food and stop when they like. It only disappoints if you arrive expecting a full-service day.
A film shot there in 1999. Its production also altered the beach, clearing native vegetation and reshaping dunes, which led to a court case against the studio and the parks department lasting the better part of two decades.
Because the tourism the film generated wore it out. The authorities closed it entirely in 2018 to let the damaged reef recover.
Surveys of the reef inside it found most of the coral dead — the fleet anchoring there daily had finished what the crowds began. The closure was open-ended, and the recovery took nearly four years.
No. They moor at a jetty behind the headland and visitors walk over, which is part of the arrangement that allows the bay to be visited at all.
Yes, without notice. Access is suspended seasonally and at short notice, and swell can rule it out on any given morning.
Your own mask if you have one, reef-safe sunscreen, a dry bag and small local notes for the charges collected at the islands.