You have to visit Phi Phi Islands when you are in Phuket or Krabi. The beaches and turquoise sea is absolutely beautiful in Phuket but these are nothing compared to what you will experience in the Phi Phi Islands. Therefore, a day trip to the islands is a MUST!
Phi Phi Islands are located around 40 km southeast from Phuket and consist of 6 different islands. One of them is the famous back scene of Leonardo DiCaprio’s The Beach movie. We took a day trip from Phuket that took us by boat to the islands and we had several stops in different locations during the day. There’s plenty of tour operators that are arranging very similar tours/itineraries to the islands, and we ended up selecting V. Marine Tours that we found on Viator. We had the best time on our trip and I can highly recommend using them for your trip to the islands.
Tour itinerary
We got picked up at our hotel around 8:30 and we headed to the Royal Phuket Marina where the speed boat to the islands departed. The drive to Phi Phi is roughly an hour ride depending on how rough the sea gets. The speed boat can get quite bumby if the sea is rough so be prepared for that.
The first stop of the tour was at the Bamboo island. The Bamboo island is a small island with great snorkeling opportunities quite close to the shore with some nice small reefs with plenty of sea life. The snorkeling was really fun and both Ermin and I saw creatures that we have never encounter before. There was two amazing cuttlefish swimming around the reef that we followed intensively since we have never seen these before! Unfortunately, we didn’t have a gopro with us to film these creatures but below an image from: wall.alphacoders.com for reference.
Next we headed to the main island Ko Phi Phi Don for some lunch and relaxation by the beach. The boat parked in the back side of the island and we were served a nice buffet style lunch with tasty local dishes. After eating and some time to explore the beach and water, we took the boat to the Monkey Beach.
The Monkey Beach is part of the Ko Phi Phi Don island that is known for having monkeys that come to the beach and cliffs where you can have a good view of them. The monkeys are wild animals so there’s no quarantine that the monkeys will be there but often some of the locals bring food for the monkeys so they have learned to come to see the visitors.
After the Monkey Beach, we headed towards Pileh Bay where you can usually jump from the boat and have a nice swim and snorkel in the ocean. On the route to Pileh Bay, we passed the Viking Cave where swallow birds go to nest. The locals climb up the cave walls to collect these bird nests for making the famous birds nest soup.
After swimming and snorkeling in Pileh Bay, we headed to the last stop of the Phi Phi Islands – the famous Maya Bay from the Beach movie. The Maya Beach has finally reopened in January 2022 after being closed for visitors for more than three years to rejuvenate the coral reefs close to the shore.
The boat stops at the other side of the island and you walk through a paved route through the forest to the amazing Maya Bay with the high cliffs and clearest crystal blue water. Since the nature preservation work is on-going, you are not allowed to go deeper than knee height into the water. Despite not being able to swim at the bay, this place is the most incredible stop during the tour. The view is gorgeous and photos don’t do justice on how it looks in real life. You need to experience it yourself!
Tips
The tour is a full-day tour starting from the morning and arriving back to Phuket around sunset time. We took the tour in April 2022 which is low season for tourism so we enjoyed fairly quiet beaches and island. However, if you are going during the high season, be prepared to see plenty of speed boats and visitors at every stop.
Watch out for the sun!! Being out on a boat with a nice sea breeze all day long, you won’t feel how burning the sun is. Therefore, wear sunscreen with high coverage and bring some light clothing you can wear to cover yourself from the sun.
Sara Travels 