If you’ve ever seen pictures or videos of Thailand, then most likely you saw the Phi Phi Islands. These small islands have been featured in many movies and for good reason too! Phi Phi Islands offer beautiful rock formations with clear blue waters and sandy beaches. You will definitely want to add a trip to the Phi Phi Islands to your itinerary when visiting Thailand.
Contents
Getting There
There are several ways to get to the Phi Phi Islands. It all depends on your preferred method of traveling and where you are coming from. You can get to the Phi Phi Islands from Krabi or Phuket either by a ferry or by a speedboat.
Ferry
Ferries are bigger and more comfortable compared to a speedboat. They travel slower so it will take you longer to get to your destination. There is a sundeck on the top of the ferry if you want to tan but it can get pretty hot and windy. You also get an option to upgrade to VIP and you will get access to an air-conditioned middle deck. The seats are extremely comfortable and you can take a nap here after or before your adventure.
Speedboat
Speedboats are smaller and travel faster than ferries. If you are prone to motion sickness, this might not be the best choice for you but you can ride in the back. The ride is really bumpy – make sure to take some dramamine beforehand! Brea gets sea sick so she wears PSI bands on her wrists and they work as long as they’re on.
Tours
You can either book a tour that will also take care of your transportation to and from the Phi Phi Islands back to your hotel/AirBnb (which is what we did) or you can book a tour when you’re already there.
We booked a private tour through this company. They actually do tours to a lot of other places too including Phang Nga Bay and they offer both public and private tours.
This was the option that we picked for the private tour which was a combination of the speedboat and the ferry.
Option 1: Pick up from your hotel by private car/minibus for transfer to Rassada Port Speedboat to Phi Phi (not private). Arrive about 9AM.
Once at Phi Phi transfer to private longtail boat (charter 4 hours).
Depart Phi Phi at 2:30PM on Andaman Wavemaster Ferry (Premium Class). Transfer back to your hotel by private car/minibus. Price: 10,800 baht for two people (which is about $338 USD total).
Our tour guide was very friendly and informative. They also provided lunch (fried rice) and pineapple! He would go into the water with us when we went snorkeling to guide us and they have their own underwater camera housing so they can give you the photos after for free.
Long-Tail Boats
Most of the pictures you will see of the Phi Phi Islands includes a shot of a long-tail boat either on the beach or in the blue water. They act like a taxi except you just pay a one-time fee and they charter you around to different areas.
Be careful if you try to move around when it is coursing through the ocean though! You can sit on the edge and get some pretty iconic photos.
It can get difficult if you want to stand at the edge.
If you want a faster but more expensive ride to explore all of what the Phi Phi islands can offer, you can take a yacht as well.
Destinations
One of the reasons why we like to do private tours is that it is more flexible than public tours. I communicated with the tour guides prior to the tour to decide on exactly where we wanted to go. We ended up visiting about 4 different areas. Just let them know where you want to go and how long you want to stay and they will make your itinerary work!
Ko Phi Phi Le
This is the first area that we stopped at to go snorkeling. We were able to see a lot of coral and a lot of fishes. Since this is one of the main areas in the Phi Phi Islands, there will be a lot of long-tail boats and people in the water.
Since there was a lot of fishes in the area, we just kept swimming around observing them. Note: if you put food in the water the fishes do come. But we do not suggest that. Your tour guide might do that on their own but don’t plan to bring food just to do that.
Tip: as you are swimming, do not touch the coral! This is kind of a known fact when you are swimming in open water with coral. Humans touching coral causes them to die so keep the environment safe.
Ko Phi Phi Don (Maya Bay)
Maya Bay is actually closed to the public, unfortunately, to allow the coral and beach to recover. All we could do was see it from a distance on our long-tail boat. Brea would have flown her drone here to try to get a better view, but the tour guides told us that we’re not allowed to fly drones there.
Bamboo Island
This was the second area that we could go snorkeling. They park the long-tail boat away from the beach and you will swim with your guide closer to the beach and to the cave area. This requires more distance swimming.
The water gets deeper from the boat to getting really shallow near the caves. Be careful not to step on the rocks as you can get cut.
Monkey Beach
The final destination of the tour is the infamous Monkey Beach! We were able to actually get off of the long-tail boat and go on to the beach this time. This beach is known for all of the monkeys that inhabit it. They actually go up to you and I even saw one steal someone’s food! Be careful if you go up close to them though because I heard that they can bite.
Near the shore, you can get more iconic pictures coming out of the water with the long-tail boats in the background or you can just sit on the shore too.
Additional spots we stopped at:
On the way to one of the other destinations, we passed the Viking Cave. You are not allowed to leave the boat here. There is someone guarding the cave at all times. The formation looks cool though and it’s more of a passing by site.
Brea saw this entrance along the way to Monkey Beach and told our boat driver if we can pass by. One of the perks of having a private tour! Easily deviate from your original plan if something better comes along! She wasn’t able to get the photo she wanted and even had the guy turn around to re-enter again, haha. But it was well worth it.
There’s a lot of random little spots in the Phi Phi Islands. We saw other yachts and random boats stopped at random locations as people were enjoying an almost private beach to themselves.
If you were to go to Thailand, the Phi Phi Islands should definitely be on your list. Make sure you go on a tour that fits your preferences. They’re more affordable than American tours so get your money’s worth it! You will not regret visiting.
