Important Tips for Booking a Phi Phi Island Boat Tour

Taking a Phi Phi Island boat tour is one of the most popular things to do in Phuket and Krabi Thailand.  However, not all tours are created equally. 

How do you get to the Phi Phi Islands?

In order to take a Phi Phi Island boat tour, you’ll need to start in Phuket or Krabi.  From there, there are multiple options available to get to the Phi Phi Islands. 

Phi Phi Island boat tour from Phuket

To get to the Phi Phi Islands from Phuket, you will first need to get to the southeast side of the island.  Most of the boats will leave from near Phuket Town.  Keep in mind, the majority of hotels are on the west side of the island and it will take anywhere from 40-60 minutes to drive to Phuket Town.  

Once there, you can either take a ferry boat to the islands, and then rent a longtail boat, or you can take a group tour directly from Phuket.  Group tours from Phuket will only be by speed boat. It typically takes about 2 hours by boat to get to Phi Phi. 

Phi Phi Island boat tour from Krabi

From Ao Nang Krabi, there are many Phi Phi Island boat tours available. For group tours, the only option is by speed boat. It will take about 45 minutes to get to the Phi Phi Islands once you leave Ao Nang.

For the best Phi Phi island boat tour, see if you can find an operator that will do a private tour with a longtail boat from Ao Nang.

What you need to pack for a Phi Phi Island Tour

Like any beach tour you need to make sure you include the basics: 

• Sunscreen
• Hat or visor
• T-shirt or coverup
• Water shoes or water appropriate sandals
• Beach towel
• Book or e-reader
• Cash for park fees

Phi Phi Island Boat Tour itinerary

The group tours to the Phi Phi Islands from Krabi will typically last about 8 hours for a day trip to Phi Phi.  If you are within a pick up zone in Ao Nang or Krabi Town, the tour company will pick you up at a designated time and location.  Then you will be dropped at the Hat Noppharat Thara-Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park while you wait up to 30-60 minutes for more travelers to join. 

You will get on the speedboat and travel to Ko Phi Phi Don to snorkel in one of the bays alongside the island. 

Next, you’ll head to Maya Bay, which was made famous by the movie The Island.  To get to Maya Bay, you disembark the boat and walk 10 minutes through the island to the bay.  There are hundreds of other tourists getting on and off the island at the same time. Once you get to Maya Bay you can not swim in the water.  You are only allowed to quickly walk in, up to about your shins, and take photos for a few minutes.  While the water is truly stunning, it’s all very curated.  

There really isn’t anything else to do during the Maya Bay tour other than buy overpriced snacks and wait for your tour group to go to the next location. 

After you return to the boat, you will drive through Pi Le Bay, which is truly the highlight of the entire experience.  Here you have crystal clear water, that is such a specific shade of green it appears to be glowing.  If you’re lucky, you’ll also spot monkeys on the rocks nearby. 

Next, It is time for lunch on Koh Phi Phi.  This is your typical tour group lunch where you are herded to an area with a buffet and tables to support the multiple groups.  The food while edible is pretty marginal.  It will likely be the worst meal you have in Phuket or Krabi.  There is a little time to enjoy the beach, but it is crowded and directly next to the boat landing. 

The last stop of the day is the best beach location at Bamboo Island.  This island has soft sandy beaches, with much more space to spread out from the groups.  If you’ve hit your limit of sun for the day, there are plenty of shady areas to cool off. 

You’ll return to Ao Nang, but you will be dropped at Ao Nang beach and have to walk back to your hotel from the beach. 

My Phi Phi Island trip review 

Of the 3 different tours I booked while in Krabi, this tour was by far the most disappointing, for a number of reasons.

After an early morning pickup around 815, we spent a full hour waiting before we could go to the boat launch.  This was a complete waste of everybody’s time. 

The boats are crowded.  There are at least 40 people (not including the guides) packed into the boat, if you can try to get a seat closest to the back of the boat to quickly enter and exit at each stop.  The seats are also low in the boat, so it is hard to see out of the windows without standing.  This makes the boat more claustrophobic. 

The snorkeling was quite honestly lackluster and the people on my boat barely knew how to swim, so shouldn’t have even been off the boat.  I got kicked by someone and immediately gave up. You will have a much better snorkeling experience by booking one of the Krabi sunset tours.

Maya Bay, while truly stunning, is like being at Thai Disney.  You wait in a line full of people to get off the boat, walk around for a while in the heat just to stand in 4 inches of water and get your photo taken for social media.  Then you walk back to wait around for another 20 minutes because there isn’t anything else to do. 

The lunch was average at best, which is disappointing because I had such great food in Thailand, including my sunset cruise tour. 

The real highlights of the tour were cruising through Pi Le Bay and enjoying a quieter beach experience at Bamboo Island. 

Overall, I was pretty disappointed with my Phi Phi Island tour by speedboat.  If I could do it all over again, I would try to get a private boat tour to the islands on a longtail boat. 

Phi Phi Island boat tour price

Tour costs around Ao Nang and Krabi are complicated, because tour prices are set by the local tour companies, but not well advertised unless you book through a third party website.  In Ao Nang there are tour booths and tour companies located all over town, but they will never list prices.  You’ll have to work with their tour agent and potentially negotiate on your pricing.  Since they’re not listed, it’s hard to tell if the prices are fair, or high.  Even some of the local companies that do have websites either don’t show pricing, or have different prices for the exact same hong islands tour packages. 

Often, if you are working with the tour agent in person, you can work with them on getting discounts for either a larger group rate, or by booking multiple tours.  While in Krabi, I booked a private Hong Island Tour on a longtail boat for myself and a friend, then added on a Ko Phi Phi tour for myself the following day.  Since I booked multiple tours, they gave me a “discount” for the second tour and they comped our park fees. 

If you book a tour online, it will not include the National Park fees for visiting the islands.  This is anywhere from 200-400 baht ($6-12) per person, depending on the tour and islands.  The fee for the Phi Phi Islands tour is 400 baht ($12) per adult, and payment is due upon entry.  Again, if you book in person, you can negotiate for your fees to be covered. 

Phi Phi Island tour speed boat pricing

The price for a Koh Phi Phi day trip from Ao Nang is 1300-1800 baht ($38-53) per person plus the 400 baht ($12) park fee. 

The tour price includes the pick up from a hotel in Ao Nang, the boat tour, lunch, non-alcoholic drinks, fresh fruit, and snorkeling equipment. 

Check to see if your hotel has a tour booking service as they may be able to book cheaper pricing. 

Booking a tour

If you choose to book a group tour, or a private boat, you will want to do it 1-2 days prior to your tour.  This is definitely the case during the peak tourist season and at the holidays when there are more crowds. 

Phi Phi Island Boat Tour FAQs

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