Famous Landmark of Krabi Province Phi Phi Island, consists of two large islands: Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Le. Phi Phi Don is the largest and most inhabited island in this water areas, and it is here that you get with any ship arriving with the mainland. On Phi Phi Don, all local hotels are located, all infrastructure and it is here that you will live during your check in And Phi Phi Le is a reserved island, it is five times less Phi Phi Don, and you can only get here by boat or as part of tours. Here is the main attraction of the islands Phi Phi – Maya Bay and the very beach that lit up in the film “The Beach”, with DiCaprio.
The content of the article
- 1 Phi Phi Tour
- 1.1 Viking Cave
- 1.2 Pi Le Bay
- 1.3 Luo Bay Most
- 1.4 Maya Bay
- 1.5 Nung Long beaches and cave
- 1.6 Monkey Beach
- 1.7 Nui Beach
- 1.8 Neighborhoods of Lo Lana Beach
- 1.9 Surroundings of Lo Ba Bao Beach
- 1.10 Bambu Island
- 2 Information to visit
- 3 How best to go on Phi Phi, with a tour
- 4 On the map
Contents
Phi Phi Tour
I started early in the morning, at 6:30, on a private taxi-boat. To me Two options of this type of transport seemed convenient: time of departure and stop points are at the discretion of the customer, the main thing is to keep within 6 hours paid trips (which were proudly named for the sale 1-day trip).
The following stops were included in the route of my trip: Cave Viking, bay Pi Le, bay Luo Samaya, from there go upstairs to Maya Bay, then back to Phi Phi Don, there is a beach inspection Monkey Beach, Nui, Lana, Lo Ba Kao. After them – half an hour swim to the island of Bambu and return to the port of registry. The plan was good, but in fact, everything turned out to be not quite rosy, although I just couldn’t get lucky with a boatman. And with the weather. And with the tide.
Viking cave
Faces swollen from sleep, in anticipation of exclusive beauties Phi Phi Le, under the dawn flashes of the morning sky, the boatman and I rattled on the longtail towards our first stop – Viking Cave. Viking Cave is in a rocky slope Phi Phi Le, just on the way to Maya Bay and Luo Samaya Bay. If I knew that the boatman would not want to return the same way, then I would ask him to make a stop near the cave in order to climb go there and take pictures, it would take 5-10 minutes. Therefore, you get only two shots taken in passing. By the way, after talking to by several travelers, I concluded that many hope on the opportunity to return, and often do not stop exactly in Viking Cave, because they are in a hurry to see Maya Bay.
Viking Cave on Phi Phi Le
Pi Le Bay
Bay Pi looks equally fabulous as on Google maps, so and in tourists’ photographs: the shallow waters are not deeper than three meters, dazzling white sand at the bottom that reflects the sun’s rays and illuminates the sea water from the inside with such an amazing color from whose eyes stop blinking and you lose touch with reality. It was with such expectations that I was worried on the nose of the longtail, while the boatman was taxiing around the next cape. But for the last a sad picture opened up to me – there was a swim in Pi Lei is impossible. Low tide. Moreover, such a low tide, that in that area of the bottom you can it was easy to run football players. It is at this moment that I suspected that he had chosen the wrong time for such a wonderful Phi Phi Island Tours
Bay Phi Phi Le Island
Bay Luo Samaya
On May Bay, we got about 7:30, and I asked the boatman to sail not immediately to the desired bay, but from the back side, where it bordered by another bay – Lo Samae Bay. There is no your own in Lo beach, but there is a stone wall, which threw boarding net, as for pirates, on which you can climb up to the small patch of the jungle. From there, walk through the jungle I wanted to get to Maya Bay to see the cinema beach as much as it was shown in the cinema: you go, you go this through the bushes, and suddenly bang – sudden beauty and euphoria. The boatman meanwhile set off around the island to pick me up happy from Maya Bay beach.
Bay Luo Samay on Phi Phi Le
Maya Bay
Excursion to Maya Bay is one of the most popular in the south. Thailand, so if you come on vacation in Phuket or Krabi, then definitely the first place where you will be offered to go, this is Phi Phi. Living on Phuket or Krabi you can go to Phi Phi with a tour, then have a return on the same day. And you can give up on Phi Phi Don with overnight stay or even a few, and from there take a boat and explore all the surroundings. As you know, the price of popularity the islands are common – crowded during peak tourist hours. If a come here as part of the tour, then the people here will be like in Moscow metro – not overcrowded. Therefore, you should swim here early in the morning, until the main stream of people is still awake. I got into successful time and unsuccessful at the same time. There were no tourists, but not there was the sea. Unfortunately, the tide on Maya Bay at this time has not yet started. A detailed description of the beach with photos I have posted separate post.
Maya Bay on Phi Phi Le
Nung Long beaches and cave
Next, after May Bay, we headed in the opposite direction to Phi Phi Don and the first thing we stopped at the lagoon with the beach Nung Long on the west side of the island, there is very beautiful.
Monkey Beach
Then we visited Monkey Beach. In fact, it turned out to be normal for Phi Phi beach, just there are a lot of wild monkeys. I noticed that a lot Tourists like brazen monkeys that behave like miniature Gopnik: fight, take away things from you, climb under the clothes searched and stolen food right with the packages. Tourists are touched, peep from delight and continuously take photos. When I sailed the French and (do not know on purpose or not) rustled in several packs chips The monkeys rushed headlong into their boat, took the bags, tore them up and started eating. The French and I made monkeys photo shoot. Beach on Monkey Beach – with white sand, interspersed stones at the bottom, in principle, you can swim. Detailed description of the beach with photos I posted a separate post.
Monkey Beach Phi Phi Don
Nui Beach
After that we sailed further – crossed the bay of Lo Dalam, reached until the second half of Phi Phi Don and the boatman turned the boat into Neat Bay Nui. We are only a little closer to Nui beach, I took a little of this beautiful, cozy place with sheer walls rocks around the beach. Considering that at the time of our arrival there already there were several boats that brought people for a snore – I did the conclusion that there is likely a suitable place for snorkeling. Am I really looked at his watch and didn’t set down and check – time was running out. Slightly more details and a more detailed description of the beach I have in a separate article.
Beach Nui on Phi Phi Don
Surroundings of Lo Lana Beach
After that we sailed to Lana Beach, and I parked there. I walked around the area of three beaches-neighbors: Nui, Lana and Lo Ba Kao. On Nui beach is easier to get to the sea, but Lo Lana is already available and pedestrians. Lana and Lo Ba Kao are located on different edges of a small lowlands, which is half flooded with sea water and thickly overgrown mangrove trees. Lo Lana used to be a habitable place, with not a bad bungalow resort, but in the pictures you can see that from him left. Now it is an ordinary wild beach, with garbage, thickets of grass. and bushes, although it is not deprived of the attention of tourists. About the beach Lo Lana I wrote a separate post and took a lot of pictures, so I will not long spread about him as part of the description of the tour.
Beach Lo Lana on Phi Phi Don
Surroundings of Lo Ba Bao Beach
Literally five hundred meters from Lo Lana, there is Lo Ba Kao beach. I walked across the plain, walked through the bridge there, and hit on a charming tropical beach. In this remote area stop people who want to live away from civilization, but there is also a minus in this location – they have to fall into Phi Phi Town for a taxi booth, which means additional costs and inconvenience. But if you come to relax on the beach, then you you can not fool tax cabins – once is enough to Look at Phi Phi Town and return to Lo Ba Khao. It is not worth only a huge five star hotel, but also several small bungalow resorts with a much smaller price tag. More details about Beach you will find in my separate post about Lo Ba Bao.
Beach Lo Ba Kao on Phi Phi Don Island
Bambu Island
Then we moved to the island of Bambu, which is located north of Phi Phi Don. It is quite small, half overgrown with jungle, but I I understand that he fell in love with everything due to his bright white sand. My boatman landed in the southern part, where small sections of sand of 5-10 meters, a lot of stones, and first I it was not clear, what for we sailed here. After talking, I found out that he gives me half an hour, so that I walked around and took pictures. Have I have a separate story about this island – Bamboo Island about Phi Phi In short, I will say that its main beach is on the north parts, there is very beautiful, really – bounty, but a lot people. The southern part of the island is less waterable and do on it in basically nothing. From Bamboo, we sailed back to Tong Sai Pier, which is located in Phi Phi Town. Transition time from Bamboo to Tong Saya – about 30 minutes.
Beach on Bambu Island near Phi Phi Dona
Information to visit
How to get to Phi Phi from Phuket and Krabi
Travel time to Maya Bay
Peak hours when the number of tourists exceeds all reasonable limits – from 9 am to 4 pm Hell itself – at noon. If you If you want to be alone, then you need to set off until 8 am, either after 16, closer to sunset.
But in this case, if you come in a season (January-February), loneliness you are very unlikely to stay. Too popular and promoted place.
Ebb and flow
Phi Phi beaches are shallow, and the water at low tide falls on some parts of the islands up to 3 meters, which means lunar landscapes instead of a tropical paradise. Look in advance schedule of tides and write down how many at the right time time in the morning will be tide. Unfortunately, ebbs and flows occur in different times every day. About tide tables.
Weather
Although it would be better to write – the season. Weather changes everything: light, color of sand, sea and sky, mood and photos. In my The weather did not come out very well, although they promised a clear one. In fact was haze, why all the pictures turned out gloomy, and the water is not azure color.
Your expectations
If you want to see the real beauty of the islands of Phi Phi and the bay Maya Bay in particular, you should definitely consider the first 3 item. And if the exact correspondence to the ideal is not so important, and you able to draw the missing in your imagination, you can not Pay attention to what I wrote.
What is the best way to go to Phi Phi, with which tour
Options
- You can get to Maya Bay with a minimum of tourists having bought on the spot on Phi Phi Donhe an organized Awoid format tour Crowd (like avoid the crowd), at 6:30 am for Early Birds (early birdies). This is an organized tour, which includes only May Bay The problem is that these tours sell at every corner and want to avoid the crowds a lot.
- Private boat, as I did. Again, taken on the spot. You pay for the boat and ride it alone, or you can cheaper trip if you have a big company. I took the boat for 3000 Baht per day. This position sounded like a 1-day tour 6 hour, i.e. in fact, not a day, but six hours.
- Other kind of tours (day, evening, with a different set visited places), which are bought locally in one of the travel agencies on Phi Phi or at the hotel reception. Prices for all plus minus the same. Pay attention to tours when you find yourself in Maya Bay in the afternoon, there should be fewer people, although not the fact that you enjoy the light.
- Tour with an overnight stay on the island, which makes it possible to stay alone (well, or with a bunch of more of the same romantics) on the beach early-early in the morning or before sunset, and of course at night.
- Take a trip to Phuket or Krabi for 1-2 days. For the price of it the most profitable option and taking less time from you that important for those who came for 1-2 weeks to rest and not ready give Phi Phi a decent part of your vacation.
If my task was to visit Maya Bay even if the crowd, then I would take a tour from Phuket overnight on Phi Phi Don. There includes transfer from hotel to Phuket to the ferry, hotel in Phi Phi Don, and Mayai Bay excursion itself. Total money comes out more profitable than buying it all separately.
Prices for excursions to Phi Phi →
I specifically took a private boat to check the most, in my look, an interesting option, which in fact was not in my case. Yes, and too expensive for one, group tours go cheaper.
I myself do not like the crowd. If you also, then in any case it is worth take some such option to go not to the most popular time, that is it: Awoid Crowd tour, afternoon tour, overnight tour, private boat.
The nuances of a private taxi
Specifically, in my case, the boatman was very sluggish. He is not obliged to be a tour guide, but in the opinion of people, I expected more from him initiatives, and in fact he constantly asked me where we were going farther. And when we arrived at the place, he did not tell me that to do, that is, it was assumed that I initially read everything, everything I know, and I will say where to swim. We walked the standard route, but it seemed to me that he did everything sluggishly and reluctantly. And when I told him said I want to on Bambu Island, then he started to refuse, like “far, maybe you can snark better, the waves, the wind,” but the storm is not It was observed, and I personally did not confuse the waves. It feels like he I wanted to bring me somewhere to one place for five hours and then take back.
Also, he did not tell me anything about time so that I could meet into the program. Although it is initially clear that if someone takes a boat for 6 hours, he will love to visit Maya Bay and Bambu Island I understand he had to control time and suggest how much I had it in each place. I I tried to tell him to get on the way to some to the beach, but he refused, possibly due to the fact that Excluded. In short, much depends on the boatman himself, and it is better to negotiate such things in advance so that the travel agency does not sent you a lazy seal.
Overnight on Maya Bay
If you choose a camping tour, you will get to Maya Bay with an overnight stay. There are tents in the jungle and even wooden houses are built along the rocks in which you can spend the night. Overnight allows you Meet the best hours of the day on Maya Bay. Theoretically possible spend the night on a rug in a sleeping bag right on the beach.
What to take with you
When you buy an organized tour, there is usually more food included. In the case of taxi boath, you are left without food, and this it is still good that I took nuts with me. More precisely, the boatman bought some wacky thai sweets offered to me but i refused. But there were so few of them there, so even if I I ate it all as a breakfast – it would not have gone. Buy food with you, but something not perishable.
Sunscreen is a must. Take the tube and mask with flippers – there will be several stops for snorkeling: in the bay of Lo Pi Le ( high water) in Loh Samaya and on the large reef between the islands of Phi Phi Don and Bambu Island. Take drinking water, two and a half liters. On Bambu Island there is no unleavened soul, it will be necessary to wash at least face after swimming. Waterproof surfer bag if buy – very convenient for continuous landing from a boat. Swim Shoes – very useful when disembarking in Lo Samaya and Viking Cave, and in other places trip.
On the map
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