Phi Phi from Krabi: Which Day Trip, and What Maya Bay Is Like Now
Updated September 24, 2026 · 8 min read
Phi Phi is the trip people book before they arrive. It is also the one where the gap between the photograph and the day is widest — a 45-minute crossing each way, a beach where you are not allowed to swim, and a park fee that is double what you paid on the Four Islands run.
None of that makes it a bad day out. It makes it a day worth understanding before you hand over the money.
Maya Bay is closed right now
As this is written, on 24 September 2026, Maya Bay is shut. It closes from 1 August to 30 September every year for the national park’s marine restoration programme, and the 2026 closure ends on 1 October. Boat trips to Phi Phi run through the closure as normal — they simply cannot enter the bay.
If you are in Krabi in the last week of September, that is the single most useful thing on this page. Trips still sell at full price, and the itinerary you read may still list Maya Bay. Ask before you book, and ask what replaces it.
And when it is open, you cannot swim in it
This surprises almost everybody. Since the bay reopened after its long closure, the rules are: no swimming, wading only in shallow water, and no drones without permission. One of the largest Krabi operators states both of those restrictions in its own listing rather than leaving you to find out on the sand.
Boats no longer beach at Maya Bay either. They come in at Loh Samah Bay on the other side of the headland, and you walk across. The time ashore is short — one hour on the itinerary of the most-reviewed trip, and that hour includes the walk.
So Maya Bay is a look, not a swim. The swimming happens at Pileh Lagoon, round the headland: an enclosed sheet of green water under vertical cliffs, and honestly the better half of the two. The early bird gives it 40 minutes.
The four ways to get there
The early bird, and the most-booked. Phi Phi Early Bird & 4 Islands by Speedboat runs 9 hours from €69.78, with 4.9 stars from 3,492 reviews. Pick-up in Ao Nang, Klong Muang and Tubkaek is between 5:50 am and 6:30 am, Railay around 7:00 am, and you are back at the pier between 3:45 pm and 4:00 pm. It stitches the Phi Phi circuit onto the Four Islands one: the Ko Mor–Ko Tup sandbar, Maya Bay, Pileh Lagoon, Viking Cave from the boat, Monkey Bay, Bamboo Island for lunch, then Ko Kai and Ko Poda on the way home. Boat capacity is 30.
The straightforward one. Phi Phi Islands Speedboat Tour with Buffet Lunch is 7 hours 30 minutes from €35.48, 4.6 stars from 979 reviews. Two snorkel stops on the way over, Loh Samah, Maya Bay on foot, Pileh, Viking Cave, buffet lunch on Phi Phi Don with halal food provided, another snorkel stop, then Bamboo Island. Seasickness tablets are on the list of things they carry.
The middle option. Phi Phi by speedboat or catamaran covers the same water in 7 hours from €40.74, with 4.7 stars from 1,848 reviews. A catamaran is slower and steadier than a speedboat, which matters more than it sounds if the sea is up.
The evening version. Phi Phi Islands Sunset Tour with BBQ and plankton is the long one: 9.5 hours from €61.47, 4.7 stars from 3,055 reviews. You trade the early light for the sunset and a plankton swim after dark.
And the one nobody mentions. A one-way ferry to Koh Phi Phi is €13.14 for a 1.5-hour crossing. If you want two nights on the island rather than six hours of boat, that is the ticket — and Phi Phi at 7:00 am, before the day boats arrive, is a different place entirely.
The fee that doubles
The Four Islands and Phi Phi sit in the same protected area on paper, but they are charged as separate zones, and the rate is not the same:
| Where | Adult | Child |
|---|---|---|
| Four Islands / 7 Islands circuit | 200 THB | 100 THB |
| Phi Phi zone | 400 THB | 200 THB |
Two independent Phi Phi listings quote 400 and 200 baht, payable in cash on the day and not included in the tour price. For two adults and two children that is 1,200 THB in cash, handed over at the check-in point or on the boat. Bring it in baht. There is no cash machine at Loh Samah.
If you have already done a Four Islands day and paid 200 baht, the higher figure looks like a mistake. It is not. Same park name, different zone. Our Four Islands or Hong Islands guide has the third rate, because the Hong Islands are a different park again.
Who these trips are not for
Read the exclusion list on the listing you are actually buying, because the two big Phi Phi speedboats disagree with each other. The early bird excludes children under 3, travellers aged 70 and over, wheelchair users, pregnant travellers, people with back or heart conditions, anyone over 130 kg and anyone with a low fitness level. The cheaper speedboat sets the age floor at 2 but excludes travellers over 60 and anyone under 120 cm tall — a limit that quietly rules out most six-year-olds.
Neither of those is a typo, and neither operator will make an exception at the pier. If someone in your group is near one of those lines, that decides which boat you book, not the price.
Is it worth it
Yes, if you have four days or more in Krabi and Phi Phi is on your list for its own sake. Pileh Lagoon and the crossing itself are genuinely worth a day.
No, if you have two days. The nearer islands are prettier per hour and cost half as much — that comparison is the whole point of the island tours page, which starts at €12.88.
Not with a toddler. A 9-hour day with a 5:50 am pick-up and two 45-minute speedboat legs is a lot to ask of a small child — and the early bird, the trip that covers both circuits, does not take children under 3 at all.
Not for the snorkelling alone. The stops are short and shared with every other boat on the circuit. If that is what you came for, the honest answer is closer to shore, and the snorkelling page starts at €17.03.
Three small things
Sit towards the back of a speedboat rather than the bow, unless being airborne appeals. Take a waterproof bag — everything on a speedboat gets wet. And tell the operator about a dietary requirement when you book: the buffets do halal and vegetarian, but only with notice.
If the sea is rough, expect a call the evening before or on the morning itself. Rerouting and cancelling is normal practice on this coast, not a sign you booked badly.
