The Phi Phi Islands
Maya Bay closes every August and September, and the rest of Phi Phi rewards an early crossing. We go at first light and leave as the day fleet lands.
Where
Krabi
Phi Phi is two islands that matter and four that do not. Phi Phi Don carries the village, the pier and almost everyone; Phi Phi Leh, uninhabited and ringed by cliffs three hundred metres high, carries Maya Bay. Between them lies water that has been photographed more than any other in Thailand and which still, at the right hour, looks like the photograph.
The right hour is early. The archipelago sits a couple of hours from Phuket by day boat and rather less from Krabi, which means the fleet lands in a block between half past ten and midday and leaves in a block in the late afternoon. Either side of that block the eastern bays are empty.
What changed in 2018 is management. Maya Bay was closed outright for more than three years, then reopened under rules — boats moored on the far side, no swimming in the bay, numbers capped, and an annual closure that is not negotiable.
What the Maya Bay closure actually protects
Maya Bay was taking several thousand people and hundreds of boats a day when it shut in 2018. The damage was not to the sand but to the reef under the anchorages, which had effectively gone. The bay reopened in 2022 with the mechanics changed: boats moor at Loh Samah on the opposite side of the island and visitors walk through to the beach, swimming in the bay is prohibited, time ashore is limited and numbers are capped.
On top of that it closes completely every year from 1 August to 30 September, at the height of the south-west monsoon, so the reef gets a season with nobody on it. Blacktip reef sharks have returned to the shallows, which is the clearest evidence anyone has that the arrangement works.
The eastern bays, and why we start there
Most of the archipelago's snorkelling is better than Maya Bay's and none of it is famous. The bays along Phi Phi Don's eastern shore hold shallow hard coral in three or four metres of water, and Bamboo Island to the north has a reef flat you can drift for an hour.
Because every itinerary sold on the pier runs the same circuit in the same direction, these are the places that are empty at eight and full at eleven — the exact inverse of Maya Bay. So we run the circuit backwards. Snorkelling first, while the light is low and the water undisturbed; cliffs and caves next; the headline stop later, or not at all.
Viking Cave and the birds-nest concession
The tall cave on Phi Phi Leh's eastern cliff is not open to visitors, and the reason is worth knowing. Its walls are hung with bamboo scaffolding built by collectors who harvest the nests of edible-nest swiftlets — cemented saliva, the raw material of birds-nest soup, and among the most valuable animal products in the world by weight.
The concession is held under licence and watched year-round; boats pass close but do not land. The Viking name comes from ochre drawings on the rock that resemble sailing ships, made most likely by sailors sheltering there and nothing at all to do with Scandinavia.
How We Visit
Our way in
We cross privately, usually from Krabi where the run is shorter and the water more sheltered, timed so that we are in the eastern bays while the fleet is still loading. Snorkelling comes first, cliffs and caves next, and Maya Bay only if it is open and only if the day's allocation gives us a slot worth having — we would rather tell you it is not worth the queue than take you into one. Lunch is aboard or on a quiet beach on Phi Phi Don, and we are generally back on the mainland by mid-afternoon.
Questions
What travellers ask
Is Maya Bay open?
Yes, outside its annual closure. Maya Bay reopened in 2022 after being shut altogether, and it now closes every year from 1 August to 30 September so the reef can recover. When it is open, visitor numbers are capped, boats moor on the far side of the island and you walk through to the beach, and swimming in the bay itself is prohibited. The rest of the Phi Phi islands stay open year-round.
Can you swim at Maya Bay?
No. Swimming in Maya Bay has been prohibited since the beach reopened in 2022, and the rule is enforced by park staff on the sand. Visitors arrive at a mooring on the far side of the island, walk through to the beach and stay ashore. Blacktip reef sharks have come back to the shallows since. For swimming and snorkelling we use the eastern bays of Phi Phi Don instead.
Is it better to visit Phi Phi from Phuket or Krabi?
Krabi, in most cases. The crossing is shorter and the water between the mainland and the islands more sheltered, which matters when the whole strategy is to be in the bays before the day fleet arrives. Phuket makes sense if that is where you are already staying and an early start is acceptable. Either way it is the timing, not the departure point, that decides what the day feels like.
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