Guide to visit the Phi Phi islands in 3 days

After our trip to Thailand we have one thing clear, a visit to the Phi Phi Islands It's a must-see on a first trip to this country. We assure you that you'll love it. We were skeptical that they might be too touristy and crowded (and they were a bit), but we assure you that they're totally worth it. They're a authentic paradise, with white sand beaches, water so crystal clear it seems unreal.

Keep reading because we are going to tell you which ones they were our favorite places of these islands and the best plans to do to enjoy them. We recommend visiting the islands after visiting the mainland, since although there are quite a lot of atmosphere and hustle and bustle, they are much quieter than the rest of the Thai cities, so you can "relax" a little during the last days of your trip.

Getting to know the Phi Phi Islands

First we are going to tell you a little about these islands so that you can decide which one interests you the most, since the Phi Phi Islands They are an archipelago composed of 6 islands The most important ones (and the ones you will surely visit) are two: Koh Phi Phi Don y Koh Phi Phi Leh The rest are Bamboo Island, Koh Bida Nok, Koh Bida Nai, y Mosquito Island.

Koh Phi Phi Don

It is the largest island and the only inhabited one. This is where you will stay. It is important to note that the island is all jungle, what does that mean? that apart from certain sections that have an enabled road (in the Ton Sai area), to go from one area of the island to another you have to take a taxi-boat (or make a trekking through the jungle), as well as to go to other islands. For this reason, after much thought, we stayed at the Ton Sai area which is the best connected. If you want more details about what accommodation area choose we leave you our post here.

Koh Phi Phi Leh

This island has no accommodations, but it is the most famous for Maya Bay, the beach from the movie "The Beach" (yes, the one with DiCaprio). A day trip to this island is a must; it's truly breathtaking. We recommend going early (we met at 7 a.m. with our guide) longtail) since from 9-10am all the boats arrive with people staying further away and you may find it a bit crowded.

Rest of the islands of Koh Phi Phi

We'll tell you a little more about the smaller islands that make up the archipelago:

• Bamboo Island (Koh Mai Phai) This small island is perfect for a day trip. It has a spectacular white sand beach, but you can't swim right where the boats drop you off! Theoretically, it's to protect the coral and the ecosystem, but if you go to another area, you can. When we went, we found it really crowded, so if you don't have much time to spare, we wouldn't recommend it.
• Koh Bida Nok and Koh Bida Nai These two islands are incredibly popular with diving enthusiasts. They're surrounded by stunning coral reefs, where you can see all kinds of marine life, from reef sharks to turtles. If you're into diving, don't miss them!
• Mosquito Island (Koh Yung) Although it's currently closed to the public to protect its coral reefs, it was a good spot for snorkeling. Although I don't know if we would have dared to try it with that name, they say it's called that because there used to be quite a few mosquitoes at dusk.

How to get there

Being the most touristic islands in the area, you will not find any problems getting to the Phi Phi Islands from anywhere. Whether you are coming from Phuket, as from Krabi or from Koh Lanta (as we did), you will find at least 2 daily trips to these islands, obviously in boat. The frequency does depend on the season since in low season This may be reduced, or boats may not sail due to bad weather, so we advise you to check this carefully. There are two main options:

• Ferry, which is generally cheaper although the trip usually takes longer.
• Speed-boat, which is faster and more expensive.

The best way to check all schedules and routes is with the search engine 12GoAsia. We leave you here the names of ports of the different areas near Phi Phi so you can search for different options, since sometimes if you don't enter the exact port name, it doesn't appear.

• Phuket → Rassada Pier
• Krabi → Krabi Passenger Pier
• Ao Nang → Nopparat Thara Pier
• Koh Lanta → Saladan Pier
• Koh Phi Phi → Ton Sai Pier

There is also the possibility of not staying in the Phi Phi and doing a day trip From another site, here are some of the top rated ones:

• Phi Phi Islands Speedboat TourA full-day excursion departing from Phuket to visit the best spots on Koh Phi Phi Leh, such as Maya Bay and Pileh Bay Lagoon. Includes everything: hotel pickup, guide, entry tickets to Phi Phi Leh, lunch, and snorkeling equipment—a must!
• Excursion from Krabi to the Phi Phi Islands. Similar to the previous one, it includes hotel pickup and everything you need, but it departs from Krabi.

We really recommend you stop by at least one night In the Phi Phi Islands, there is a bit of a touristy atmosphere but we believe it is worth being there to visit Koh Phi Phi Leh early in the morning and to be able to better explore one's own Koh Phi Phi Don which is super cool.

Our 3-day route through the Koh Phi Phi Islands

We arrived at the Phi Phi Islands from Koh Lanta, where we had spent a couple of incredibly peaceful days visiting the entire national park. In the Phi Phi Islands we recommend spending at least 2 nights to see the must-sees, although if you like snorkeling, diving, or jungle adventures, we think you could spend more days there since there is plenty to do.

Day 1: Koh Phi Phi Don

We arrived in Koh Phi Phi in the afternoon and at the port a person from the hotel was waiting for us to help us with our luggage. We stayed at the Blue View House Phi Phi, a hotel with some breathtaking views We regretted it a bit later when we saw the stairs. If you want to know all our impressions and recommendations so you don't suffer like we did, we'll leave you with all the details in this post about where to stay in Koh Phi Phi.

As after checking in we didn't have much time left, we went to the first beach we found a little far from the port, we believe that the Viking Beach which is marked on Google Maps. There we enjoyed the water for a while and then took a walk to get to Long Beach It's a pretty cool ride because it feels a little trekking through the jungle, bridging the gaps. Most of the road is paved or has a defined path, but you're deep in the vegetation. Your worst enemy here will be the mosquitoes.

Day 2: Koh Phi Phi Leh and Viewpoints

On the second day we got up early to do the most famous excursion on the Phi Phi Islands, the tour of Koh Phi Phi Leh and some other iconic spots in the archipelago.

Phi Phi Islands Tour

If we had to recommend just one activity in this area, this is the one we'd choose. We'll tell you about the different options and then what we did:

• Make the speedboat excursion. This option is the most cheap although it has the disadvantage that you are accompanied by a lot of people who go with you on the boat, so the experience will be a little more overcrowded The excursion lasts a full day and includes a guide, food, and snorkeling equipment. It's perfect for those who don't want to worry too much about planning their day or haggling over the trip.
• Hire a longtail private. This option in longtail boat Typical Thai is a little more expensive If you go as a couple and it's slower, but it's the one we recommend since it seems like a cooler experience. You have to talk to an agency there (there are thousands of stalls) or with one of the drivers at the port of Ton Sai to negotiate the excursion (although the truth is that we found it difficult to negotiate in Phi Phi since from what they told us, everyone had agreed on a price range and didn't want to change it so as not to create unfair competition between each other). The price in the end will depend on the route, going from the 2,000 THB for 3h excursions up to the 3,500 THB for the 6h ones.

As you might have imagined, we took a longtail of 6 hours since they told us that with less hours they would not be able to Bamboo Island We met at the port with our driver at 7 in the morning as we wanted to get to Maya Bay Early, but at a time when the sun is shining. Everyone tells you to start at 6 a.m. because it's crowded, but you have to keep in mind that the sun isn't shining at that time, so the beach and water don't look as beautiful.

What to see in Koh Phi Phi Leh?

The points of the route We followed the instructions we agreed upon when booking the excursion, but the boat driver himself chose the order of the sites (they really studied it and knew when there were more people in certain areas). In our case, we left from Ton Sai in direction Koh Phi Phi Leh and we saw:

• Viking Cave We passed in front of Viking Cave making a brief stop without leaving the boat. Something interesting but not essential.
• Pi Leh Lagoon. Stop at Pi Leh Bay and a swim in those turquoise waters. They're truly breathtaking.

• Maya Bay We continue along the coast to reach the point where the boats leave you to see the famous beach Maya Bay, the one from DiCaprio's movie "The Beach." It's super curious because there's a kind of floating dock where your longtail And they tell you to take a picture of the boat's name. And what's this for, you might ask? Since there are so many people, they just wait for you standing far away, and when you come back, there's a guy with a megaphone to whom you show the name of your boat and they call him to come and get you. Then you have to get on at full speed because the boat doesn't tie up to the dock or anything. It's quite an experience, really Maya Bay What can we say? Spectacular. Photos don't do it justice, as it's even more impressive in person, so it's best to go see it for yourself.
• Maya Bay from the boat Since the tour of the island is circular, the boat continues on its way and enters the bay of the famous beach so you can see it from another perspective. If you wish, you can also do this snorkel in a little corner, we loved it.

• Snorkeling spot. Then we made a stop to make snorkel at a point on Koh Phi Phi Leh that our guide knew and it was impressive: fish of all colors and corals Out of a movie. If you like snorkeling, we recommend 100%. The guide told us we might see turtles here, but we weren't so lucky.

Points of interest in Koh Phi Phi Don

Our boat then headed to this island, where we made a couple of stops that we also recommend:

• Monkey Beach The famous beach where a family of monkeys We imagine they're somewhat accustomed to seeing people there. Even so, our guide recommended that we not stay too long, as the monkeys have bitten people on occasion. We were lucky enough to see three super-cute little monkeys.
• Nui Beach We made a brief stop at this beach, famous for being a good spot for snorkeling.

Bamboo Island

The last stop on the excursion we made was on this island which is a little further away from the rest as we had read about its white sand and its spectacular landscape We found it too full of people I don't know if it was because it was already late in the morning. Also, swimming is prohibited right where the boats drop you off to protect the environment.

Phi Phi Viewpoints

Back in Tonsai Village after our excursion and replenishing our strength in some of the island restaurants, we decided to go to the Phi Phi lookouts There are three viewpoints, though we decided to stay at the second one to watch the sunset. Things to keep in mind:

• ¡Bring water For the trail! Although the path isn't difficult at all and is almost entirely paved, it's a bit tough, even for the most athletic. The humidity is so high that you'll sweat profusely and want to stop at every step.
• They charge you 50 THB as entrance fee since it's supposed to be private property. The third viewing platform is charged separately.
• We recommend you go see the sunset at viewpoint 2. You won't be alone at all, as the viewpoint gets crowded, but we still think the views are worth it.
• Beware of the mosquitoes We were even bitten through our clothes; there are so many of them that there's no escape, so try to wear long, loose-fitting pants.

Day 3: Nui Beach

On our last day in Phi Phi we decided to take it easy and take a morning hike to Nui Beach, since we really enjoyed the stop we made the day before but it seemed short. We went to Loh Dalum Beach to haggle with the taxi-boat to take us to and from the beach. As we mentioned before, we didn't get much by bargaining, but in the end we managed to get a price of 900 THB round trip We agreed to pay him half on the way there and the other half on the way back, as we didn't want him to forget about us and leave us stranded there (he dropped us off around 10 a.m., and we agreed to pick us up around 2 p.m.).

We were there all morning doing snorkel the truth is, there are many corals and it's a very good area for this. We even saw one sea serpent and a cuttlefish!

Ton Sai Village and nightlife in Phi Phi

In the afternoon we took a walk around Ton Sai to buy some memory since there are a lot of stalls Keep in mind that buying things on the Phi Phi Islands is considerably more expensive than in Bangkok or Chiang Mai, for example, because they take advantage of the fact that everything is full of Western tourists. Haggling is also more difficult, as some foreigners will pay any price for things.

At night in Phi Phi you can enjoy fire shows They do it on the beach, completely free if you go to the bar that organizes it to have a drink. There are also fights Muay Thai, places to go tattoos, to buy marijuana (it's legal in Thailand), etc. There's really everything you need to keep you entertained. In fact, we recommend staying a little far from the center if you're someone who struggles with noise when sleeping, as the music can be quite loud.

Map with things to do in the Phi Phi Islands

If you want to read other articles ideal for your trip that complement Guide to visit the Phi Phi islands in 3 days you can visit our posts about Thailand.