Phi Phi is one of the day trips you can do from Kamala.
It is worth doing, and there are a few things worth knowing before you book — about the boat, the timing, and what you will actually find when you arrive. I tried it out and this is how my day went.
The Morning
I left Kamala in the morning and drove to Rassada Pier on the east side of Phuket. Check Google Maps before you leave.
At the ticket counter you choose between speedboat and ferry. Speedboat — faster, more expensive. Ferry — slower, six hundred baht.
I chose the speedboat. By the time we arrived I had decided I was taking the ferry back.
Three Honda 250 V6 engines will do that to you. Fast, yes. Comfortable, no. My ears were ringing when I stepped off. If you value arriving in a reasonable state, keep that in mind before you book.
A Bit of Context
Phi Phi is two main islands in an archipelago between Phuket and Krabi. Only one, Koh Phi Phi Don, has hotels and people. The other, Koh Phi Phi Leh, is uninhabited and contains Maya Bay — the cove from the 1999 Leonardo DiCaprio film The Beach. That film is the reason Phi Phi is on every traveller’s map today.
Two things shaped the island I walked through. On Boxing Day 2004, a ten-metre wave destroyed roughly seventy percent of the buildings on Phi Phi Don. There is a memorial in Tonsai. The rebuild took over a year.
In 2018, the Thai government closed Maya Bay completely. The reef was dying. It stayed closed for nearly four years. When it reopened in 2022, the rules had changed — no boats inside the bay, a daily visitor cap, an annual closure in August and September. The reef has come back. So have the sharks. One of the more honest conservation stories in this region.
The Island
Phi Phi Don was a surprise, and a pleasant one.
I visited in early May 2026, so the streets were quiet — not empty, but a long way from the crowds those streets are built for in high season. The lanes are narrow and built for foot traffic only, no cars, no scooters. In low season you walk easily. In high season, the staff told me, you shuffle.
Some alleys are pure commerce — exchange booths, dive shops, tattoo parlours, fast food. Walk further and the village softens. Quieter side streets, hanging plants, a fruit market. Cleaner than I expected. More cared-for than I expected.
But walking through Tonsai the place felt more like a tourist attraction than an island. A circus. A marketplace. A Tivoli. Not the bounty island it actually is underneath, if you stripped the tourist layer away. That layer is what most people see, and it is what shapes the reputation. The island itself — the limestone, the bays, the quiet edges — is still there. It is just not what greets you when you step off the boat.
The shoreline is where the island earns its reputation. Longtail boats along one bay. Kayaks pulled up on the open beach. Limestone cliffs in the middle distance. Even from Phi Phi Don, without the crossing to Phi Phi Leh, you can see why this place became what it became.
You will read reviews that call Phi Phi the most beautiful place in Thailand, and reviews that say it has been ruined. Both are correct. The setting is extraordinary. The commercial layer on top is intense, and in high season more intense still. If you arrive expecting an untouched paradise you will be disappointed. If you arrive expecting somewhere beautiful with lunch on a quiet beach, you will get that.
What I Did Not See
I did not cross over to Phi Phi Leh on this trip — no Maya Bay, no Pileh Lagoon. That is a separate day, on a different kind of tour, and I will write about it when I have done it.
The Ferry Back
Six hundred baht. Three air-conditioned saloons, a small snack counter, toilets, proper seats.
The ferry looks older from the outside than it feels once you are on board. It is not luxury, but it is fine — and you can walk around, which matters more than you would think on a long crossing.
I had the saloons largely to myself, which makes a difference — I can imagine them feeling claustrophobic when fully loaded. But the ferry has one quality the speedboat does not: you can stand up, walk around, watch the cliffs disappear behind the stern at a pace that does not feel like an assault.
Slower than the speedboat, yes. Worth every minute.
What I Would Do Differently
Take the ferry both ways. The time you save with the speedboat is not worth what it costs you in comfort.
Go in shoulder season if you can — May to early July, or October to mid-November. Good weather, manageable crowds, restaurants open, Maya Bay accessible.
Carry cash. Several places on the island are cash only — the entry fee at the pier, the ferry snack counter, smaller shops and stalls. I paid a small twenty baht island entry fee at the pier on Phi Phi Don, and that was it for me. If you cross to Phi Phi Leh, there is a separate four hundred baht national park fee on top. I understand those fees. With the volume of tourists this place receives every day, the only way the nature stays intact is if visitors help pay to protect it. The Maya Bay closure proved the point.
One day is enough. I did not feel rushed, and I did not feel I had missed something. Phi Phi is a day trip. Treat it as one.
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