PHUKET · THAILAND
Limestone islands, clear water, the boat out each morning.
Day trips to Phi Phi, James Bond Island and the sea caves of Phang Nga Bay, plus the snorkeling, diving and after-dark picks closer to home. The Phuket tours worth your time, in one place.
Only on the Andaman
The Andaman’s headline acts.
Snorkeling stops and beach days turn up on every tropical island. Sea caves you paddle into at low tide, a limestone spire out of a Bond film, the cove from The Beach: those belong to Phang Nga Bay and Phi Phi, and they are why people fly here. Build the trip around them.
Into the hongs
Sea-Cave Canoeing
At the right tide a guide paddles you through a low sea cave and out into a hong: a hidden lagoon walled in by limestone and jungle, open to the sky and silent except for the birds. The cave mouth only clears the water an hour or two a day. It is the one Phuket day that still feels like a secret.
- 1 Phang Nga Bay Sea Cave Canoeing & James Bond Island by Big Boat
- 2 Phuket: James Bond Island Longtail Boat and Sea Canoe Tour
- 3 Hong by Starlight: Sea Cave Kayaking and Loy Krathong Floating
The famous spire
James Bond Island
Khao Phing Kan, the leaning limestone needle that played the villain’s hideout back in 1974. The rock is the photo everyone takes home, but the run out across Phang Nga Bay, past sheer cliffs rising straight out of flat green water, is the part that actually stays with you.
- 1 Phuket: James Bond Island by Longtail Boat Small Group Tour
- 2 James Bond Island with Canoeing and Lunch by Speedboat
- 3 Luxury Boat to James Bond Islands with Lunch and Sunset Dinner
The Beach, reopened
Maya Bay
The cove from the film, closed for years so the reef could recover and now open again on a daily cap. White sand, sheer green walls, water you can see your feet through. Get there on an early boat, before the day-trippers stack up, and it still looks like the poster.
- 1 Phuket: PhiPhi, Maya Bay & Khai Island Day Tour with Lunch
- 2 From Phuket: Phi Phi, Maya Bay, & Khai Islands Premium Trip
- 3 Phi Phi, Maya Bay, & Khai Islands Premium Trip from Phuket
The big day trip
Start with the one everyone books.
If you only have room for one day trip, this is where most people in Phuket start. Here is what the day is actually like.
The classics
Phuket’s Most Popular Day Trips
Phi Phi, James Bond Island, Phang Nga Bay, the Khai Islands. The day trips most people come to Phuket for.
Plan the big one
How to do Phang Nga Bay.
Every Phuket trip ends up asking the same thing: how do you actually see the bay? It sits a couple of hours north, so the boat you pick shapes the whole day. Three ways that work, depending on what you want from it.
By big boat
The classic full day. A large boat out to James Bond Island, lunch near the floating village, then canoes into the sea caves. The slowest and busiest option, but the easy, low-cost way to see all of it in one go.
By speedboat
Half the travel time and twice the range. Speedboats reach the quieter hongs and tuck in a beach stop or two before the big boats catch up. The pick if you would rather be in the water than sat on a deck.
By private longtail
Your own boat at your own pace, on the bay’s own wooden workhorse. Best for an early start that beats the day-trippers to James Bond Island and lingers in the caves long after they have gone.
By island
Every island is its own day.
Phi Phi for the famous bays. James Bond Island for the limestone. Phang Nga Bay for the sea caves. The Khai Islands for easy snorkeling, Coral and Racha for clear water close to shore, and Old Town for the day you stay on land.
By activity
Or pick the kind of day you want.
Cruise if you want the islands without the rush. Snorkel or dive if it is the reef you came for. Paddle into the sea caves, quad bike through the jungle, meet the elephants, learn to cook the curry, or catch a cabaret after dark.
The famous islands
The Phi Phi day.
Maya Bay, Phi Phi Don, Phi Phi Leh and Bamboo Island in one long run south. The boats fill up first in high season, so these are the three to look at before the rest.
Mask on
When it is the reef you came for.
Coral gardens off Racha and Coral Island, reef fish in the shallows at the Khai Islands, the odd turtle if the day goes your way. The three snorkeling trips we would put a first-timer on.
When you need a day off the boats
Off the water.
Quad bikes and ziplines through the rubber plantations, a morning bathing rescued elephants, a market-to-wok cooking class in town. The half-days worth saving for when you have had enough sun and salt.
When the sun goes down
Phuket after dark.
The island does not clock off at sunset. A cabaret on the Patong strip, a Muay Thai card under the lights, a beach club that runs late, or a sunset cruise that times the whole thing for you.
Just added