Limestone, lagoons and longtails.
Railay under the cliffs, the Tup sandbar at low tide, Bor Thor’s sea caves and the plankton swim off Hong Island. What each trip is really like, what it costs, and where to book it.
Boats, cliffs and one long staircase.
Short stay or long, the same handful ends up in almost every itinerary: the island loop out of Ao Nang, the climb behind Krabi Town, and the trip that leaves at sunset and comes back in the dark.
Phi Phi Islands Speedboat Day Tour
Speedboat day trip from Krabi to Phi Phi Islands with snorkeling, Maya Bay, Bamboo Island, and Monkey Beach. Great value with transfers.
From $51 per person
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The four islands, at the right hour.
Poda, Chicken Island, Tup and Phra Nang in one loop. The sandbar between Tup and Mor only walks at low tide, so the tide table decides more of your day than the boat does. Take the longtail for the slow version, the speedboat if you want Hong Island after lunch.
Longtail or speedboat?
The same islands, two completely different days. Choose the boat first and the rest of the itinerary tends to sort itself out.
The slow way
By longtail
6 hours · from $39 · 4,812 reviews
Wooden hull, one loud engine, four or five stops instead of eight. You get longer on Phra Nang beach and a boat that noses straight into the shallows where the big hulls cannot follow. Best from November to April, when the Andaman stays flat.
See the longtail trips →
More range
By speedboat
6 hours · from $43 · 3,952 reviews
Ao Nang to Hong Island in twenty minutes, Phi Phi comfortably inside a day. You trade the postcard for reach: more islands, shorter stops, a firm ride when the swell is up. The right call when the trip is short and Maya Bay is on the list.
See the speedboat days →
From the south
Out of Saladan
7h 30m · from $55 · 828 reviews
Basing yourself on Ko Lanta redraws the map. Koh Rok’s twin sandbars and the Koh Haa cathedral cave become an easy morning from Saladan pier, the Four Islands turn into a full day north. Quieter water, fewer boats, later starts.
See the Ko Lanta boats →
The sea glows after dinner.
The seven-island boats leave in the afternoon, cook dinner on the deck while the sky goes over, then cut the engine somewhere dark. Slide in off the ladder and the plankton flare blue around your arms. Bring a towel you do not mind losing.
Curry paste, pounded by hand.
Krabi’s cookery schools start at the morning market, work through southern chilli heat and fresh coconut, and finish with four dishes you can rebuild at home. Most run half a day and feed you far too much.
Rubber trees and rope.
Behind Ao Nang the country turns to plantation and karst. Quad tracks through the rubber, bolted routes on the Tonsai walls, jungle paths that end at a waterfall nobody is queueing for.
1,237 steps to the golden Buddha.
Wat Tham Sua sits on a limestone tower behind Krabi Town and the staircase up it is genuinely hard work in the heat. From the top the view runs across the mangroves to the Phang Nga hills. Most trips pair it with the Emerald Pool and the hot-spring waterfall, which is the right order: climb first, soak after.
Every bay here runs at its own speed.
Ao Nang for the piers and the evening strip. Railay for the cliffs and Phra Nang beach. Ko Lanta for long empty sand and a slower week. Hong for the lagoon that only opens at low tide.
Mask, paddle, throttle or wok.
Twelve ways to spend a Krabi morning, from a mask and fins over the Phi Phi reefs to a hot spring in the rubber plantation. Pick the shape of the day and the boat follows.
Out past the home bays.
James Bond Island sits up in Phang Nga Bay, Koh Rok is two hours south of Lanta, and Cheow Lan Lake needs a van before it needs a raft house. All of them start before seven and all of them are worth the alarm.
Beach first, islands second, jungle last.
Four nights is the usual Krabi stay, and the order matters more than the list. This sequence wastes the least time getting between them.
Day 1
Get on the water early
Drop the bags on the Ao Nang strip, take the shuttle longtail round to Railay West, and spend the afternoon on Phra Nang beach under the cliffs. Watch the climbers, swim, walk back at sunset.
Plan day one →
Day 2
The island day
Poda, Chicken Island and the Tup sandbar while the tide is out, snorkel stops in between, back at the pier by four. Longtail if the sea is flat, speedboat if you want Hong Island as well.
Plan day two →
Day 3
Inland and upward
The 1,237 steps at Wat Tham Sua before the heat arrives, then the Emerald Pool and the hot-spring waterfall at Klong Thom. Carry twice the water you think you need.
Plan day three →
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