NaturePhuket's waterfalls
Bang Pae, Ton Sai, Kathu, Ao Yon: Phuket's four waterfalls, what you'll find there and the season when they're at their best.
Going out & exploringWhich island should you visit from Phuket?
Five destinations, boats leaving every morning, and a question nobody asks in the right order. Before you know which one is the most beautiful, you need to know which one is open on the day you're here. Let's start with the calendar.
The calendar before anything else
What's open, what isn't, and from when
Two of the most beautiful sites in the Andaman Sea close for part of the year. It's rarely spelled out, yet it's the first thing to check when you book a trip.
The Similan and Surin Islands are two marine national parks north of Phuket. They close from 15 May to 15 October, every year, without exception. The south-west monsoon hits this part of the coast, and the closure also gives the reefs five months to recover. A detail almost nobody mentions: the national parks department only confirms the opening date one to two weeks beforehand. In other words, a trip advertised for mid-October still depends on an official announcement. If your stay falls right on that changeover, it's best to have a plan B already chosen. We take care of that when it happens.
Maya Bay, on Phi Phi Leh, follows its own calendar. The bay was closed from 1 August to 30 September 2026 and reopens on 1 October 2026. During that break, trips to Phi Phi carry on as normal. It's entry to that particular bay that's suspended, not the whole archipelago.
Phang Nga, Racha and Coral can be visited all year round. The first is an inland stretch of water, protected by the land. The other two are south and east of Phuket, on the sheltered side when the swell comes from the west. They're the ones that save the days from May to October, which is exactly why we keep them up our sleeve.
One last line on this calendar, for divers: whale sharks can be seen from November to April, with a well-established peak from February to April. It's the season when the Andaman Sea fills with plankton.
The right question isn't “which one is the most beautiful”
They're all beautiful. The real question, the one people message us with every day, is: which one fits this trip, this week, with these people.
How many days you're giving to the sea. On a week in Phuket, one boat day is the norm, so you have to make a clear choice. On two weeks, we plan two, very different from each other: a scenery day and an underwater day. The people who come home happiest are rarely the ones who crammed everything in.
Who you're travelling with. A group of friends can handle two hours' sailing out and a late return. With kids or parents, the same day gets long. The nearby islands exist for exactly that, and they're no consolation prize: Racha's waters are among the clearest in the area.
What you want to bring back. Cliffs and photographs? Phang Nga. Snorkelling? Racha or Coral. The postcard everyone recognises? Phi Phi. Big fish and serious diving? Similan and Surin, in season. Four days out that have almost nothing in common.
And the date, again. It always comes back. In November, everything is possible and you choose on what you feel like. In July, the map is redrawn, and that's when knowing the alternatives changes a whole day.
The five destinations, and what they really offer
Each one has a clear personality. None replaces another, which is good news: you can come back and never do the same day twice.
Phi Phi, the best known of all
It's the image that made the Andaman Sea famous: limestone cliffs dropping straight into turquoise water, enclosed lagoons, coves you can only reach by boat. It's also the busiest archipelago in southern Thailand, which is easy to manage once you play with the timing rather than the places.
Maya Bay is now visited under strict rules: 380 people at a time at most, about an hour on site, and no swimming inside the bay. Those rules have an effect few people expect before they go: the beach is far more pleasant than back when boats landed without limits. The seabed is recovering, and blacktip reef sharks are back in the area. You swim elsewhere during the day, and there are plenty of stops.
Phang Nga, the bay of limestone pinnacles
Hundreds of karst rocks rising vertically out of the water, including the one cinema made famous as James Bond Island. The bay is an inland stretch of water: little swell, little open sea, gentle sailing. It's the day we suggest when someone tells us they don't have sea legs.
Two formats, two different days. By long-tail, the traditional wooden boat, you stay low on the water, get close to the rock faces and hear the engine. By catamaran, you gain space, shade and comfort for a group. Either way, the moment people remember is the kayak: you glide under the cliffs through natural tunnels, at water level, and come out into inner lagoons open to the sky. The hongs, as they're called here. That's where the bay becomes something more than a postcard.
Similan and Surin, dry season only
The best of Thai diving, and water whose clarity has few equals in Southeast Asia. The Similans line up eleven granite islands, rounded boulders sitting on white sand, an underwater landscape divers travel a long way for. The Surins, further north, are wilder still, and their reefs are superb for snorkelling, no tank needed.
The trade-off, if you can call it that: the distance from Phuket, and those five months of closure from 15 May to 15 October. From November to April, though, these two parks give everything, and it's also the whale shark window, peaking from February to April. People who build their trip around diving set their dates by it, and they're right to.
Racha Yai and Racha Noi
South of Phuket, a short distance away. Two islands, two moods: Yai, the big one, with light-sand bays and reefs you can reach straight from the shore, and Noi, the small one, rockier and deeper, for divers. You can go all year round. When the west coast gets rough, that's often where we redirect a day without anyone losing out.
Coral Island, the half-day
The closest of all, just off the southern tip. A short crossing, calm water, coral a few metres from the sand. Coral is the elegant option for an arrival day, a departure day, or a morning at sea when you don't want to give it the whole day. Plenty of families do their first trip there, try it out, then ask for a longer day afterwards.
The type of boat matters as much as the destination
Two people can go to Phi Phi on the same day and describe two days that have nothing in common. The difference almost never comes down to the island.
It comes down to the departure time, the number of passengers on board and the route. The same site visited against the main flow is a cove to yourself; visited when everyone is there, it's a different, livelier experience, which some people love. There's no universal right answer, there's yours, and it gets decided before you book.
The departure point changes the day too. Phuket has several piers around the island, and depending on where you're staying, the same trip can cost you forty minutes on the road or ten. It's the kind of detail you won't find on any listing, and it weighs heavily when the alarm goes off before dawn.
Our advice, when people ask: first choose the day you want to have, then the format, and let the destination follow from the two. Most people do it the other way round.
Why we write this
Because our partner lives here. She deals with the closure dates like everyone else, and spends half of October watching for the park's announcement.
We're reachable in English before, during and after your trip. We tell you when an island is closed. We suggest something else when the sea isn't cooperating, and we tell you the night before, not once you're on board. It isn't magic, it's simply what comes from having our partner twenty minutes from the piers.
Tell us your dates and who you're coming with. We'll tell you what will be open that week, what's worth the trip given the sea at the time, and organise the rest around it.
FAQ
Islands around Phuket: common questions
Which island should I choose if I only have one day from Phuket?
It depends on what you want to bring back from the day. For scenery and cliffs, Phang Nga Bay involves little open-sea sailing and works very well in a day. For underwater life and clear water without going far, Racha Yai and Coral are the closest to Phuket. Phi Phi is still the most complete day trip, as long as you accept a longer crossing there and back.
Can I go to the Similan Islands in July or August?
No, the Similan and Surin national park closes from 15 May to 15 October every year, for the south-west monsoon and to let the reefs recover. That's exactly when Phang Nga Bay, sheltered inland, and the islands off Phuket's east coast are at their best, with a much calmer sea on that side.
Can you swim at Maya Bay?
Not inside the bay. Swimming has been banned there since the site reopened, to protect the seabed and the recovering coral. You can go onto the beach and stay for about an hour, and you swim at the day's other stops, of which there are plenty around Phi Phi. The bay is also limited to 380 people at a time.
Which boat trip is best with kids or if I get seasick?
Phang Nga Bay and the nearby islands, Racha and Coral, involve the least open sea and the shortest crossings. The type of boat matters as much as the destination: a private trip lets you leave at a different time, shorten the day and head back when the kids have had enough, which a shared departure doesn't.
When do I have a chance of seeing a whale shark?
The window runs from November to April, with a well-known peak from February to April, when plankton is most abundant in the Andaman Sea. The best-known sites are around the Similan and Surin islands, so during the park's open season. Nobody can guarantee an encounter: it's a wild animal, and that's also what makes it special.
Days at sea
Let's plan your day on the water
Tell us your dates and who's coming: we'll check what's open, read the sea for that week and book the right boat.
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Planning a day at sea?
Your dates, who's coming and what you'd like to see. We'll tell you what's open and book the right trip.