Koh Phi Phi
Our second destination was the beautiful Koh Phi Phi Don. The Phi Phi Islands are made up of roughly 7 islands. Many of these islands however are not much more than large limestone cliffs jutting out of the sea. Koh Phi Phi Don is the largest and most populated of the group with Koh Phi Phi Lee's beaches coming in a close second.
Above is the view from our resort and the location. We stayed at Phupaya Seaview Resort. The accommodation was nice, we stayed in a cute bungalow and after a couple of steps out of our room we could see the beautiful ocean. The resort had a lovely infinity pool which you could lay by all day and watch the longtail boats come in and out of the bay.
We booked a half day tour through our resort which took us to:
- Monkey Beach
- Viking Cave
- Pileh Lagoon
- Pileh Wall
- Maya Bay
This tour cost roughly 870 Baht for the two of us which is around $37 Australian. It includes the long tail boat ride to all of the destinations above, lunch (fried rice, watermelon & bottled water) and snorkelling gear. Unfortunately the tour doesn't include the national park fee of 400 Baht per person that you have to pay if you want to go onto the beach at Maya Bay. So this now brings your total up to 1740 Baht for a couple which is just over $70 Australian.
We are definitely glad that we did the tour as it isn't something that you would see every day and it is probably the only time we would go to Koh Phi Phi. Thankfully my beautiful Mum paid for us to go on this trip and so it didn't set back our budget. Thanks again Mum!
At the end of the day we would recommend that if you were at Koh Phi Phi you consider doing one of these tours. It is not every day you swim in crystal clear water, snorkel with beautiful marine life and coral and finish with watching the sunset on the Andaman Sea. We definitely enjoyed this tour...even with my sea sickness.
A little tip when going on this tour. You don't have to pay the national park fee for Maya Bay if you don't go onto the sand. Stay on the boat and ask your guide if you can swim in the shallow water where they anchor, you are there for an hour and a half...so why not still swim in the same water but save yourself 400 Baht per person. Your guide might say no at first but after a while they will most likely give in, especially if a few of you decide to stay on the boat.
We hiked from our resort up to the viewpoint and it felt like the longest walk of our lives. It wasn't a proper concrete path, we were walking up a dirt road and climbing up rocks all while fighting off bugs. Definitely bring your bug spray and wear sneakers! Once you reach the top, the viewpoint is on private property and so you have to pay 30 Baht per person for an entrance fee. It was well worth the hike and the view was spectacular. We ended up going down a different way, which was a paved but steep concrete path which took you into the middle of town.
If you love to party and don't want to spend a lot of money then Koh Phi Phi is for you. At night...every night, the beach bars light up and the music is pumping until 2am. There are fire twirlers on the beach at the bars, it is a must see.
You can walk around town and get alcohol buckets for 100-180 Baht, between $4-$8 Australian. Alcohol from bars is a little bit more expensive but still around $6-$10, when comparing to 7/11 which is usually around $2-$3 for a 640 mL Chang beer.
You haven't experienced Phi Phi nightlife until you go watch tourists beat the crap out of each other for a free bucket at the Reggae Bar. The Reggae Bar is far from a chill-out islandy bar scene, that the name might suggest. Some paint on the wall and the name are the only things connecting this bar to anything reggae. If you are brave enough...or drunk enough then you can try your hand at Muay Thai boxing.
