Phi Phi Island Tour from Phuket: 8 Best Trips & Prices 2026

A Phi Phi Island tour from Phuket is a full-day boat trip from one of Phuket's east-coast marinas to the Phi Phi archipelago in the Andaman Sea. The standard loop covers Maya Bay (the beach from The Beach), the emerald Pileh Lagoon, Viking Cave, Monkey Beach, a buffet lunch on Phi Phi Don, and one or two snorkel stops, usually finishing on Khai Island or Bamboo Island before the crossing back.

Most of the Phi Phi Island day tours from Phuket we compared follow a similar core route, so the choice comes down to when the boat leaves, the boat (speedboat or catamaran), what the price includes (the park fee is the usual gap), and whether you share it. Shared tours run from $65 to $158 per person, and private boats from $910 for the whole boat. If you have already decided on a speedboat, our Phi Phi speedboat tour comparison covers eight more speedboat tours with lunch from Phuket and Krabi. If you would rather spend the day in Phang Nga Bay, our James Bond Island tour comparison and Phuket kayaking guide cover its limestone islands and sea caves.

Each tour below covers the same core sights, so we ranked them on what guests actually complain about: crowd timing, how full the boat is, and what the price leaves out.

Departure time matters more than anything else on a Phi Phi trip. Maya Bay and Pileh Lagoon are small, and by late morning they fill with boats from Phuket, Krabi and Phi Phi Don. An early morning Phi Phi Island tour from Phuket gets you there first.

Three products in our table are built around this: Simba Sea Trips (6:00am, Maya Bay first with breakfast on the beach), V. Marine Tour's 4:30am early-bird slots (the Exclusive tour adds Khai Island at dawn), and Simba's 6:00am private charter.

We think the tradeoff of a Phi Phi Island sunrise tour from Phuket is worth it for most people: a 4:45am pickup buys the quietest hour at Maya Bay, though peak-season guests still find it busy by 7:00am. One Asia's 7:00am slot is a middle option that still beats the 9:30am departures.

A Phi Phi Island private tour from Phuket costs $910 to $1,211 for the boat. That looks steep next to a $65 shared seat, but it changes quickly with group size. At 5 Star Marine's $910 rate, ten people pay about $91 each before the park fee and lunch, which is close to the mid-range shared tours. We'd book this if anyone in your group is nervous on boats: private crews can slow down on a rough crossing, which shared boats on a fixed schedule rarely do.

Phi Phi sits between Phuket and Krabi, so both run day tours there. Book from wherever you are already staying. The hotel transfer is the hidden cost: a Phuket hotel to a Krabi pier is a long road trip each way, and the same is true in reverse.

If you have not booked yet, Phuket has the wider choice of boats, sunrise departures and private charters. Krabi (Ao Nang) has fewer but well-rated options: the two most-reviewed Krabi Phi Phi day tours we checked start at $79 and $116 per person, the same range as Phuket.

Tours run daily all year; sea conditions and Maya Bay's closure decide which months are best.

Guest reviews point to three groups who come back disappointed:

• Anyone expecting an empty paradise. The most common low rating is not about any operator. It comes from guests who did not expect Maya Bay to be shared with hundreds of people, or that they could not swim there. Even 7:00am arrivals sometimes find it busy in peak season, and guests who went over New Year describe the worst of it.
• People who get seasick, or have back problems. Two hours of fast, bumpy crossings are the core of the day. If that sounds miserable, a larger catamaran is gentler, or consider staying a night on Phi Phi Don and doing a short longtail tour from there instead.
• Confident snorkelers wanting a real snorkel trip. Snorkel time is short and the spots are busy. Nervous swimmers, on the other hand, are well looked after: guests repeatedly mention crews getting in the water with life-jacketed beginners.

The cost of a Phi Phi Island tour from Phuket ranges from $65 per person for a shared speedboat to $1,211 for a private sunrise charter. The headline price is often not the full cost: on most shared tours, the 400 THB (about $12) National Park fee is extra. What matters more than price is format: the roughly $80 all-in gap between One Asia and Simba mostly buys an earlier start and a boat of around 15 guests instead of about 60.

• Carry cash for the park fee. Unless your tour includes it, expect to pay 400 THB per adult and 200 THB per child at check-in.
• Book the earliest slot you can manage. A 6:00am or 4:30am start is the most reliable way to see Maya Bay and Pileh Lagoon with fewer boats.
• Read your confirmation email the day before. Pickup is usually 60 to 90 minutes before the listed departure, and operators send the exact time by email or message. Guests who missed it were given minutes to get ready.
• Check your pickup zone. Some tours charge a surcharge for hotels outside their standard pickup area (V. Marine's Exclusive tour lists one), so confirm yours when you book. From the north of the island (Mai Khao, Nai Yang), guests report 2 to 3 hours in a minivan each way, which can outweigh the day itself.
• Take seasickness tablets before you board if you are prone to it. The speedboat crossing can be rough, especially from May to October, and children often cannot take adult tablets, so bring a child-safe option.
• Carry extra cash for add-ons. Water shoes are sold at the pier (around 300 THB), and longtail rides and other extras are offered during the day. Ask what is included before you pay for anything on the spot.
• Pack reef-safe sunscreen, a hat, a towel and water shoes, and use a waterproof phone pouch (V. Marine's Exclusive tour includes one).
• Leave room for weather. Boats often still sail on rough days, and the unhappiest guests in reviews are those with no spare day to move to. Book early in your stay.

We started from the Phi Phi day trips we could find departing Phuket and kept tours with strong ratings, a large review base, and reviews from the last two months. We then picked the best option for each type of trip: overall, budget, late start, sunrise, catamaran and private.

Prices, ratings, review counts, durations, departure times, age limits and inclusions come straight from each operator's current listing. We also read 223 recent and low-rated guest reviews across the eight tours, weighed the rating breakdown rather than just the average, and left out several cheaper tours rated 4.3 or below. Prices set in Thai baht were converted at the October 7, 2026 exchange rate.