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If you’re visiting Phuket or Krabi, chances are you’ll have found it impossible to walk down any street and not see signs for a James Bond Island tour or a Phi Phi Islands tour. It seems every tour company wants you to book a day out to visit these two, dare I say, iconic locations. Considering these tours are not the cheapest, more on that later, is it really worth doing both? Or is it better to do just one or even neither of them?
Considering we decided to take both of these day trips from Phuket, this post will focus on departing from that location. Although you can visit Phi Phi for longer, I’ll only be looking at the day trip option. So, which is better in…
Table of Contents
James Bond Island tour vs Phi Phi Islands tour?
About the Islands
Firstly, some background information on the two destinations. There are lots of island tours available in the area and some are more popular than others. Both the James Bond Island and the Phi Phi Islands tour are two of the most popular given their film-related pasts.
James Bond Island
Actually called Khao Phing Kan, James Bond Island can be found in Phang Nga Cất cánh to the northeast of Phuket island. It seems nobody refers to it by its proper name anymore and even the signs on the island itself didn’t seem to mention it. If you’re a James Bond fan, you’ll instantly know the location from the 1974 Roger Moore classic The Man With The Golden Gun.
In the film, Bond tracks Christopher Lee’s Scaramanga to his island lair in the South China Sea. Of course, the actual island isn’t in the South China Sea! The pair then begin their duel on the island’s beach in front of the iconic “mushroom-shaped rock” to quote Scaramanga. To be honest, it doesn’t really look like a mushroom but it’s hard to see any other comparison. Since the film’s release, the tiny island has become a huge tourist destination.
Phi Phi Islands
The Phi Phi Islands are made up of two large islands and a number of small ones that are essentially big rocks. The two main islands are Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Le (or Leh or Lee?!). Phi Phi Don is the much larger and has a fair sized town complete with hotels, restaurants, shops and a hospital as well as many beaches.
Phi Phi Le is not really inhabited except by a few locals including in Viking Cave where they harvest bird’s nests for human consumption, gross. The main attraction to Phi Phi Le is Maya Cất cánh, the filming location for the absolutely awful 2000 Leonardo DiCaprio film The Beach. It’s easily one of the most controversial filming locations due to the sheer number of tourists that flocked to it in the last twenty years. So much so that ‘the beach’ was closed to all tourism in 2018 with no plans to reopen it until at least 2021 to allow the ecosystem to recover.
Types of Tours
There are two main options when it comes to visiting the islands for the day, slow or fast.
Slow Boat
A few companies offer slower ferry-like boats between the islands and some offer junk-like boats. There is also a public ferry from Phuket to Phi Phi. The thing you really need to consider is that neither James Bond Island nor the Phi Phi Islands are very close to Phuket. A slow boat to James Bond Island can take around three hours. The ferry from Phuket to Phi Phi Island takes around two hours. If you’re doing a day trip, I’d seriously consider the time you want to spend travelling.
Speed Boat
Speed boats are the far more popular option when it comes to day trips. They’re much faster meaning most tours stop at other islands before or after the main sự kiện. The only downside of speed boats is that they’re not going to be the most suitable if you’re prone to seasickness. That being said, both companies we used provided seasick tablets before we left. If you take a speedboat anyway, best to sit nearer the back if you don’t like being jolted around so much. The front has better views but is definitely bumpier!
Where to Buy a Tour
As I said, if you wander around most streets in the tourist areas you’ll see someone selling tours or shouting at you to buy their tour. Personally, I hate this. I don’t like being hassled when I’m walking around and anyone shouting at me about their products is guaranteed to never get my business. As an introvert, I gravitate to the internet for all my booking needs. The main reason is that I don’t want to haggle, I like to see what I’m getting up front and I like to read the reviews.
For almost anything in Asia, I’d highly recommend using Klook. They tend to have the best prices and you’ve got some support to fall back on if anything goes wrong. However, always shop around just in case. Here are the two tours we booked:
It’s worth noting here that both tour companies were professional although Breezy Andaman was slightly better as their guides were more engaging. Both of these companies provided snacks, unlimited drinking water, lunch, seasick pills, entrance fees and round-trip transfers from our accommodation in Kathu included in the price. As mentioned, these tours aren’t cheap. It seems some activities in Thailand really are priced at Western prices! Our James Bond Island tour set us back 1,650 Baht (£41 GBP) per person while the Phi Phi Islands tour cost 1,900 Baht (£47 GBP) per person.
Caution: If you choose to go with a different tour to those above, please make sure to test all of the inclusions. Some tours we looked at seemed to cost a similar or slightly lower price but then didn’t include the entrance fees to the sites.
What to Take
This may seem obvious but it also depends on the type of tour you take. Also, some will include unlimited water whereas others might not. Still, always best to take some emergency water wherever you go in Thailand, it’s just so hot! Here are some general basics to take on any boat trip:
- Swimming clothes
- Flip Flops or Sandals
- Towel – we use these microfibre towels for space saving and quick drying
- Sunglasses & Hat
- Suncream, suncream, suncream
- Waterproof phone case
If you forget any of them, you’ll likely find a small shop at the harbour selling some items for crazy prices, especially the waterproof phone cases! Best to come prepared.
James Bond Island Tour Review
Since both of the tour companies we used were good, I will only compare the island experiences to determine the best overall tour.
Islands Visited
- James Bond Island
- Panak Island
- Hong Island
- Panyee Island
- Naka Island
Pros
Hong Island Canoeing
Before reaching James Bond Island, we stopped at Hong Island to get on a canoe around the caves. Most tours also seem to stop here as there were plenty of other speedboats anchored in the cất cánh. Each couple or group is herded off the boat into a little inflatable canoe piloted by a local. There’s no effort required here just sit back and enjoy the journey. The canoes all follow the same route and you’ll be quite close to others most of the way but it’s a nice change of pace from the boat. You’ll get a nice relaxing journey through big caves and small ones that you need to duck down for as well as seeing pretty interesting rock formations.
Seeing the Rock
Despite what’s coming up in the ‘cons’ section, I can’t say that seeing the rock itself wasn’t cool. I first saw The Man With The Golden Gun some twenty years ago so finally getting to see such an iconic filming location was great for me. The tide was high when we visited so there was no opportunity for a beach shot but there are lots of places on the island to take good pictures. Although you’ll have to queue for some of them.
The Caves
At the end of the day, we stopped at a set of caves where we had a little wander around. Given how hot the days are in Thailand, it was nice to be inside in a much more mild climate. The caves are filled with bats up along the high ceilings which are always fascinating to see. A nice touch at the end of a busy day and we didn’t see many other tours that stopped there either.
Cons
Stopping at Naka Island
Wow, this island sucked. This was the first stop of the day where we got off the boat onto a random beach where we had an hour to do as we pleased. “You can swim if you like” we were told by the guide. This would’ve been a potential option if the water wasn’t disgustingly brown and littered with, well, litter. Basically, this island stop was literally to fill time and to drop us by a beach bar selling overpriced food and beverages.
All the other visitors flocked to the one tree swing on the beach to take obligatory ‘look at me I’m on a swing’ photos for Instagram. This was somewhat amazing to watch how many different people take the exact same photos of themselves.
Overcrowding on James Bond Island
Somewhere in another post, I said how much I dislike London because of how overcrowded the streets can be. I don’t like being touched by people I don’t know and my personal space zone is quite large. However, in Asia, there is no such thing as personal space. James Bond Island is one of the smallest islands out there and they seem to do their very best to fill every square foot of it with tourists. As soon as you get off the boat you effectively join a ‘queue’ around the island.
What follows is hundreds, probably thousands, of people trying to take ‘look at me holding the rock’ photos while getting in everyone else’s way. As with all tourist destinations, the island is plastered with ‘tat shops’ run by angry women shouting at you to buy their tacky souvenirs. We also only had 40 minutes to look around, not quite enough time given how long it takes to get around the hordes of people. On the upside, the toilets were free and clean!
Lunch on Panyee Island
Panyee Island (or Panyi Island) is a small village built on stilts in the sea. This is where a lot of James Bond Island tour companies stop for lunch giving you time to eat and look around the small village. To be honest, Panyee Island is one of the most depressing places I’ve ever been to in my life. Lunch was mediocre and cold, not a great start. For someone with a restaurant background, I’ve had to rein in my high food standards for most of South East Asia but this was beyond recovery.
As for walking around the stilted village, it’s hard to choose a word to describe it. The poverty is extreme, the hut houses are depressing and it seems their only source of income is from selling tat to tourists from their stalls. The people were practically begging us to buy stuff that we a) don’t want and b) don’t need. One thing that never fails to amaze me in poor areas is that they still have satellite dishes and the internet.
Phi Phi Islands Tour Review
Islands Visited
- Phi Phi Don
- Phi Phi Le
- Maiton Island
- Bamboo Island
Pros
Not Stopping at Maya Cất cánh
I’m calling this a ‘pro’ on behalf of all the floating litter we saw on both trips. Despite most of the islands showing little pride over the state of the environment, it’s nice to see Maya Cất cánh is closed. The tour boats can still travel close to the cất cánh but have to stop at the marked off area a few hundred metres from the land. There you can see what the beach looks like but nothing more. It’s nice to see that something is being done about the mess that was left there.
Swimming off Phi Phi Le
Around the corner from Maya Cất cánh you’ll get the chance to anchor down and jump off the boat. Granted, this cất cánh seems to be the stopping point for all the tours so there are a lot of boats but the water seemed a lot cleaner than most of the other places. The scenery is pretty incredible too as the cất cánh is surrounded by huge cliffs.
Snorkelling on Bamboo Island
The highlight of both tours was snorkelling on Bamboo Island. Although, this too was bittersweet. After having lunch on Phi Phi Don, many tours stop at nearby Bamboo Island for an hour or two of free time. Basically, you can choose to sit on the beach, swim in the sea or sit at one of the beach bars but most of them charge you just to sit in one of their deck chairs!
We chose to take our snorkels out into the reef. I say reef as a loose term, unfortunately, through epic tourism, a lot of the reef is dead or dying which is pretty depressing. However, there are still lots of fish in the area and we saw some really cool looking ones. I could potentially put this in the ‘cons’ section after one of the tiny fish bit my legs several times but I’ll give him a pass since we were intruding on his territory.
Cons
Jellyfish on Maiton Island
Maiton Island isn’t really a stop on the island but in a cất cánh off the coast where you can swim with snorkels. This was pretty fun but I’m calling this stop out as a ‘con’ simply because of the little tiny jellyfish that seemed to be in the area. We couldn’t see them half of the time although we did see a couple but every so often it felt like you got a little static shock from the water. We’re 99% certain it was tiny jellyfish!
Lunch on Phi Phi Don
Perhaps a theme here with the lunch stops after Panyee Island. Phi Phi Don’s lunch was better since it was at least hot food but the rest of the island is horrendous. Firstly, there are no free toilets. Considering you spend most of the day on or around the boat which has a toilet the size of a shoebox, it would be nice to use a human-sized toilet during the stops. So, seeing that all the toilets on the island cost around 30 Baht (£0.75 GBP / $1 USD) really annoyed me. I know someone will say they need to maintain them and I appreciate that but the funding shouldn’t come directly from the customer. Toilets should always be free. Rant over.
As for the rest of Phi Phi Don, the island is overcrowded. Hundreds of speedboats dock by the beach letting streams of tourists out onto the island. The town isn’t that big so I’ve no idea where everybody went but at times it was hard to walk around without bumping into people. The prices in the stores are also a lot more expensive than on Phuket so I’ve no idea why anyone would want to visit there for more than an hour let alone actually stay overnight. This was an island I couldn’t wait to leave. Rant properly over.
James Bond Island or Phi Phi Islands Tour?
Ultimately, it has to be the Phi Phi Islands tour, which almost pains me to say. I wanted to love James Bond Island so much given my love for the film so it’s such a shame to see it in the state it’s in. As for Phi Phi, I would never ever ever go back to Phi Phi Don, it’s a proper hole and an expensive one at that. But Bamboo Island was the highlight of both trips so I can’t ignore that. However, if I were going to make the decision again I know I’d want to visit James Bond Island regardless of all the cons simply because of the emotional attachment to the film.
Verdict on the Island Tours
Although both the James Bond Island tour and the Phi Phi Islands tour have their pros and cons they’ll both always be bittersweet. One of my biggest issues with Thailand, in general, is how much they only seem to focus on getting money from tourism and not caring about the impact. The dirty seas, the floating rubbish and the overcrowding are horrendous and there doesn’t seem to be any pride in these locations. It’s disappointing because it’s easy to see that these locations were once natural beauties but now they’re just poor excuses for money-grabbing.
Related Phuket Posts:
Why Kathu is The Best Place To Stay in Phuket
Why I Won’t Go Back To Patong
Slip N Fly Kathu, Phuket – A Day of Sun & Slides
Exploring Kathu Waterfall, Phuket
Other Thailand Posts:
Where To Stay in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Chiang Mai Itinerary – Things To Do and Things To Avoid
Going to the Cinema in Chiang Mai
Ziplining in Chiang Mai at Jungle Flight
Prison Inmate Massage in Chiang Mai
Getting a Thai Visa Extension in Chiang Mai
Doi Inthanon Tour – The Highest Mountain in Thailand
Visiting the White Temple Chiang Rai
Visiting the Blue Temple Chiang Rai
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Disclaimer: This post may contain tiếp thị liên kết links. Should you purchase through them, we would receive a small commission. This will never cost you any extra and we only recommend products that we would or do use ourselves.
Disclaimer: This post may contain tiếp thị liên kết links. Should you purchase through them, we would receive a small commission. This will never cost you any extra and we only recommend products that we would or do use ourselves.
