Koh Phi Phi

Location: some 20 kilometers southeast from Phuket Island, Thailand.
Entry fee: 20Bhat, extra 100Bhat for Phi Phi Le.
Opening time: all day long
Best time for travel: in hot season from November to May the next year.

Transportation to Phi Phi Island: take ship at wharfs of Phuket, Ko Sirey, Makham Bay, or Chalong Bay, and travel about 2 hours.

Located some 20 kilometers southeast from Phuket Island, Koh Phi Phi is a sisters’ island consisting of Phi Phi Don (the larger one) in the north and Phi Phi Le (the smaller one) in the south. Inscribed as a national park in 1983, Phi Phi Island is sentimentally attached by sunshine with an unspoiled picturesque landscape composed of soft white sand beach, serene dark blue seawater, and uncanny natural-formed caves. Standing out from over 30 outlying islands of Phuket Island, Koh Phi Phi becomes a hot holiday resort especially for those who enjoy peace and tranquility.

The larger island Phi Phi Don in the north measures 3.5 kilometers wide, 8 kilometers long and covers an area of 28 square kilometers. In the shape of an irregular dumbbell, the island is composed of two green hills on two ends and two joined semi-lune bays in the middle. The middle part of the island is quite narrow with the narrowest measures only 80 meters wide. The seawater surround is in emerald. The island is inhabited by fishermen, and offers a full set recreational facility including vocation resorts, restaurants, bars and the like.

The southern smaller island Phi Phi Le, covers 6.6 square kilometers, is only 2 kilometers apart from Phi Phi Don; they connect each other by a manmade bustling corridor, on which are restaurants, bars, diving schools, travel agents and stalls. Phi Phi Le is surrounded by steep cliffs and keeps uninhabited. Several big limestone caves in the island are home to many beautiful stalactites, some murals of prehistoric humans, patterns of elephants and ships are also found on the cave walls. To protect the island’s ecotope, only Viking Cave is opened for tourists at present.

On each of the two sides of the manmade corridor connecting the two sisters islands is a beautiful sand beach, the Ao Ton Sai and Ao Lo Dalum. Both are famous diving areas in Thailand and listed on top beaches in the world. Their heavenly beauty of Phi Phi Le not only attracts tourists from all over the world, but also addicts the American director to shoot the Hollywood film The Beach.