Phi Phi or Lanta?
Phi Phi is spectacular, compact and busy, with a young party scene in Ton Sai and high prices for what you get. Lanta is spread out, family-friendly and calm, with better-value rooms and a strong local Muslim and sea-gypsy (Urak Lawoi) culture. Many travellers do two nights on the first and stay longer on the second.
Diving and snorkelling
Around Phi Phi, sites such as Koh Bida Nok and Bida Nai have walls, soft corals, turtles and leopard and blacktip sharks, suitable for beginners and courses. From Lanta, day boats reach Koh Haa — five islets with a lagoon and swim-through caverns — and, further out, the open-sea pinnacles of Hin Daeng and Hin Muang, for experienced divers, where manta rays and whale sharks are sometimes seen. The season runs from about November to April.
Climbing, hiking and paddling
Ton Sai Tower on Phi Phi has bolted limestone routes above the bay, and local shops run beginners’ sessions. Kayaks can be rented on Loh Dalum beach to paddle to Monkey Beach — keep your distance from the macaques. On Lanta, a short forest trail in the national park leads to the lighthouse and viewpoints.
Practicalities
- ATMs are plentiful in Ton Sai and along Lanta’s main road.
- Tap water is not drinkable; use refill stations to cut plastic.
- Lanta is largely Muslim: dress modestly away from the beach.
- From May to October many Lanta resorts, restaurants and dive shops close, and ferry routes are reduced.
- See responsible travel for marine-park rules.
Combine your trip
From roughly November to April, island-hopping speedboats run south from Koh Lanta along the Trang coast. One of their stops is Koh Kradan, a small island with a long white-sand beach and reef snorkelling close to shore — see our Koh Kradan island guide.
The same seasonal boats continue to Koh Lipe in Tarutao National Marine Park, near the Malaysian border. Our Koh Lipe and Tarutao travel guide covers the islands, the park seasons and the boats from Pak Bara.
Sample plans
2 days: Phi Phi essentials
Arrive by morning ferry and climb to the viewpoints before sunset. Next day, a sunrise private longtail to Pileh Lagoon and Maya Bay, back for lunch, then an afternoon discover-scuba trip or kayaking.
4 days: add Lanta
Ferry to Lanta on day 3 and settle on a west-coast beach. Day 4: speedboat to Koh Rok and Koh Haa for snorkelling, and dinner in the sand at sunset.
6 days: the slow version
Add a mangrove kayak morning and lunch in the Old Town, a day in the national park at the southern tip, and an evening bioluminescence paddle before the minivan back to Krabi.
