Maya Bay
Fourteen of the eighteen listings here name Maya Bay; four never mention it. A Maya Bay tour from Phi Phi runs from $18 for four hours by longtail to $393 for a private day. This page sets the fourteen side by side: what each one says it does in the bay, where the boat starts, and how many reviews back each rating.
Quick answer
The short answer. Fourteen listings name Maya Bay and four do not. A Maya Bay tour from Phi Phi starts at $18 for four hours by longtail and runs to $393 for a private day out of Phuket. Five leave from Phi Phi itself and seven from Phuket, so a Phi Phi Islands Maya Bay tour can mean three hours or eleven. The most reviewed carries 21,589 reviews at 4.6; the next has 4,262.
What the name covers
The bay is a stop. The boat and the hours are what the fare is really buying.
Maya Bay sits on Phi Phi Leh, and no listing here sells it on its own: the bay is one stop on a boat day, and the day is what you are buying. That is why a Maya Bay tour from Phi Phi can cost $18 or $393 — the fare follows the boat and the hours, not the bay.
Eight listings also name Pileh Lagoon, eight name Viking Cave, five name Bamboo Island and exactly one names Loh Samah Bay. Whichever Phi Phi Islands Maya Bay boat tour you pick, that list is where the days differ.
Four of the fourteen are private boats; the rest carry other guests. Only one listing on this site puts a group cap in writing, and it is not one of the fourteen.
The four that never say it
The four are a $18 half-day longtail that names natural swimming pools instead, two seven-island longtail days built around a sunset, and a shark snorkelling trip that names coral gardens and hidden lagoons. If the bay is why you are booking, those four are the ones to pass over.
Three of the seven longtail listings on this site fall in that group, so a longtail boat is not a shortcut: a Maya Bay tour from Phi Phi by longtail is four of the seven, not all of them.
In the bay
Read the fourteen descriptions and a gap opens up: most put Maya Bay in a list of places and stop there.
One says where it snorkels. The premium speed catamaran from Phuket splits its description into lines: it visits Maya Bay and Pileh Lagoon, sightsees at Viking Cave and Monkey Bay, and snorkels at Bamboo Island — which puts the water somewhere else.
One talks about crowds. A single listing, at $44 with 4.7 on 1,337 reviews, says it is timed to avoid the biggest crowds and mentions baby sharks. It is the only description in the set that says anything about when it arrives, and we will not make that claim for the other thirteen.
Two put you on the sand — the half-day longtail and the premium nine-hour day out of Phuket both say relax on the beach. One lets you set the length: the private longtail at $104 offers three, four, six or seven hours, snorkelling where the captain picks.
Every trip, current fare
The fourteen listings whose name or description says Maya Bay, in order of reviews. The last column divides the fare by the hours door to door, so a four-hour Phi Phi Maya Bay boat tour can be compared with an eleven-hour one. Where the length is a range or a whole day, that column is a dash.
| Tour | Length | Price | Where it goes | Cost per hour, door to door | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phuket: Maya, Phi Phi, and Bamboo Island with Buffet LunchBuffet lunch | 8 h | $42 | Maya Bay, Viking Cave, Bamboo Island | $5.25 | 4.6 · 21,589 |
| Phuket: Phi Phi Islands and Maya Bay Day Trip with LunchThree meals and a SUP board | 8 h | $36 | Maya Bay, Viking Cave, Khai Island | $4.50 | 4.3 · 4,262 |
| Phi Phi & Bamboo Islands: Premium Day Trip w/ Seaview LunchLunch by the sea | 9 h | $99 | Relax on the beach at Bamboo Island | $11.00 | 4.8 · 1,987 |
| Phi Phi Private Longtail: Maya Bay, Pileh Lagoon & SnorkelPrivate longtail with a local captain | 3 - 7 h | $104 | Choose 3, 4, 6 or 7 hours | — | 4.8 · 1,895 |
| Phi Phi: Avoid Maya Bay Crowds Tour w/ Baby Sharks & SnorkelBaby sharks | 4 - 6.5 h | $44 | Timed to avoid the biggest crowds | — | 4.7 · 1,337 |
| Krabi: Phi Phi Islands Speedboat Tour with Buffet LunchBuffet lunch | 7.5 h | $40 | Leaves from Krabi | $5.33 | 4.6 · 995 |
| From Phi Phi: Half-Day Longtail Tour to Maya Bay, Pileh Lagoon & Loh Samah BayMaya Bay | 4 h | $18 | Monkey Beach, Pileh Lagoon, Loh Samah Bay | $4.50 | 4.7 · 592 |
| Koh Phi Phi: Maya Bay Private Longtail Boat Tour & SnorkelMonkey Bay and Viking Cave | 3 - 4 h | $50 | Private longtail, Maya Bay and Pileh | — | 4.8 · 471 |
| From Phuket: Day Trip to Phi Phi with Private Longtail TourFour hours of private longtail | 11 h | $393 | Private transfers from Phuket | $35.73 | 4.6 · 443 |
| Koh Lanta: Phi Phi Islands Tour with Maya BayMaya Bay and Bamboo Island | 7.5 - 8.5 h | $47 | Leaves from Koh Lanta by speedboat | — | 4.3 · 303 |
| Phuket: Phi Phi, Bamboo, Maiton, Maya Speed Catamaran TourMaiton Island | 8 h - 1 day | $83 | Snorkel twice, sea slide and SUP | — | 4.2 · 177 |
| Phuket: Phi Phi, Maya & Bamboo By Premium Speed CatamaranMaya Bay and Pileh Lagoon | 1 day | $92 | Snorkeling at Bamboo Island | — | 4.6 · 99 |
| Phi Phi: Pirate Boat with Snorkeling, Kayaking, and PartySnorkel and party onboard | 7 h | $65 | Pirate boat with a sunset | $9.29 | 4.9 · 83 |
| Phuket:Phi Phi, Maya and Khai Island Tour By Speed CatamaranMonkey Beach and Pileh Lagoon | 8 h | $39 | Snorkel at Khai Island | $4.88 | 5.0 · 26 |
Reading the table
Hours are door to door. The length of a Maya Bay tour from Phi Phi covers the whole outing, transfers and crossing included. Not one of the eighteen descriptions says how long you spend in the water.
Six rows have a dash. Those listings give a range or a whole day — three to four hours, four to six and a half, eight hours to a day. A whole day is not a fixed number of hours, so dividing a fare by it would invent one.
The reviews are not spread evenly. Across the fourteen there are 34,259 reviews, weighted to 4.59. One listing holds 21,589 of them; the next holds 4,262, and the speed catamaran to Khai Island shows 5.0 on 26 reviews. The same star on twenty-six reviews and on twenty thousand is not the same evidence.
Choosing
The fourteen split into three groups. The short ones leave from Phi Phi and run three to seven hours. The long ones leave from Phuket, Krabi or Koh Lanta and run seven and a half to eleven hours, most of it getting there and back. The private ones hand you the boat. A Phi Phi Islands Maya Bay speedboat tour sits in the middle: five of the fourteen name a speedboat as the boat itself.
Seven are really a Phi Phi Islands Maya Bay Phuket tour: they start and end in Phuket, and the bay is one stop in a long day. Already on Phi Phi, you are paying for a crossing you do not need.
Verdict. On the island already? The $18 four-hour longtail is the Maya Bay tour from Phi Phi with the most names on it — the bay, Pileh Lagoon, Loh Samah Bay, Monkey Beach, Viking Cave — at 4.7 on 592 reviews. Staying in Phuket? The eight-hour speedboat day at $42 carries 21,589 reviews at 4.6, more than any other listing here.
Book direct
The most reviewed day from Phuket, the cheapest longtail from Phi Phi, the one timed against the crowds, and the private longtail you set the hours on.
★ 4.6 · 21,589 reviews
★ 4.7 · 592 reviews
★ 4.7 · 1,337 reviews
★ 4.8 · 1,895 reviews
Timing
Less than you would hope. One description out of eighteen says anything about timing: the $44 listing, which says it is timed to avoid the biggest crowds. The rest leave departure times to the live calendar, the only place they are right.
Sunsets are just as thin. Three listings sell one, and only the pirate boat at $65 names Maya Bay too. So a Maya Bay tour from Phi Phi with a sunset in the description is one listing, not a category.
What you can choose is length. Runs of three to seven hours leave from Phi Phi itself; full days of seven and a half to eleven hours come from further away. One private longtail lets you pick three, four, six or seven hours outright, and it is the only listing here that puts the clock in your hands.
Mistakes
Each one is a gap between what a listing says and what people assume.
It buys a boat day. Four listings never name Maya Bay at all, and two of them read like an obvious Phi Phi Maya Bay tour from the title alone.
Six of the fourteen give a range or a whole day instead of a fixed length, so there is no honest cost per hour for them. The dash means we would have had to invent it.
One description says where it snorkels, and it names Bamboo Island. The rest name no spot at all.
The speed catamaran to Khai Island shows 5.0 on 26 reviews; the most booked listing shows 4.6 on 21,589. Both are real; one is evidence.
Seven of the fourteen are eight-hour-plus days built around getting to the islands. A Maya Bay tour from Phi Phi itself starts at three hours and $18.
Before you book
Five lines to read on any Koh Phi Phi Maya Bay tour, and on any Maya Bay tour from Phi Phi you are about to pay for.
Four of the eighteen never do.
A range or «1 day» means no fixed finish time.
One listing names the spot. If yours does not, it is deciding on the day.
A star without its count tells you nothing. Both are on every card above.
Seven start in Phuket, five on Phi Phi itself.
A Maya Bay Phuket day trip is mostly crossing: seven of these fourteen start and finish there, eight to eleven hours door to door. A Maya Bay tour from Phi Phi bought in Phuket runs $36 to $393 — see how the Phuket days compare.
The days that start in Phuket→Common questions
Fourteen of the eighteen listings here name the bay in the title or the description, so a Maya Bay tour from Phi Phi is most of this site but not all of it. The other four name natural swimming pools, a seven-island sunset run, or coral gardens instead.
From $18 for a four-hour longtail that leaves from Phi Phi itself, up to $393 for a private day with transfers from Phuket. Most sit between $36 and $99.
One description says where it snorkels, and it names Bamboo Island rather than the bay. The other thirteen say they snorkel on the day without naming the spot.
The eight-hour speedboat day from Phuket, at $42: 21,589 reviews at 4.6. The next one along has 4,262 at 4.3.
One listing says so in writing: a $44 trip with 4.7 on 1,337 reviews, which says it is timed to avoid the biggest crowds. No other description here mentions crowds or arrival times, so there is nothing to compare it against.
Eight listings name Pileh Lagoon, eight name Viking Cave, five name Bamboo Island and one names Loh Samah Bay. Two name Monkey Beach and four name Monkey Bay; no description says whether those are the same place.
Go deeper
All eighteen Phi Phi island tours bookable here, side by side.
Going from PhuketThe tours that start in Phuket, and what that day actually holds.
Private longtailThe private longtail charters, and what you pay for the boat.
Going from KrabiThe listings that start in Krabi and Koh Lanta, and how few there are.
Speedboat or longtailSpeedboat against longtail: time on the water, cost and crowds.
Phuket: Maya, Phi Phi, and Bamboo Island with Buffet Lunch
★ 4.6 · 21,589 reviews · 8 hours