Ko Phi Phi, Thailand

Having never been to the beaches of Thailand, I certainly had some speculation. I always wonder if they really are as beautiful as what you see, and beyond that, if these destinations have become too touristy for their own good. Ko Phi Phi has the familiar name, which is generally a ref flag when it comes to places becoming overrun with annoying tourists and gap year students spending most of their time drunk. Well I have to admit that this annoying tourist was pretty dang impressed with this island in the middle of the Andaman Sea between Krabi and Phuket.

The day started with a ferry trip from Railay Beach to Ko Phi Phi. A small longboat picked us up on the beach and then took us out to a larger ferry boat where we boarded in the middle of the sea!



All of the ferries drop you off in the main village on Ko Phi Phi, which in reality is a solid mess of tourist shops and overpriced bars & restaurants. Don't get me wrong, it's basically where everything exciting is on the island, but the beaches aren't great and it's a bit busy if you're looking for the serene, sandy beaches on the postcards. I decided to book accommodations on the Long Beach area of Ko Phi Phi which is a ten minute longboat ride from the main village. So after we landed, we hopped on a longboat and then found our accommodation which were bungalows scattered at the top of a hill overlooking the sea and beaches below. We dropped our stuff off and then headed down to the beach to grab some lunch.



We spent the afternoon snorkeling in the sea for hours. It ends up that Long Beach is actually a prime place for snorkeling and many of the snorkeling day-trips stop here for a while to let their passengers jump in and look around. We felt pretty lucky that we could do this right from where we were staying, and order some mango shakes to enjoy during a break! The snorkeling was incredible; we had hundreds of fish swimming around us at all times over the shallow reef, and I even saw a reef shark at one point.



As the evening got closer, we decided to head back in to Ko Phi Phi village to do some shopping and get some dinner. I got some cool shots from the boat.



We spent a couple hours strolling through all of the shops and picking up some gifts. Eventually we settled at a restaurant on the sand and enjoyed some dinner on the beach. The sunset was amazing that night and it capped a perfect day in paradise.



The next day we got up and enjoyed breakfast and another afternoon on the beach before we got a boat back to Krabi for our last night. I have to admit that Ko Phi Phi really was as amazing as it looks. Generally I get pretty bored on beaches after 30 mins and look for something else to do, but I could have spent days lounging around, snorkeling and enjoying the local flavors on this island. I would definitely recommend staying in one of the areas outside of the main village since it's easy to get there at any time.