Day trips from Phuket
5 stopsBest: November to April. In monsoon, plenty of departures depend on the dayUpdated July 2026
The postcards aren’t from here: the islands in the photos are across the water. And that is exactly what makes Phuket useful: it’s the port you leave from for the rest of the Andaman Sea. Phang Nga an hour out, Phi Phi two, the Similans a good deal further north. All of them are day trips and all of them are sold on the same pavement.
Two things worth knowing before you book. First: this sea has a season, and from May to October departures depend on the day and some parks close outright. Second: national parks charge admission separately from what you paid for the trip, and that doesn’t always get mentioned at the point of sale.
The route, stop by stop
5 STOPS- 01
Phang Nga and the limestone stacks
Vertical limestone towers rise out of the bay: the remains of a reef more than two hundred million years old that the water hollowed out from within. That’s why so many are empty, and you paddle in through a hole at water level to an inner courtyard open to the sky that you can’t leave if the tide comes up. Here the tide isn’t a detail: it’s the timetable.
The photo stop is Khao Phing Kan, James Bond island since The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).
The needle is called Ko Tapu and there’s a queue to shoot it. What you actually remember is Ko Panyi, the Muslim village raised on stilts against a cliff because there was no land to put it on, with its mosque and its floating football pitch.
- 02
Phi Phi, and what happened to Maya Bay
Phi Phi splits into two islands: Phi Phi Don, where people live, and Phi Phi Leh, uninhabited, where Maya Bay is. The bay got famous from The Beach (2000) and ended up taking thousands of people a day until in 2018 the authorities shut it entirely because the coral was dead. It reopened with rules: boats no longer anchor inside, they dock round the back and you walk in.
It’s the Andaman’s best illustration of what tourism does and what can be undone: the blacktip sharks came back to the bay as soon as the speedboats left. The standard trip does Maya, Pileh and Bamboo in a day and it’s busy. Leave early if you can.
And if it’s sold to you with «private beach» or «no crowds», you’re being sold something else.
- 03
The Similans, shut half the year
The Similans add up to nine granite islands to the north, inside a national park, and they offer the best diving and snorkelling reachable from Phuket: genuinely clear water, not photo-clear. They’re far, the day starts before six and there are two hours in a van before you board, and even so it’s the trip most people repeat.
The condition is this: the park closes for the monsoon and only opens roughly October to May, with the exact dates set by the park each season.
If you come in summer it doesn’t exist, however many posters you see in the agency. When it is open there’s a daily visitor cap, so it isn’t a trip you decide on the night before.
- 04
Khao Sok, the trip that isn’t sea
Khao Sok sits on the mainland, about three hours by road, and it’s the opposite of everything else on this page: rainforest that has been there over a hundred and sixty million years, older than the Amazon, untouched by the ice ages. Inside it is Cheow Lan lake, an eighties reservoir with the same limestone towers as Phang Nga coming out of fresh water.
It’s a long day and a day shows you little: the right way is to sleep a night in a floating house on the lake and go out by boat at dawn, which is when you hear the gibbons. With one day, you’ll at least know it exists.
And it’s the only trip on this list that works just as well in the rainy season, because here the rain is the point.
- 05
Coral and Racha, if you don’t want the whole day
Ko Hae, the one they call Coral Island, is half an hour from Chalong pier, and Racha Yai a bit further. They aren’t the islands from the photographs and don’t pretend to be, but they have clear water, decent snorkelling and the advantage of fitting into half a day, with no dawn start and no two hours in a van.
It’s the sensible trip when you have a spare day, or when you’re with children and twelve hours on a boat isn’t happening. Racha has better visibility for diving. Coral is busier but closer.
Both leave from Chalong or Rawai, so if you’re sleeping in the south you’re already there.
Frequently asked
What’s the best day trip from Phuket?
Phang Nga for the limestone stacks and the caves by canoe, Phi Phi for Maya Bay, the Similans for diving if you’re travelling between October and May, when the park is open. And Khao Sok if you fancy a day that isn’t sea.
Are the Similan islands open all year?
No. The national park closes for the monsoon and opens roughly October to May, exact dates are set by the park each season and there’s a daily visitor cap. In summer there’s no trip, however long the poster stays up in the agency.
Can you visit Maya Bay?
Yes, since it reopened after the 2018 closure, but with rules: boats no longer anchor in the bay, they dock round the back and you walk in. The closure happened because tourism had killed the coral, and the restrictions are the reason you can go back at all.