Look, there are beautiful and pristine natural places in Thailand. However, every day thousands of people insist on going to the Phi Phi archipelago, in the Andaman Sea, to see the same beach: Maya Bay. The cinematic bay that appeared in the movie The Beach (2000), with a Leonardo DiCaprio so young that I think he hadn’t even made his First Communion yet.
Speedboats, catamarans, and medium-sized ferries depart daily from the marinas and ports of Phuket, Ao Nang, or the city of Krabi loaded with a mostly young and backpacker crowd to whom, for the modest sum of 50 euros in the cheapest version, they have promised that they will get to know the earthly paradise, and that it will also be available only for them.
And well, yes, Phi Phi could have been that paradise years ago, with dream beaches, limestone cliffs, and turquoise waters. That nature is still there, but everything is so overcrowded and full of tourists that the experience leaves much to be desired. If you go on those day trips, they will take you to the most famous spots, like Pileh Lagoon or Monkey Beach, with stops for snorkeling in places that are spectacular, but that will be packed with hundreds of boats like yours. It’s like being in a water park on a Sunday in August.
The star visit is to the aforementioned Maya Bay, a beautiful bay of white sand, crystal-clear waters, and surrounded by tall pinnacles covered by vegetation. A place that became so popular after the release of DiCaprio’s movie that, in 2019, the Thai government had to close it for almost four years because human pressure was destroying the flora, coral reefs, and marine fauna. Today it can be visited, although it is closed every year during August and September to give it a break from the impact of tourism and for conservation tasks. And when you can go, there are restrictions: a maximum of 4,000 daily visitors (which, in my opinion, is still a lot) divided into shifts, and a maximum stay of one hour. Also, tourist boats can no longer enter the bay; they must dock at a floating pier that has been built at the back of the island; there is a single access via wooden walkways; and you cannot swim or have a picnic.
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Then they will take you to eat at Tonsai Village, the only inhabited settlement, on Ko Phi Phi Don, the main island, where they will offer you a buffet of cheap drinks and time for shopping in a village where everything is designed to take your dollars.
It is true that you can still enjoy less crowded spots here. Once I stayed a couple of days at a resort with wooden cabins on Laem Tong beach and I did feel like I was in some kind of Eden. But come on… Thailand, a country I adore and know very well, has wonderful and less crowded beaches than Phi Phi to the point of boredom: Koh Lanta, Koh Yao Noi, Hat Railay… Or the lesser-known archipelago of the country that I have visited: Tarutao, south of the Andaman Sea, the paradise of soft corals.