For me, one of the most beautiful spots near Phuket that is really worth a visit is the Phang Nga Bay and National Park. I saw it from the plane when landing in Phuket, and since then it has been on my list.
But, surprisingly, the tours to go there range at 100 USD which is way too much, but now I know why they say Phuket is the most expensive place in Thailand. I’m actually not willing to go there for that price, so I started my research on how can I do it cheaper.
First of all, if you plan to do it by yourself it will never get cheaper than that, so you must join a tour. But, I made a few friends once I arrived and I convinced them to do this trip, so we were 5 people splitting the costs.
First, we rented a mini-van for the day for 2800 baht which dividing per all of us is not that much. The minivan took a little less than 1h30 to arrive at the spot where we rented a long tail boat.
I found this company by researching a bit on the map and they were renting a long tail boat for 1500 baht for 5 people. The company is called “service tour boat-friendly price” and if you search for it on google maps it will show up. We were splitting the cost per 5, so it ended up not being much either.
For the boat trip in Phang Nga Bay, we had several choices that we could do, but we decided to go to the James Bond island and Lod Cave. Later on, the James Bond island was kind of a disappointment so we asked our boat driver to take us to the floating village for an additional 300 baht that we paid directly to him.
James Bond island
So, our first stop was the famous James Bond island
To get there, first, we are riding amongst the mangrove area and then we reach the place where the limestone cliffs start to show up in the distance. Personally, just the boat ride among all those limestone cliffs in Phang Nga bay is already worth it. I can’t stop being mesmerized by it even though I have been to Halong Bay in Vietnam. The surroundings are undoubtedly beautiful so I don’t mind if the ride is long.
To dock at James Bond island and explore it we had to pay 300 baht each. We also had to show our vaccination certificates. Honestly, I don’t think it is worth the money. The area to explore is pretty small, you get a privileged view to James Bond island and a nice picture (that I believe could be easily taken from the boat) plus some “caves” to explore, I mean, they are not actually caves, but some nice rock formations. Besides this, the island has a very small beach that barely had sand when we were there (maybe it was high tide) and some stalls with souvenirs. There is no place to eat something. Neither here nor at the Lod cave, that’s also why we asked to go to the floating village.
James Bond island will not take you long to explore, so 30 minutes are more than enough to stay here. Gladly it was during the pandemic otherwise that place will be filled and almost impossible to enjoy.
Lod Cave
The next stop in Phang Nga Bay was the Lod cave, the place I marked as the highlight of the trip. It was sad arriving there and seeing all those men sitting without a job to do due to the lack of tourists. We had to pay 300 baht each to canoe.
I thought we would be canoeing by ourselves, but there was actually a local onboard and he was doing the paddling too. At first, I didn’t like the idea as I would love to explore on my own, but then I was grateful that they were there and guided us to the best spots as they know much better than us. So, it makes all sense to have a local with us. They made sure to inform us that we are very lucky for being there at that time every time we opened our mouths to let a “WOW” out. They said that during normal times they wouldn’t have taken us to certain points because there are too many people. And at some point, I started to imagine how would it be with normal tourism, and I’m sure there would be waiting lines to go to certain places. This way, our 3 canoes were the only ones on sight at Lod cave and we could enjoy all the silence around. They canoed through the dense mangrove forest, and many times I doubted we would fit and pass through. Many times we had to lie down cause the rocks were too close, or to enter a very small cave opening that we were lucky to visit. It was beautiful!
For the scenery, the quiet and peacefulness of the place, Lod Cave conquered me.
We did this for about 30 minutes and left not before they begged us for a tip, which is very usual around SEA during these small boat trips. I remember the same happening in Ninh Binh, Vietnam.
Phang Nga floating village
The last spot visited in Pnhag Nga Bay was the floating village or the Muslim floating village that is recognizable for its beautiful golden mosque that embellished the site even more.
To enter here they also asked for our vaccination certificate.
The village seemed very poor and a very different reality from what we are used to. If these people were relying on tourism, I bet they are having hard times now, which is so sad. There we many fancy restaurants facing the place where we docked, but we searched for a more local one that is next to the floating football field. I think this is the only floating football field in the world, and most likely the one with the best view. No idea how hard it is to play there as the balls might end up on the water very often. At least it is always hot and the refreshing water is inviting.
We had lunch at the floating restaurant just next to it with an amazing view around. The food was good and cheap and we had an awesome view of the surrounding limestone cliffs. What a beautiful place to live in.
Samet Nangshe viewpoint
After this, we headed back to land and asked our driver to take us to Samet Nangshe viewpoint that was on the way to Phuket. I guess this might be the best viewpoint of Phang Nga Bay! We had to pay 50 bahts to enter and with that have a discount at the bar on the top. That also bought us an extremely steep ride on a pick-up truck to the very top.
At the top the view is majestic. Limestone cliffs until your eyes can reach, and a view that is changing with the weather as the colors keep changing too. Sunrise here must be something! We stayed several minutes to enjoy the view. It is also possible to sleep up here as there are some rooms available with this incredible view to Phang Nga Bay. Can you imagine waking up here?
And that was it. The day started at 9 am and we reached Patong at about 6 pm. The boat tour lasted about 5 hours.
And this way we were able to save a few pennies as it ended up being less than half the price of a tour in Patong. By doing it ourselves, the tour around Phang Nga Bay cost about 35€ each.
Minivan- 2800
Longtail boat- 1700 (James Bond, Lod cave, floating village)
canoe fee- 300
James Bond island fee- 300
Samet Nangshe Viewpoint fee- 50
