Phang Nga Bay & the sea caves
Limestone towers, collapsed cave ceilings, and a Muslim fishing village built on stilts. Phang Nga is the bay that looks like the poster, and a longtail is the only way to see the inside of it.
The Phang Nga Bay tour costs $105 per person and covers James Bond Island, the sea caves at Tham Lod by kayak, and lunch in the Muslim fishing village of Panyee. It is a full day by longtail and canoe from Phuket. National park fees are included.
- Price$105 per person
- DurationFull day
- BoatLongtail with kayak
- IncludedPark fee, lunch
Inside the hongs
The limestone islands are hollow. Where a cave roof has collapsed you get a hong — a lagoon open to the sky, ringed by cliffs, reachable only through a low tunnel at low tide. You go through in a sea canoe, lying back, with about 40 cm of clearance.
James Bond Island is the famous one — a rock balanced on a stalk, used in a 1974 film — and it is also the most crowded five minutes of the day. We do it early and spend the rest of the time in the hongs and mangroves where no coach can go.
Koh Panyee
A fishing village on stilts, entirely Muslim, built over the water a century ago by families who were not allowed to own land. The floating football pitch is real. Lunch here is better than any beach buffet.
| Time | Where | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 08:00 | Pickup | Ao Po pier by 09:00 |
| 09:30 | Hong #1 | Sea canoe through the tunnel |
| 11:30 | James Bond Island | Short stop, early |
| 12:30 | Koh Panyee | Lunch at the village |
| 14:30 | Mangrove channels | Longtail, quiet water |
Private longtail and crew, sea canoe and guide, national park fee, lunch at Koh Panyee, water. Not included: tips.
What Phang Nga actually is
Forty limestone towers standing in a shallow bay, some of them hollow, several with collapsed ceilings that open into lagoons you can only enter by kayak at low tide. The 1974 Bond film used one of them, which is why everyone calls it James Bond Island and why a hundred boats a day stop there for twenty minutes.
The better part of the day is the hongs: Tham Lod, where you lie flat in a canoe and paddle through a tunnel into a lagoon lined with mangroves, and Hong Island's interior, which has a ceiling of stalactites and a resident population of monkeys who have learned to look for fruit. We schedule the hongs for low tide, which is the only time they are passable.
Panyee, and the lunch
Ko Panyee is a Muslim fishing village built entirely on stilts over the water, with a floating football pitch that gets photographed more than the village does. Lunch is there — fish, crab, rice, not a buffet — and the money stays in the village because that is the arrangement we have with the family who run it.
Longtail or speedboat
Longtail, for this route. It is slower, it can get into the shallow water at the hongs, and the open stern is the best seat in the bay. A speedboat covers more ground and is the wrong tool for caves. The crossing from Phuket is 50 minutes by longtail and 30 by speedboat, and the difference does not matter once you are inside the hong.
Who it suits
Everyone, honestly — this is the most universally liked day we run. Children from four, grandparents, photographers, people who get seasick (the bay is sheltered). The one caveat is that kayaking through a tunnel with a low ceiling is not for claustrophobes, and there is a 200-metre walk at James Bond Island itself.
Before you book
Why a longtail and not a speedboat?
Longtails are narrow enough to enter the cave tunnels and shallow enough for the mangroves. Speedboats wait outside.
Is the canoe safe?
Yes — inflatable canoes with a paddler, flat water, life jackets. Not suitable for late pregnancy or serious back problems.
Can it be done in the rainy season?
Phang Nga is sheltered and runs year-round. If the marine forecast is bad we move it to another day.
Check your date.
Tell us the day and how many of you — we confirm availability, the boat and the price.
Written and checked by the Travel Thailand Tour team, Bangkok · Last updated · Prices are per person and were correct at the time of writing.