James Bond Island and Phang Nga Bay: which tour is worth it?

What exactly is James Bond Island?

Two islets side by side, deep inside a bay protected as a national park.

Its real name is Khao Phing Kan, “the hills leaning on each other”: two limestone blocks split by a small beach. Opposite stands Koh Tapu, the “nail island”, a 20-metre needle that is narrower at the base than at the top. That is the rock on every postcard, and the one that starred in The Man with the Golden Gun.

The islet sits inside Ao Phang Nga National Park, which covers the whole bay: around forty islands, mangrove forest and cliffs riddled with caves. Boats are not allowed near Koh Tapu, which has been protected for years to slow erosion; you look at it from the beach on Khao Phing Kan, a few dozen metres away.

Longtail, speedboat, big boat or sea canoe: which should you choose?

The boat decides everything: when you arrive, how many people are around you and how long you spend in the hongs.

Tours from Phuket include the hotel transfer, lunch and usually the canoeing; just check whether the park fee is included. A Phang Nga longtail is priced per boat, so with four people it is by far the cheapest way to see the bay.

From Phuket: how does the day work?

This is the most common departure point, and the easiest.

A minibus collects you between 7 and 8.30 am and takes 45 minutes to an hour to reach a pier on the east coast: Ao Po, Royal Phuket Marina or Bang Rong. The crossing into the heart of the bay takes around 45 minutes by speedboat, a little over 1.5 hours by big boat. You are back at your hotel in the late afternoon.

1. 1Canoeing in the hongs of Koh Hong or Koh Panak, with a local paddler steering the canoe.
2. 2James Bond Island: 20 to 30 minutes on the beach and in the cave.
3. 3Seafood and Thai lunch on Koh Panyee.
4. 4A swim at a sandy beach, often Lawa or Naka, before heading back.

To choose where to stay, see our Phuket guide and the best Phuket beaches: the north and east of the island mean a shorter transfer to the piers.

From Krabi or Ao Nang: is it worth the journey?

Yes, but it is a longer day: the bay lies west of Krabi, not next door.

There are two ways to do it. Either a minibus to a pier in Phang Nga province (around 1.5 hours by road) and then a longtail into the bay, or a speedboat straight from the Krabi coast, entering the bay from the south. Both take a full day and cost roughly the same as tours from Phuket.

If you are staying in Ao Nang or Railay, you already have limestone towers on your doorstep: what the trip adds is the sheer scale of the bay and the hongs. For your base, see our Krabi and Railay guide.

Can you go without a tour?

Yes, from Phang Nga town, and it is the cheapest way to see the bay.

Longtails leave from the piers south of town, near the national park office (Tha Dan). You hire the boat for half a day: James Bond Island, Koh Panyee, the painted cliffs of Khao Khian and the mangroves. Agree the price before you board, for the whole boat rather than per person, and ask whether the park fee is included.

The real advantage is timing: leave at 8 am and you are on the islet before the Phuket speedboats arrive. To go one step further, spend a night in a guesthouse on Koh Panyee: once the day boats leave, the village goes quiet.

Sea canoeing in the hongs: the best of the bay

Hongs are open-air lagoons locked inside the islands, invisible from the sea.

You enter them by inflatable canoe through tunnels so low you sometimes have to lie back flat. A Thai paddler steers, so you do not have to do any work. Inside you find mangroves, sheer cliffs and sometimes macaques and kingfishers.

It all depends on the tide: too high and the tunnels close, too low and the lagoons drain. Specialist sea canoe operators build their day around these windows, which explains their unusual hours and higher price. Standard tours include a shorter paddle, sometimes in a cave that is packed at peak time.

Koh Panyee: the village on stilts

The lunch stop on nearly every tour, and much more than a restaurant.

Founded by fishing families from Indonesia, the village has several hundred stilt houses, a gold-domed mosque and a famous floating football pitch built by the local kids. After lunch, take twenty minutes to walk away from the waterfront restaurants: the boardwalk lanes, the school and the batik workshops are just behind.

• Cover shoulders and knees in the lanes: this is a Muslim village, not a film set.
• No alcohol is served, so bring water or juice.
• Carry some cash for the batik and pearl stalls.

How much does the day cost, park fee included?

Tour prices are clear; the national park fee is what sometimes catches people out.

Ao Phang Nga National Park charges foreign visitors 300 THB per adult and 150 THB per child. It is often included in tours from Phuket and rarely in Phang Nga longtails. If it is not, you pay it in cash on board or at the pier.

Budget a few hundred baht more for drinks, a tip for your paddler and souvenirs. For your whole trip, see our Thailand travel budget.

Which season, what time, which tide?

You can visit the bay all year; the time of day is what changes the experience.

From November to April the sea is calm and the skies are clear: the best season, and the busiest. From May to October the southwest monsoon churns up the Andaman Sea, but the bay, enclosed by islands, stays navigable on most days; trips are only cancelled in genuinely bad weather. See when to go to Thailand and our rainy season guide.

So, is it worth it?

The bay, yes. The islet alone at midday, no.

• You love scenery: the karst towers of the bay are among the finest in Southeast Asia.
• You want to see the hongs: nothing else in Thailand is quite like them.
• You are in Phuket and want a day without waves: the bay is far more sheltered than the route to Phi Phi.

• You only want the photo of Koh Tapu: that means 8 hours in a group for 20 minutes on a crowded beach.
• You are after beaches and snorkelling: the water in the bay is murky, so head for the Thai islands out at sea instead.

If you are torn between this and Phi Phi, our Maya Bay guide covers the region’s other big boat trip, and the Phuket to Koh Phi Phi page shows how to stay there rather than just pass through.