The national park fee is 200 baht for a foreign adult, gazetted, not 400. Maya Bay closes 1 August to 30 September every year and Koh Yung is closed indefinitely. Ferries from Krabi at 450 baht and Phuket at 700, published as daily. Krabi occupancy runs 80.89 per cent in December against 58.81 in September. A bent diver goes to Phuket, not Krabi. And building on Phi Phi Don is governed by clause 8 of a 2568 gazette notification — 9-metre height cap, 60 per cent open space, and nothing at all above 35 per cent slope.
The fee: 200 baht, and where 400 came from
Koh Phi Phi sits inside Hat Noppharat Thara – Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park, declared by royal decree of B.E. 2526 (1983) over the Shell Cemetery, Hat Noppharat Thara, the Phi Phi islands and neighbouring islands in four tambon of Mueang Krabi district, and extended by a further decree of B.E. 2539 (1996) on the mainland. Both decrees are cited by name in the 2568 Royal Gazette notification we use later on this page.
The current fee is set by the Department of National Parks regulation of B.E. 2564, published in the Royal Gazette on 9 December 2564 and in force from 7 June 2565. Schedule 1 names หาดนพรัตน์ธารา-หมู่เกาะพีพี in band 2 of four, and the department’s own park-by-park list says the same.
| Charge | Thai | Foreign |
|---|---|---|
| Park entry, adult | 40 baht | 200 baht |
| Park entry, child (aged 3 to 14, or not over 140 cm) | 20 baht | 100 baht |
| Scuba diving, per person per day | 200 baht | 200 baht |
| Speedboat entering the park, 1 to 30 passengers | 50 baht per boat | 50 baht per boat |
| Longtail entering the park, 1 to 20 passengers | 20 baht per boat | 20 baht per boat |
About that 400 baht figure. We read Schedule 1, Schedule 2 and Schedule 3 of the current regulation in full. Four hundred baht does not appear as a park entry fee anywhere in them — the only 400-baht line in the whole schedule set is a meeting-room hire rate. The likeliest explanation is that 400 was the rate before June 2022 and has been halved since; we could not retrieve the superseded regulation to prove that, so we present it as the probable explanation rather than a fact. What we can state is what the gazette currently says. If a tour price is higher, the difference is boat fees, the diving charge, or the operator’s margin — not the park.
What closes, and when, by order
The Department of National Parks issues one closure announcement a year. The current one is dated 18 December 2568, signed by the Director-General, made under section 20 of the National Park Act B.E. 2562, and in force from 1 January 2569. Entry 42 of its annex is Phi Phi.
| Park | Closed area | Window |
|---|---|---|
| Hat Noppharat Thara - Mu Ko Phi Phi | Maya Bay, Loh Samah, Ao Lo Ko | 1 August - 30 September |
| Hat Noppharat Thara - Mu Ko Phi Phi | Koh Yung | Closed indefinitely, no reopening date |
| Mu Ko Lanta | Koh Rok, plus the zone 2 house and campground | 1 June - 30 September |
| Mu Ko Lanta | Koh Ha, Hin Muang, Hin Daeng | 1 August - 30 September |
| Ao Phang Nga | Koh Lawa Yai, Ao Kian, Koh Boi Yai | 1 August - 30 September |
| Mu Ko Similan / Mu Ko Surin | The whole park in each case | 16 May - 14 October |
Two things are worth pulling out. First, Maya Bay’s closure is annual and recurring, not a one-off event — if your trip is in August or September, it is not open, and neither are Loh Samah or Ao Lo Ko. Second, Koh Yung is closed with no end date: the annex says ปิดไม่มีกำหนด, closed indefinitely.
Note also how mild Phi Phi’s closure is compared with its neighbours. Similan and Surin shut entirely for five months, 16 May to 14 October. Phi Phi loses three named bays for two months. If you are choosing between Andaman destinations for a low-season trip, that difference is the whole decision. Our national parks guide has the fee bands and the rules that carry a fine.
What we would not print. A daily visitor cap for Maya Bay, an advance-booking app requirement and a swimming ban are all widely reported. We searched the department’s own newsroom and could not find the announcement imposing any of them. They may well be in force; we are not going to state a rule we could not read. What we can cite is a general prohibition, in the 2568 environmental notification, on anchoring or any act affecting the seabed where there are seagrass beds, coral reefs or natural underwater rock formations — along with bans on jet skis, hydrofoils, parasail towing and banana-boat towing in those waters.
Getting there
Phi Phi has no airport and no bridge. The mainland links are Klong Jilad pier in Krabi — a Krabi Provincial Administrative Organisation facility — and Rassada pier in Phuket. The only operator we could source to its own website rather than an agent is Andaman Wave Master, and this is what it publishes.
| Route | Departures | Crossing | Fare, baht |
|---|---|---|---|
| Krabi (Klong Jilad) - Phi Phi (Tonsai) | Morning and afternoon, daily | 2 hr | 450 adult / 350 child |
| Phuket (Rassada) - Phi Phi (Tonsai) | 08:30 and 13:45, daily | 2 hr | 700 adult / 600 child standard |
| Phuket (Rassada) - Phi Phi (Laem Tong) | 08:30 and 13:45, daily | 3 hr | 800 adult / 700 child standard |
| Phuket (Rassada) - Phi Phi, first class | 08:30 and 13:45, daily | 2 - 3 hr | 1,000 adult / 800 child |
| Phuket (Rassada) - Phi Phi, premium | 08:30 and 13:45, daily | 2 - 3 hr | 1,300 adult / 1,100 child |
| Phuket (Rassada) - Phi Phi (Tonsai) by speedboat | Not published | - | from 850 adult |
All four ferry sailings are listed as daily, with no seasonal note — which is the best first-party evidence available that these two crossings run through the year. It is not the same as an official guarantee, and the operator’s own page carries the caveat that the schedule and period of operation may change without notice. Returns from Laem Tong, at the island’s northern end, must be reconfirmed with your hotel at least a day ahead.
For the Ao Nang and Koh Lanta crossings, every source we found was an agent or a booking site. We could not reach an operator-owned page, so we cannot tell you whether those routes suspend for the monsoon. Assume they might, and check before you build a route around them.
Off-season, measured rather than described
The Thai Meteorological Department puts the rainy season at about mid-May to mid-October under the southwest monsoon, which arrives off the Indian Ocean and hits coasts and windward slopes hardest. Phi Phi is on that coast. But rather than describe the season, here is what it does to the economy, from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports’ own monthly workbook for Krabi province.
| Month (2568) | Hotel occupancy | Total visitors | Foreign visitors |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | 79.35% | 660,418 | 458,018 |
| June | 67.58% | 510,718 | 276,130 |
| July | 59.06% | 439,830 | 223,139 |
| August | 63.02% | 457,025 | 236,856 |
| September | 58.81% | 410,785 | 217,312 |
| October | 67.13% | 507,184 | 280,619 |
| December | 80.89% | 608,915 | 384,118 |
Occupancy swings 22.1 percentage points between December and September. Foreign visitors fall 52.6 per cent from the April peak to the September trough. September is the low point on every measure the ministry publishes. One caveat, stated plainly: this is province-wide Krabi, taking in Ao Nang, Krabi Town, Lanta and Railay. Phi Phi has no local commuter economy underneath its tourism, so expect it to swing harder than these numbers, not softer. There is no Phi Phi-only official series.
Healthcare: the honest gap, and the one thing we can tell you
We are going to be straight about this section because it is the one a long-stay reader most needs and the one we could least verify. We could not establish what medical facility exists on Phi Phi Don. Every Ministry of Public Health source that would answer it — the national facility registry, the Krabi provincial health office, the health GIS — refused this session, and the island hospital’s own domain has lapsed and now serves a parked page. We are not going to state a bed count, a service level or an evacuation time we could not read, and neither should anyone else.
What we can tell you is the thing that matters most on a diving island, and it is firm. There is no Ministry of Public Health hyperbaric chamber in Krabi province and none on Phi Phi. Vachira Phuket Hospital states on its own government site that it is the only hospital under the ministry providing comprehensive hyperbaric oxygen therapy, taking referrals from fourteen southern provinces, with a multiplace chamber in service since 2545 and a monoplace chamber installed in 2563. Its number is 076-361232.
Read that geographically. A diver in trouble at Phi Phi is not going to the provincial capital they belong to; they are going across open water to Phuket. Krabi’s Provincial Administrative Organisation runs an emergency medical coordination centre on the national 1669 number. If you intend to dive here regularly, establish the referral pathway with your operator before your first dive, and see our diving and snorkelling guide and health insurance guide.
Clause 8: what you may build on Phi Phi Don
This is the most consequential material on the page for anyone thinking about property, and it is currently in force. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment notification of 31 March 2568 — Royal Gazette volume 142, special issue 154 ง — designates an environmental protection area across Ao Luek, Mueang Krabi, Nuea Khlong, Khlong Thom and Ko Lanta districts under section 45 of the Enhancement and Conservation of National Environmental Quality Act B.E. 2535. It runs five years from 1 April 2568, to 31 March 2573, and it repeals the previous Krabi notification of 2559 and its 2566 extension.
It divides the area into four zones. Zone 2 is marine waters including the national park; zone 3 is the islands’ land, which is where Phi Phi Don sits. Then it does something unusual: it sets general building rules for the whole protected area and expressly carves Koh Phi Phi Don out of them, giving it a dedicated article, clause 8.
- General: building height not more than 9 metres; open space at least 60 per cent of the permitted plot, of which at least half water-permeable and at least half of that permeable area green space with standing trees; use restricted to residential or commercial.
- Where ground slope is 15 to 35 per cent: height not more than 8 metres; minimum plot 100 square wah (400 square metres); footprint per building not more than 90 square metres; open space at least 70 per cent on the same permeable and green conditions; earthworks no steeper than 2:1; cut or fill limited to 1 metre other than for foundations, basements and underground tanks; and removing or destroying bedrock at or above ground level prohibited.
- On plots under 100 square wah: permeable open space of at least half that required by building-control or town-planning law, and use restricted to residential only.
- Where slope exceeds 35 per cent: no earthworks, and no construction or alteration of any building whatsoever.
The height caps do not apply to telecommunications and to state or state-concessioned public utility works, which still require Krabi province’s opinion. Across the wider protected area, the notification also prohibits land subdivision under the land subdivision law on the islands, except residential or commercial subdivision complying with town-planning land use; restricts excavation near roads, watercourses and on slopes over 35 per cent; and controls reclamation from the sea.
What this notification does not tell you is who owns what. It governs what may be built, not title. And the question we most wanted to answer and could not is whether the Ton Sai and Ao Lo Dalum village area sits inside or outside the national park boundary. The existence of a detailed private building regime for Phi Phi Don is consistent with titled, buildable, non-park land in the village — but it does not prove it, and we will not guess at a park boundary. That question needs the 2526 decree’s boundary map, the Krabi Land Office and a Thai lawyer. Start with leasehold versus freehold and foreign condominium ownership for the framework. BAANLYY is a listing portal and gives no legal advice.
Living there: the sewage plant, the school, and the blanks
Two things about long-stay on Phi Phi are properly sourced, and both are constraints.
The island’s wastewater treatment plant is a joint facility of the Wastewater Management Authority, a state enterprise, and the Ao Nang Subdistrict Administrative Organisation, which is the local authority for Koh Phi Phi. At an inter-agency meeting on 28 May 2567, held in the national park’s own meeting room, the recorded position was: system construction 97.81 per cent complete, inflow of about 440 cubic metres a day, effluent meeting national discharge standards — but connection of community sewage lines into the collection system not yet meeting targets. A governing committee met again in August 2568. So: the plant exists and works, and the last officially recorded problem is that the island’s buildings are not all plumbed into it.
The island’s state school, โรงเรียนพระราชทานบ้านเกาะพีพี, is recorded by the Krabi Primary Educational Service Area Office as a primary school. There is no secondary provision on the island. For a family, that is the constraint that decides it: schooling past primary means the mainland.
- Whether the Ton Sai village area is inside or outside the park boundary. The single most consequential open question on this page, and we will not guess it.
- The medical facility on Phi Phi Don — name, code, service level, beds, hours — and Krabi Hospital’s level and bed count. Every ministry source refused us.
- How a patient is actually moved off the island, by what vessel, and how long it takes.
- Any Maya Bay visitor cap, booking requirement or swimming ban in a departmental announcement.
- Whether Phi Phi is on the electricity grid by submarine cable or runs on island generation. We found no PEA statement naming Koh Phi Phi.
- Water supply, and how solid waste leaves the island. Both are described in reporting; neither is in a government document we could reach.
- Internet provision, and which immigration office has jurisdiction. Not verified, not guessed.
- Tsunami warning towers, evacuation routes and current official guidance. The National Disaster Warning Centre served no content and the Krabi provincial disaster office did not resolve. For an island with Phi Phi’s history that is a gap we would like to close, and we would rather say so than repeat a tower count from a newspaper.
- The park’s area, and the boundary schedule of the B.E. 2526 decree.
Frequently asked questions
Two hundred baht for a foreign adult, one hundred for a foreign child, forty for a Thai adult and twenty for a Thai child. That is band 2 of Schedule 1 to the Department of National Parks fee regulation of B.E. 2564, published in the Royal Gazette on 9 December 2564 and in force from 7 June 2565, which names หาดนพรัตน์ธารา-หมู่เกาะพีพี explicitly. A child is defined in the regulation as aged 3 to 14 inclusive, or not more than 140 cm tall. The widely quoted figure of 400 baht does not appear anywhere in the current schedules - we read Schedule 1 for park entry, Schedule 2 for vehicles and vessels and Schedule 3 for facilities and activities, and the only 400-baht line in any of them is a meeting-room hire rate. The most likely explanation is that 400 baht was the rate before June 2022 and has been half that ever since, though we could not retrieve the superseded regulation to prove it. Note that separate charges do exist and are real: the regulation sets vessel fees by size, and a scuba diving charge of 200 baht per person per day.
Every year, from 1 August to 30 September. This is not a rumour or a one-off - it is entry 42 of the annex to the Department of National Parks' annual closure announcement, dated 18 December 2568, signed by the Director-General, made under section 20 of the National Park Act B.E. 2562 and in force from 1 January 2569. The entry closes อ่าวมาหยา (Maya Bay), โละซามะ (Loh Samah) and อ่าวลอกอ (Ao Lo Ko) for those two months. It also closes เกาะยูง (Koh Yung) with the words ปิดไม่มีกำหนด - closed indefinitely, with no reopening date given. Anyone planning a trip around Maya Bay in August or September should plan around something else instead. Reports of a daily visitor cap, a booking app and a swimming ban circulate widely; we could not find the departmental announcement imposing any of them, so we are not stating them as rules.
From Krabi's Klong Jilad pier, a Krabi Provincial Administrative Organisation facility, and from Phuket's Rassada pier. Andaman Wave Master publishes both on its own site: Klong Jilad to Tonsai in two hours at 450 baht adult and 350 child, daily; Rassada to Tonsai departing 08:30 and 13:45, two hours, 700 and 600 baht standard with first class at 1,000 and 800 and premium at 1,300 and 1,100; and Rassada to Laem Tong in three hours at 800 and 700 standard. A speedboat from Rassada is listed from 850 baht. All four ferry sailings are marked daily with no seasonal note. That is the strongest statement we can make from a first-party source, and it is not the same as a guarantee - the operator's own page says the schedule and period of operation may change without notice. For the Ao Nang and Koh Lanta crossings we found no operator-owned source at all, so whether those suspend for the monsoon is something we could not verify.
The island's own figures are not published, but the province's are, monthly, by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. Krabi hotel occupancy runs at 80.89 per cent in December and 58.81 per cent in September - a swing of 22.1 percentage points. Foreign visitors fall from 458,018 in April to 217,312 in September, a drop of 52.6 per cent. Total visitors fall from 660,418 in April to 410,785 in September. September is the trough on every measure. Carry one caveat into that: this is province-wide Krabi, which includes Ao Nang, Krabi Town, Lanta and Railay. Phi Phi is a pure island-tourism economy with no commuter base, so it should be expected to swing harder than the provincial average, not softer.
You go to Phuket. Vachira Phuket Hospital states on its own government site that it is the only hospital under the Ministry of Public Health providing comprehensive hyperbaric oxygen therapy, receiving patient referrals from fourteen southern provinces, with a multiplace chamber in service since 2545 and a monoplace chamber installed in 2563. It treats decompression sickness and diving injuries; its number is 076-361232. We found no Ministry of Public Health chamber in Krabi province and none on Phi Phi. That means a diving casualty at Phi Phi faces open water in the wrong direction from the province it belongs to. We were not able to verify what medical facility exists on Phi Phi Don itself - every Ministry of Public Health registry was blocked to us and the island hospital's own domain has lapsed - so we are not stating a bed count, a service level, or an evacuation time we could not read.
Unusually specific, currently in force, and in the Royal Gazette. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment notification of 31 March 2568 (volume 142, special issue 154 ง) designates an environmental protection area across five Krabi districts, runs for five years from 1 April 2568, and repeals the 2559 notification and its 2566 extension. It sets general rules for the whole area, then carves Koh Phi Phi Don out of them and gives it its own clause 8. On Phi Phi Don, building height must not exceed 9 metres; open space must be at least 60 per cent of the plot, of which at least half must be water-permeable and at least half of that planted as green space with standing trees; and use is restricted to residential or commercial. Where ground slope is between 15 and 35 per cent, the height cap falls to 8 metres, the minimum plot is 100 square wah (400 square metres), each building's footprint is capped at 90 square metres, open space rises to 70 per cent, cut or fill is limited to one metre with earthworks no steeper than 2:1, and removing or destroying bedrock at or above ground level is prohibited. On plots under 100 square wah, use is residential only. And where slope exceeds 35 per cent, no earthworks and no construction or alteration of any building are permitted at all. Land subdivision under the land subdivision law is prohibited on the islands except for residential or commercial subdivision complying with town planning. None of this is legal advice - BAANLYY is a listing portal, not a law firm - but any development pitch on Phi Phi Don that does not mention clause 8 has not read it.
Related guides
- Krabi — the province Phi Phi belongs to, and where the ferry leaves from.
- Cost of living in Krabi — the budget tables for the mainland side.
- Koh Lanta — the neighbouring island with roads, a hospital and a longer closure list.
- Koh Lipe — four hours south in season, and the same fee band.
- National parks in Thailand — the fee bands and the annual closures.
- Diving and snorkelling in Thailand — seasons, sites and safety.
- Beaches and water safety — what the flags mean and what they do not.
- Leasehold versus freehold — before anyone shows you land on an island in a national park.
The most regulated island in Thailand, and the reason it still looks like that
If Phi Phi is the trip and Krabi is the move, start with what is actually listed on the mainland it faces.
Sources & References
- Department of National Parks - the fee regulation of B.E. 2564, published in the Royal Gazette on 9 December 2564 and in force from 7 June 2565, hosted on the department's own e-payment server. Schedule 1 names หาดนพรัตน์ธารา-หมู่เกาะพีพี in band 2: Thai child 20, Thai adult 40, foreign child 100, foreign adult 200 baht, with a child defined as aged 3 to 14 or not over 140 cm. Schedule 2 sets vessel charges and Schedule 3 sets a scuba diving charge of 200 baht per person per day
- Department of National Parks - the department's own list of every national park by fee band, which places อช.หาดนพรัตน์ธารา-หมู่เกาะพีพี in band 2
- Department of National Parks - the annual closure announcement, ปิดการท่องเที่ยวและพักแรมในอุทยานแห่งชาติและวนอุทยาน ประจำปี พ.ศ. 2569, dated 18 December 2568, signed by the Director-General, made under section 20 of the National Park Act B.E. 2562 and in force from 1 January 2569. Its annex, entry 42, closes อ่าวมาหยา, โละซามะ and อ่าวลอกอ from 1 August to 30 September, and closes เกาะยูง indefinitely
- Provincial Office of Natural Resources and Environment, Si Sa Ket - the same 2569 closure annex, used to cross-read the Krabi and Andaman entries including Mu Ko Lanta's Koh Rok, Koh Ha, Hin Daeng and Hin Muang, and the five-month closures at Similan and Surin
- Royal Gazette - ประกาศกระทรวงทรัพยากรธรรมชาติและสิ่งแวดล้อม เรื่อง กำหนดเขตพื้นที่และมาตรการคุ้มครองสิ่งแวดล้อม in Ao Luek, Mueang Krabi, Nuea Khlong, Khlong Thom and Ko Lanta districts, B.E. 2568, volume 142 special issue 154 ง of 31 March 2568. It repeals the 2559 notification and its 2566 extension, runs five years from 1 April 2568, and sets building rules written specifically for Koh Phi Phi Don in clause 8. It also records the founding royal decree of B.E. 2526 and the extension decree of B.E. 2539
- Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) - the department's landing page for the 2568 Krabi environmental protection area notification
- Andaman Wave Master - the operator's own Krabi to Phi Phi page: Klong Jilad to Tonsai, two hours, adult 450 and child 350 baht, daily, with the operator's own note that the schedule and period of operation may change without notice
- Andaman Wave Master - the operator's own Phuket to Phi Phi page: Rassada to Tonsai departing 08:30 and 13:45, two hours, standard 700 adult and 600 child, first class 1,000 and 800, premium 1,300 and 1,100; Rassada to Laem Tong three hours at 800 and 700 standard. All four sailings listed as daily
- Krabi Provincial Administrative Organisation - the province's own description of the Phi Phi islands as Phi Phi Don, Phi Phi Ley and the smaller neighbouring Koh Yung and Koh Mai Phai, and the PAO's own list of units including the Pak Khlong Jilad passenger and tourism pier and the emergency medical operations centre on 1669
- Ministry of Tourism and Sports - the ministry's own monthly workbook of occupancy, visitors and visitor revenue for 2568, published 16 January 2569, from which the Krabi province month-by-month figures are taken: occupancy peaking at 80.89 per cent in December and troughing at 58.81 per cent in September, with foreign visitors falling from 458,018 in April to 217,312 in September
- Vachira Phuket Hospital - the hospital's own hyperbaric medicine page, stating that it is the only hospital under the Ministry of Public Health providing comprehensive hyperbaric oxygen therapy and receiving referrals from fourteen southern provinces, with a multiplace chamber in service since 2545 and a monoplace chamber installed in 2563
- Wastewater Management Authority (a Thai state enterprise) - the record of the inter-agency meeting of 28 May 2567 on pollution and sewage at the Phi Phi islands, held in the Hat Noppharat Thara - Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park meeting room: the system 97.81 per cent complete, inflow of about 440 cubic metres a day, effluent meeting national discharge standards, and community sewage connections not yet meeting targets
- Wastewater Management Authority - the second 2568 meeting of the committee overseeing the Ao Nang Subdistrict Administrative Organisation's Phi Phi treatment system, 19 August 2568
- Krabi Primary Educational Service Area Office - the office's own material on โรงเรียนพระราชทานบ้านเกาะพีพี, the island's state school, recorded as a primary school
- Ao Nang Subdistrict Administrative Organisation - the local authority for Koh Phi Phi, at 255 Moo 5, Tambon Ao Nang, Mueang Krabi
- Thai Meteorological Department - the monsoon calendar: the rainy season from about mid-May to mid-October under the southwest monsoon, replaced by the northeast monsoon from about mid-October
Primary and official sources are cited above. Government rules, fees and procedures in Thailand change over time and vary by office; always confirm current requirements with the relevant authority before relying on them. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.
