• Thailand Guide

  • Introduction to Thailand
  • Weather
  • Things Not to Miss
  • Getting around
  • Money
  • Public holidays
  • Entry requirements

• Explore Thailand

  • The central plains
  • The north
  • The east coast
  • The northeast: Isaan
  • Southern Thailand: the Gulf coast
  • Southern Thailand: the Andaman coast
  • The deep south

• Cities

  • Bangkok
    
  • Chiang Mai
    
  • Chiang Rai
    
  • Chumphon
    
  • Hat Yai
    
  • Kamphaeng Phet
    
  • Nakhon Si Thammarat
    
  • Pattaya
    
  • Phitsanulok
    
  • Surat Thani
    

Thailand Guide

Southern Thailand: the Andaman coast

Ko Phi Phi Don

The island of KO PHI PHI DON looks breathtakingly handsome as you approach from the sea, its classic arcs of pure white sand framed by dramatic cliffs and lapped by water that's a mouthwatering shade of turquoise. A flat sandy isthmus connects the hilly east and west halves of the island, scalloped into the much photographed symmetrical double bays of Ao Ton Sai and Ao Loh Dalum. The vast majority of the tourist accommodation is squashed in here, as is the island's kicking nightlife, with just a few alternatives scattered along eastern coasts.

Such beauty, however, belies the island's turbulent recent history. By the early 1990s, Phi Phi's reputation as a tropical idyll was bringing in huge crowds, and the beaches began to lose their looks under the weight of unrestricted development and non-existent infrastructure. The problem worsened after uninhabited sister island Ko Phi Phi Leh gained worldwide attention as the location for the movie The Beach in 1999. Then, in December 2004, the tsunami struck, obliterating seventy percent of all buildings on the sandy flats, uprooting scores of trees, and killing two thousand.

Volunteers and donations poured in to help the island back on its feet, and the Phi Phi of today thrives much as it ever did, firmly re-established as the must-see destination in southern Thailand. Unfortunately, few of the pre-tsunami problems have been properly resolved. The island is once again floundering under unregulated, unsightly and unsustainable development, with inadequate rubbish disposal and a plague of overpriced accommodation. The noise pollution from the untrammelled outdoor bars and clubs around Ton Sai is an additional turn-off for some – though it is a fun place to party, and there are enough more remote escapes for a peaceful stay too.

The main accommodation centres are in and around Ton Sai village, at Laem Hin, immediately to the east, and on Ao Loh Dalum. Hat Yao, another fine beach just a short boat ride away, is also very popular. Hat Toh Ko and Ao Loh Bakao are good quiet alternatives.