Phang Nga Bay Guide

James Bond Island is the name everyone knows, and it's really two islands. Boats land on Khao Phing Kan, a small island with a beach, and from there you look across at Ko Tapu, the thin limestone spire that rises out of the water about 40 m offshore. It's the rock from The Man with the Golden Gun, the 1974 Bond film, and boats have been kept away from it since 1998 to protect it from erosion. Expect a crowd at midday.

The sea caves are the best part of the day. At Koh Panak and Koh Hong, guides paddle you in inflatable canoes through low tunnels in the rock into hongs, hidden lagoons open to the sky and ringed with cliffs and mangroves, with the timing set by the tide. Koh Panyee is the lunch stop, a Muslim fishing village of wooden houses on stilts against a huge limestone cliff, with a floating football pitch that village teenagers built in 1986.

For most people a group tour from Phuket is the right call. A big boat with canoeing, about ฿1,500, is the calm, cheap option and good with children. A speedboat, about ฿1,700, gets around the bay faster. A longtail tour, ฿1,400–1,800, is the most atmospheric and the slowest. Most leave Phuket's east coast mid-morning and have you back at your hotel around 16:30, so check whether the ฿300 park fee is in the price.

If you want the caves without the crowds, there are two ways to do it. A late-departure speedboat tour, about ฿2,700, arrives as the day boats leave. John Gray's Sea Canoe runs Hong by Starlight, which picks up from 10:20, reaches James Bond Island at 13:00 and the Hong lagoons at 16:00, then serves dinner on board and finishes with a night paddle at 18:30 among bioluminescent plankton, back at your hotel around 21:00. It costs ฿3,950 with the park fee and both meals included, and it's the one I'd book.

From Krabi, Phang Nga Bay tours leave from Nopparat Thara pier near Ao Nang. Staying in Khao Lak, look for tours that start on the Phang Nga side.

You can skip the tour entirely. Buses run from Phuket to Phang Nga town, about 88 km, roughly every hour for about ฿80–100 and 1.5 to 2 hours. From the town, the national park office and the boat pier at Tha Dan are about 5 km south, a short songthaew ride, and longtail captains there and at Surakul pier take small groups around the bay for a price you agree on the spot. Leave early and you'll have Khao Phing Kan and the caves almost to yourself before the Phuket boats arrive.

It's usually cheaper than a tour for a group of three or four, slower to arrange, and you pay the ฿300 park fee yourself in cash. On the way, Samet Nangshe viewpoint, about 25 km north of the Sarasin Bridge in Takua Thung, looks over the whole bay and is at its best at sunrise.

November to April is the best time, with calm water and dry days, and December to February is the busiest stretch, when the early start matters most. From May to October the tours keep running because the bay is sheltered on three sides, so it's the most reliable boat trip from Phuket in the rainy season, though rough days do cancel some departures. The operators say the plankton shows best on the darkest nights, so a night paddle near the new moon beats one at the full moon.