A Quick Guide to Exploring Koh Phi Phi
Deciding to Travel to Thailand
My best friend and I decided to go to Japan when we found a super affordable round trip ticket from New York & DC. We agreed on going for two weeks, but we wanted to mix it up and visit another country while in Asia. Our minds were clouded from the excitement of the trip – because we choose Thailand. It’s over a 6 hour flight away, and we chose to go to one of the islands. This requires a layover in Bangkok and a 2 hour ferry ride from Phuket. It was much more travel than we’d bargained for.
Tom Yum Soup
Bangkok, Phuket, & Koh Phi Phi
However, our five day stint in Thailand was amazing. We did 24 hours in Bangkok, which was quite the drastic change from organized and pristine Japan. After Bangkok, we caught a flight to Phuket, where we spent a night wandering markets and eventually making our way over to Patong for a crazy night out. The next morning we caught the first ferry out to Phi Phi Island. After two glorious night in Koh Phi Phi, we spent the night back in Phuket before catching out flight back to Tokyo. We learned quite a few travel tips while making all the arrangements to get out to Koh Phi Phi. I highly recommend reading the tips below before booking flights so you can get the most out of your time!Tips & Tricks:
- You can book super cheap flights through Air Asia. We monitored the flights for a few months before actually booking them, and didn’t notice any spike in air fare.
- However beware of Air Asia’s baggage fees. We faced a lot of inconsistencies with the ticket agents. Once you get your boarding pass (which you can get 14 days in advance), it’ll say you can only take 7 kg onto the plane with you. We all had baggage that would fit in the overhead bins, so we hadn’t planned on checking our bags. After getting to the ticket counter, we assumed we had to check our bags since they were over 7 kg. We ended up paying $165 in baggage fees between the 4 of us for one flight. The next flight, the ticket agent said we could just take our bags on board…so that’s what we ended up doing for the rest of the flights and didn’t have any issues.
View Point #2 View
- If you’re going to any of the islands, check the ferry schedules from Phuket and Krabi before booking flights and accomodations. The last ferry to Koh Phi Phi is at 3:30pm, our flight landed at 4:00PM. We had to spend the night in Phuket even though we’d already paid for the night in Phi Phi.
- Buy your ferry tickets in advance, it makes the whole process a lot easier.
- Flying from Phuket to Tokyo was a pain. All the flights have strange departure times in addition to a layover in Bangkok. Just be aware it’ll take awhile.
- Our flight from Bangkok to Phuket was 1 hour and only $26. You can take an 11 hour bus ride for cheaper, but I found the flight more valuable.
- Accomodations in Thailand are ridiculously affordable. We stayed in amazing, luxurious, and picturesque Airbnbs and hotels for a grand total of $110 for 5 nights.
Our Airbnb Patio in Bangkok
- A friend of a friend that works at the Bangkok Airport (DMK) met us at our gate and helped us through customs. He hailed a cab for us and took a picture of the driver and his license plate. We were grateful for his precautions, but also a little freaked out. We followed suit with all of our taxis and boat rides.
- Be sure to either negotiate the price with a taxi or tuk tuk driver before getting in, or ensure the meter is on. You won’t have any problems as long as you’re aware of your situations.