Maya Bay is a stunningly beautiful bay that's sheltered by 100-metre high cliffs on three sides. Inside the bay there are several beaches, most are small and some only exist at low tide. The main one is around 200m long with silky soft white sand, underwater colourful coral and fish live in exceptionally clear water; the whole bay is one big reef.

Maya Bay has become the main tourist attraction of Phi Phi since 'The Beach' was filmed here in 1999 (see below for more info about the film). It was always very popular before the film but now people around the world who haven't even heard of Phi Phi have certainly heard of Maya Bay.

You can only visit Maya Bay from November to April, as large waves make the entrance dangerous for boats during the other months of the year.

The bad news; as it's so beautiful and so well known many boats are required to ferry all the visitors in and out. On any given day there will be 30+ speedboats and longtail boats on the beach, with large ferry boats carrying hundreds of snorkelers and sightseers moored in deeper water. Beautiful it is, secluded it isn't - thousands of people visit each day. Try to visit early in the morning or after 5pm and you'll avoid the crowds.

'The Beach' by Alex Garland is Penguin Books' best ever seller. The story is about young travellers who dropped out of society and went to live in a hidden lagoon in Southern Thailand.

Fox bought the rights to the book, signed up Leonardo DiCaprio to play the lead role and then searched for a location. Maya Bay was perfect.

Fox decided that the perfect beach needed some palm trees and less vegetation so they rearranged the beach to fit a Hollywood stereotype. Beforehand, environmentalists said removing vegetation would increase the risk of the sand erosion and that the delicate natural ecosystem may not recover. The vegetation was replanted after filming had finished and additional bamboo fences were put in place to support the dunes.

The following year during high tides and a strong storm the dune collapsed, the sand flowed down the beach and killed coral in the sea below. Fox went to great lengths to leave Maya Bay as they found it however the debate still goes on whether the damage was due to the rearranging or not, many say that the replanted vegetation had not yet 'taken'.

Filming commenced in 1999 and 'The Beach' was one of the most eagerly anticipated films of 2000. The film is cited by many tourists as the inspiration for their trip to Thailand.

Activities : - Snorkeling - Activities on Beach

Getting to Maya Bay

From Phi Phi Don you can rent a longtail for 1,000 baht (US$ 32) for three hours or for 2,000 baht (US$ 64) for a full day, max four people. Speedboats are 3,500 baht (US$ 110) for half day or 6,000 baht (US$ 190) for a full day, maximum six people.

There are also many different kinds of boat tours that take in Maya Bay combined with other sites, various kinds of boats are used, such as longtails, speedboats and ferry boats. Tours are generally priced at around 500-1,000 baht (US$ 16-32), depending on the type of boat used and the duration of the tour. (All prices are 2007)

From Phuket and Krabi tours depart daily, mainly by speedboat.