Maya Bay, Krabi: 2026 Visitor Guide (Open Status, Rules and Fees)

Is Maya Bay open in 2026?

Yes. Maya Bay reopened after a long closure and today runs on a timed-entry system with a daily visitor cap, so it is open through most of the year but never crowded to the old levels. The one exception is an annual reef-recovery closure that usually falls around August and September, when the whole bay shuts and then reopens on 1 October. Those dates are set by announcement and move a little year to year, so if you are travelling in the monsoon months, confirm the current season before you book. Here is the fast version.

Maya Bay at a glance

The Maya Bay story: closure, reopening and The Beach

Maya Bay was a quiet cove until the year 2000, when the Leonardo DiCaprio film The Beach was shot here and turned it into a bucket-list name. Within a decade it was a victim of that fame. At its peak thousands of visitors and hundreds of boats arrived every day, anchors and fins tore up the coral, and by 2018 the authorities closed the bay entirely to let it heal.

The closure lasted far longer than the few months first announced. Maya Bay stayed shut until it reopened in 2022, and it came back a different place: no boats on the sand, no swimming in the bay, a daily cap on visitors and timed entry slots. Blacktip reef sharks returned to the shallows, which tells you the recovery worked. What you visit today is a protected national park cove, not the free-for-all beach of the film era, and the rules below are the price of keeping it alive.

Entry rules you must know before you go

These are the rules first-timers get wrong, and rangers do enforce them. Read them before you book a tour so the day matches your expectations.

No swimming inside the bay. To protect the reef and the reef sharks, you cannot swim or snorkel in Maya Bay itself. You can wade in the shallows, ankle to knee deep, and boats stop for a proper swim in the water just outside the bay. If your dream was to swim in that famous cove, adjust it now: this is a walk-on-the-sand and photograph-it visit.

You arrive from the back, on foot. Boats no longer pull up on Maya Bay's beach. They dock at a floating pier in Loh Samah Bay on the far side, and you walk a short boardwalk through the cliffs to reach the sand. It takes a few minutes and it is the only way in.

Timed entry, about an hour, and a daily cap. Access is controlled, so groups come in timed slots and there is a limit on how many people are on the beach each day. In practice you get roughly an hour on the sand. Fires, camping and litter are banned, and there are no shops or food stalls, so carry your own water. For the exact opening hours and slot times, see the Maya Bay timings page.

Entry fee and costs in rupees

Maya Bay sits inside Hat Noppharat Thara-Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park, and everyone pays the marine park entry fee. It is about 400 THB for a foreign adult, roughly Rs 1,140, and about 200 THB for a child, around Rs 570, converted at close to Rs 2.85 to the baht. The catch that surprises people: many cheaper day tours quote a price that does not include this fee, and you pay it separately in cash at the pier. Carry it in Thai baht. The authoritative, up-to-date figure lives on the Maya Bay entry fees page.

So a joined big-boat day trip from Krabi, plus the park fee, lands most travellers near Rs 6,000 to Rs 9,000 a head, more by speedboat. Budget the park fee on top of the tour price unless the operator states clearly that it is included.

How to visit: a day trip from Krabi

You cannot walk, drive or take a scheduled ferry onto Maya Bay. The only way in is an organised boat trip or a private charter, and for most Indian travellers that means a Phi Phi islands day tour. Krabi is one of the closest launch points, which is worth knowing because almost every guide online is written for Phuket.

From Krabi or Ao Nang the crossing is about an hour by speedboat, and tours usually combine Maya Bay with Pileh Lagoon, Loh Samah and a snorkel stop. From Phuket it is about 45 minutes by speedboat, and from Phi Phi Don, if you are already staying there, roughly 20 minutes by long-tail. The single best free tip is to take the earliest departure you can. The first boats reach Maya Bay before the mid-morning crowd, which means calmer water and photographs without a hundred strangers in them. For piers, routes and exact transfer options, see how to reach Maya Bay, and to build the boat trip into a full holiday, browse our Krabi tour packages.

Best time to visit Maya Bay

The best months for Maya Bay are November to April, when the Andaman Sea is calm, the water is clear and boats run reliably. Within that window, December to March gives the best visibility for snorkelling. May to October is the southwest monsoon: seas get rougher, some crossings are cancelled and the water clouds up, though prices soften and the islands are quieter.

There is one calendar clash worth planning around. The peak-weather season overlaps the annual closure that usually falls around August and September, when the bay shuts for reef recovery and reopens on 1 October. So if Maya Bay is your whole reason to sail, avoid the closure window and confirm the current year's dates first, because flawless weather is no use if the beach is shut. For seasonal hours and any changes, check the timings page, and for what to carry on the boat, our Maya Bay tips.

What else you will see on the trip

Maya Bay is the headline, but no tour visits it alone, and the other stops are half the reason the day is worth it. Knowing the names helps you pick a tour that includes the ones you care about.

Pileh Lagoon is the standout: an emerald channel of water enclosed by towering limestone walls, a short hop from Maya Bay and, unlike the bay, a place you can actually swim. Loh Samah Bay, on the back side of the island, is where your boat docks for the Maya Bay boardwalk and is itself a good snorkelling spot. Many trips also call at Viking Cave, named for the old paintings on its walls and worked for swiftlet nests, and add Bamboo Island (Koh Mai Phai) for a classic white-sand beach stop. Longer itineraries pass Phi Phi Don, the larger island where you can stay overnight. For more of the region's islands, see our guide to islands near Phi Phi and places to visit in Krabi.

Plan your Maya Bay trip

Maya Bay rewards the traveller who plans for a protected national park, not a party beach. Check that it is open for your dates, carry the park fee in cash, take the earliest boat you can, and go in expecting to photograph the cove rather than swim in it. Do that and you get the version of Maya Bay people fly across the world for. When you are ready to build the day into a full holiday, our Krabi travel guide, Krabi tour packages and Maya Bay travel blog help you fit it all together.

TravelTriangle Editorial Team | Last Updated: August 2026

Built from thousands of Thailand trips planned since 2011, and checked against the Thai national park authority.